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January 2012 Storm Threats and Discussion


PhineasC

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January 1977 was remarkably cold in DC, with an average temperature of 25.4 degrees, ranking it as the sixth coldest month ever -- and the coldest since January 1940. However, December 1976 (average temperature of 35.5) and February 1977 (average temperature of 38.8) weren't all that bad. The most remarkable thing about January 1977 was that, for 20 consecutive days, the temperature never got into the 40s, with the high temperature range being 18-39 and the low temperature range being 2-27 during that period (mean of 23.6).

P.S. More relevant to this topic, AccuWeather currently shows an East Coast snowstorm on Martin Luther King Day, January 16.

You're right: Following a cool autumn, the intense cold started in late December and ran through early February. January was the standout month. The mean average for DJF combined, east of the Mississippi, was mostly in the -6F to -8F range. The winters of 1917-18 and 1976-77 are generally considered a tie for the coldest winters ever recorded in the Eastern U.S.

A full write-up from NOAA, written in November 1977 may be of interest to mets here (especially to compare forecasting then vs. today.)

http://www.nwas.org/digest/papers/1977/Vol02No4/1977v002no04-Wagner.pdf

Tim in ILM

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Better GFS run today than the last couple as long as ignore the double kick in the nuts at 384 (Miller A rainstorm and AK vortex returns). Next week's cold shot again looks weaker than it did yesterday, but GFS keeps things seasonable to a bit below from that point forward.

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Better GFS run today than the last couple as long as ignore the double kick in the nuts at 384 (Miller A rainstorm and AK vortex returns). Next week's cold shot again looks weaker than it did yesterday, but GFS keeps things seasonable to a bit below from that point forward.

384 hr gfs so I would'nt worry about that part.

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Better GFS run today than the last couple as long as ignore the double kick in the nuts at 384 (Miller A rainstorm and AK vortex returns). Next week's cold shot again looks weaker than it did yesterday, but GFS keeps things seasonable to a bit below from that point forward.

It keeps showing different variations of ridging in AK and bering sea and ridging trying to break out around greenland (east based mostly). It has been consistent in many ways. PV around the Hudson Bay area and different variations of cross polar flow.

I'm a weenie but my confidence in an ok pattern at the very least setting up shop somewhere around mid month is gaining quite a bit. Whether it snows or not is another issue but we're likely going to have modeled threats to track in the near future. That's alot more fun than tracking a reprehensible pattern changing into a less deplorable pattern.

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It keeps showing different variations of ridging in AK and bering sea and ridging trying to break out around greenland (east based mostly). It has been consistent in many ways. PV around the Hudson Bay area and different variations of cross polar flow.

I'm a weenie but my confidence in an ok pattern at the very least setting up shop somewhere around mid month is gaining quite a bit. Whether it snows or not is another issue but we're likely going to have modeled threats to track in the near future. That's alot more fun than tracking a reprehensible pattern changing into a less deplorable pattern.

the ridging around/north of Greenland would be a nice feature that has been missing all winter

and hopefully, that would hold and then press further south in the future runs

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the ridging around/north of Greenland would be a nice feature that has been missing all winter

and hopefully, that would hold and then press further south in the future runs

Looks like it's trying right?

I might be wrong about the ridging building in the bering sea on N but doesn't that help buckle the flow and enhance the PNA? Ridge in AK - trough off pac coast - ridge intermountain west - trough in the east?

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GFS ensemble mean looks pretty good in the mid and long range. A few days ago, it had the PV moving faster towards the west (i.e., over Hudson Bay) then it does now. Still is inching its way there though. Going to be tough to get a good coastal to work out for his until we can get a NAO sign change, but the pattern as advertised would be good for some clippers and overrunning events potentially.

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:wub:

one good thing about a pattern change is we might stop hearing about stratospheric warming

NO! Adam and HM gave me a 30 minute class this morning on SSW, so I could understand what all the hype was about. We need to dicuss it more now.

