IT'S SUNNY, BUT I'VE GOTTA POST SOMETHING!
Written by: Bob Metcalfe
This image is the temperature anomaly data taken from space at the surface for the month of February. Of interesting importance, this is compared to the normal from 2000-2008, instead of the typical 1970-2000 range most are used for. Basically, this gives us a more realistic look at how we compare now to where we've been more recently in time.
So the screaming details are the big warmth (red anomaly) in northeast Canada and Greenland, with most of the continental US being painted in cold colors. South America was cold in the southern tip, and that's pretty much it. Wet conditions and a cold pattern gave the eastern half of Australia a cold month too. But the big cold was bottled up in Siberia and northern Russia. That's polar air, which could have come our way and if it did it would have made February even colder for us. Fortunately it didn't, that is if you aren't a fan of consistent negative numbers.
It's interesting to see images like this, but what I take from it is that there's roughly equal coverage of blue to red, mainly.
My personal observation is that Rochester and immediate environs has been getting progressively colder (some) and wetter (more so, especially snow if not total) since the early 90s (20 years now). This probably means somewhere else is warmer and drier. It's all one big closed system that balances itself out.
ReplyDeleteTo the last poster, I can't confirm the balancing out part, although mother nature is quite good at that. But, the last decade has seen the most years with 100" of snow or more, so you're absolutely right in your observation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the wetter part, but I think temps. have been the same or warmer. We may get 100+" of snow each winter, but it doesn't stay on the ground as it did years ago because the temperatures do not stay consistently cold. I am a snowmobiler, and Old Forge used to keep their trails open to April 15. Now it is April 1. They will soon start closing them March 15 because almost every year has snow conditions that do not allow for riding past the first week of March. The last winter that was consistently cold and snowy, as were many winters in the 1980s, was 2002-03.
ReplyDeleteTo the last poster, you are correct that it seems the snow doesn't stay on the ground as long as it used to. I can recall many snowstorms in the last several years that kept melting away a couple days after. But I have to say that this winter is much different in that the snow has stayed on the ground nearly all winter long. For example, we had snow on the ground for the ENTIRE month of February this year. Not because February was very snowy (with the exception of the finaly couple days), but because it was below freezing for so manay days in a row that it simply didn't melt.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree that it seems we get more up and down swings throughout the winter than we used to. I wonder if Scott, Brian or Bob have any statistics that show how many days of snow cover we have each winter, going back decades. It would be interesting to do a little compare and contrast. Might make a good blog post one day....hint, hint lol.
Does anybody know what the official snowfall total was in Rochester for the Superstorm of '93?
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