North American Weather (U.S.A & Canada)

[Dale Hay]

At the moment, there's been 71 separate Tornado warnings in the past 20~ hours throughout various States. Have been having a field day switching between different States' news broadcasts.

Also currently at the time of posting this a huge area is still under a Tornado watch until (their) early hours as this line of storms are still sweeping.

[knocker]

Shipping lanes carved into thick ice cover in western Lake Erie by ice breakers

 

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=83169&src=twitter&utm_content=buffer76db9&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[Hotspur62]

Well it looks like the PV is coming back again to most of Central,Mid west,North East of US and Eastern Canada by Tuesday.Places like Winnipeg could be down to -26 to -30 degree celcius next week.I can't remember a winter from memory(last 25 years or so) beings so cold for so long. Alot of Eatern Canada and around Great Lakes have had snow cover drom early Dec till now and it looks like winter is in no hurry to go in these places.If LRF are correct then snow could be around till Mid March and beyond.

 

Back here imby not even been close to seeing 1 snowflake and that wont change me thinks for the rest of this winter.Let's hope Europe and the UK have a bit of what North America has had this winter next winter!!

[knocker]

[knocker]

This winter will most likely end up being Boston's 54th coldest on record

 

 

[davehsug]

This winter will most likely end up being Boston's 54th coldest on record

Puts it into a little perspective Knocker.

[Coopsy]

so really not anything special - so much for the polar vortex for them.

 

Now if records have been going for 108 years it their 54th warmest :-)

Edited February 26, 2014 by canadiancoops

[keithlucky]

USA goes into deep freeze again http://t.co/kAy7VnhBPw

[knocker]

Something’s Missing Alaska’s famous Iditarod race has precious little snow this year.

 

Nome, the terminus of the race, hit a record 51 degrees on Jan. 27—a whopping 40 degrees warmer than normal for the date and the highest January temperature there in more than 100 years. February hasn’t been much better. There were only 2 inches of fresh snow in Nome for the first three weeks of the month, and snowpack had dwindled to a measly 3 inches until just this week.

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/02/iditarod_2014_musher_monica_zappa_on_climate_change_alaskan_snow_shortage.html

[keithlucky]

delete

[damianslaw]

Interesting to note the statistics of coldest winters in Boston coinciding with relatively mild winters over the UK.

 

So much for the cold USA - means cold UK theory.

 

This winter has been an anomaly though - with limited blocking to our north, indeed apart from E Canada and central, east USA I think much of the northern hemisphere has been very mild overall.

 

Would be good to have some stats for west Canada, Alaska, Russia, Beijing and Japan for comparison.

[BornFromTheVoid]

 

Would be good to have some stats for west Canada, Alaska, Russia, Beijing and Japan for comparison.

 

 

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2014/1

[damianslaw]

Thanks for the image above - look at the exceptional warm anomalies over NE pacific and over the eastern atlantic just off the USA seaboard and also the cool SST's mid north atlantic - a classic set up for a raging Jetstream if ever I saw one.

 

Lots of red on the map and very little blue. Interesting to note north Russia has a cold anomaly. However, I suspect the blues in that region would turn white if we saw the winter anomaly temp as a whole and the whole of Europe and west Russia would be red - given the only cold weather was reserved for NE parts during the second half of January.

 

What a terrible winter for cold weather.

 

Lets hope winter 2014/2015 is more near average at least.

[knocker]

'Snowboob' Causes 100-Car Pileup Outside of Toronto

http://mashable.com/2014/02/27/snowboob-toronto/#:eyJzIjoidCIsImkiOiJfMmZoOGcyZnhkeWk4dXY3aiJ9

 

 

Edited March 1, 2014 by knocker

[damianslaw]

Has there been an equivalent winter when the polar vortex has locked into position further to the west i.e. over NW Canada/Alaska and consequently delivered bitter cold to those areas but consequently record warmth to the eastern states? - or would this not occur in such a set up as high pressure would result in cold stagnant conditions.

 

Has there been another winter when the PV has locked into the same position as this year? Or is this year a one off anomaly?

