We still haven't had any snow, nor any measurable precipitation at all to speak of. A few showers here and there. It's very dry. 67 predicted for tomorrow, and 60 Tue, 50's and 40's later in the week.

Damn near 500 degree days below normal in my neck of the woods. 2100 vs 2600. FWIW. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/view/prodsByStat....

Still chilly here....-48, so cancelled my work trip by snow-machine. I'll go if it breaks in next day or two. A cup of hot jo and a roaring fire....ahhhh.

We had 56 and bright skies today in our mountain valley. Wife beat me by three strokes on the front nine. Dang.

Minneapolis to be back in the 40s this week, which will instantly zot the 1" of snow on the ground.

What's up with the Arctic Oscillation Index? It's almost never as high as it was in November and December, especially in the winter. And it's almost never as low as it was in the last few days, even in the winter:

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/pr....

The USDA has updated its zone map to reflect warmer temps, supposedly the first time since 1990...we went from 6B to 7A...
http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMW....

Folks finally getting good ice (Pratt & Houghton Lakes Mi.)...

Pittsburgh, PA (15221) Weather:

Jan. 31 60/46
Feb. 1 50/34
Feb. 2 45/30
Feb. 3 45/31
Feb. 4 45/30

It's becoming a common occurence here in SW PA for this winter...it's generally the mildest I can remember.

Green Bay, WI Jan. 31, 2012, 50 Deg. F. I kind of like global warming.

45 on this side of the State Oldno7

55 here in CMich!

It's tin thinking, but I had a notion today that if one drew the "equator" line at a 45 degree angle rather than horizontally, the weather patterns might make sense.

N/'nuff said

Next 2 weeks around here are forecast to have highs around 40 or more!

Going to lose this - locks after week more of "mild winter"....

I'm going to Apply some "sense" into this thread..
Basiclly, what We've been experiencing is this..
The Recent, (currently) ~AO, is causing Air pressures that have been measured as high as 1060 hPa over portions of extreme northern Europe,while the high center has been progged as high as 1064+ over in Western Russa.
As a consequence, this strong high pressure has brought a rather extreme block (+4 sigma!) currently over the the same region. This is literally what has been driving in the AO to a rather strong negative value.(Link here-->http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/pr.... )..
As the Strongest Blocking is taking place over the Euorpien continent, resulting with the 850 mb temperatures below 0 punctuating as far south as central Africa. This is 3-4 sigma below normal for this time of the year, and will likely mean widespread frost to many areas that don't typically receive frost even in the heart of winter.
So what I'm saying is We have a double block with a high over the E Atlantic and a monster high over Russia...
What does this mean For US, (N. America) in Layman's terms?
It means, we're getting screwed out of the cold here. That block on the other side of the pole which has sent the AO pretty strongly negative is producing some intense winter weather in Europe, Japan and various other mid-latitude locations except here in North America.
Even the Sahara Desert , which had no snow for 33 years until a brief fall in western Algeria last month, recieved an inch of snow,with some parts of north Africa recieving six inches of powder..

1000 hPa temperature standard anomalies for France Spain et al,are 4 standard deviations below normal, while some areas are 5 standard deviations below normal! This is unprecedented cold for this region of the world to say the least!
So what does all this mean for US on the N. American continent? A chance for colder weather should improve gradually if not dramatically as at least a weak blocking regime may or should develop further west as well. resulting in colder air masses that may well get more of a green light from a northwesterly flow developing across central Canada towards southern Quebec. If we can get a vortex to deepen over Quebec then at least colder temperatures will lock in, With storm track(s), that may stay largely offshore, (East Coast), however; unless we see a vortex linking to any troughing further west around Nebraska.
Which results with more like a Miller-B type signal than Miller-A for snow potential later in the month.(in the North East)...
What does this all mean?It's more significant for the northeast that a very warm ridge is developing across the west coast, They could easily be out on the golf course here this weekend(s).Coupled with a Long slow build-up, We Maysee another "Super-storm"(or 2), a-la Perfect storm not unlike the one in 1888 or the one in 1993...Warmer than normal across much of North America and colder than normal across much of Europe.
Until then, we'll have short-duration cool shots of Air, followed by a rebound in temps..
Meaning Winter here in N. America? Stick a fork in it...

Maybe it's just me, but would you please translate that into English, preferably into 25 words or less?

No offence intended, but I have no clue as to what y'all just said.

I think the last sentence is the 25 words or less.

