Last year the Northern Hemispheric snowcover was the second highest in the NOAA snow history back to the mid 1960s. It trailed only the legendary 1977/78 winter. It fell just ahead of 2007/08, pushing it to third place. The winter of 2002/03 dropped to fourth place and the bitter winter of 1978/79 fifth.
All through last winter the snowfall was above normal from the end of the first week of December through the third week of March.
The pattern will continue cold across the western parts of Canada, much of United States and across Eurasia. A strong blocking high pressure will push back from the North Atlantic to the Davis Straits. Snow will be heavy along the edges of the cold air and near the unfrozen Great Lakes where many feet will accumulate. More bitter arctic air – perhaps coldest since 1894 is forecast for the UK.
Looks like a White Christmas in many areas much like last year.
See PDF here. White Christmas forecast coming.
Not a thing of the past then?
Snow glorious snow:
http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2010/12/12/weather-service-warns-state-midwest-blizzard/
The Gates of Hell, inspired by another blogger.
I have seen the great alarmists,
I have heard them scream and yell.
I have listened to their prophets,
I have watched their “show and tell”.
I endured the mainstream media
hit and hit the warning bell
so the greed could be what feed ya!
I have seen the Gates of Hell.
I have read the temperature readings,
I have seen them been adjusted.
I have heard the liars’ pleadings,
and they have still not been busted.
I have seen the truthful waver
in the fight where science fell
and the path for mankind’s saviour
straight into the Gates of Hell.
I have seen the truth been covered,
I have seen the hope lie dead,
and the truth may be uncovered
only when a blogg is read.
I know what they’re going after:
evil, in which they excel.
In the end, both truth and laughter
tear down all the Gates of Hell.
This thread didn’t look too stale, but perhaps it’s old enough (by blog standards) to mention something a bit off topic. I live in northern Arkansas. They’re calling for a low of 9 degrees F tonight (Dec. 12). -4 wind chill (which is the number my wife likes to take). It’s currently spitting snow and 20 degrees F (Dec. 12). Single digit temps 9 days BEFORE winter officially starts. And it’s been cold here besides. The implications of this make me shiver. No, really. Single digit temps are not common here in the worst of winter, let alone 13 days before Christmas.
Looking at those charts, I can’t help but remember something I read somewhere many years ago, about winter weather and a relationship between temperature and snow which is not quite what common sense says it should be. The reasoning went something like this: the colder an air mass is, the less moisture it can carry. The less moisture there is in the air, the less snow it can produce. Very cold air has so little moisture that it produces very little snow. However, air that is warmer but still below freezing can carry more moisture, and produce more snow. This means that on the average, a winter that is relatively warm but still below freezing will produce more snow cover than a winter that is very cold. So, in a devious way, a more snowy winter might indicate climatic warming.
Is there any validity to this?
I’ve read that this past November was by far the warmest in the recorded temperature record on a global average basis. Has something to do with lack of ice west of Greenland and in much of Hudson’s Bay. Temperatures were very warm in mid November, which matches my recollection, although they cooled off during the last week of November. I read that parts of Greenland are still getting rain, not snow, this week. Any truth to this evidence of warm temps in the arctic regions?
You can almost hear it now…
“These are extreme weather events, and extreme weather events are one result we expect to see from global warming. Therefore, while these results do not match predictions of reduced snow cover, the extreme nature of these results are not inconsistent and actually reinforce global warming ideas.”
Interestingly enough, the start to the snow season along the Colorado Front Range has been one of the LEAST snowiest ever. I am a snow spotter for the NWS & I have recorded only 1.2″ so far. At my spotter location, I would normally be up above 40″ by this date. The 1.2″ has come it just little dustings here & there – not one real storm yet. This is a local anomaly though. The adjacent mountains to the west are doing great (snowpack is 126% of normal as of this morning) & just to the north in Wyoming there has been plenty of snow.
By analog, comparing to 77-78 at the top of the article, Denver was also very dry at the start of that snow season, with most the snow falling in Mar-May of 78.
Watching the various runs of the GFS, I would say our odds of a white Christmas aren’t looking too good with the pattern in place continuing.
In Wallowa County, this degree of snow cover over an extended period of weeks this early in the snow season is unusual at best and may set more records than it already has. It is reminiscent of the 1877 Oregon Trail blizzards my great-grandfather encountered on his way to his original destination, the Willamette Valley. He decided to stay through the winter here in Wallowa County as the blizzards had closed the passes through the Blues before December. By Spring he then decided to stay permanently and is listed as one of the last pioneers to settle the valley. His name is on the concrete commemorative arch at the County Courthouse in Enterprise. James H. Haun.
