AP’s Seth Borenstein is running a story titled “49 states dusted with snow; Hawaii’s the holdout“. As shown in the map below, every state in the Continental US has snow someplace. As pointed out in the article, this is a rare occurrence:
The idea of 50 states with snow is so strange that the federal office that collects weather statistics doesn’t keep track of that number and can’t say whether it has ever happened. The office can’t even say whether 49 out of 50 has ever taken place before.
It’s been a very busy week for snow and also for lowest max temperature, thanks to our El Nino induced weather patterns, while the Pacific Northwest is seeing warmer conditions, the southeast and eastern US gets lots of snow thanks to the pattern.
Record Events for Sat Feb 6, 2010 through Fri Feb 12, 2010
Total Records: 2182
Rainfall: 662
Snowfall: 1180
High Temperatures: 9
Low Temperatures: 31
Lowest Max Temperatures: 220
Highest Min Temperatures: 80
Continuing the pattern of top ten Northern Hemisphere snow extent rankings from October, December and January, it looks like February may also be headed for the record books.
North America, Europe and Asia are all showing large positive anomalies in snow cover.
Daily Departure – February 11, 2010
Source: Rutgers University Global Snow Lab
The record February snow extent occurred in 1978 with an anomaly of more than 5 million square miles. That may be tough to beat, but from the map above it may have already happened. February will definitely be ranked in the top two.
Source: Rutgers University Global Snow Lab
WUWT reader Marcia pointed to this interesting link
NORMAN, Oklahoma — A University of Oklahoma student is taking an extra interest in this week’s snow storms in the south and northeast and is working to document the events in a very unique way. Patrick Marsh said it’s likely by the end of the week snow will be on the ground in all 50 states
Ten years ago we were told that “Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past” Alarmists are now attempting to rewrite history and claim that they predicted record snow and cold all along – but it simply isn’t true. Everyone from Hansen on down was predicting the demise of snow in the temperate zones, until they realized they were wrong.
“People should know when they are conquered.” – Quintus from the movie Gladiator.
h/t to Steve Goddard for the story idea and several content links.
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I had no idea snow was a function of colder then average temps. Warmer temps produce more moisture and in the winter that falls as snow.
bob sykes (14:18:23) :
Doesn’t Hawaii have a seasonal snow cap on Mauna Kea?
—…—…—
On another forum http://www.freerepublic.com that point was brought and a writer from HI reported that they are in a drought (low precipitation) cycle, and that (contrary to what I expected) the tops of their volcanoes are very cold, but ice free right now.
You’re right, usually, both volcanoes on the big island are ice-covered.
i have no other confirmation of they’re being ice-free other than his report.
The rain and even snow flurries rained out qualifying and practice at Daytona Beach friday.
Awww shucks! Danica Patrick’s hair got messed up in it…
http://mikenorth.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/08_danica-patrick_07.jpg
http://sportsfly.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/danica_patrick_winner-1.jpg
http://bhlaab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/danica-patrick4.jpg
http://cdn.allleftturns.com/www/sites/default/files/articles/Danica_Patrick_(10)_618.jpg
Maybe that’s why she crashed on lap 68? Or was she fixing her makeup? Forgot to go to the bathroom before the race?
[And that, folks, shows the superiority of WUWT. -mod who refuses to be named]
This for Jan may add insight.
http://daedalearth.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/tltmonamg_5-2_2010013.png
This is a work in progress and the image is wrong, I know.
“Lots of moisture + cold temperatures = snow. Right?”
Lots of moisture + global warming = rain.
Re: CodeTech (Feb 13 14:34),
No apologies necessary for wanting a car that’s a blast to drive. Life’s too short to drive a Prius unless you are a high mileage guy. I like to cut loose with my 300C sometimes, all 5.7 litres of bellowing V8. Convert some fossil fuel back into plant food.
