Winter 2013-14 Thread — Northern Hemisphere (snow, ice, record, rainfall)

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by dxnerd86

Looks like the west coast is having a heatwave:

NOAA National Weather Service

NOAA National Weather Service

That San Francisco forecast is warm even for mid summer.

Take a look at the anomalies for Europe for the last 14 days. And it looks pretty much the same for Dec 2013. This has to be unsustainable in the long run. The sooner this flips to average or below average the sooner our winter will get back to average. I'm not holding my breath though with that high stuck in the Pacific. We had two really cold winters in 2010 and 2011, followed by two mild. Europe just seems to get nothing but above average year after year.

[Mac15]

Sorry but you are talking nonsense. Last march was freezing cold and europe itself had an ice cold february in 2012 so that is indeed wrong.

We do not get above average year after year

[Mac15]

Widespread snow March 2013 - Met Office Education

Worst March snow for 30 years brings chaos - Telegraph

[Mac15]

Early 2012 European cold wave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by tom77falcons

I hope this freak winter never happens again. What is causing this permanent super high pressure in the northeastern Pacific? Why won't it budge or break down? This has gone on since November.

Similar to the central plains heat wave when the Ridge was parked there instead. Now it's shifted to the West and "stuck". Need more coffee to get technical. Maybe this Nice long article regarding that ridge will help. The Ridiculously Resilient Ridge continues into 2014; California drought intensifies | California Weather Blog


Some strong NWS discussions from out there:

-------------------------------

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
315 AM PST TUE JAN 14 2014

FOR THOSE HOPING FOR RAINFALL, UNFORTUNATELY NOTHING ENCOURAGING
TO REPORT EVEN LOOKING OUT THROUGH 16 DAYS (JANUARY 30TH) AS THE
EVER PERSISTENT RIDGE REBUILDS BEHIND THE DEPARTING LONGWAVE TROF.
500 MB HEIGHTS WILL ROCKET BACK UP T0 OVER 585 DM WITH 850 MB
TEMPS STILL WELL ABOVE NORMAL AND THE OFFSHORE FLOW CONTINUING AT
THE SURFACE. GOOD SHOT THAT WE WILL SEE MORE RECORD HIGHS SET NEXT
WEEK. EVEN LOOKING AT A SLEW OF ENSEMBLES AND MODELS REALLY DOES NOT
OFFER ANY SIGN OF HOPE. CONFIDENCE REMAINS VERY HIGH FOR THE MUCH
DRIER THAN NORMAL WEATHER TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE LAST FULL WEEK
OF THE MONTH.

UNLESS THERE IS A HUGE CHANGE IN THE PATTERN THAT THE MODELS ARE
NOT PICKING UP ON, WE ARE ON TRACK TO HAVE THE DRIEST JANUARY ON
RECORD FOR VIRTUALLY ALL LOCATIONS.

------------------------------------

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
920 PM PST MON JAN 13 2014

.SHORT TERM... UPPER RIDGE BEGINS TO BUILD OVER THE AREA.
THE UPPER RIDGE WILL BE FIRMLY IN CONTROL WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY.
LOW LEVEL OFFSHORE FLOW WILL DEVELOP WEDNESDAY...

.LONG TERM...AN UPPER RIDGE WILL BE OVER THE AREA ON FRIDAY FOR ONE
LAST DRY DAY. A WEAKENING FRONT WILL BRING A LITTLE RAIN SATURDAY
WITH SOME SHOWERS LINGERING INTO SUNDAY BEHIND THE FRONT. AN UPPER
RIDGE WILL REBUILD OVER THE AREA MONDAY FOR A RETURN TO DRY WEATHER.

[chicagogeorge]

Originally Posted by tom77falcons

I hope this freak winter never happens again. What is causing this permanent super high pressure in the northeastern Pacific? Why won't it budge or break down? This has gone on since November.

Ridges are like that sometimes. The Russian heat wave of 2010, and the big ridge over the central US in March of 2012, and during the summer of 2012 were also stubborn, and took weeks to break down.


This was the set up in March 2012



We had 8 days above 80F peaking at 86F







This was the position of the ridge by June of 2012




Now the ridge happens to be over Alaska

Enjoy it people in Europe and the US West Coast. I will be jumping for joy once the giant high pressure is dead and gone for good.

I hope by the time the ridge breaks down, we will have a good Greenland Block set up

Let's keep the zonal flow for Spring shall we

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by chicagogeorge

Ridges are like that sometimes. The Russian heat wave of 2010, and the big ridge over the central US in March of 2012, and during the summer of 2012 were also stubborn, and took weeks to break down.


This was the set up in March 2012

We had 8 days above 80F peaking at 86F

This was the position of the ridge by June of 2012

Now the ridge happens to be over Alaska

I hope by the time the ridge breaks down, we will have a good Greenland Block set up

Let's keep the zonal flow for Spring shall we

Nice maps! Yeah, we see the shifts all the time, nothing out of ordinary. Sometimes sits there for months on end. We had that ridge parked in the East way too many times in past few years.

The scary part about a western ridge for me is that the Southeast ridge could easily pop up but the atmosphere has been carved out so much with these troughs and arctic highs that it shouldn't be just yet..

And yes, lets get some kind of blocking so the cold air that does come down for us gets trapped! And storms can blow up.

Are you ready for some action after the 19th?

[Mac15]

I think the US has had enough cold for now...

There are signs of cold for here and it will only be the months end by the time its here. It can only be mild for so long.

[P London]

Originally Posted by Mac15

I think the US has had enough cold for now...

There are signs of cold for here and it will only be the months end by the time its here. It can only be mild for so long.

Weather doesn't work like that its still winter in North America and will be until mid March, face facts we have an Oceanic climate not a continental or subpolar one.

[MeteoMan]

We had a moderate snow shower last night at about 3AM. Melted by now though. Some big flakes though.