Weather

[cx]

Yeah, Goldstein, and with the wind a fella might even hafta put on long pants, eh? Well, if he were gonna stay outside for an extended length of time, of course.

[jadnashua]

It was 52 and raining at about 2pm, but now at 6:30, it's 34, and expected to be in the teens later this evening. All I've had is rain...lots of it, and windy. Luckily, living near a lot of shopping centers, we don't have that many power outages, and if we do, they tend to get repaired fairly quickly unlike where I grew up, further out in the country. All of the rain melted much of the snow areas nearby got, adding to the flood potential. Luckily, I'm up a hill away from the river, so as long as I don't need to go somewhere, not an issue!

Extreme weather, both hotter and colder than 'normal' is an expected result of climate changes...expect it to get worse.

[Tilehelperdan]

Wouldn't be bad without the wind.

[jadnashua]

Yeah, it's dropped another 10-degrees, with wind chill about 7. It will be much lower by morning with our high Saturday only 19 degrees. There were some snow flakes blowing, but with the ground warm from earlier, they weren't accumulating, and the moisture is almost gone, so only black ice as the roads freeze with the leftover water. It could have been much worse except for those areas that flooded...I think they'd rather have had the snow.

[smifwal]

This was yesterday, middle of the day
Sorry about the orientation,I forgot to turn the phone sideways

[Davy]

Yeah, I saw some white stuff falling from the sky the other day in Dallas. I ignored it and it went away. We're at 33 this morning. Let the heat wave begin.

[jadnashua]

The past two winters in northern Alaska were unusual, much warmer prior to the season, and much deeper snow cover. Because it normally gets quite cold, the air can't hold much moisture, so things just tend to freeze, but when it's warmer, the ocean stays open longer and overall, more moisture is held in the air, so it can fall as snow. This snow cover then acts like a blanket, keeping the tundra from freezing.

Many of the rivers and streams up further north are now turning orange, as there's a fair amount of iron rich minerals in the now melted tundra. This is causing more of the streams to become rust colored, where they have been running clear for all of modern history. Some researchers said that the pH was so low that it curdled the powdered milk they tried to mix with it. It's making problems for many of the small towns that rely on the rivers for drinking water.

[cx]

Good to keep an eye on that northern Alaska area, Jim, on accounta one day it might be the emigration destination for the rich folks in Miami.

Having been to the northern part of Alaska only once, I can say that even if were to live another hunnert years, I doubt that would be one of my top ten places to go again. Haven't ever read anything about the orange river problem, though. Wonder how the fish are adjusting to that?

Here in Boerne, after a couple nights of serious freezing, it's currently 77 degrees and was the same or a little higher yesterday.

[jadnashua]

The issue with the weather further north is that it is changing faster than most areas further towards the equator...IOW, sort of like the canary in the coal mine...it's easier to see, if anyone is looking.

The cold water in the Arctic is one driver of the Atlantic gyre...the cold water running down helps to pull the hot water of the Gulf Stream up...make that area warmer, and the gyre can collapse, changing the weather for the US east coast up to Canada, and most of Europe, especially the UK, as their more temperate climate depends on the warmer waters from the Gulf Stream. It's all interconnected. The Arctic air circulation is also responsible for some of the more radical temperature swings in the US (and probably Russia, but we don't hear about those as much). The excursions are becoming less regular, with dips much further south than previous history, bringing severe cold to more areas than we've seen more often.

[jadnashua]

While the US saw some nasty storms over the New Years, Europe between December 31 and January first broke 5000 all-time record highs for those dates. While records tend to be maybe a few tenths of a degree or maybe a degree higher than the previous high...these were often 5-degrees C higher in some cases (9-degrees F).

A ski contest in Switzerland was run entirely on artificial snow, and many other areas literally closed for lack of snow...not many places there have snow-making equipment like some places in the USA.

The polar vortex is wandering back and forth more than it previously did, does it for longer, and creates more severe changes both warmer and colder depending on where it wanders.

[CaliGrown]

Storm’s a brewing’ here throughout CA!!
GOD is good showing us creations his might, hell of a wind & rain in the sierras. Water hasn’t let up much for the past month

[Davy]

The way it's looking, you won't be making any artificial snow Jim was talking about.

[smifwal]

Originally Posted by caligrown

Storm’s a brewing’ here throughout CA!!

This is my favorite local weather guy's ( he talks favorably about snow all the other don't)blog talking a bit about your up coming event

https://fox4kc.com/email-alerts/joes...Weather%20Blog

[jadnashua]

A recent storm in the Artic near Greenland caused a loss of 154,440 square miles of sea ice in a few weeks. Now, sea ice loss doesn't cause the ocean levels to rise, but the resulting open water changes the albedo (the reflectivity) of the surface...open ocean absorbs much more heat than the ice, which reflects it. This warmer water can then interact with the glacial ice coming off the land that can affect ocean levels, by both melting, and that can allow the glaciers to move faster, amplifying the effects. The resulting evaporation can also increase the water vapor content, resulting in more precipitation downwind of the area.

Also, a recent study was published about analysis of ice cores from central Greenland...an area that is seldom visited. By analyzing the ice, they've found that the warming in the last 20-years or so is faster than any time the depth of the core contained, or 1,000-years. It was also noted that they've noted rain at those elevations for the first time since observations have been made. In that part of Greenland, the ice is some places over a mile thick. The record in the ice is more reliable than just ocean temperatures, or air, as those can have circulation of that heat, masking some or diluting it by dispersion, whereas, the ice is fixed in a location so is more accurate.

[jadnashua]

For those of you in the path of the ice storm this week, stay safe. It could get ugly out there.