The figure above shows the tongue of warmth extending into Southern Ontario but I have observed the temperatures to be steadily a few degrees below average at the London Airport. No exceptionally low temperatures, just steadily below average. We also have had below normal snow fall here, probably because the storm tracks are shifted south due to the AO being so negative.
Maybe Danica couldn’t figure out if she was racey or a racer.
I do wish her well, however. 🙂 You go, girl!
rbateman (16:46:58) :
Slushy the Polar Bear sez: “Remember, only Danica can prevent Gore effects.”
Thought that might warm you fellows up!
Wanta bet that no races get snowed out?
Climate scientists over the last years have tortured, manipulated and cherry picked climate data until it confessed to the AGW theory.
If scientists would have used the data they had on hand to identify climate cycles such as the PDO and El Nino events could they have been able to better predict unfolding weather pattern similar to what we have see in the 70th and inform communities and the public well in advance to prepare?
You can ball park the difference using well known rules of thumb intended for photographers to estimate exposures for photographs.
A standard assumption in photography is that a “typical scene” is approximated by an 18% reflectance gray card. That implies that normally vegitated terrain absorbs approximately 82% of the suns light, and reflects 18%.
In the Zone system of photography popularized by Ansul Adams, each “zone” represents one F-stop of exposure which is by definition a doubling of the light intensity. The 18% reflectance gray card represents Zone 5 exposure and Zone 8 represents brilliant white surfaces like a snow field in flat sunlight, and clean white paint. Zone 9 represents specular reflections such as direct reflection off of snow or a glint of a specular reflection of the sun off of Chrome or similar reflective surface.
Those relationships imply that clean white snow has a brightness of at least 3 F-stops (2x2x2 = 8). Eight times the brightness of typical terrain would mean that clean white snow absorbs approximately 10.5% of the suns visible light (photographic film is sensitive to), compared to typical terrains absorption of about 82%.
Ball park, typical terrain reflects 18% of the light, clean new snow reflects approximately 90% of the light it is exposed to.
Larry
Waste of time, eh? Rather like your drivel?
Point is, we do understand that it’s just weather. Unlike you clowns, we have a sense of humor. Why not go back and hang with your friends at RC? Oh, sorry, they ain’t posting much lately are they. So you must be lonely. Must be because the pseudo-science is settled.
Bob Sykes, WindRider, and RACookPE1978
re: Mauna Kea snow
Although the “White Mountain” does often have winter snow (and skiing – no chair lift, just the road which is sometimes closed due to snow/ice/wind) there currently is none. Temp at 7am today (Sat., 2/13) was 32F with 5% RH and the outlook is for dry, stable conditions to continue.
Too bad, could’ve been 50 out of 50.
Off topic But…
Has anyone noticed that the Oceans have not gained or lost water?
The plates that separated our land masses are not distored. If there was rise or fall of the oceans since the beginning then the edges of our land masses would have growth distortions or submersion distortions.
R.S.Brown (14:24:39) : “Stephen Foster wrote the original Oh Susanna lyrics in 1847.”
Hey, I haven’t heard that song in ages! Strange, though, that for several years I’ve been hearing it. Huh. Well, here’s a couple of 2010 versions…
Global warming… don’t you cry for me
On now I go, to Al’s big house
With money for his fee
Or…
Glaciers melting… won’t see ’em anymore
So said that man, who wrote that book
of fantasies n’ whores
🙂
Anyway… Well, I forgot what I was orginally going to say!
Ed Murphy (19:36:56) :
That would be something to see: Danica reeling in/running down Gore at the NASCAR track. The purse would surely go out the window…snow or no snow.
just one question, how does Hawaii get snow?
You are misstating the null hypothesis. The null hypothesis is that the warming is within natural variability. But gee what do we expect?
There is no empirical evidence demonstrating that the current warm period is man-made. Nor is there any evidence that it is warmer than the Roman Warm Period, the Medieval Warm Period or the Holocene Optimum; all which were warmer than today and absent of man-made CO2.
