BowMeHunter Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Warm today in the Chicago area. Hit 48 today in Schaumburg (on a family trip). Still is not a true torch, though (two days that are 10-15 degrees above average and other slightly above average days does not equal torch). Hoping that we can get a legitimate winter storm threat in the next two weeks at least (and probably won't). If seven days straight of daytime highs plus 10-17 degrees isn't a torch than what constitutes one in your mind. Harleys out tonight.. 42 degrees at 7pm..wow..feels even warmer since we're coming off a decent cool snap of two days..Gonna be quite the shock to the body again when we flip out of torch mode late next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeye_wx Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I know we've had torches in January in the past. I just checked CR's Jan '06 data and "torch" is almost an understatement(although it never got as warm as today). What's "unheard of" is me being tempted to get my bicycle out. December '05 was very snowy, so there must have been a lot of sand, salt, and dirt on the roads and sidewalks in January '06. This January everything is remarkably clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michsnowfreak Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 lol, some people must have short term memory loss. Those were very persistently warm Januarys. IMO, no single January torch in my memory was as impressive as the one from Jan 2008, in one of our snowiest winters on record no less. DTW's highs on Jan 6-9, 2008 were 57, 64, 61, 54. Detroit had only seen 5 January days on record warmer than the 64 on Jan 7, 2008 (and a few others matched the 64). Of course, Detroit also only ended up seeing 3 winters snowier than the 71.7" in 2007-08. So a winter torch is not a bad thing lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michsnowfreak Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I know we've had torches in January in the past. I just checked CR's Jan '06 data and "torch" is almost an understatement(although it never got as warm as today). What's "unheard of" is me being tempted to get my bicycle out. December '05 was very snowy, so there must have been a lot of sand, salt, and dirt on the roads and sidewalks in January '06. This January, everything is remarkably clean. There is not a spec of snow to be found today (was a trace yesterday), but if nothing else, at least the roads are dusted white with salt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michsnowfreak Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I noticed wisconsinwx has had only 0.1" also. If I had only had a tenth of an inch, I'd just call it a trace, no measurable snow, for futilitiy's sake. For me, itd still be 0.1". Its not fair to the other futile years past lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago WX Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I know we've had torches in January in the past. I just checked CR's Jan '06 data and "torch" is almost an understatement(although it never got as warm as today). What's "unheard of" is me being tempted to get my bicycle out. December '05 was very snowy, so there must have been a lot of sand, salt, and dirt on the roads and sidewalks in January '06. This January, everything is remarkably clean. I'll give you the lack of snow (salt/sand) thing. BTW something from your CWA, DVN has an interesting piece up about the latest 1.0"+ snowfall for Moline. February 10, 1944 is the latest on record. They also have the top 10 latest and what the snowfall was when the streak ended. Pretty neat. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=dvn&storyid=77196&source=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeye_wx Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Geez hawkeye, 0.1"? And the last several years have been crappy comparative to areas just to your northeast too. Whenever I get bitchy about my climo I should look at your sig. How much did you get in 2007-08? There is really not much to complain about because we've had four good winters in a row. 2007-08 was awesome as we got 60 inches of snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyclone77 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I know we've had torches in January in the past. I just checked CR's Jan '06 data and "torch" is almost an understatement(although it never got as warm as today). What's "unheard of" is me being tempted to get my bicycle out. December '05 was very snowy, so there must have been a lot of sand, salt, and dirt on the roads and sidewalks in January '06. This January, everything is remarkably clean. Yeah there was actually a story on the news tonight about how much money area communities have saved on salt and sand this winter. Most of the area stock piles are almost entirely in tact. The good news is potholes should be few and far between this spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Martin Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Starting to wonder if Winter-like conditions will ever make an appearance in the Great Lakes, by looking at these temperatures this evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 There will be at least 1 major storm this year.That is all you need really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeye_wx Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I'll give you the lack of snow (salt/sand) thing. BTW something from your CWA, DVN has an interesting piece up about the latest 1.0"+ snowfall for Moline. February 10, 1944 is the latest on record. They also have the top 10 latest and what the snowfall was when the streak ended. Pretty neat. http://www.crh.noaa....