Well, with yesterday's 0.5" official snowfall, we are nickel and diming ourselves to a "normal" December snowfall total (2.4" so far at KMDT!) The problem is that this is not the normal way for us to achieve our 6" or so normal snows in December; usually it comes in one shot! A string of cold days is not the norm for us in this month of advent! The warm ocean off to the east usually rears its strong arm ridge westward into the continent and we often experience a mild spell until the cold can hold from the northlands, usually in January. However, the battle zone will set up nicely for what SHOULD be a very wintry week between Christmas and New Years.
First, yesterday's light snow was a result of an upper air bump that was a bit slow to create the Mauler I alluded to last week...That screaming jet to our south (below) along with with a smidge of vorticity a tad lower in the atmosphere created yesterday's winter wonderland...
Since I displayed the jet stream above, note the direction of the air coming into PA...the general flow is from the SW; obviously a much milder flow than from Nunavut! That will be the mainstay this week; zonal (west to east) flow. Latitudinal as opposed to highly meridinal if you care...The warm-up will be slow as low level cold is difficult to erode in the SusQ Valley;. However, this week will average normal to slightly above. Friday looks to be the warmest going by the 850 mb temps...take a look...
However, the cold from O Canada will push and bully its way south with the arrival of the "Big Guy"...
That purple above is the key to how much precip we get Christmas week. I've seen battle zones set up like this many times before. Warm air tries to push north much to its demise but delivers a solid blanket of ice and snow in these parts. I'm going to use the snowfall prog to show you this battle zone. The Euro depicts it very nicely...(El Paso (for you MrMazz) to I wanna be a part of it (not really) NY, NY!) It's too early to forecast, but I believe the depth and strength of the cold will rule the roost and cold and dry will be the weather elements we observe...but stay tuned!
There's so much to share, but I don't want to bore my loyal readers...so I'll stop now. I'll likely try to show you the super ensemble analogs tomorrow...do you remember Christmas 1983 for KMDT. That might be in store for Boxing Day 2017!?!
OK...I'm out, but before I go, I'd love to see this group perform at the Red Rocks Amphitheater (not necessarily singing this ditty), but it would be fun for Christmas in July! Enjoy!
And enjoy your 3rd Sunday of Advent (a time to wait, wonder, and ponder of the arrival of Christ the King!) And I sincerely hope none of your Christmases are "blue"; I just like the tune!
Out...
Smitty
AA: A slow and brief warm-up leading to Christmas, but watching for a very cold and potentially stormy Christmas to New Years time period...Stay Tuned!
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