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All models change so much from day to day, it always makes weather much more interesting. Some people get so angry over the models and I take the best of it and make it a learning experience. Patience to anyone that does not have it on getting the cold and snow! 2 more weeks or so there will be a post on a winter threat. Lol

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NO! Adam and HM gave me a 30 minute class this morning on SSW, so I could understand what all the hype was about. We need to dicuss it more now.

File it under "things we talk about when the pattern sucks" #uselessinfo

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one good thing about a pattern change is we might stop hearing about stratospheric warming

Speaking of stratospheric warming, JB is twitting up a storm today about it meaning big cold for the NHEM troposphere. I suspect "NHEM troposphere" is fancy talk for I-95 corridor. :whistle:

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Speaking of stratospheric warming, JB is twitting up a storm today about it meaning big cold for the NHEM troposphere. I suspect "NHEM troposphere" is fancy talk for I-95 corridor. :whistle:

lol.. probably.

when i see this from him ...

I am more meteorologist than weather nut now, because the warming at 10 mb blows me away the way a big snowstorm use too. Astounding

... I just want to respond, you're just a nut period.

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lol.. probably.

when i see this from him ...

I am more meteorologist than weather nut now, because the warming at 10 mb blows me away the way a big snowstorm use too. Astounding

... I just want to respond, you're just a nut period.

<OT>Steroids took care of his a long time ago.</OT>

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I don't argue with ssw affecting teleconnections and large scale patterns but why is it such a buzzword now? What happened? Is it really that big of a deal?

I know enough about it now to understand how it affects the PV and weather around the pole. That part makes sense. Is the big buzz about ssw and now having the ability to predict big EC cold well in advance now? Seems blown out of proportion to me. Maybe everybody is jumping on it because it sounds cool. Just like all those "new and cool words" invented during the tech boom.

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I don't argue with ssw affecting teleconnections and large scale patterns but why is it such a buzzword now? What happened? Is it really that big of a deal?

I know enough about it now to understand how it affects the PV and weather around the pole. That part makes sense. Is the big buzz about ssw and now having the ability to predict big EC cold well in advance now? Seems blown out of proportion to me. Maybe everybody is jumping on it because it sounds cool. Just like all those "new and cool words" invented during the tech boom.

That's exactly what it is. There is merit to looking to the stratosphere for signs in the medium range, but people are blowing it way out of proportion this year without understanding the underlying mechanisms.

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I don't argue with ssw affecting teleconnections and large scale patterns but why is it such a buzzword now? What happened? Is it really that big of a deal?

I know enough about it now to understand how it affects the PV and weather around the pole. That part makes sense. Is the big buzz about ssw and now having the ability to predict big EC cold well in advance now? Seems blown out of proportion to me. Maybe everybody is jumping on it because it sounds cool. Just like all those "new and cool words" invented during the tech boom.

If we werent going to end up with the first half of winter totally sucking no one would be talking about it. I don't deny it's useful if you're someone like HM or Adam but why it's being mentioned on Twitter and Facebook is beyond me. Most of that audience doesnt even know the difference between a watch and a warning. Even as a weather enthusiast in the 99th percentile I'm not sure why I should care that much about it.

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That's exactly what it is. There is merit to looking to the stratosphere for signs in the medium range, but people are blowing it way out of proportion this year without understanding the underlying mechanisms.

So, A robust next generation SSW event doesn't really have the framework for cloud convergence and immersion that the bleeding edge blogosphere has been beta testing with collaberation from the benchmark design pattern of the cross-platform.

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That's exactly what it is. There is merit to looking to the stratosphere for signs in the medium range, but people are blowing it way out of proportion this year without understanding the underlying mechanisms.

Like we were saying...every season has a buzz word or term. Stratospheric warming is definitely this year's buzz term. I do find it interesting how it works, but we have to understand how/when it's able to propagate down.

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