=77196&source=0 I saw that page a couple days ago. I wish they had data for CR. January 15, 2007 was our latest first 1" snowfall in recent years, but going back further I don't know. We still managed to total a decent 22 inches of snow in the winter of '06-'07. Edit: If the data is complete, we did not see our first 1" snowfall until January 28, 2003. I know we had a few pretty bad snow seasons before our recent run of good ones. There were also a few days in the 60s in January early last decade, so today's 59 degrees is hardly unprecedented. It is certainly easy to forget how snowless and/or warm it has been in winters past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpartyOn Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 After a cold and snowy winter last year, I guess it's only fitting that we have had the complete opposite so far. If one were to believe in the rubber band or pendulum theory, the recent 2 years solidify it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago WX Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I saw that page a couple days ago. I wish they had data for CR. January 15, 2007 was our latest first 1" snowfall in recent years, but going back further I don't know. We still managed to total a decent 22 inches of snow in the winter of '06-'07. 2006-07 was a rough rough first half of winter. Of course Feb 2007 turned the tables here...into one of the snowiest Februaries on record locally. Small sample size, but a good example of never giving up hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowMeHunter Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 The latest Milwaukee has gone before receiving a one inch snowfall occured in 1889. Finally, a one inch snow fell on January 20th. The forecast this week is calling for little to no snow and it looks pretty quiet until the middle of next week. Read more: http://www.wisn.com/...l#ixzz1idfu8YMG Joey told be to give up on next weeks event so that gives us about a week after to get a 1" snowfall.. I'll be optimistic and give us a 33% chance to get an inch before the 20th.. Let the futility tracking season begin here because that's the only tracking we have ATM. up 2 degrees the last hr..lets go for another 2 degrees and top the high of the day so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWXwx Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I noticed wisconsinwx has had only 0.1" also. If I had only had a tenth of an inch, I'd just call it a trace, no measurable snow, for futilitiy's sake. For me, itd still be 0.1". Its not fair to the other futile years past lol. Oh I agree, I was just joking. I take my snowfall and rainfall measurements very seriously. But you have to admit, there is a fine line between 0.1" and a T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelson Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 After 21 years of doing this job (and 13 years up here)...I should know better not to respond to the Monday morning quarterbacking...but sometimes I can't help myself. -- Blizzard Warnings have nothing to do with snow amount...all wind speed and visibility criteria. Winds didn't do as well as we thought...so bang, you got us there. Though some locations in Grand Traverse county did pick up nearly a foot of snow...would have done better if we had changed over to snow earlier on the front end...but didn't happen. -- Snowfall amount grids for LES are often too broad and spread out...we don't have the QPF resolution to nail down individual snow bands...and often these things have to be drawn in by hand because guidance QPF is often quite poor. This is particularly true for long, drawn out events where drawing in snowfall/QPF grids every six hours often leads to over forecasting. An issue we've been trying to grapple with for a number of years...but is difficult to avoid given our propensity for multi-band LES morphology. -- If I had the clairvoyance to know exactly where heavier snow bands were going to set up...and be able to integrate this over time as winds shift back and forth by 10-20 degrees spreading the snowfall out over a given area...then I wouldn't waste that talent on weather forecasting. I'd be in the stock market making real money (and no shift work). We appreciate the feedback...it's the nature of the business. More from you, less from RogueWaves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowstormcanuck Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 There is really not much to complain about because we've had four good winters in a row. 2007-08 was awesome as we got 60 inches of snow. I'm ignorant of your snow climotology obviously. I figured based on your location you average in the mid 40", making the last several years only mediocre. Guess not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geos Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Yeah, we've certainly seen absolute blowtorch Januaries...2006 being one of the warmest ever. Ever. I'm not trying to pick on anyone really, but it's hasn't been that long ago that we saw a historically awful January. I still think the second half of January will offer more in the way of cold and snow for the region...maybe not great amounts of either, but it'll get better. Nothing beats that January in my memory. +10.9°. There was one great snowstorm here that month though on the 20th. A drop of 12" in about 9 hours - most of which was in 5 hours. Stayed cold enough for 4 days to let it hang around, then it was warm until the last day of the month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michsnowfreak Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Oh I agree, I was just joking. I take my snowfall and rainfall measurements very seriously. But you have to admit, there is a fine line between 0.1" and a T. Agree! