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maybe. come to think of it I do vaguely remember b87 and other European posters being pissed during the summer time.
European warm lovers (particularly those from the UK) tend to get pissed because they live in high latitude places where the sun angle is low and the clouds are numerous. They really desire a warm summer day with a powerful sun.
As far as Americans are concerned, it's kind of the opposite. Most of us tend to like colder weather better because of our powerful sun, especially in the south where the sun is strong and summer lasts a long time.
There's only 3 American warm lovers on this forum that I know of: Infamous92, GR8CAT, and nei, and they only show disappointment when it gets cold, not anger.
Just to note, I like cold, but unlike Cambium and snj90, I do NOT want snow. I like continental dry cold from northern Canada that comes sweeping down towards the south during a vortex event. I also don't mind heat in the summer, as long as it stays below 95 F.
European warm lovers (particularly those from the UK) tend to get pissed because they live in high latitude places where the sun angle is low and the clouds are numerous. They really desire a warm summer day with a powerful sun.
As far as Americans are concerned, it's kind of the opposite. Most of us tend to like colder weather better because of our powerful sun, especially in the south where the sun is strong and summer lasts a long time.
There's only 3 American warm lovers on this forum that I know of: Infamous92, GR8CAT, and nei, and they only show disappointment when it gets cold, not anger.
Just to note, I like cold, but unlike Cambium and snj90, I do NOT want snow. I like continental dry cold from northern Canada that comes sweeping down towards the south during a vortex event. I also don't mind heat in the summer, as long as it stays below 95 F.
To be fair, I do enjoy some warmth during summer (hell, I can even enjoy the occasional hot and humid day) but it's when it lasts into the cooler months that it pisses me off. I wouldn't hate a hot summer so much if it just lasted from say, early June until mid August. I prefer a bit of a seasonal lead when it comes to summer. After about August 15, summer loses its appeal and fast at least to me.
While I'm a big fan of cold weather in winter, I was sort of expecting a warm December, so I'm not too annoyed yet.
I do think we could see a winter like 1982-83 or 2006-07 where December and early January are very warm, but then we switch to a cooler than normal pattern for the second half of winter. It's a shame to lose the first half of winter, but if we get over 8" of snowfall in the second half (like 1982-83 but not 2006-07), the warmth will be worth it.
I'm not giving up on the whole of winter unless the pattern looks this bad one month from now.
Also, today's high of 75 broke the old daily record high of 74 set in 1918.
It's crazy but not really. We've seen this all the time except it feels weird because the West was stuck for years with it. now we got it. Typically gets amplified in the winter so now that we're in, it's getting more extreme. Snow in Mexico, no snow in Buffalo still or Albany and warm as hell.
It is hellish, and it's not as if it's anything unheard of either - sure, it's unusually warm but it's nothing that hasn't been etched in the record books quite a few times before in just the last century. These sort of patterns do happen* across the warmer half or so of the continent, driven by the Twin Curses of the Laurentian East south of the boreal forest - the Gulf of Mexico and the low elevation of the land. The Gulf sometimes provides moisture to enhance snowstorms but its much more common contribution is warm moist air that precludes wintry weather and melts old snow (or worse, rains on it). The other curse is the low elevation of the land. These places are in the thirties and forties latitude, and in interglacial periods that works against winter weather - altitude is required to overcome that, and generally it's not there. Most of the American East doesn't even reach 1000 feet above sea level**. So those coldies inhabiting lands of the East south of the boreal forest are doomed to eternal torment, at least until the interglacial ends. As an aside, you can see on Earth Wind Map that the boreal forests remain properly wintry, with temperatures this evening mostly between 0F and 30F with snow on the ground - in southern Canada even this record warm push hasn't pushed thawing temperatures north of the 50th parallel. In those regions Yuletide weather patterns differ in the degree of cold and snowiness rather than whether there will be cold or snow at all. It helps considerably that Canada north of the 50th parallel is out of range of the worst the Gulf of Mexico throws up northward. Perhaps we should dust off my old idea of getting rid of that body of water entirely - coldie terrafomers unite!
*To the extent that it's more likely than not any given person will experience such a pattern within his/her childhood and youth. If you're of the school of thought that people should have white Christmases in that season of life, then anywhere with less than 95% historical odds (1 in 20) won't do, and that means only a small portion of the American East qualifies.
**That's a major problem, which is especially maddening when the New England treeline is only at 6000 feet or so. Assuming a lapse rate of 3.5F per 1000 feet (observed between Mount Washington and nearby lowland sites at the same latitude) this is the altitude selected cities would need to acquire a subpolar climate (the line for which is somewhat north of the >90% white Christmas line, but why not?):
Hartford, CT - 4200 feet
Buffalo, NY - 4300 feet
Louisville, KY - 6800 feet
Philadelphia, PA - 5700 feet
Atlanta, GA - 8000 feet
Miami, FL - impossible, since the treeline is lower than the persistent snowpack line due to low seasonality
As you can see these altitudes are high by global standards but nothing unseen - most of southern Africa features them for example. It's just that the U.S. was one of the losers in the uplift sweepstakes.
Quote:
Check this out ... So we all know currently theres a strong storm that is over the Great lakes (what else is new lately!) but here's the next 36hrs... That main storm is transferring to a new storm off the Maine coast into Nova Scotia. So Another round of snow for Northern Maine.
Typically a transfer off the Mid Atlantic coast would generate a NorEaster (snowstorms).. this transfer is so far north it's not funny. but maybe its a start!?
Well, as soon as the pattern snaps back into a more favorable position for the East (as I believe it will in time - warmth sucks when approaching Christmas, but we should remember that last December wasn't too different) someone in the Northeast corridor will be cleaning up with all these storms and this ongoing rich moisture supply - after all, it wouldn't have taken a drastic shift for that storm to slam the coast.
I just went out jogging wearing a light, long-sleeved shirt. I had planned on going in bathing suit and shorts but the wind picked up, making the 60 degree temperatures feel a slight bit brisk. Definitely not December-ish though.
Last night was surprisingly early summer-like, temps in the 60's with on and off downpours and then a lull before a squall line moved through. Not bad at all for mid December.
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Huge Blow Torch East of the Rockie Mountains!
