The elephant in the room-Winter of 2011-12

[wxsniss]

BOS has been colder than '01-'02 using average temp and HDD (same thing actually)....'01-'02 up to this point was:

Dec: 40.5F

Jan: 36.7F

In 2011-2012, BOS is:

Dec: 40.0F

Jan: 34.2F

HDD are 1,713 for Dec/Jan 2011-2012 and 1,622 for 2001-2002 Dec/Jan.

Thanks for the link, Will.

The correlation doesn't seem very tight.

For comparison to other futility years:

1939-40 <---- cold and dry!!

Dec: 33.4

Jan: 23.0

1994-95 (6.0" through Jan 31)

Dec: 38.5

Jan: 34.6

vs. some epic years

1993-94 (45.3" through Jan 31)

Dec: 34.2

Jan: 22.2

1995-96 (68" through Jan 31)

Dec: 31.7

Jan: 30.1

[Baroclinic Zone]

Yup.

Hyacinth popping up today as well.

[CoastalWx]

I took a walk around, and flowers that should be coming up in March are poking through now.

[Damage In Tolland]

I took a walk around, and flowers that should be coming up in March are poking through now.

Were any weenies poking you in the back?

[powderfreak]

Yes. And I suspect the rest of the SNE locales are similar. Probably a bit better up your way but still warm.

Yeah definitely ridiculous warmth...like today hit 43F which is like 20F or more above normal. Luckily we've gotten some snow as even +8 departures still leave us sub-freezing.

And snowfall is now 61.5" or so at 800ft in town, which is a little less than half our annual average of around 130-ish. I know j.spin is at 69" on the season so the Green Mountain Spine insurance policy has come through in the lack of synoptic storms. BTV though only like 15-20 miles away but outside the "orographic lift zone" has had next to no snow this season so don't lump the upslope numbers in with the larger valleys in NNE. If the second half of winter comes through we may get close to average...but I'm not holding my breath. What's amazing is Pete has had only 10 inches less than me this season so far. He did have a 30" head start in October though.

[MarkO]

Harvey Leonard mentioned January (for Boston I believe) was 13th warmest, but pair that with December and it's 3rd warmest on record. Tonight while letting the cat in after dinner a mosquito snuck in. I couldn't believe it! Am I nuts?

Attached is a photo of something coming up on the west side of my house. I believed they were crocuses, but I guess they could be day lilies or daffodils. I took the attached photo on the Jan 26th.

[wxsniss]

Regarding the inverse anomalies, some impressive numbers courtesy of Brian Clark at accuwx:

Many places had either the coldest January on record, or one of the coldest, and some places set the coldest month ever on record.

-Fairbanks: January 2012 was the fifth coldest on record with an average temperature of minus 26.9. Coldest January since 1971. Coldest low was minus 51 on the January 29.

-Nome: Coldest January on record with an average temperature of -16.6, records go back to 1909

-Kotzebue: Second coldest January on record and the coldest since 1934, records date back to 1929.

-Galena: January the coldest month EVER on record with an average temperature of minus 32.6 degrees. Lowest temperature was minus 65 with four consecutive days of minus 60 degree or lower low temperatures. Records go back to 1942.

-McGrath: Coldest month every on record with an average temperature of minus 28.5, records date back to 1939.

-Bettles: Coldest month ever on record with average temperature of minus 35.6, records dating back to 1951.

-Tanana: January 2012 is the coldest January in over 100 years, only January 1906 was colder.

-Anchorage: Averaged 14.6 degrees below normal for the month with Wasilla averaging 15.7 degrees below normal.