This is something you don’t see every day. We recently heard that Canada had a white Christmas EVERYWHERE, the first time in four decades. Here we see that the USA has an increased albedo (surface reflectivity) for about 1/2 of it’s land area. The increased albedo combined with low sun angle this time of year conspires to keep ice and snow unmelted.
Look for a long and extended winter weather pattern as we head towards the spring equinox, which can’t get here fast enough.
Here is a more colorful view of snow depth on Dec 25th from the National Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center:
Click for larger image
Jim G reports in comments:
On Dec 18th, the coverage was 59.4%
h/t to Ron de Haan and Fresh Bilge
Smokey (12:23:54) — Thanks for the assist. This is the same site I was trying to link to.
This article is fascinating, I agree. I would like to read others’ assessment of Dr. Latour’s argument.
Below is a brief bio of Dr. Pierre Latour, excerpted from an article found at
http://www.controlglobal.com/articles/2004/236.html
Pierre R. Latour is “a recognized authority in process automation technology and successful entrepreneur in several process control ventures. Latour began his career in the early 1960s with DuPont and Shell Oil after receiving a PhD in Chemical Engineering at Purdue.
He worked on the first Shell computer control project (FCC–Deer Park Refinery 1966). A two-year tour as a captain in the U.S. Army followed at NASA’s Manned Space Flight Center managing the Apollo Docking Simulator development.
After mustering out, Latour co-founded Biles & Associates (later acquired by Invensys) and Setpoint (later acquired by Aspen Technology). Latour served in a business development capacity as Vice President at Aspen prior to launching his current consultancy–CLIFFTENT, Inc.”
Re: Catherine (13:30:53) :
Why wouldn’t it turn into rain?
Jamie,
“Nobody here is thinking ahead much. What will happen in spring when all of this snow/ice accumulation starts thawing out?”
Well, here in the West (Southern Colorado) all that snow/ice becomes water going down the Arkansas (that’s pronounced Ark-an-saw here) River to irrigate farm fields so the rest of the world will have food (or raw materials for bio-fuels)
They’ve been thinking ahead like that for more than a century here…
Mike
Catherine, please cite your references for your contention that melting glaciers produces more moisture which falls as snow.
In craggy mountain areas, some snow will melt into rivers for sure but most of it melts into the ground and feeds deep underground reservoirs and shallow ground water. A case in point, the Metolius River in Central Oregon simply appears out of the base of a mossy hillside just East of the Cascades, fully formed as a smallish river. That river comes from snow melt. The amount and temperature of water coming out of the hillside varies only a tiny amount. Even in times of drought.
Catherine (13:30:53) :
Catherine, most glacier ice is not right at 0 degrees C, ready to melt at the slightest hint of warming. Most of the world’s glaciers are well below freezing.
That being the case, can you explain your belief that a temporary 0.6 degree C rise in the global temperature [which has since been completely reversed] is causing the planet’s glaciers to melt?
Michael J. Bentley (14:04:11) :
Jamie,
“Nobody here is thinking ahead much. What will happen in spring when all of this snow/ice accumulation starts thawing out?”
Well, here in the West (Southern Colorado) all that snow/ice becomes water going down the Arkansas (that’s pronounced Ark-an-saw here) River to irrigate farm fields so the rest of the world will have food (or raw materials for bio-fuels)
Hopefully not leading to extensive flooding such as occurred last spring?
you just don’t understand the intricate formula used to determine how the cooling trend fits into the larger AGW hypothesis. Here is a handy flow-chart that explains everything:
http://anhonestclimatedebate.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/understandingmanmadeclimatechangebyhonestclimate.jpg
Well guys,
brace yourself, its back.This week’s sea surface temperature shows that La Niña is back.West of Ecuador and westward cold sea water is now emerging at the surface along the equator.
Here in Portland, we have broken all existing weather records for the month of December. Our storms started about 10 days ago and personally I am tired of all of our events, including Christmas Services, being cancelled. Fortunately, we are now thawing out and will be able to attend all of the postponed events including Christmas programs. http://www.pdxfirefly.com
Re: Catherine (13:30:53) :
If the air is warm enough to melt the glaciers, isn’t it too warm to snow?
Take your time . . .’
