Will the Arctic Cold Front Cause Severe Weather and Damage to Crops?

[Evo]

It snowed a bit last night and just started snowing again, but it's light. Colder than heck though.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

It's been a warm winter so far. My quince bush is budding. And about a dozen buds have blossomed. The forsythia has budded as well. I cut a branch to flower indoors.

 

[Evo]

It's only 15F outside right now and snow and ice on the ground.

 

[turbo]

We only got about 4" of snow yesterday afternoon and evening. I've been delaying cleaning it off the deck and driveway because we are now getting freezing rain. I'd rather have heavy wetted snow or crusty snow to deal with instead of letting the deck and driveway turn into skating rinks.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It has been cold here as well. Right now it's about 25F outside with snow predicted for the weekend.

 

[turbo]

I tried taking Duke out for another walk, only to get pelted with freezing rain starting about 1/10 mi from home. The road is really icy, and I have to be careful because Duke is incredibly strong and can be impulsive. (Squirrel!) He can take my feet out from under me in a heartbeat, which is how I sprained my ankle so badly last spring. To be fair, I should have put cleats on my boots that night - glare ice covered with a layer of rain is dangerous.

 

[Drakkith]

Oh man, it got down to the mid-high 20's here this week...its...sooo...cooooold...
For here at least...it's only a few days all year that it gets under freezing.

 

[turbo]

0 deg F tonight, and it's hard to get the house up to temperature. The wood stove is a trooper, but I might have to get the furnace tuned up and order some more oil. That would be biting the bullet. We ordered a tank of oil when we bought this place because we didn't want to burn green wood (recipe for chimney fires), and 6 years later, we still have about 1/4 tank of that oil left. Heating oil is very expensive this year, and with the Feds cutting back on LIHEAP, the oil dealers are really piling on the rest of the customers. At least, we can afford the oil. I hate to think about the people who can't, and who are shivering in the dark.

 

[Borek]

Finally white here since yesterday, and below freezing - so it should stick with us. Still, it is an unusually late winter.

 

[Containment]

Yeah I moved a few years ago from a much colder place and now that we are having a mild winter for the most part it's been like summer here to me. I happen to like the cold snowy days of winter so while everyone else here is happy about the weather I'm slightly sad. I'm wondering if this means a really wet spring here and possibly flooding like we always get anyways.

 

[Pythagorean]

-40 here

 

[Astronuc]

It's a balmy 5F here this morning - more normal. We have not had snow since October, which is rather unusual. We are having a dry winter after having a wet summer and fall.

It's also been warmer than usual with the consequence that some fruit and nut trees started prematurely budding. They are then in danger of losing some developed buds due to freezing. In some previous years, some orchards have lost 50% or more of their crop.

 

[Evo]

Great article explaining what's caused this winter's weather patterns.

This Winter's Weirdly Warm Weather Explained

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/va-news-articles_2011-11-30?vaid=84a2f2ed4cbf92e32e8b23a9fb771da6&jQuery1326568729603=4

 

[Borek]

Great article explaining what's caused this winter's weather patterns.

This Winter's Weirdly Warm Weather Explained

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/va-news-articles_2011-11-30?vaid=84a2f2ed4cbf92e32e8b23a9fb771da6&jQuery1326568729603=4

It is about US weather, but apparently effects of both Atlantic oscillations changed the weather in Europe as well.

 

[turbo]

We have almost gotten up to 10 deg F at mid-day.

 

[Moonbear]

I was worried when it was so warm here at the end of December. My experience is that when early winter is warm, later winter is miserable. Temps won't drop down to the lows that keep the air dry, but will hover closer to the range that dumps large amounts of snow. Right now, we're just getting continuous, but light snow. Better than a blizzard. I'm expecting one of those March blizzards this year, though.

 

[George Jones]

Our high today was -15C = 5F. Predicted low for tonight is -25C = -13F. Predicted high for tomorrow is -22 = -8F. Predicted low for tomorrow night is -27C = -17F. I walk for 25 minutes before sunrise, i.e., at the low temperatures.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

We've had scattered snow showers all day with temps below freezing now; in the last couple of hours. Sounds like black ice to me! It could be an ugly morning commute in Portland tomorrow.

 

[KrisOhn]

Here in Saskatoon we've finally gotten our first cold weather and real snow all year. It snowed about 6" last night and dropped down to -20c today and is -28c right now. I climb at a local gym downtown and I use my pedal bike for transport, even though I had to bike through 6" of largely uncleared snow there and back and was slipping all over the place, there is no method of transportation I would rather use :!)

 

[turbo]

We're all the way up to 4 deg F here, after being below 0 all night. I have to clean off my truck and take food to my father, but I'm not looking forward to it.

 

[lisab]

Snow, snow, snow. And now the forecast has been changed to a possible 7 inches in the coming days. To all of you who are from snowy areas: I know, you're thinking that's nothing. Well, we have only a few plows, and lots of hills. Seven inches will shut the Seattle-Tacoma area down!