Simply repeating the mantra is a non-starter. Your ship is holed and sinking and has been demonstrated to be a fraud.
We’re still waiting for the data, code, and methodology which your co-religionists are afraid to expose to the light of day.
TanGeng (20:26:35) :
just one question, how does Hawaii get snow?
14,000′ plus elevation,
snow, a rare and exciting event
rare must be a relative term
😉
David (23:05:29) :
TanGeng (20:26:35) :
You can go skiing and then go to the beach and see girls in bikinis on the same day on the same island
do the girls ski in bikinis?? hehe
dear Sun comment very good
Sol seems to be coming back to life but this solar min has been deep
Together with an el nino pattern – means a tough nothern winter
Meanwhile we’ve had some drought breaking rains in Aust
You can feel the tipping point approaching
“Phil M. (14:43:39) :
[…]
There seems to be a deep misunderstanding about global climate change on this thread (and this website, for that matter). I know of no AGW climate scientist that predicted the effects of climate change would be uniform across the globe. Some places may get hotter; some places may get cooler. Some places may get wetter; some places may get drier. Some places may get more snow; some places may get less snow. Get it? ”
If i understand you correctly there is absolutely no reason why anyone should ever have cared for the AGW “hypothesis” in the first place because it makes no prediction at all.
“Mike D. (15:01:56) :
Is it possible to calculate/estimate the delta-albedo effect?
The reflected IR radiation from soil and vegetation, that is allegedly “captured” by CO2 thereby causing alleged warming, cannot be of the same quantities as when reflected off snow.”
“hotrod ( Larry L ) (19:45:06) :
Ball park, typical terrain reflects 18% of the light, clean new snow reflects approximately 90% of the light it is exposed to.”
Good points. I’ve been mulling over the albedo-effect myself.
One thing that has occurred to me is that, even though all the reflected light represents a net loss to earth’s energy-budget, it likely would warm the troposphere on its way out. Therefore a blip of temporary warming might be seen in satellite data, even as cooling occurs.
A second factor which might enhance the temporary blip in temperature data is the simple fact enormous amounts of latent heat is released from water vapor when it changes its state to liquid and then solid, in the blizzards which create the expanded snow cover. This released heat is sucked back up again as the snow is melted, and it again becomes latent, but as long as the snow cover exists the released heat is free to float about and make temperatures appear higher.
Lastly, cold air settles down and often spreads south as a thin layer. At the end of every cold spell I notice temperatures are warmer atop Mt Washington in New Hampshire, at 6000 feet, than they are in surrounding valleys. This suggests arctic temperatures may evade the notice of satellites, by spreading out below 6000 feet, “below the radar.”
In conclusion, if one only looks at temperatures in the troposphere one may over-focus on a blip, and miss the big picture.
>>I had no idea snow was a function of colder then average
>>temps. Warmer temps produce more moisture and in the
>>winter that falls as snow.
Errrm, the average winter temperature in the UK is about 4oc.
http://www.climate4you.com/CentralEnglandTemperatureSince1659.htm
Difficult to get settled snow in the UK with an average temp of 4oc. Perforce, to get settled snow you need a degree of cooling below average, which is exactly what has happened in NW Europe this year.
.
>>Robert Austin (19:15:59) :
>>No apologies necessary for wanting a car that’s a
>>blast to drive. Life’s too short to drive a Prius unless
>>you are a high mileage guy.
I do so hate this pious Prius guff, that is all over the media.
The Prius does 48mpg on the highway:
http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/specs.html (click on mpg)
My large 2.0ltr Citroen C5 does 57mpg on the highway:
http://www.citroen.co.uk/new-cars/citroen-c5-tourer/in-more-detail/technical-specifications/
The Greenest of these two vehicles is the Citroen diesel. Thus anyone buying a Prius is a pious idiot who is out to destroy the environment with their gas-guzzeler, and polluting the environment with all those heavy metals in the battery-pack.
Got it??
.