[knocker]

February 2014 climate report for Tucson

 

Tucson followed up the 3rd warmest January on record with the 2nd warmest February on record. These helped the 2013-2014 Winter season to be the WARMEST on record. (check winter season recap section below).

 

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/twc/climate/monthly/feb14.php

[March Blizzard]

February 2014 climate report for Tucson Tucson followed up the 3rd warmest January on record with the 2nd warmest February on record. These helped the 2013-2014 Winter season to be the WARMEST on record. (check winter season recap section below). http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/twc/climate/monthly/feb14.php

Goes to show that some places in North America have been anomalously warm despite most of the Continent being anomalously cold.http://m.winnipegsun.com/2014/02/26/winnipeg-experiences-third-coldest-winter-in-more-than-a-century

[knocker]

March Comes In Like a Rabid Lion, Bringing More Snow to a Winter-Weary East

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/03/02/march_comes_in_like_a_rabid_lion_bringing_more_snow_to_the_east.html

[cheeky_monkey]

March Comes In Like a Rabid Lion, Bringing More Snow to a Winter-Weary East

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/03/02/march_comes_in_like_a_rabid_lion_bringing_more_snow_to_the_east.html

 

March seems to deliver some brutal cold here..the coldest temperature i have recorded for Edmonton and Calgary both occured on 1st March...-42c in Edmonton 1st March 2011 and -38c here in Calgary this Sat 1st March 2014.

[March Blizzard]

March seems to deliver some brutal cold here..the coldest temperature i have recorded for Edmonton and Calgary both occured on 1st March...-42c in Edmonton 1st March 2011 and -38c here in Calgary this Sat 1st March 2014.

 

I suppose it makes sense when you consider Feb/Mar is the coldest time of year in the high Canadian Arctic, and if the jet stream plays ball there's nothing to stop that cold flooding south.

 

Plenty of records in the US tumbling, too: http://www.weather.com/news/bitter-cold-finish-february-20140221

[keithlucky]

Second coldest winter in USA in 35yrs http://www.drroyspencer.com/2014/03/2nd-coldest-u-s-winter-in-35-years/

[knocker]

I'm having a slight problem reconciling the two graphs from Spencer.

 

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/02/03/u-s-decjan-temperatures-3rd-coldest-in-30-years/

 

Anyway

 

For the first two months of the winter season, the contiguous U.S. average temperature was 30.6°F, 1.1°F below the 20^th century average, and the 33^rd coldest December-January on record. This was the coldest December-January since 2010/11.

Edited March 4, 2014 by knocker

[cheeky_monkey]

I'm having a slight problem reconciling the two graphs from Spencer.

 

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/02/03/u-s-decjan-temperatures-3rd-coldest-in-30-years/

 

Anyway

 

For the first two months of the winter season, the contiguous U.S. average temperature was 30.6°F, 1.1°F below the 20^th century average, and the 33^rd coldest December-January on record. This was the coldest December-January since 2010/11.

It does not state where those stations are located? remember the USA is a huge country not all of the USA has had a cold winter..the midwest has been cold the east rather cold and the west has been mild..however it has definetly been a snowy winter from the midwest eastwards.

[knocker]

 

An impressive blast of Arctic air has toppled more records for all-time March cold over the Eastern U.S., in the wake of the major snowstorm that brought 4 - 8" of snow from Missouri to Maryland. Fresh snow is very efficient at radiating heat to space, and the 3.8" of snow that fell in Baltimore on Monday helped drive the temperature down to 5°F on Monday night, tying the city's all-time March low temperature record set on March 4, 1873. The temperature eventually dipped down to 4°F Tuesday morning, breaking the March record. Atlantic City, NJ, which got 5.5" of snow on Monday, also set a new all-time cold record for the month of March on Monday night, when the temperature fell to 2°F. The previous all-time low for the month of March was 3°F set on March 4, 2009. Official records for the Atlantic City area date back to 1874.

 

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2641

[damianslaw]

Interesting to note this winter was edged out by 2009/2010 which also ended up being our coldest winter for 35 years i.e. since 1978/79.

 

However, the two winters couldn't have been more different northern hemisphere synoptic wise. This winter really has been an oddity - a quirk.