This national radar mosaic shows huge amounts of gathering moisture ready to collide with frigid air. The storm gets the label “Nor’easter“.
Forecasters all over are watching this storm with concern.
From Accuweather.com a forecast for the mid-Atlantic suggests Washington DC might get dumped on big time:
“Accumulations have the potential to reach 2 feet in some areas, matching or exceeding snowfall from the December blizzard.”
The Weather Channel seems to agree:
Major Nor’easter to Slam Mid-Atlantic
“High-populated areas of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania will likely all experience big snow totals. Washington, DC and Baltimore could experience foot plus snow totals.”
Here is the weather channel snowfall map:
Look for pandemonium in Washington soon.
Highs rotate clockwise and lows counter clockwise. By looking at the globe on the credenza in my office, my Texas logic tells me that Greenland sux. The low is moving that directiobn as do dying hurricanes.
How are the hard core greenie weenies spinning this storm?
It appears to be shovel ready.
I am interested in the offered explanation of the term “Nor’easter” as being due to the direction of the wind. I was under the impression that it took its name from its movement up the north-east coast of the USA.
We are very aware of nor’easters in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia because one that comes up the coast is likely to hit both our provinces, though it can veer westward and just dump on Maine, or it can be blown east into the Atlantic and miss us all. But we will be watching this one carefully!
The good thing about living here is that snow is a feature of every winter, and the province is well equipped with trucks that plow off the snow while spreading salt and/or sand, so we are inconvenienced only temporarily.
An irony is that Americans complain about the cold air and bad weather going down from Canada, but we in the Maritimes generally get our worst storms from the USA!
More trivia. An old saying here is:
When the wind
Is from the east
Weather’s not fit
For man or beast.
(Storm winds come from the east or northeast.)
I really appreciate WUWT because it is like a large family of like-minded people scattered around the world. We learn so much more than just about AGW from reading postings here.
IanM
Looks like a reality check for all the politicians in Washington, DC.
The Spirit of the Universe definitely has a sense of humor!
With kind regards,
Oliver K. Manuel
Emeritus Professor of
Nuclear & Space Sciences
Former NASA PI for Apollo
Pandemonium is it? I was wondering they call what’s going on in Washington.
And now word the Indian Gov’t sets up it’s own Climate Change panel, because the IPCC can’t be trusted – who knew?
Rajendra must have stepped on some important toes in Delhi.
Sigh.. Yet another big storm passes us by.
Greetings from the forests of far northern Wisconsin where snowmobiling is life and a pretty good chunk of our economy. This year we have been really suffering as the AO put us under a force field of high pressure that pushes every big storm, like this one, south.
I keep looking at the 16 day GFS and there is just no hope of a ‘real’ storm north of Green Bay. We can’t even get a respectable Alberta Clipper. The AO models say it will ease a little soon, but so far nothing shows up in the forecast models as far as the high pressure backing off.
Q-1.. Will this hellish high pressure ever go away, or is it time to drop the plow off of the truck and store the snowmobiles? We can get snow as late as June, but by March 15th the sun gets so hot it melts 3-6″ a day and ends the snowmobiling season. Time is short.
Q2- Opinions.. how much of the hellish high is an AO phenomenon, how much can be attributed to ENSO or PDO ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nor'easter
This image helps:
http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/2007/2007noreaster.jpg
Quite Rightly (16:03:55) :
I feel bad for the rest of the southeast, and for innocent bystanders in DC, but I can’t help but think that Washington DC, home of the home of the never-ending snow job, deserves every flake that it gets. 😉
Far too many flakes in DC.
Is his real name Paul Dennisovsky the scientist that leaked the information aferall Britain’s Chief Scientist that said that it was theRussians that hacked into the CRU
Roger Knights (20:39:01) :
Mark Walker (19:50:57) :
Once Brazil sets up its own climate panel, to whom will the US and the UK be sending all the money, and how will the IPCC be able to say that the sea is rising is India says their coastlines are fine, or that the rain forests are doomed if Brazil says they are fine, or the glaciers are melting if China says they are fine. What then if Russia joins in and says that, surprising as it is it is actually really cold.
It is not inconceivable that Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa could form the global warming equivalent of the Warsaw pact. They are all upset with the IPCC over misinformation (to put it lightly) in AR4.
That would be a real cold war, skeptics could be the communists (except they would keep their own money) and the warmist would be the capitalists (except that they would give away all their money).
I dunno. Looking at this storm, it looks like a ridge of high pressure is keeping it from making the usual beeline to the coast of the Carolinas. It looks like it is being pushed North up over Florida and Georgia and is being kept well inland at this point. It might slip up and over to the Carolina/Virginia coast but storms like this generally slip out at the border of the Carolinas, explode and then rake up the coast. If it stays inland, locations East of the storm will get rain and the snow will fall mainly over the mountains and spare the major cities like Baltimore and DC.
http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/index_loop.php
It also seems to be moving slower than usual in the case of most storms like this.
