Northeast Pummeled By Snow
National Forecast, Image: NOAA
TV forecasters in Philadelphia and Scranton, Pennsylvania, New York City, Binghamton, Buffalo, and Rochester, New York are preparing viewers for another winter storm that could dump another foot of the white stuff in some locations.
It’s been a messy winter for the Northeast. Washington D.C. was shut down for almost an entire week because of the amount of snow on the ground in the nation’s capital.
Snow Forecast, Image: NOAA
Storm after storm has been forming in the Gulf of Mexico, picking up moisture from the tropics and directing it toward the East Coast of the United States. Yesterday, I talked about the two weather patterns that have been colliding over the United States this winter: El Nino and the Arctic Oscillation. See yesterday’s MYL blog for more information on that.
Meanwhile, tune in to your local TV forecasters across the US for your latest winter forecast.
-Dawn Brown
Weather Patterns Collide
Texas Snowfall Totals, Image: NOAA
It’s snowing again in Texas! Snow showers have been falling all day in the Lone Star State. Dallas, Texas has very few accumulations (snow on the ground), but hill country areas such as Waco have 3 inches of snow on the ground.
The National Weather Service has issued Winter Storm Warnings for Texas, California, New York and other parts of the Northeast.
US Watches and Warnings, Image: NOAA
Two weather patterns are colliding over the United States this winter to produce storm after storm for the southern Gulf Coast and the Northeast. The El Nino Southern Oscillation is a weather pattern that causes a warming of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central America. This winter, El Nino is being credited with the surge of moisture and added rainfall/snow events in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and the Gulf Coast. At the same time El Nino is occurring, scientists are also examining the effects of a Negative Arctic Oscillation. The NAO is associated with cold winters across the Northern Hemisphere, as more cold air descends from the Arctic to the nearby continents of North America, Europe and Asia.
Arctic Oscillation, Image: NOAA
The above graphic is data taken from the entire month of December 2009. What this graphic shows is average temperatures across Asia, Europe and North America have been substantially cooler than normal, whereas temperatures in the Arctic, Africa and parts of the Mid-East have been warmer.
Forecasted Lows, Image: NOAA
Take a look at the large dip of cold air across Minnesota, Iowa and the Dakotas. Once again, folks in Minneapolis will be waking up to below freezing temperatures. Look at the forecast lows across Louisiana… below freezing. If you add the extra moisture coming in from the Pacific due to El Nino and the cold air due to the Arctic Oscillation, you have the perfect recipe for snow.
TV forecasters in Shreveport and New Orleans, Louisiana are reporting once again on the unusual snowfall events. In the Northeast, where snow has caused massive transportation problems, another round this week is expected.
-Dawn Brown
Blizzard Warnings in Colorado
Rocky Mountain Snow, Image: Unisys Weather
A heavy snow is expected to blanket the Rocky Mountains near Telluride, Colorado this week. The computer model forecast above is for Monday afternoon. It shows a low pressure system developing across the Southwest, and heavy rain falling across portions of Southern California, and snow across the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range
National Snow Depth, Image: NOAA
A storm system that left light accumulations of snow across the Gulf South, then headed toward the Northeast. You can see the trail of snow from Tennessee to Maine on the map above.
For more information on snow depths across the country, click here.
-Dawn Brown