A cool and snowy winter for the U.S.; severe weather hits Louisiana
The winter of 2010 - 2011 is in the history books, and ranks as the 39th coldest winter for the U.S. in the 116-year historical record, according to statistics released this week by the National Climatic Data Center. The cooler-than-average weather was primarily due to Arctic air spilling southwards over the eastern 2/3 of the nation due to an unusually weak Arctic Oscillation. This natural pattern in the atmosphere (whose North Atlantic version is called the North Atlantic Oscillation) allows cold air to spill southwards over the Eastern U.S., Western Europe, and East Asia when low pressure over the Arctic weakens, and high pressure over the North Atlantic also weakens. The state most affected by this unusual winter pattern was Florida, which recorded its 10th coldest winter. No other states had a top-ten coldest or warmest winter.
Figure 1. The winter of 2010 - 2011 featured colder than average temperatures over many states in the eastern 2/3 of the country, with Florida suffering its 10th coldest winter in the 116-year record. Image credit: National Climatic Data Center.
Wet in the Upper Midwest, dry in the South
The winter of 2010 - 2011 featured very heavy precipitation over the Upper Midwest, with South Dakota and Montana recording top-ten wettest winters. The South and mid-Atlantic were very dry, with eight states experiencing top-ten driest winters. This pattern is a typical one for a La Niña winter, since the cooler than average waters off the Pacific coast of South America act to deflect the jet stream so that the preferred track for winter storms takes them to the north over the Upper Midwest. However, the Ohio Valley typically gets above average precipitation during a La Niña winter, and that did not happen this year. This is fortunate, since very heavy rains the past two weeks have inundated Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois, leading to moderate flooding on many rivers.
Figure 2. The winter of 2010 - 2011 featured very heavy precipitation over the Upper Midwest, with South Dakota and Montana recording top-ten wettest winters. Image credit: National Climatic Data Center.
A snowy winter for the U.S.
It was a very snowy winter for the contiguous U.S., with December, January, and February having the 7th, 5th, and 9th greatest snow extents in the 45-year record, respectively, according to the Rutgers Snow Lab. This is the 2nd consecutive very snowy winter in the U.S.; during the winter of 2009 - 2010, December, January, and February had the 1st, 7th, and 3rd greatest snow extents on record. However, an unusually early onset of spring over North America in 2010 led to April and May 2010 having the 4th lowest and 1st lowest snow extents on record for the U.S., and the snow extent numbers for North America were near average for the calendar year 2010 (Figure 3.)
Figure 3. Twelve-month running anomalies of monthly snow cover extent over Northern Hemisphere lands (including Greenland) as a whole and Eurasia and North America separately between November 1966 and December 2010. Anomalies are calculated from NOAA snow maps. Mean hemispheric snow extent is 25.0 million sq. km. for the full period of record. Monthly means for the period of record are used for 9 missing months between 1968 and 1971 in order to create a continuous series of running means. Missing months fall between June and October, no winter months are missing. Image credit: Rutgers Snow Lab.
Flooding concerns continue in the Upper Midwest
The heavy winter precipitation that hit the Upper Midwest primarily fell as snow, and recent snow water equivalent charts show that a wide swath of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have the equivalent of 4 - 6 inches of rain locked into their snowpack. If a sudden spring thaw with heavy rain occurs later this month or in early April, record or near-record flooding is likely. The latest long-range forecasts from the G FS model do not show such an event is likely to occur over the next two weeks, though. A continuation of winter-like weather over the region with below-average temperatures and light snow is expected during the coming week, with a several-day period of thawing the week of March 20. Significant melting the massive snowpack will not begin to occur until the week of March 20, at the earliest.
Tornadoes, severe thunderstorms hit the South
A strong cold front pushing across the nation's southern states has brought severe thunderstorms, and tornado warnings have been issued for Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama this morning. A tornado touched down in Bush, LA at 5:20am CDT today, injuring one person and destroying one trailer. High winds from a thunderstorm hit Slidell, LA, causing roof damage, downed trees, and power outages in the city. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has placed the region in its "Slight Risk" region for potential severe weather. You can track the action today on our severe weather page.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 — Blog Index
Thats a pretty remarkable comparison. The NAM usually does a good job with systems like these, but this is pretty impressive.
The NAM is a great model to use out to 48 hours ago. It can accurately depict the mesoscale features, given the models high-resolution, that global models cannot pick up on.
Then again, during the summer, there isn't much in the way of forcing to touch off a storm. Storms during the summer touch off near-randomly, without much in the way of a causative agent (aside from the fact that the sun is shining, and it is a day that ends in "y"). Yeah, we get shortwaves through here pretty consistently, but there is almost always a 20% POP.
Just mild thunderstorm conditions up here.
Looks like the real energy is coming through the panhandle.
Solid boosters are great, as long as the o-rings are maintained (which they are now). The issue is, and always has been, the crew & cargo module. We have oodles of technology to get a vehicle into orbit. Just what vehicle?
