Smitty's attempt to educate and to a much lesser extent, entertain, about all facets of life; but primarily the meteorological and the climatological aspects of the earth sciences.
This evening whilst viewing my favorite TV show (Weather World-PCN), Dr Jon Nese was reviewing the February-March temps at 3 locations in PA; one in the NW part of the state, State College, and one in the SE part of the state. In all 3 of these locations, it appears that March will average cooler for the entire month than February. As is often the case, the climatologist that lies within Dr Nese went through the data banks and found only THREE common years where March was cooler than February at all 3 locations. Dr Nese went on to say that there was no real signal as to what to expect for the upcoming summer months in terms of the weather. Well, I had to check for myself since he did all of the truly heavy lifting by analyzing the March cooler than February months at the 3 locations in PA. So here is what I found out...
First the temperature anomaly...not much of a signal as Dr Nese stated. Slightly cooler than normal here...but slightly warmer across the mid-section of the country. Also, possibly an active hurricane/tropical storm season affecting Florida and a strong on-shore flow across the PAC NW.
As for precip...well...what a mess that is! Looks like a Christmas Tree! A total piecemeal of wet/dry areas, some directly juxtaposed with each other. Florida is wet but the PAC NW surprisingly dry. Looks like a slightly stronger than normal western USA "monsoon", but that is really grasping at straws! Again, no real strong signal...
As for drought, it looks a tad dry across the northern plains and the Ohio Valley and some signal into the Arklotex region, but adequate moisture for most of the remainder of the country with the lone but typical exception of far western coastal CA. The Yellowstone River looks like it would be quite low during these years...
So what's up for June-August 2017? Not really too sure yet...just so most of the country is under clear skies for August 21! The Great American Eclipse will traverse this great country. May high pressure grace our continent and inhibit convection this day!
With all of that said, I will continue to try to look for signals as to what this summer might bring. But it will certainly bring an astronomical phenomenon of one's lifetime! So get out and enjoy it...and enjoy this...
Only a few days until MLB opening day...summer has to be just around the corner!
Smitty
AA: Summer, using only one set of data, looks to be reasonably normal in these parts with the exception of a 75-80% eclipse of the sun here in our region...gotta go just a tad south and/or west to be in the path of totality!
The 2 shall never meet...Wx and politics. Nor should they aside from in this brief post. Many times, political agendas want climate study and politics to meet; and often they need to in order for funding of said research to be continued. But none of that here. I fund my own research by analyzing openly both sides of the debate. But that is not today's political discussion. Today's political posit is of a far more local flavor; more on the scale of say...microclimatology! How about the size of a school district or even more specifically a region within a school district. And even more specifically, electoral Region 2 of the Central Dauphin School District. My political post here is for support of my former colleague, building level administrator, and good friend Mr. Richard Mazzatesta.
I've known "Mazz" for my entire professional career. One of the reasons Mazz was such a strong leader as a building level administrator is due to the fact that he taught in a secondary classroom for 19 years! Once he "paid his dues" mixing it up with the students and staff on a daily basis in the classroom setting, he moved on to various levels of administration in a diverse setting of buildings and districts. Experience has no equal; it's concise to state, Mazz has a boatload of experience both in the classroom and in the hinterlands of various administrative positions in public education. It is my belief that Mazz would be an excellent addition to the CDSD school board of directors and a strong voice for the advocacy of education for both the students and staff working in the district within the constraints of fiscal and societal realities. Simply put, Mazz finds ways to "get things done".
So Smitty, what can I do to show support for Mazz? Please understand, I'm not a big FACEBOOK guy, but Mazz now has a Facebook page where people can keep up to date with his ideals, posts, etc... Just simply "Friend" him and he will reciprocate in kind. He is slowly learning Facebook to help get the word out for his interest in the Region 2 CDSD seat. He states that Facebook is new to him, but the PA Public School code is NOT! His Facebook link is...
https://www.facebook.com/richard.mazzatesta.7
Many of you reading this were also colleagues of Mazz'. So go ahead, "friend" him on Facebook and support his bid to venture into local politics and make a difference where his experience is second to none in the public schools. Let's spread the word for Mazz both verbally and electronically!
As for the weather, we all know February was quite warm when compared to normals; in fact, it was warm not even comparing it to anything but the absolute temps! Take a look...
But March showed a late winter reversal both in terms of temps...
...and nearfall backpoints with that one nice late winter snowfall...
and a satellite view of above storm...
It looks as if April might return to above normal temps as the CFSv2 indicates on its recent runs...
But an astute observer might notice a coolish signal from the Mid-Atlantic and lower Lakes up through New England. The dirty work of wet ground and melting snows will tend to keep temps "squashed" to some extent, especially the 2-3 weeks prior to Easter Sunday. Here is the Euro's take on precip for the next 10 days; regular and repeated bouts of precip in these parts to be sure...the GFS is very much the same, albeit a tad wetter...
OK...enough. Time to stretch my aching back and perform more of my recently learned ELDOA exercises. These are to help elongate the disk space within the vertebrae and alleviate compressional pain. Sometimes, I think I'm just getting old! But I'm really trying not to do so...
I'll leave y'all with this favorite of mine...in keeping with the politics...or trying to avoid political affiliation and simply working for sensible solutions as Jackson Browne is advocating...
Enjoy the remainder of your week!
Smitty
AA: In support of Mazz for CDSD school board and it looks as if a wet 2-3 weeks is on tap. The next rain will come Friday; +/- 1.25" by Saturday I believe in these parts. Then about every 3 days, another soaker here in our region...