There also seems to be another storm winding up at about the Nebraska/Kansas border.
First, the good news:
— the storm system’ll miss me so I don’t have to make repeated shoveling passes on the damn circular drive.
— it’s not a Spring event, which might have given rise to numerous tornadoes.
— for real, honest working people in the northeast, they may be able to leave work early Friday before the real snow arrives. Heck, some might even get to take all of Friday and enjoy a three-day weekend.
The bad news:
— all those self-important political and bureaucratic slugs will get to take a three-day weekend without a second thought (or maybe even a first thought).
It’s just weather get over it!
You notice that these heavy snows are farther south? thankyou there not here! Michigan!
ya ya ya it’s not evidence.
@ur momisugly Alan S – I think you have the responsibility to rain them in then.
——-
More seriously, in New England nor’easters are nasty. The air over the oceans is usually warmer than that over the land and so has more moisture content. It hits the cold air over land and dumps its load. Call it super-lake effect snow if you want to. We are going to dodge this one in MA, etc. Fine by me, but my son would love to make some more money with the plow he has on his F-150. Ever try to attach one of those to a Prius? Does not work well at all.
According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event”.
“Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” he said. (end)
I’m afraid this ‘scientist’ airbrushed out the 1970s, when snow was indeed a rare occurrence. Christmas 1970 and one morning in May in about 1977/8 was the extent of it, until Dec. 1979 showed us again what snow was.
The 1980s had quite a few ‘snow fests’ in SE UK, whilst the 1990s were broadly like the 1970s. As were the 2000s. Until Dec 2009.
We’ll see how this prediction pans out, but I’d file it under ‘stretching data interpretation’ until shown otherwise………
Of course, as expected for TODAY february 5th…and as should be expected for march the 7th….wonder why?
Everybody knew it in the 19th century and up to now the farmers’ almanac and many people, except for the official meteorological “brave new world” science.
One snowstorm means nothing in the climate debate…but what does mean something is, temps at 14.000 feet globally are going up up up. Right now we’re seeing temps not normally seen until mid-April at this level of the atmosphere. Go to this site and click on 14,000 feet and see the data for yourself:
http://discover.itsc.uah.edu/amsutemps/
Of course I’m sure some of the cool-aid drinkers will insist that some NASA technician has fiddled with the data– maybe even Jim Hansen himself! 2010 continues on track to be the warmest year on record…
The local radio reports that an 18-inch snowfall for D.C. would be only the second time on record that the city received such a large amount. And as we all know…..you’ll be seeing more of these huge winter storms as the globe heats up. We definitely have to do something about climate change. I’m getting tired of shoveling all this global warming…
In southern New Hampshire we’ve had snow-cover since early December, but it is pretty thin. The big storms slip out to sea to our south.
Fine with me. Deep snows make even little farm-chores a bother. However my son usually makes a decent income plowing driveways, and he’s not making much money this winter.
I wonder if anyone has calculated the increased “albedo effect” of having snowcover clear down to the Carolinas.
Grouchy old Yankees say, “The less work they can get done down in Washington, the less harm gets done to us up here.”
You all stay warm over there.
But remember when you turn up your heat, Congress and the President don’t like all those nasty dirty coal fired plants.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epat1p2.html
“R. Gates (07:02:22) :
One snowstorm means nothing in the climate debate…but what does mean something is, temps at 14.000 feet globally are going up up up. Right now we’re seeing temps not normally seen until mid-April at this level of the atmosphere. Go to this site and click on 14,000 feet and see the data for yourself:
http://discover.itsc.uah.edu/amsutemps/
Of course I’m sure some of the cool-aid drinkers will insist that some NASA technician has fiddled with the data– maybe even Jim Hansen himself! 2010 continues on track to be the warmest year on record…”
R. gates, maybe it didn’t occur to you but the ocean warms the atmosphere not the other way round so the El Nino warms the lower atmosphere, is that a surprise? You’ve cherrypicked the only height where 2010’s signal comes out on top. Nice link, BTW, good Java visualization.
Of course I’m sure some of the cool-aid drinkers will insist that some NASA technician has fiddled with the data– maybe even Jim Hansen himself! 2010 continues on track to be the warmest year on record…
R. Gates (07:02:22) : Bah!, that’s nothing. Way up at the thermosphere you get up to 2500° celsius. How do you explain that?
Zeke the Sneak (07:53:50) :Why should it be?, don’t wanna think it’s because of coal’s color.
*********
Henry chance (15:33:26) :
A scientist at the University of East Anglia has been questioned by detectives investigating how controversial emails were leaked from the campus’s climate research unit.
Norfolk police have interviewed and taken a formal statement from Paul Dennis, 54, another climate researcher who heads an adjacent laboratory.
*********
I think Paul Dennis is an occasional poster @ur momisugly CA.
The guardian article shows a disturbing attempt of intimating that Paul Dennis is some kind of crook because he communicates with “denier” blogs! This is contemptible to the point of sickening.