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

[glosteroldboy]

lol - thats funny - they are either crazy or brave

Both I think. Was down there on the weekend to take a look for ourselves (very busy there, must of attracted hundreds or thousands of on lookers over the past few days), The bergs are quite close to land so it's not a big swim out (though I still wouldn't fancy it!) and they were all kitted up in wetsuits and lifejackets,still dangerous to scale one but then I suppose any kind of extreme sport poses risks, they knew what they were doing. Someone else also did the same thing but they canoed out and stayed dry so a bit more sensible.

Weather wise last week was by and large gloriously sunny and warm bar the odd blip, all weekend was sunny and around 18 degrees following on from couple of record breaking 20degree days in the week. Talking to some construction workers and they're saying best early spring weather they can remember for a long time, hardly any wet days and not much snow about....this week though looks alot greyer and wetter though.

[cheeky_monkey]

Its a bit strange to have warm sunny weather yesterday it reached 24c yesterday and there is still snow in ridges and ravines and a lot of lakes are still frozen esp from Red Deer up to Edmonton.

[Coopsy]

Its awesome weather right now here too. 18oC at 10am today - gonna be the first 21oC day here this year I think

[Roger J Smith]

Some potential for thunderstorms in south-central Alberta late Tuesday in advance of cold rains turning to sleet on Wednesday, as fronts sag south. Will update tomorrow on the potential as it looks somewhat marginal but is close to Calgary and Canmore where it develops at all.

Southern Ontario meanwhile seeing rain/snow mix (snow accumulating on higher ground northwest of Toronto) with deep storm moving north having dropped heavy rains in northeast U.S. to end dry spell there, strong inflow winds at Quebec City channelled by local terrain have done some local damage to trees in gusts near 65 mph.

Has also been pleasantly warm here for several days, near 20 C today.

[Coopsy]

Not too happy - got back from work at 4pm and blue skies and 23oC - decided to sand and paint the deck - finised it and had a nice bbq on the other deck. Just looked out after hearing what I thought was thunder ans its jaffa cakesing down on my newly painted deck. Might have to redo lol

[Roger J Smith]

Can see some storms developing now over the Rockies, should be into Canmore soon then Calgary by 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., likely not severe but could be some hail.

[Coopsy]

we just had one about an hour ago though not much thunder or lightning mainly a very heavy downpour for 30 mins

[cheeky_monkey]

Had no storms here yesterday.

[Coopsy]

Just after you posted Roger I went for a run - looked out and thought it looks clear - 5 mins in and it turned black - poured down for the whole 30 mins and then stopped when I finished - nothing like good timing

Foggy wet and miserable here today - really the forecast has been so wrong for this week. Its been failry warm but very wet. I was expecting sun with the odd shower, its the other way round

[4wd]

[Roger J Smith]

That Ontario snowfall was very elevation-dependent, mainly above 300m (asl) while Lake Ontario is at about 75m. There's a fairly large plateau between Georgian Bay and Lake Huron that has an elevation of almost 500m, so that often gets considerably colder weather than all around. The same phenomenon was seen in NY and PA with this storm.

Looking ahead, it stays rather cold in the east (except in Newfoundland) with a reinforcing shot of cold air due on Friday and a chilly weekend ahead in the Great Lakes and northeast U.S. ... Meanwhile, warmer air over the interior west is being squeezed out from both sides by slowly advancing Pacific moisture and back-door cold from the arctic high. This will have the effect of producing a long interval of rainfall that will gradually turn sleety or to wet snow at elevations of about 1500m at first, trending down to the higher foothills and in central Alberta by Friday. Some heavy rainfalls are likely and as flooding is underway in southeast B.C. that could be a problem there.

A rather quiet severe weather scenario recently, but as the NW team are not on the hunt yet, that's okay.

[cheeky_monkey]

Looking ahead, it stays rather cold in the east (except in Newfoundland) with a reinforcing shot of cold air due on Friday and a chilly weekend ahead in the Great Lakes and northeast U.S. ... Meanwhile, warmer air over the interior west is being squeezed out from both sides by slowly advancing Pacific moisture and back-door cold from the arctic high. This will have the effect of producing a long interval of rainfall that will gradually turn sleety or to wet snow at elevations of about 1500m at first, trending down to the higher foothills and in central Alberta by Friday. Some heavy rainfalls are likely and as flooding is underway in southeast B.C. that could be a problem there.

I am really beginning to dislike spring in Canada..this is my third spring and so far they have all been pretty poor affairs..all cold and often wet

[Coopsy]

I hate spring here - its 20oC one minute and 2oC and snowing the next - its a tough few months to get through as it never starts in April and carries through to the summer

TWN going for 5-10cm's of snow here - I have no doubt it will snow but highly doubt it will settle after the warm of this week

[Roger J Smith]

Re spring in Canada: this is to ensure only the hardiest and fittest of mosquitos survive.

Spring on the west coast is pretty similar to the U.K., although I can recall seeing snow on the ground even here twice in May since we moved "out west" in 1995. Spring in southern Ontario is also a highly variable season although I think your impression of it would be generally better than in Alberta. When it warms up it can stay warm for 2-3 weeks sometimes. But huge changes day to day are a given, even in warmer than average seasons. Back in 1976, in Ontario, we had a record-breaking warm spell mid-April, the trees all came out into full leaf early, then we had 20 cms of snow with resulting chaos in the electrical grid as many of those trees lost large branches. Then the next year we were going from 90-degree heat to snow within a matter of days and back to 90-degree heat. The inter-annual variability is astonishing too, check this out, May 1965 average high 71 F on my home weather station (I was in high school then) and May 1966 57 F, snow-rain mix for the high school track meet on May 9th with highest temp 36 F, year before had been 87 F same date.

