Sunday, February 05, 2012
Still no Niña
We're thanking the weather gods for continued relief from La Niña. Most of the northern US, in fact, is getting off easy this winter. Around here we had one good solid snowstorm a couple weeks ago. Otherwise it's been cold and dry.
This winter shares a distinction with the previous summer. Both have been typical but narrow in temperatures; both have been unusually dry in precip.
Daily highs and lows have been strictly average: 85/60 in summer, 30/20 in winter. What's missing is range. Previous summer lacked the usual triple-digit hot spells, and this winter lacks the usual single-digit cold snaps. It's just relentlessly normal.
Meanwhile, winter is banging the Eastern Hemisphere hard. Some of the Europanic is silly, with Britain getting all weeweed up about temperatures near freezing!!!!! and one horrible inch of snow!!!!!!! but the problems in the Balkan area are genuinely serious, with -5F and six feet in places that aren't prepared for it.
Has the Arctic Oscillation changed its pattern again, as it did in 1976?
= = = = =
Irritation: The local media continually describe this winter as "warmer than normal". It's not, dammit. It's drier than normal. The 2009-10 El Niño winter showed what happens with warm temperatures and normal precip: Lots of rain instead of snow. I can halfway understand the confusion ... we unconsciously associate snow with cold winter, and associate non-snow with warm summer. Still, if you're posing as a meteorologist you should make a point of distinguishing temp from precip. ¶ 5:24 AM
We're thanking the weather gods for continued relief from La Niña. Most of the northern US, in fact, is getting off easy this winter. Around here we had one good solid snowstorm a couple weeks ago. Otherwise it's been cold and dry.
This winter shares a distinction with the previous summer. Both have been typical but narrow in temperatures; both have been unusually dry in precip.
Daily highs and lows have been strictly average: 85/60 in summer, 30/20 in winter. What's missing is range. Previous summer lacked the usual triple-digit hot spells, and this winter lacks the usual single-digit cold snaps. It's just relentlessly normal.
Meanwhile, winter is banging the Eastern Hemisphere hard. Some of the Europanic is silly, with Britain getting all weeweed up about temperatures near freezing!!!!! and one horrible inch of snow!!!!!!! but the problems in the Balkan area are genuinely serious, with -5F and six feet in places that aren't prepared for it.
Has the Arctic Oscillation changed its pattern again, as it did in 1976?
= = = = =
Irritation: The local media continually describe this winter as "warmer than normal". It's not, dammit. It's drier than normal. The 2009-10 El Niño winter showed what happens with warm temperatures and normal precip: Lots of rain instead of snow. I can halfway understand the confusion ... we unconsciously associate snow with cold winter, and associate non-snow with warm summer. Still, if you're posing as a meteorologist you should make a point of distinguishing temp from precip. ¶ 5:24 AM
