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Looking ahead to Winter 2011-2012?


Ji

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I'd probably go with something similar to zwyts' outlook right now but I did text him that I'd add about 4-6" to DCA's snowfall if we went warm neutral for ENSO rather than cold neutral. Just a gut feeling as warm neutral actually has some polarizing results for DCA...some years have been horrible like '58-'59 and '90-'91 and others were pretty good like '79-'80 and '53-'54.

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Analogs that might be useful are 1967-68, 1974-75, and 2008-09. All were 2nd year Ninas after a Nino, featured the -PDO, the +AMO, and at least 2 of the 3 likely featured the +IOD. 2 of the 3 winters were in a period of lower solar activity as well (2008-09, 1974-75).

Of course this assuming the ENSO doesn't revert to neutral instead of a Nina. Past history would argue against that though. But low solar is important regarding the NAO, as is the QBO.

QBO DEC/JAN/FEB

1967/68: -7.27 -8.38 -10.21

1974/75: 22.57 -16.70 -15.39

2008-09: 10.46 10.71 12.33

2008/09 is the only year with a +QBO, so it may be an outlier presuming our QBO drops into negative territory.

cd72.83.117.198.163.15.51.39.prcp.png

Precipitation data is all confuzzled

cd72.83.117.198.163.15.54.12.prcp.png

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What happened here in 96-97? I was living in CO most of the 90's but I have a possible theory for the EC this winter.

I was living in Silver Spring that winter...It was anti-climactic after 95-96...I think I got 11" for the winter....I know the further NW burbs did quite a bit better though...It was basically a warm winter with a few notable arctic shots.....all 3 months were well above normal.....and there were a decent number of events but almost all were nuisance events where I was with very little impact....there were 2 notable events...one was 2nd week of January....multi day event of snow to mix to snow....there may have been some down time and gaps....maybe 3-4"....some areas did better....the other was 2nd week of February and was a classic 4-8" SECS over a weekend....melted quickly...fairly low impact.....Baltimore did ok with the April Fools storm but it missed DC completely...

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We had a very strong shot of arctic air in mid January as the low at Richmond that winter was 4 degrees. This was associated with about an inch of snow. There was a similar event in C VA about a week before Christmas and then in early February, but as zwyts noted, it was a rather futile winter with only about 4" total officially at RIC.

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I was living in Silver Spring that winter...It was anti-climactic after 95-96...I think I got 11" for the winter....I know the further NW burbs did quite a bit better though...It was basically a warm winter with a few notable arctic shots.....all 3 months were well above normal.....and there were a decent number of events but almost all were nuisance events where I was with very little impact....there were 2 notable events...one was 2nd week of January....multi day event of snow to mix to snow....there may have been some down time and gaps....maybe 3-4"....some areas did better....the other was 2nd week of February and was a classic 4-8" SECS over a weekend....melted quickly...fairly low impact.....Baltimore did ok with the April Fools storm but it missed DC completely...

'96-'97 was so warm, and had very few larger type systems in January and February. Just an overall terrible pattern in mid-winter. Thankfully there's a lot of things different about the current state of the oceans and atmosphere.

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I was living in Silver Spring that winter...It was anti-climactic after 95-96...I think I got 11" for the winter....I know the further NW burbs did quite a bit better though...It was basically a warm winter with a few notable arctic shots.....all 3 months were well above normal.....and there were a decent number of events but almost all were nuisance events where I was with very little impact....there were 2 notable events...one was 2nd week of January....multi day event of snow to mix to snow....there may have been some down time and gaps....maybe 3-4"....some areas did better....the other was 2nd week of February and was a classic 4-8" SECS over a weekend....melted quickly...fairly low impact.....Baltimore did ok with the April Fools storm but it missed DC completely...

it was warm as he!! the first week of Jan, 97

I mowed my lawn on the anniversary of the 96 Bliz, whining the entire time (honestly!)

then we got the 2nd week event you mentioned

we just can't put 2 great winters back-to-back around here

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I was living in Silver Spring that winter...It was anti-climactic after 95-96...I think I got 11" for the winter....I know the further NW burbs did quite a bit better though...It was basically a warm winter with a few notable arctic shots.....all 3 months were well above normal.....and there were a decent number of events but almost all were nuisance events where I was with very little impact....there were 2 notable events...one was 2nd week of January....multi day event of snow to mix to snow....there may have been some down time and gaps....maybe 3-4"....some areas did better....the other was 2nd week of February and was a classic 4-8" SECS over a weekend....melted quickly...fairly low impact.....Baltimore did ok with the April Fools storm but it missed DC completely...

That was the storm that would not accumulate on pavement during the daylight hours, even under heavier rates. Trees and grass were all coated, so it was a pretty storm, but nothing stuck on roads until after dark. Last winter was way better here than '96-'97.

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That was the storm that would not accumulate on pavement during the daylight hours, even under heavier rates. Trees and grass were all coated, so it was a pretty storm, but nothing stuck on roads until after dark. Last winter was way better here than '96-'97.

It kind of accumulated here and there on sides of the road but couldn't get heavy enough...I remember clearly.....IAD went below freezing in the afternoon...they got close to 7".....I don't remember more than 4" where I was....it was a sh-it winter for immediate DC metro

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I think I have my years mixed up. I lived in Summit County CO for 7 years (1992-1999) and worked for a ski area. This past season had one of the top 5 snow seasons including a massive May. The base @ Arapahoe Basin topped 100" this year (very uncommon). When I lived there the base only hit 100" one time and there was a 36" Memorial Day storm. I can't remember what year it was. The year I'm trying to remember was a Nina (not totally sure about this) and January alone had 160".

My only curiosity is what transpired on the EC the following year because this year was spot on similar. I'll call some old friends and see what I can find out.

Not really any depth to my analog but at least it will keep me interested during the warm season. I don't really have any high expectations for this upcoming winter. It's always a challenge to combine precip and cold temp in a MA winter regardless of the state of ENSO and the overall patterns. The odds will always favor more rain than snow.

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BethesdaWX mentioned QBO- can someone explain to me what that is and how it affects the winters here? Every once in awhile I see this mentioned by someone but I don't know what it means. Thanks.

this explains it

http://ugamp.nerc.ac.uk/hot/ajh/qbo.htm

these are the numbers updated monthly around the 7th

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/indices/qbo.u30.index

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I think I have my years mixed up. I lived in Summit County CO for 7 years (1992-1999) and worked for a ski area. This past season had one of the top 5 snow seasons including a massive May. The base @ Arapahoe Basin topped 100" this year (very uncommon). When I lived there the base only hit 100" one time and there was a 36" Memorial Day storm. I can't remember what year it was. The year I'm trying to remember was a Nina (not totally sure about this) and January alone had 160".

My only curiosity is what transpired on the EC the following year because this year was spot on similar. I'll call some old friends and see what I can find out.

Not really any depth to my analog but at least it will keep me interested during the warm season. I don't really have any high expectations for this upcoming winter. It's always a challenge to combine precip and cold temp in a MA winter regardless of the state of ENSO and the overall patterns. The odds will always favor more rain than snow.

I believe the big year for Arapahoe when they stayed open til August was 1994-95

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I believe the big year for Arapahoe when they stayed open til August was 1994-95

You are correct. I checked my old pictures and called some old friends. My memory mashed up 94-95 and 95-96. It was January of 1996 that had 160" of snow. It was the 94-95 season with the big base and late snow.

Hmm.... If my barely scientific analog is correct then........95-96 redux this year? lol

ENSO isn't a good fit but who knows?

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