katabatic

This is well written. Meteorology - at its core - is about the study of heat transfer. I am in banking for my 'real job' and at our core all we do is buy and sell money. That's it. Now with both professions, there are spider legs that extend far beyond our core study to make them both endlessly complex. An important part of that complexity is when you inject as much heat as we have into the world over the last 30 years and especially the last 5-10, the physics of how heat is transferred throughout the oceans and atmosphere must change in response. Oceans have absorbed what, 90% of the heat added in that time? And they are acting funny. I do not think anyone can decipher what and how this will exactly impact our local climate this winter and the years following, but what was said above hits the nail on the head. It is simply too warm and when you are in/on the margins as we are here in the MA, it doesn't take a whole lot to knock us off our rocker. Nobody knows with any level of certainty what will happen more than 2 weeks out and we may still get lucky with aligning stars as the winter progresses - hell, I moved to Oakland primarily for the snow - so, I hope we do. But when you add so much heat to an already delicately balanced world, the atmospheric response we've seen in the past decade will likely be an ever-intensifying mirror of what is reflecting back on us now.

19.4 this morning allowing the Wisp snow guns to fire all night long. My husband is a ski lift operator there (yep, same guy who is from the equator...gah, the irony). It opens for the season tomorrow. The short-mid range forecast seems to be marginally serviceable(!?) for them to not turn into an ankle deep mud puddle over the next few weeks before we (god, I hope) get some opportunities for real help from Mother Nature.

2.4" with a surprising (and not inconsequential) amount of -ZR this morning. There was enough so that even on paved surfaces that weren't treated, you were slipping and sliding. A pretty side effect was it encased the snow on the trees so even with a bit of a breeze, the scenery was still quite beautiful.

The drive to/from Davis was just awesome. Roads there were totally snow covered and it was easily moderate, if not heavy, snowfall. Back here in the Boonies, roads are just starting to cave with maybe 1/2 inch so far and snowing moderately. 31.5 currently. My husband is from Ecuador (Quito) and had never seen snow until coming here in 2018 (his condo is in the Southern Hemisphere while his job was in the Northern Hemisphere). It is 72/48 there every single day. To say he doesn't get my snow obsession is an understatement but he was a trooper...came with me in the truck. Tootling around in the snow listening to Christmas music was a good time.

All snow, 32.7. Since it's only about 25 minutes away and I am obsessed with this sh*t, going to take a little drive to Davis and Canaan and see how they are faring. Just bought a new 4x4 (and my deductible is reasonable) so let's test it out.

The changeover in Garrett County has begun. One observation of note: the temperature drop, while steady, has hardly been precipitous. I averaged ~2 degrees per hour over the last ~10 hours (54.3 to 36.3 now). Hoping for folks still in the 50s, the gradient sharpens east of the BR so the cold air overlaps with the moisture for as long as possible.

I wasn't paying attention this morning and surprised that my temp has gone from 54.3 early this morning to 44.4 currently. It'll be interesting to see how this pans out here in southern Garrett County. 0.30" in the bucket so far.

Pretty scene this morning. 2.4” with occasional very light snow continuing. 7.7” for the year so far.

SN- continues. 0.8" so far. 31.8/30.8. What's unusual is not a breath of wind. Makes it really nice to take a walk.

^^He ain't kidding. Late fall and early winter are pretty gloomy here in the Boonies. But, at least for today the clouds have begun to produce some light snow. 33.8.

No, I don't think you're jaded but I do think you're realistic. I think we are in a new era where the exceptional global heat that has accumulated is causing old norms to either not exist or be highly unpredictable. People with any knowledge of weather hedge their bets and forecasts since even the best are often wrong - so I hope my thinking is wrong too. What gives me a glimmer hope is during the intense drought out west (I lived in CA for 9 years), naysayers predicted that the Sierra would just dry up, blow away and burn down - and their snow season was a thing of the past. And then last year happened. Maybe we will be able to say the same but year after year after year of no winter to speak of is the evidence all slapping us in the face.

Bottomed out at 8.2; currently 12.2 with a spectacular sunrise over the ridges.

16 on the nose and an intense snow shower is coming through. Feels like mid-winter. 3" here so far and glad to see (at least a little) of the love has been spread east of the mountains.

2.5" so far for the day. Midmorning AFD mentions another round of snow showers/squalls out here in the Boonies this afternoon. Perhaps we can push 4".

The SSW was spot on. 20.7 degrees and a very brief 38 mph gust with visibilities a few hundred yards at best. GD-it this is what winter should be like.

18.5 and Wisp fired up the guns last night. Christmas is a month away, pattern looks good and the tree is going up. LFG!

1.54” with a few sprinkles remaining. Only had 0.49” in the bucket at 2:30 so ended strong. Most here in a single event since last “winter”.

Light glaze this morning. Currently 34 with 0.27" in the bucket with the wind picking up. Don't need the sunscreen today.

Radiating nicely 35.1/27.9 after a high of 44. It'll be interesting to see what the front end does in the morning. AFD mentions a possible thump - would love to see that instead of ZR.

22.5 with heavy frost this morning. That damn wildlife refuge was probably 40 below. Beautiful sunrise this morning. Have a great start to the week everyone

Well, be still my heart. Temp IMBY fell to 32.2 and light snow continues. Measured a little under an inch on grassy surfaces/car tops. Pleasantly surprised at this - I've lived here since October of last year and think this is the first true synoptic snowfall (not upslope) in that time. I mean, it's gunna end up being around an inch, but still...

Light snow and 33.3. Not amounting to anything (62.8 this time yesterday) but nice to see it fall from the sky.

What is their map for this year?

Maybe a little hope on the precip front at least - looks like the southern tier may be waking up. Let's hope so.

Winds went light and it cleared out here. Temp tanked and settled at 16.2 for close to an hour before sunrise. With the remaining snow on the ground (still a solid coating), felt like midwinter. A taste to come!