Friday, December 31, 2010

New Year's Eve Severe Weather

What a crazy day across the middle of the country.  Sub-zero weather with snow along and east of the Rockies - stretching out across the northern plains. 

In the middle - a severe weather outbreak that began just before sunrise with a large and deadly tornado touching down in northwest Arkansas.

The storms spread east and grew in coverage - with tornadic storms breaking out from Louisiana to central Illinois.

Missouri also saw some deadly tornadoes touch down - with at least 2 killed in Dent County.   The St. Louis metro area took a direct hit with widespread reports of damage.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Heavy Eastern Snows

Well - 1 to 3 feet of snow is on the ground from North Carolina to Maine after the recent storm. 

Some of the hardest hit areas were right around New Jersey - where much of the state saw anywhere from 15 to 30 inches of the white stuff!

This timelapse video has circulated the web and the media outlets, but it is so good - I have to share it again.

Click here to see what 30 inches of snow looks like over a 20-hour period as it falls in Delmar, New Jersey.

The storm began in the south - well actually - it was part of the huge storm system that slammed the west with heavy rain and snow around Christmas.

North Carolina took a beating with up to a foot of snow outside of the Raleigh-Durham area.




The New York City metro also took a beating with over 20" in many areas.  I heard a stat on The Weather Channel that only 6 storms in previous history have dumped 20 inches or more on the city officially.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Snow Covers Much of United States

Check out the current map of US snow cover!

Only 3 states have no snow on the ground somewhere within their borders....Florida, Texas and Louisiana.

Oklahoma would be #4 if it weren't for a little snow in their extreme northeast counties.

Current US Snow Cover

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas Snow For South

Portions of the south are seeing their first white Christmas in decades.

It is 6:37 am here in the Rockies - and here are a few morning observations that really add to the Christmas spirit. So 7:37 am in the Central Time Zone and 8:37 am Eastern.

  • Greenwood, Mississippi - Light Snow
  • Tupelo, Mississippi - Light Snow
  • Crossville, Tennessee - Light Snow
  • Chattanooga, Tennessee - Snow
  • Nashville, Tennessee - Light Snow
  • Huntsville, Alabama - Light Snow

Other locations that may see a little of the white stuff today include Atlanta and Charlotte. Perhaps Birmingham!

A winter storm brewing off the coast will likely bring accumulating snow to the Carolinas, Virginia and the I-95 corridor across New England later in the weekend.

Meanwhile - some cold air is plunging south - all the way into Miami and south Florida - where wind chill watches are in effect. Central and northern Florida are under freeze watches and warnings.

Merry Christmas and thanks for reading my blog.   I haven't posted as frequently as I like over the past several weeks - been so busy working - hopefully I will have more time in 2011.

Below is the US Snow Cover! 

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Season of Extremes

Doesn't it seem like there is no longer a "normal" when it comes to weather?  Maybe I am just paying more attention to it the older I get (closing in on 33 soon).

This season - Minneapolis is off to one of the snowiest starts in years - and it's been a whopper of a snow season so far for Syracuse, NY.

Here in Colorado, some of our mountains have seen record snowfalls - while in Denver, it's the driest we have ever been for being so late in the season. (in terms of snow)

We are not even to the 2" mark yet officially.  I have been watering the yard and trees by hand about every 2 to 3 weeks if you can believe it!   Something I've never really had to do in the 10 years of living here.

California is being pounded by heavy rain and mountain snow.  This is the start of their rainy season, so nothing too unusual to be totally honest.  Potent? Yes - this is a major storm system for them - so somewhat unusual.

Europe has been hit hard with winter so far this year - from London to Paris, across portions of Germany and surrounding nations.

Is anyone having a "normal" fall and early winter thus far?

What is "normal" anyway?

From a climate point of view - normal is an average of weather conditions at a particular locations for the past 30 years.

Currently - we use data from 1970-2000.  But soon - we will be using data from 1980-2010, once the year closes out and numbers are crunched.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Pineapple Express To Soak Western U.S.

What is the Pineapple Express?

It's an unofficial weather term used to describe a flow of moisture that originates from near Hawaii - and moves all the way across the Pacific Ocean - into the western United States.  Think of it like a fire hose that stretches nearly 5,000 miles!

Well - that fire hose is pointed directly at the central coast of California - and it reaches all the way into the central Rockies.

Rain and snow has been falling since Saturday - and is expected to continue well into the week ahead.  Before all is said and done, portions of the mountains of California and Colorado will see 4 to 8 feet of snow - isolated locations could exceed 10 feet.

The lower elevations of California will see widespread heavy rain - in some cases - over a foot!   That will no doubt create troubles, including mud slides and flooding.

I am sure there will be plenty of travel delays to go along with the storm system too!    Esp. in Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Arctic air dives south

Look at the wind field around this cold air diving south out of Canada.  It is part of the same storm system that is spreading widespread blizzard conditions across the center of the nation.

Temps range from the low teens along the Kansas and Nebraska border to to low 70s just off the coast of Louisiana.

The cold front has now pushed all the way to the Gulf Coast.  Light snow has been reported across southern Missouri and northern Arkansas.





Winter storm to slam Upper Midwest

A slew of blizzard watches and warnings cover much of Iowa, southern Minnesota and surrounding areas today.  Winter storm warnings cover all of Wisconsin and upper Michigan.

The current conditions right now in Sioux Falls, Iowa - heavy snow with a sustained northwest wind at 35 mph, gusting to 53!!  With a temperature of 10 degrees!!

Expect widespread travel troubles today by land via I-80, I-90 and I-94.  By air in and out of Chicago, Des Moines and Minneapolis/St Paul.

Denver sees driest start to snow season in 112 years

Denver, Colorado has only seen 1.5 inches of snow so far during the 2010-2011 snow season.  That is over a foot behind where the city should be for this time of year.

Only three others years have been this dry - 1883, 1884 and 1898.

The city is on pace to be the least snowiest it has ever been this late in the season.

La Nina is to blame for the lack of snow along Colorado's Front Range.  During La Nina, the storm track typically stays north of the state, or approaches from the northwest - leaving snow in the mountains west of Denver and nothing more than dry, windy and often warm conditions across the eastern third of the state.

One interesting note:  in the previously dry years (1883, 1884 and 1898) - Denver averaged 35" of snow between the following February and April - so there is still hope for snow in the Mile High City!

When looking at more recent times, Denver has had one other very dry start to the snow season since 2000.  It was during the year 2007-2008 snow season - where less than 5 inches of snow fell through December 11.


The season remained dry - averaging 21.2 inches between February and April.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Deep south in the deep freeze

Check out the morning temps for the southeast. Widespread teens and 20s - all the way into Florida.

Meanwhile, it's in the 30s and lower 40s across portions of the northern Rockies and high plains.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

La Nina and her effects on US weather

La Nina has those of us in the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies in a snow drought.  We've only seen 2 inches here in Denver so far this year. 

Meanwhile, some places in our northwest mountains have seen near record snow.

Another place with record snow right now is on the eastern side of the Great Lakes. Buffalo and Syracuse, NY have been shoveling overtime in recent days.

Snow has made it as far south as the beaches of Virginia.

Cold weather has filtered all the way into Florida - where farmers are fighting to survive a freeze.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

2010 Hurricane Season Officially Ends

The Atlantic eastern Pacific are officially out of hurricane season - the season was extremely busy for the Atlantic while extremely quiet for the eastern Pacific.

Click here to read more.