Besides the tornadoes, we have been having over 5000 lightning strike per half hour. Better than a defibrillator for kick starting the heart. :)
Too bad we don't know where this is....
On second look, maybe it's a maple.
My gosh, that is incredible!
Dang! It is possible, but its hard to imagine rain that heavy is possible without having PW's above 2.00 inches
And a familiar scene from NOLA (in one of the lowest spots):
The rain was simply more (and fell so quickly) than the pumps could move. They've caught up already, I expect. (This happens every few years, at best.)
No one's pumping system can handle ~5 inches in 30 minutes.
I thought it a bit astounding and unbelievable at first. Not so sure it isn't possibly correct, now, tho.
Was this by your place? Dang, sounds like you had some nasty down bursts, unfortunately for me, not expecting weather that exciting with the cold front here in Central Florida. There will be plenty of moisture in place, but that's about it, the upper disturbance and its energy will be long gone by he time it arrives.
Posted on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 11:29AM
Amanda Trosclair and Marcia Jorgenson tell what they heard and saw of a tornado that touched town in Slidell Wednesday, March 9, 2011.
Was a small nado. See Pat's Vid. (same event)
That's like X-33 & 34. They went to launching them off Atlas. A X-37B went up the other day. Smaller craft costs the crew space but it's got a decent payload.
The SpaceX Dragon test, I think end of last year, went really good. It carries people & crew & launches off a Falcon9.
Tough to see Discovery end, still a little peeved about Orion (which that new European ship reminds me alot of) but there is other vehicles that have recently been tested.. X-37B is on it's second mission that I know of right now.
;-)
Better than nothing...but a 747 can only carry a payload 5% or so of the way to orbiting altitude, and to less than 4% of orbital velocity
I'm sad to see the shuttle program go; my father worked on it after he and thousands of others were shifted over from the Apollo program, so there's a tinge of sentimentality to me. But private enterprise has proven that it'll be able to do it cheaper and safer, so I'm all for it. (I can name a dozen acquaintances right now who've fled NASA or one of its subs for work in the private space sector, and they all seem happy and excited about the future.) To me, NASA did the Charles Lindbergh thing by exploring new territory; now the Virgin Galactic and SpaceX folks need to take the reins, much as Pan Am and Braniff took over workaday aviation.
The good news for NASA, of course, is that the private sector won't be getting into the deep-space stuff; that will need to remain a government (multi-government) deal for the time being...
yeah, maples are not nearly as strong as oaks in Florida. Most trees in Florida are way more durable then they are up north. I remember spending part of the summer up in Michigan with my relatives, what was just an average thunderstorm on a a cold front too me, apparently isn't for trees up there. 40 mph gusts or something around that did more damage in the Detroit suburb to trees and power lines than 75 mph does to trees and power lines here in North Pinellas County. It takes more than 70 mph do any real damage to trees and power lines here.
Now if only the same could be said for housing here lol
My house is built with strong building codes, but all the older homes are built terrible.
Part of the reason bats are breaking so much in the MLB is because of them being made with Maple, you would not see the same results with oak wood from Florida(the live oak I believe).
I've been able to see it from Naples if it came overheard at the right time (early or late); if the sun was high in the sky, it was impossible for me to ever pick it out. I love the sonic booms, though; I'm going to miss them...
The other thing with a 747 is that you are limited in physical volume that you can strap under a wing, and stapping it onto the belly is a bit... um... problematic. It is much easier to bolt a few hundred thousand pounds to a top of a 747, but then how do you launch it from there without roasting the 747?
Yeah, it is sad to see the space shuttle program ending. At least it marks the beginning of potentially an exciting future for space travel. I would support deep space exploration. Many would disagree, but in the late 1800's there were many fundamentalists who hated the rapid advancement of technology and new changes in transportation. Some people just like being stuck inside their little box and are afraid to come out.
Ohhh ok, interesting, sounds like a gustnado maybe? We get tons of those in the wet season with strong sea breeze thunderstorms here in Central FL
The deepest convection was not as limited to a thin line, like usual with a passing front.
Of course it ain't no dodge, its better!
WOW is right. If you compare that section with section #1 (over the Amazon), you will notice quite a few similarities. Impressive, to say the least.
If they had 40 mph winds multiple times per year, far, far less damage would result from any one event.
Rain wrapped nado reported close by (by a skywarn-trained met) about the same time KMSY recorded a 77 mph gust.
Rare thing to have that good an ob with a small nado, even if it was only nearby (prolly within a mile).
Yeah that is amazing, my rain gauge has recorded a rainfall rate as high as 7 inches per hour for a very brief moment, but usually the biggest storms of the wet season in the soupiest air masses output around 4 to 5 inches per hour.
Its hard to imagine that it occurred this time of year with less moisture in the air, rather than July or August. Go figure, weather can be a mystery sometimes. There must have been incredible moisture converge and pooling in that local area, combined with very strong forcing and lift. Also it must have been a very strong and very tall cell
Good point.
Viewing: 101 - 151
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 — Blog Index