Coldest Weather of the Season....Thus Far
Hi All,
After one of the coldest Decembers in recent history, January is also shaping out below if not well below normal. This week will bring the coldest air of the winter into the Midwest. At the cold air rides in, blizzard conditions should develop in open country. It's not necessarily that there will be a great deal of snow, but there is so much fresh snow on the ground and the winds will be very gusty at times, starting today in Minnesota and tonight in Illinois. This week will likely be the coldest I've seen in Minneapolis since my time here (and maybe coldest since 2000), and potentially the coldest in the 'Dota area since 1999. Wind chills will be brutal later tonight into Tuesday, and then potentially again later this week as a secondary cold front moves down. Here in the Cities, we are likely to drop below zero this evening and potentially not climb above until Friday. And with a handful of overnight shifts later this week, the 'Stang is ticked. Sorry girl, not much I can do. And Heather and friends, enjoy your first week of second semester classes! I will defend that NIU is the windiest campus in the country. Nothing between Canada and the dorms except a fence.
Here are some graphics for December 2008. 7th coldest in Minnesota and 10th wettest in Illinois looking at over a century of stats:
Why so cold and snowy? Well right now from climate discussions and outlooks by the NWS Climate Prediction Center, it appears heavily tied that a resurgent La Nina (central Pacific waters cooling) is responsible for the pattern locking in this cold setup for much of the U.S. It's amazing that not just the Midwest has seen this. Snow has been observed in such odd cities as Seattle, Las Vegas, Sacramento, and New Orleans this winter. Despite that, the Carolinas and Georgia had one of their warmest winters on record. But for most of us, this very well could go down as the coldest winter in most of the Breeze reader's lifetimes thus far (or since the 70's). Winter is defined and compared in meteorology as Dec-Feb, so keep in mind we are about half done. (I hear applause from many of you?!) Also interesting to note, is that the typical wintertime severe weather in the Gulf Coast states has been very quiet thus far.
Thoughts? Vujea in particular?
Stay warm from the 'Sota to the 'Dota.
MTF
After one of the coldest Decembers in recent history, January is also shaping out below if not well below normal. This week will bring the coldest air of the winter into the Midwest. At the cold air rides in, blizzard conditions should develop in open country. It's not necessarily that there will be a great deal of snow, but there is so much fresh snow on the ground and the winds will be very gusty at times, starting today in Minnesota and tonight in Illinois. This week will likely be the coldest I've seen in Minneapolis since my time here (and maybe coldest since 2000), and potentially the coldest in the 'Dota area since 1999. Wind chills will be brutal later tonight into Tuesday, and then potentially again later this week as a secondary cold front moves down. Here in the Cities, we are likely to drop below zero this evening and potentially not climb above until Friday. And with a handful of overnight shifts later this week, the 'Stang is ticked. Sorry girl, not much I can do. And Heather and friends, enjoy your first week of second semester classes! I will defend that NIU is the windiest campus in the country. Nothing between Canada and the dorms except a fence.
Here are some graphics for December 2008. 7th coldest in Minnesota and 10th wettest in Illinois looking at over a century of stats:
Why so cold and snowy? Well right now from climate discussions and outlooks by the NWS Climate Prediction Center, it appears heavily tied that a resurgent La Nina (central Pacific waters cooling) is responsible for the pattern locking in this cold setup for much of the U.S. It's amazing that not just the Midwest has seen this. Snow has been observed in such odd cities as Seattle, Las Vegas, Sacramento, and New Orleans this winter. Despite that, the Carolinas and Georgia had one of their warmest winters on record. But for most of us, this very well could go down as the coldest winter in most of the Breeze reader's lifetimes thus far (or since the 70's). Winter is defined and compared in meteorology as Dec-Feb, so keep in mind we are about half done. (I hear applause from many of you?!) Also interesting to note, is that the typical wintertime severe weather in the Gulf Coast states has been very quiet thus far.
Stay warm from the 'Sota to the 'Dota.
MTF
Thoughts? I'd like to complain about it being so cold... but then I always remember- at least it's not as cold as the 'sota.
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I'm at the verge of complaining about Mother Nature too, which I rarely do. What a winter. Down in Washington with the melting and re-freezing I would think the roads are going to be brutal by spring. They seemed like they already were in Mendota when I was home a few weeks ago. Granted I was only on four roads ... shaped in a quadrilateral ... known as "the strip".
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When will we see some decent snowfall in Indiana, Todd? I believe there was some mid-December, but we were in MO and missed it all (and believe you-me, there was NO snow in MO.)! My kids wanna go sledding and build snowmen! All we get is a half an inch at a time.
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More snow?! Beth, you would just throw more Facebook snowballs at me with more snow! Ha! You, Josh, and family have been soooo close to seeing snow. Central IN and central IL are usually the gradient in snow events, where snow transitions to ice and rain, and also is where above freezing temperatures poke up to too frequently to keep the snow on the ground very long. But, you don't have to go that far north. Check out this link for snow depth across the Midwest: http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/DLY_SNDP_MAPS.htm Not too far away!
I think it means you need to visit snowy Mendota more often!
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What's your prediction on how long until we see some spring-like weather in Central Illinois? This winter seems as long and bitter cold as all the others.
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Put me on the spot Jamie! Ha! We were doing some comparisons of this cold air outbreak, and it looks very similar to one in January of '94. That one was followed by a several day warm-up, which there does look to be potential for early to the middle part of next week. However, the rest of the '94 winter was extremely cold, and this winter is showing no signs of large scale change. Plus, you especially in the P-town area do not want to see rapid snow melt up stream. You couldn't eat at riverfront Kelleher's then!
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My theory is getting some big holes this winter. La Nina has wrecked my hypotheses. It will be interesting to see if we have an extended winter or if Winter got here early and leaves early. I like your thinking, though, that Old Man Winter is halfway done. My pale ass is yearning for some sunshine.
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Excellent article!
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author, good work
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Winter is over! Hooray!
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Why nobody responds to Comments?
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How to be confident in yourself?
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And you have a cool site and blog!
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How to be confident in yourself?
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And you have a cool site and blog!
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Excellent article!
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author, good work
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Winter is over! Hooray!
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Excellent article!
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Do not quite understand, do you transfer your texts
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Where can I read more about this?
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ok! theme revealed... thanks
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