My son is an executive team leader at a Target store in Portland, Oregon, and spent most of his days lately ferrying workers back and forth to their store locations. I don’t remember ever having to don chains to drive downtown. I don’t think this series of storms will be the last.
Phil,
Hey! what happens down stream stays down stream! (Wait a minute is that lost wages???) Actually down here on the flatlands (Pueblo, CO) it was a pretty dry year. The mountains got the precip, and gave us plenty of water, but south Colorado remained in character – a pretty dry grassland or wet desert.
So far this year has been somewhat warm, with low precip in the mountains and less down here. I hear the mountain snowpacks are increasing though. Snow or rain predicted for tonight. I hope we get a little, I just hate watering the patch of grass (small) and ornamentals in mid-winter…
Happy New Year!
Mike
We live in Southwest Colorado and at one time had 8 feet of snow on the ground in January 2007. So far this year we have about 4 1/2 ft of snow on the ground and more to come. Most years we can see the ground. Some of the old timers tell me that it has been 15 – 20 years since they recall snow levels like the past two years…
Does anyone know of any “hotspots” that might affect this months temperature data? I know Russia had record heat until recently.
What I’m really hoping for is another very very cold January which will affect the 2009 temps downwards.
Jaime (09:50:13) :
Last year central New Hampshire may have missed setting an all time record for snowfall because the Co-op observer took a vacation. I’m just north of Concord, and got more than the record, but I was in the middle of axis of most snow for a couple storms. Concord did record more snow than any year in the 20th century.
The area lucked out – spring warmed gradually and didn’t bring much rain so no flooding. However, some of our worst floods have been from warm rains on snow.
Last year on this date I had 15″ of snow, this year about 7″.
Wolf Creek Ski Area in southwest Colorado has surpassed the 200 inch mark for snowfall this season. This is quite remarkable given that we are less than one week into winter.
Aspen broke their early season snow record again this year (second year in a row) the same week a CU prof warned of global warming doom to the Aspen ski industry
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/131044
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/131178
Michael Bentley,
All the USDA snowtel sites in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona are far above normal.
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/snotelanom/basinswe.html
well (08:09:45) :
Roger Sowell (08:09:45) :
“Chemical Engineers Know AGW is Bunk
Not only scientists are skeptics. Recently Dr. Pierre R. Latour, world-renowned PhD and professional licensed chemical engineer, offered this scathing analysis of the entire matter.
http://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/index.html?Page=14&PUB =22&SID=715446&ISS=25220&GUID=D5E78EC9-18EA-4C76-9A48-D4D92 79140FB”
Roger, The link does not deliver.
Do you have another link to find the article?
Thanks.
Tonight in the Los Angeles area, the low temperature is forecast as 29 degrees. A year ago it was 43. The record low for Dec 26 was 35, in 1987.
In the surrounding mountains and valleys it will be a bit colder.
Brrrr….especially for southern California!
Question (16:48:22) :
You can get a rough idea here.
http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/map/images/rnl/sfctmpmer_07a.rnl.html
Replace the 07 in the URL with 30 to get the 30 days average. (You will not find a hot spot in Canada.)
Unfortunately, the brackets are a bit wide, so it’s not fool-proof for predicting how the monthlies are going to turn out. You should check the SST anomalies as well. For that, check the link in Per Strandberg (15:20:46) comment above.
I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and we unfortunately spoiled the EVERYWHERE. It was sunny, mostly green and +10C here on Christmas Day. Snowed the day before though. Many other parts of Nova Scotia were snow-covered. Halifax is often south of the jet stream as it runs up through the province, and we would normally have about a 50-50 chance of a white Christmas. We are further south than Seattle though. Hey Santa brought “The Chilling Stars”; very interesting so far. Happy New Year, all!
Roger Sowell (08:09:45) :
Cannot reach this story on the URL you posted, Roger (Recently Dr. Pierre R. Latour…).
Can you give any further directions?
Hmm, more snow would mean glaciers would grow, not shrink. It also has to be cold enough to snow, ya know.
for a discussion of Co2 vibrational energy transfer quite clearly elucidated
http://article.pubs.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/ppv/RPViewDoc?issn=1480-3291&volume=52&issue=8&startPage=1436