Alaskan Cold to Soon Get Involved in Lower 48

Below is directly copied from the NWS in Fairbanks, AK.  The public info statement discusses the severity of the cold present during most of November.  This is the type of cold air that the modeling has a great deal of difficulty in understanding its physical properties, namely in terms of its density.  Thus, modeling underestimates its ultimate role in the weather once it becomes involved with the pattern, especially across the lower 48.  This is one of the reasons I believe that December could become quite cold and stormy, and reading this statement verifies my beliefs for such interesting times to come.  Take a gander.........


PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
247 PM AKST THU NOV 24 2011

RECAP OF THE NOVEMBER 2011 COLD SNAP...

THE RECORD COLD WEATHER HAS ENDED IN THE FAIRBANKS AREA. THE MOST
NOTABLE FEATURE WAS THE EARLY OCCURRENCE OF DEEP COLD RATHER THAN THE
TEMPERATURES THEMSELVES. BETWEEN THANKSGIVING AND VALENTINES DAY
THESE TEMPERATURES WOULD BE UNEXCEPTIONAL.

THIS WAS...BY MOST MEASURES...THE COLDEST EXTENDED PERIOD BEFORE
THANKSGIVING IN MORE THAN A CENTURY OF WEATHER OBSERVATIONS. THE
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE AT THE FAIRBANKS AIRPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING
NOVEMBER 21ST WAS MINUS 30.1 DEGREES. THIS IS THE COLDEST EARLY
WINTER WEEK OF RECORD. IT WAS NOT THE COLDEST NOVEMBER WEEK. IN
BOTH 1909 AND 1927 THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 24 TO 30TH WAS
CONSIDERATELY COLDER.

SIX DAILY RECORD LOW TEMPERATURES WERE SET AT THE FAIRBANKS
AIRPORT...INCLUDING THE LOWEST TEMPERATURE OF THE COLD SNAP OF
41 BELOW ON THE 17TH. THIS IS THE FIFTH EARLIEST OCCURRENCE OF
40 BELOW OF RECORD. THERE WERE SEVEN CONSECUTIVE DAYS WITH A DAILY
LOW TEMPERATURE OF 30 BELOW OR LOWER...THE EARLIEST SUCH
STREAK...BUT NOT A NOVEMBER RECORD.

FOUR DAILY RECORD LOW MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES WERE SET. THE HIGH
TEMPERATURE OF 30 BELOW ON THE 17TH IS THE SECOND EARLIEST
OCCURRENCE OF A DAILY HIGH OF 30 BELOW OR LOWER...THOUGH MORE THAN
A WEEK LATER THAN THE EARLIEST DATE OF NOVEMBER 9TH 1989.

TEMPERATURES IN THE AREA SHOWED A TYPICAL MID-WINTER SPREAD...WITH
THE NORTH POLE AREA CONSIDERABLY COLDER AND THE HILLS CONSIDERABLY
WARMER THAN THE AIRPORT. AT THE NORTH POLE CLIMATE STATION...THE
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 21ST WAS 37.7 BELOW.
THIS INCLUDED SIX DAYS WITH LOWS IN THE 40S BELOW AND A LOW OF
49 BELOW ON THE 17TH. AT THE OTHER EXTREME...THE KEYSTONE RIDGE
CLIMATE STATION...AT 1600 FEET ELEVATION...HAD AN AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE THE SAME WEEK OF 13.4 BELOW AND AN ABSOLUTE LOW OF
28 BELOW.

MOST OF THE CLIMATE STATIONS IN THE FAIRBANKS AREA WITH MORE THAN
50 YEARS OF RECORDS SET SIX OR SEVEN DAILY RECORDS. LOW
TEMPERATURES FOR THE COLD SNAP INCLUDE....

EIELSON AFB...................41 BELOW
UNIVERSITY EXPERIMENT FARM....41 BELOW
UAF WEST RIDGE................40 BELOW
Now that is some cold air!  And for those of you planning on attending the AAAA District 3 football final, you'll be greeted quite nicely by King Kold next Saturday evening.  I do believe that the Alaskan cold will begin to integrate itself with the pattern and the fun 'n' games weatherwise will begin and last for most of the month of December!

As for last night's game, CD is coming off an impressive comeback win by scoring 22 unanswered en route to their punching a ticket for the title game.  With the help of a critical penalty with just over 4 minutes to go in the game, the Rams received a new set of downs thanks to a roughing the punter call.  Had the penalty only been a 5 yard incidental, that would have forced the Rams to either punt with a 4th and 2 or go for it around mid-field.  Hard to say what the choice would've been...but the way the Rams were moving the ball, I would've thought coach Mac would have gone for it on 4th down.  Its moot now, and the Rams continued their drive scoring 4 plays later with 2:02 remaining in the game and with a 7 point lead.  Much to the credit of the Central York Panthers, their never say die attitude carried them quickly to the Rams side of the 50 and before you knew it, were well within striking distance of a tying score.  On a 4th and 3 from the Ram 21, the Panthers completed yet another pass, but this one for only 2.75 yards!  Game, set, match for the Rams and a date with the Bulldogs!  It was quite an exciting high school football contest; well played on both sides with only few mistakes and penalties.  I was impressed with the CY Panthers!  Offensive skill players were very talented and on defense, what they lacked in size and strength they made up with speed, athleticism and coaching!  It was a solid football team putting in a solid football effort!  But the Rams held serve and off to Hershey they go!

Enjoy this beautiful warm Saturday!

Smitty

AA:  Discussion of how cold its been in Alaska and a brief discussion of last evening's AAAA District 3 semifinal football game between the CD Rams and the Central York Panthers.