Just announced that the inflatable roof of the Metrodome in Minnesota where the Vikings play has collapsed from snow load.
Brian H says:
December 11, 2010 at 9:07 pm
‘Will this be the year the ice sheets start their march?’
Well, as an old pagan, at this time of year I shall pray fervently to Sol Invictus that it is not. We do not need even a little Ice Age.
Parallels with 1978: Heavy snow. Early cold on-set. Bitterly cold temps. The only thing missing is talk of the “coming ice-age” that was so prevalent back then. That should start any day now. /sarc
The key effect of more snow is an increased albedo. It will not warm as much after the snow stops and the next blast of cold air will be even colder as a result.
If this continues it will be a very cold winter.
Gary says:
December 12, 2010 at 5:15 am
“I live in northern Arkansas. They’re calling for a low of 9 degrees F tonight (Dec. 12).”
I monitor St. Louis closely because I experience such joy in no longer being in its winter weather. The bottom is dropping out there ten days early this year. Such an early crash in temperature is very unusual.
>>Andrew
>Here in Australia the south east of the continent is having one of the
>>wettest years on record.
But we were told that the great Australian drought was a sure sign of Global Warming. You don’t mean that they were telling us porkies. do you? … 😉
.
I am utterly SHOCKED that the 1976-77 season isn’t on that top ten list.
I am even MORE shocked that the 1978-79 season isn’t.
Both those years (as was 1977-78) saw the Alberta Clipper in full force.
All I have to say is that if we in Chicago have to go back to those kinds of winters to to not have global warming, SCREW the alarmists and give me AGW. It is NICE to not have white-outs and blizzards. And it is NICE to be able to swim in the summertime. Those winters were beyond brutal.
Funny, I live just outside Detroit and we are presently getting our first snowfall of the season. 2 – 4″. My latest client work has been in Chicago. Basically the same story there … Not that I am skeptical, but the map does show Michigan covered in snow which, until today, was not the case. I have empirical evidence to prove it!
“Just announced that the inflatable roof of the Metrodome in Minnesota where the Vikings play has collapsed from snow load.”
I’ll have to sub Kitna for Manning or forfeit.
Surely the UN can establish some better fantasy football rules for this eventuality.
Since this roof collapse is consistent with “the models”, I should collect compensation for the possible collapse of my Fantasy Football playoff hopes. The winner this year should have to pay me, and any other affected team, a 25% mitigation fee.
Unless I am the eventual winner.
I want my globull warming!
When will AGW 2.0 be out–I’ll take a beta release. The copy I have is defective.
All our thermometers are going where no thermometer has been before (or at least not lately). I wish I knew where to find tabular data for this area this year, and for the year I moved here (1989-1990)(Omaha). I think is colder now than it was then and then was the coldest I’d been since the last time I was near the Arctic Circle in the Atlantic (or even since I was last in Palmdale in the winter).
But I am 20 years older–maybe that makes the difference.
Just flew back from the Big Island to San Jose yesterday and no I did not offset my carbon emissions. On Saturday, the island was hit by a major storm bringing the rare and exciting white stuff to the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. At a more habitable elevation it rained and rained hard the entire day. Lots of small scale flooding as a consequence. So if you are going to the Big Island for Christmas, you can take your skis along, there is plenty of snow there on top. Looking at the jetstream all that “pineapple express” weather will visit BC next then eventually find its way to the midwest in time for another pre-Christmas snowfall. Cheers!
Is the cooling of the planet just the tip of the forthcomming iceberg?
It would be very interesting to have someone put up the total rainfall/moisture for the same regions as covered by the snowfall chart. 4 inches of light fluffy snow does not represent the same water content (or energy to tranport it there) as 4 inches of heavy wet snow, or 4 inches of rain. If the acceleration of the hydrological cycle hypothesis is correct in relation to the 40% increase in CO2, it would be the total annual moisture falling that should increase. Snowfall amounts alone do not indicate anything specific related to AGW, as there could be disruptions in global circulation patterns that would cause more or less snow to fall in any given year. In general though, during the winter months (at least during these early years of AGW) snow will still fall and we may get more of it if more moisture is being evaporated from the oceans due to AGW and the accleration of hyrdological cycle. While increased snowfall is counter-intuitive, it related to an acceleration of the hydrological cycle.
Fit_Nick says:
December 12, 2010 at 10:18 am
Is the cooling of the planet just the tip of the forthcomming iceberg?
____
Except for the fact that the planet isn’t cooling.
“Except for the fact that the planet isn’t cooling.”
Is that before or after all the “adjustments” and “corrections”?
Does it involve the use of thermometers, or is it all “computer models”?