It suddenly got cold here. Only upper 20's this weekend:(

I got spoiled.

Jet-stream running through northern Africa; Sahara Desert gets first snow in 33 years (6in in some places).

Cross

Quote:

I'm going to Apply some "sense" into this thread

No need just keep the warm Temps coming. BTW what is a hPa? I know what a Pa (pasical) is and a KPa and MPa but never heard of a hPa.

A pasical is a measure of pressure like one atmosphere = 14.69595 PSI=29.92" Hg.

Quote:

OldNo: BTW what is a hPa? I know what a Pa (pasical) is and a KPa and MPa but never heard of a hPa.

A pasical is a measure of pressure like one atmosphere = 14.69595 PSI=29.92" Hg.

Definition....

It is known as Relative Topography. Surface pressure is about 1000 hPa (1000 mb), this is the total force (weight) of the atmosphere. The height at which the pressure is 500 hPa roughly divides in half the atmosphere vertically, half the mass of air being above and half below that height. In terms of height, 500 hPa is about 5,500 metres (18,000 feet) above the ground. The top of that part of the atmosphere in which our weather is formed is known as the tropopause and is at about 11,000 metres (35,000 feet). The 500 hPa level is, thus, effectively half way up the atmosphere as we know it.

The thickness, or relative topography, is the difference in heights between the level at which the pressure is 1000 hPa and that at which it is 500 hPa. This difference in height is a measure of the volume of the air between those two levels. Because volume varies with temperature, the thickness of the layer is a good indicator of the average temperature of the layer.

In Practice, ie: meteorologly...

Quote:

First, some background. Perhaps surprisingly, one cubic metre of air weighs about one kg. The air pressure at any point is the total weight of the air above that point. At the surface of the earth, this is about 10,000 kg (10 tonnes) per square metre, or 14 lb per square inch. For many years pressure was expressed as the height, in inches or millimetres, of a column of mercury needed to balance the weight of the air in a mercury barometer. In more recent times, one bar has been defined as a near average total atmospheric pressure, divided, for convenience into 1000 millibars (mb). international scientific convention and agreement, most scientific units are named after famous scientists in the relevant field. We have long used Volts, Ampères, Ohms, Watts, Joules, Hertz, Curies Celsius, Fahrenheit and so on. The exceptions are the basic units of length, mass and time, ie the metre, gramme and second.


The Practice

Following the adoption of the Pascal as the SI unit of pressure, meteorologists chose the hectopascal as the international unit for measuring atmospheric pressure. (1 hPa = 100 Pascals = 1 mb.) The millibar is still often used in weather reports and forecasts for the public, but the term hectopascal is increasingly being used, especially on the Continent in general and France, in particular. After all, Pascal was a Frenchman!. For those with old instruments, conversion scales from mb/hPa to inches and millimetres of mercury will be found in almanacs eg Macmillans Reeds. The distribution of pressure is vital information for the meteorologist who needs pressure readings taken at the same time in many different places. For consistency, readings are adjusted to a datum of mean sea level to take account of the reduced pressure at places above sea level (1 hPa at or near sea level equals approximately 7.5 metres or 25 feet in height).

From these readings a pressure chart can be produced by drawing isobars (lines that connect places with equal atmospheric pressure). Isobars are usually drawn either side of 1000 mb or hPa at equal intervals, typically 2, 4 or 8 hPa, depending upon the chart scale. Areas of high (anticyclones) and low (depressions) pressure can thus be readily identified. Pressure readings give the yachtsman valuable information and assist in monitoring weather changes and forecasts. Changes in pressure, particularly if rapid, are often of most importance, but it is useful to compare the change of pressure at one's own location with that expected from any forecasts charts received.

credits/link---> http://weather.mailasail.com/Franks-Weat....

Quote:

Nana:Maybe it's just me, but would you please translate that into English, preferably into 25 words or less?

No offence intended, but I have no clue as to what y'all just said.

What it all means?
It means the "COLD" Air, ie: the "Polar jet-stream" is being "blocked" on the "other" side of the Hemisphere, Not allowing "our" Winter to materialize..
In other words, why Europe turned into a freezer.

Cross

Thanks for the meteorology lesson.

Our mild winter just went to hell. Getting down to 14 tomorrow night.

We're a bit cooler at night. Keep it coming. The fruit and nut trees need the chill hours. Also good for the garlic. Rain in generous quantities would be sincerely appreciated too.

Colder here today in CT, but still almost NO snow to speak of this winter. :(