I have a test scheduled for tomorrow - I bet it's going to be cancelled. Too bad, I'm ready for it right now.

 

[turbo]

We have practically no snow. The western mountains have gotten enough snow to supplement the man-made stuff that they have made, so ski areas can keep some terrain open.

There is a snowmobile trail along the 1/2 mile Eastern boundary of my property, and I have seen a grand total of ONE snowmobile traversing it. It's crazy to risk damaging an expensive machine like that running on thin snow, with rocks and stumps sticking up.

Our newest neighbors (sporadic weekends) bought their little place as a base of operations for snowmobiling, only to find themselves in the crappiest winter in years. In fact, the guy's brother bought a snowmobile for himself hoping to join his brother and sister-in-law up here at least a few weekends each winter. We'll see. Sometimes our biggest storms are in February and March.

 

[KrisOhn]

Winter is finally here in Saskatchewan, we're finally getting temperatures that are more like the norm. Today its -37c, -45c with the windchill... Biking to the climbing gym today will be an adventure.

 

[turbo]

We're all the way up to 30 deg F today, before going back to colder weather. I'm taking advantage of mild weather to run the oil furnace while burning out all the coals and ash in the wood-stove so I can clean it out.

 

[George Jones]

Walked for 25 minutes this morning at -30C = -22F (-41C = -42F). Tomorrow's walk should be colder.

 

[Pythagorean]

I walked for about 10 minutes between buildings in -40 today. I kept dodging into the campus buildings to warm up though :). My parka zipper is broke and I don't want to make even a car trip to fix the situation in this weather.

Actually, I think cars are somewhat scarier in this weather... they can get you far away from your home and then break down, leaving you stranded.

 

[rhody]

I walked for about 10 minutes between buildings in -40 today. I kept dodging into the campus buildings to warm up though :). My parka zipper is broke and I don't want to make even a car trip to fix the situation in this weather.

Actually, I think cars are somewhat scarier in this weather... they can get you far away from your home and then break down, leaving you stranded.

Wow, that reminds me of a crazy biology Professor I had in college, he would wear short sleeves to class, in sleet, snow, hail, -20F, howling wind, it didn't matter, claimed it boosted his immune system. It was about 1/8 to 1/4 mile from the parking lot to class. We all thought he was a bit "crazy".

Rhody...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The Pacific Northwest is going to get hammered tonight. Lisab is supposed to get about a foot of snow tonight, up in Seattle. We are supposed to transition into snow soon and get a couple of inches by morning. Here, the daytime temps are above freezing so this shouln't be a problem for us.

 

[lisab]

The Pacific Northwest is going to get hammered tonight. Lisab is supposed to get about a foot of snow tonight, up in Seattle. We are supposed to transition into snow soon and get a couple of inches by morning. Here, the daytime temps are above freezing so this shouln't be a problem for us.

Whew, I can smell it coming. I think the whole metro area is going to be hunkered down for at least a day.

Luckily I have a pot roast in the fridge! It's going to be a goooood day to cook some comfort food :!).

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Whew, I can smell it coming.

You haven't started snorting snow again, have you?

 

[lisab]

You haven't started snorting snow again, have you?

I can stop anytime, I swear!

Wow it's really bad out there. So far there's about 3 inches, maybe 4. But it's still snowing steadily. The whole area is shut down.

I love that snow-quiet that comes with a good snowfall!

 

[MarcoD]

I am jealous. At my place, it didn't freeze and we didn't have snow. Only all shades of rain my country specializes in. Boring...

 

[lisab]

I am jealous. At my place, it didn't freeze and we didn't have snow. Only all shades of rain my country specializes in. Boring...

Your normal weather is almost identical to western Washington's. It's nice to have an occasional break from days and days of the wet, gray pattern!

Btw, I thought this was interesting:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/dec/17/medicalresearch-humanbehaviour

When it comes to wrapping up on a cold winter's day, a cosy hat is obligatory. After all, most of our body heat is lost through our heads – or so we are led to believe.

Closer inspection of heat loss in the hatless, however, reveals the claim to be nonsense, say scientists who have dispelled this and five other modern myths.

In summary: Let cooler heads prevail.

 

[KrisOhn]

It was -51C with the windchill this morning, -46C right now. Yesterday when I went biking, my bike started to literally break down; the front forks froze up, I have hydraulic disc brakes and they started to malfunction, I couldn't shift, the cassette (rear gear set and hub) was locked on one position so whenever i stopped pedaling slack was gained in my chain system, even my crank set was starting to lock up. I don't think that I'll be going biking today.

 

[collinsmark]

I just heard on CNN that in some of the hilly areas near downtown Seattle, some of the local residents brought out their skis and snowboards and making a fun day of it on the streets. ('Not much traffic to deal with since the city is mostly shut down today.)