Anyway, like the song says about Alberta, four strong winds that blow lonely ... weather's good there in the fall.

[glosteroldboy]

Spring here has been well above average so far both in terms of temperature and sunshine I should think and must be below average precipitation. This week has been a much greyer and foggier affair but still largely dry and mild 10-15 generally, I think we have a bit of rain on the way now and tomorrow though nothing major. Don't think snow is going to bother us till next autumn/winter now, though every ones always saying they can remember snowy May 24th celebrations so never say never.

[Roger J Smith]

Glos, some say that in the Medieval Warm Period the climate of Newfoundland was much milder than in recent times and this explains the legends of "Vinland" as being the known Viking settlement on the great northern peninsula. I could see that, if the circulation remained deeply troughed over central North America most winters, it would no doubt be very mild in eastern Canada which after all is at a latitude similar to the south of France (to central France in your case). So perhaps some of these milder winters in modern times are faint shadows of a climate that used to exist then was replaced by a much harsher climate that was there before European (re) settlement starting with Cabot in 1497. Certainly the coldest years in historical times have been far colder than this year. The spring of 1816 featured a snowstorm that ran up the east coast on June 5th-6th and dropped measurable snow in New Brunswick and Maine. So that's probably the outer limit of the postglacial climate. In the ice age, summers were probably about like the past month in eastern Canada.

[glosteroldboy]

Glos, some say that in the Medieval Warm Period the climate of Newfoundland was much milder than in recent times and this explains the legends of "Vinland" as being the known Viking settlement on the great northern peninsula. I could see that, if the circulation remained deeply troughed over central North America most winters, it would no doubt be very mild in eastern Canada which after all is at a latitude similar to the south of France (to central France in your case). So perhaps some of these milder winters in modern times are faint shadows of a climate that used to exist then was replaced by a much harsher climate that was there before European (re) settlement starting with Cabot in 1497. Certainly the coldest years in historical times have been far colder than this year. The spring of 1816 featured a snowstorm that ran up the east coast on June 5th-6th and dropped measurable snow in New Brunswick and Maine. So that's probably the outer limit of the postglacial climate. In the ice age, summers were probably about like the past month in eastern Canada.

Interesting. I think the weather here can be quite trying most of the time, being an island I find it's simular to the UK in most respects though more extreme/snowier in winter (even in a good winter like we just had it was alot of snow to me so a bad winter may be a bit of a shock) and even less of a summer and hot days than you would expect in the UK with probably more fog and the increased risk of being hit by a hurricane lol. Great place to be though!

Edited April 26, 2012 by glosteroldboy

[cheeky_monkey]

Newfoundland always strikes me as a nice place to visit for a few days but not to live!

[glosteroldboy]

Newfoundland always strikes me as a nice place to visit for a few days but not to live!

Once you visit, you never want to leave lol

Everything is white here this morning, 5-10cm forecast, bit of a surprise as it's been so mild in general all April. Can't say it will stick for long when it warms up a bit later.

Edited April 30, 2012 by glosteroldboy

[cheeky_monkey]

Once you visit, you never want to leave lol

Everything is white here this morning, 5-10cm forecast, bit of a surprise as it's been so mild in general all April. Can't say it will stick for long when it warms up a bit later.

too isolated for me im a city boy...apart from St Johns there are no other cities for hundreds of miles

[glosteroldboy]

too isolated for me im a city boy...apart from St Johns there are no other cities for hundreds of miles

That's probably why I like it. St Johns itself is pretty busy, I suppose it's very English/Irish given it's heritage so the people feel pretty homely. It's not too far back to the UK either, especially when they do direct flights (5 hours) just a shame that's only a summer thing, I'm sure there must be a market to offer direct flights all year round even if it is only a limited say one flight a week outside of the summer season but guess Air Canada don't agree.

Surprised at a few of the locals reaction this morning to the snow though very downbeat a few people! Must of been 10cm maybe a bit more but even I know it's nothing abnormal for here and will all melt quickly (alot of it has melted all ready, be all but gone by supper I say) so not really a problem.

Edited April 30, 2012 by glosteroldboy

[glosteroldboy]

At 8am today:

Same shot a few hours later:

What a difference a few hours makes at this time of year!

[cheeky_monkey]

A really glum cold wet and thoroughly depressing next 5 days coming up...Calgary looking at the weather for Canada will be consistently the coldest and wettest place in the country..even Yellowknife will be sunny and warm

[glosteroldboy]

A really glum cold wet and thoroughly depressing next 5 days coming up...Calgary looking at the weather for Canada will be consistently the coldest and wettest place in the country..even Yellowknife will be sunny and warm

I'm not sure it's any better here, after today anyway which is sunny but a touch chilly it looks a pretty dull and damp few days. Though it's par for the course here.

[Coopsy]

Yeah I hear ya - we have 5-10cm of snow forecast here tonight/tomorrow. Wait til June, worst month here in the year by far every year - at least 2 weeks of persistant gloomy cold rain.

At least we might have some nice weather in September lol