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michsnowfreak Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Starting to wonder if Winter-like conditions will ever make an appearance in the Great Lakes, by looking at these temperatures this evening. nope they never will. this map solidifies it Jokes aside, whats funny is that 4 years ago almost to the day, the region was experiencing much warmer temperatures. One of the great Jan torches of all time. And it was one of the snowiest winters on record in the Great Lakes. Winter-like weather is coming. mid-Jan pattern flip appears on target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago WX Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I'm ignorant of your snow climotology obviously. I figured based on your location you average in the mid 40", making the last several years only mediocre. Guess not. Here's your quick primer on Iowa season snowfall averages (1981-10). Moline IL thrown in considering it's in the Quad Cities. Dubuque: 41.5" Mason City: 41.3" Des Moines: 37.1" Sioux City: 36.6" Waterloo: 35.6" Moline: 31.8" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpartyOn Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Will agree.. This torch has nothing on some of the more noteworthy Jan 06 and Jan 08. I think the difference is the lack of snowfall in some areas. It makes a torchy day even worse for winter weather lovers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpartyOn Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 nope they never will. this map solidifies it Jokes aside, whats funny is that 4 years ago almost to the day, the region was experiencing much warmer temperatures. One of the great Jan torches of all time. And it was one of the snowiest winters on record in the Great Lakes. Winter-like weather is coming. mid-Jan pattern flip appears on target. Remember the Tornado warnings...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geos Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Remember the Tornado warnings...lol That was January 7th. High of 64° here. I was only 10 miles from an EF-3 tornado that ravaged western Kenosha County, WI. But not a drop of rain here, just thunder! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tropical Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Wow, up to 46.5F at 9 pm. Sitting at the new high for the day. Perfect weather. Hoping the rest of the winter stays this way. Euro showing modest pattern change at best. I'll ride the Canadian weather forecast and the NAEFS. Torch continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoar_Frost Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Yeah, we've certainly seen absolute blowtorch Januaries...2006 being one of the warmest ever. Ever. I'm not trying to pick on anyone really, but it's hasn't been that long ago that we saw a historically awful January. I still think the second half of January will offer more in the way of cold and snow for the region...maybe not great amounts of either, but it'll get better. January 2006 was unreal; it hardly seemed like January it was so mild. Just by the fact that we have already actually had a couple of nights with temperatures below 20--below 10, actually--makes January 2006 worse in terms of lack of cold. Now, for snow, January 2006 was not too far off average. Granted, it was almost entirely the storm on the afternoon of the 20th that saved that January from being snowless. So, as far as snow, there is some catching up to do this month. It's definitely not beyond memory the last time that we had a bad January. Honestly, last January, excepting the anticipation of the blizzard, really wasn't that exciting and was, in fact, a bit below normal in snowfall locally. The same goes for January 2010, snow-wise--at least locally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeye_wx Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I'm ignorant of your snow climotology obviously. I figured based on your location you average in the mid 40", making the last several years only mediocre. Guess not. We average about 30 inches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago WX Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 January 2006 was unreal; it hardly seemed like January it was so mild. Just by the fact that we have already actually had a couple of nights with temperatures below 20--below 10, actually--makes January 2006 worse in terms of lack of cold. Now, for snow, January 2006 was not too far off average. Granted, it was almost entirely the storm on the afternoon of the 20th that saved that January from being snowless. So, as far as snow, there is some catching up to do this month. It's definitely not beyond memory the last time that we had a bad January. Honestly, last January, excepting the anticipation of the blizzard, really wasn't that exciting and was, in fact, a bit below normal in snowfall locally. The same goes for January 2010, snow-wise--at least locally I can't remember that Jan 2006 event. Must have been a north and western suburbs hit, as ORD only had 5.5" total that month...well below normal. What's interesting about this run of good snowfall seasons, outside of 2009, Januaries have been pretty normal (in terms of snowfall) at ORD and northeast IL. The "damage" has been mainly Decembers and Februaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmc76 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Remember the Tornado warnings...lol Worst Torch ever! Had 20" snow depth gone in 1 day. It was sad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeye_wx Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Speaking of January 2006, I was just checking the data for the entire winter and Cedar Rapids amazingly only had 6 inches of snow after mid December. I may be a weather weenie, but I often don't remember those kinds of season details, beyond a few years back, like many of you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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