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.
Currently this evening I'm watching a variety of things, temperature of course being one of those. I just happened to scope Mt Washington's obs and they were ugly...and that's being kind! Likely worse by morning no doubt!
I've also been watching this "Bad moon on the rise" out my eastward facing window and that reminded me to inform my early risers to look SE predawn and potentially catch a glimpse of Mars-Jupiter in conjunction (side by side). The moon will pay a celestial visit with those two next Wed-Thursday time frame...That is one thing nice about arctic air; usually cloud free!
As for the weather, after the deepest part of the cold early Sunday, temps have nowhere to go but UP! The early am lows Sunday could be records if the winds subside...as per then NAM...(-10°F is not out of the question for KMDT if winds go calm at sunrise!)
The model is clearly detecting where there is and is no snow on the ground! Interesting... Anyway, here is the mid to late week Farm Show Thaw...so much for Farm Show nastiness! Impressive anomalies for warmth...Farm Show Friday...
Those of you who are astute observers of the wx will note there lurks yet another arctic blast to the northwest...but rest assured for those of you who want mud, the genuine thaw of January is coming gangbusters...check it out for week 3...the American ensembles...
So there will be minimal bouts of winter upcoming the next week, slop early (low cold air is hard to displace quickly), then rain late week, but my message is simple...the January Thaw is looming! Just like my song choice; I've listened to so many great tunes this evening. But since we are in such mid-winter conditions, I'll leave y'all with this. I hope you'll like...? Enjoy the tune...and for those of you who want out of the bleak mid-winter, a 2 week respite is in store I do believe! Enjoy it my Subaru compadre from Lanco...
So, with all of that said, enjoy your thaw, but first... enjoy your bitter cold week's end!
Smitty
AA: The worst of winter is NOW in terms of cold. A 2-3 week thaw is coming starting middle of farm show week. Ironic...ehhh? Thinking February has a couple of major snow events...different story for a different day! We can peruse the lots in late January without special clothing! Can we protest the PAT attempt?
Obviously, when the temperature is able to bottom out at -5°F (here in Etters), all is quiet and still on New Year's morn. Yesterday afternoon, I made a proclamation to my lovely bride that I felt that we'd drop below 0°F by morning. Of course, she mandated the site be KMDT; you know, the official NWS climatological site for Harrisburg, PA. So at 5 am, I read to her the official NWS observations starting with York, PA (KTHV). Now, in case you are not aware, the Thomasville airport serves as the York, PA weather data site. The location of this airport sits out along route 30 about 7 miles west of downtown York. There is minimal human development in the vicinity of the airport in what is largely an agricultural area and thus, great radiational cooling is able to occur under clear skies and calm winds. The graphic below depicts optimal radiational cooling conditions. It also shows our 1st Full Moon of 2018 occuring at 9:24 pm this evening!
With the Saturday snowfall of just under 5" at my humble abode and a slightly lesser amount around York, the thermometer at 5am was a genuinely gelid -9°F at KTHV! But my wife quickly asked, "OK, that's nice, but what is it at Harrisburg?" Below is a screen shot of the 5am obs in central PA...
With the air moving from the NW at 6 mph, this prevented the coldest air to settle at the surface whilst in York, a calm wind made for optimal cold air collection! However, 2 hours later, KMDT officially dropped to below 0 bottoming out at -2°F. Here is the 7am screenshot of the obs when KMDT dropped below 0°F...
Also this am, I was perusing the NWS website and was just taken back at how widespread the watches and warnings were for dangerous cold and anomalous cold...take a look...
And the apparent temps across the northern plains were simply brutal; freezingly frigid at best! Ouch!
And this cold is forecast to persist for the next couple of weeks...1st 5 day anomaly...
And the 2nd 5 day anomaly...Farm Show week looks to be quite cold!
By the way, still watching a very powerful ocean storm developing later this week with some uncertainty as to its exact path...still not writing off a shift closer to the coast.
But either way, an even slightly colder shot of the arctic is poised to invade on Friday with gusty NW winds from the land of Nunavut! Saturday morning likely to be at or below 0°F in these parts....Brrrrr...
OK...off to Lancaster County for pork and sauerkraut over a bed of mashed spuds! Nothing changes on New Year's Day! U'all know what's coming...U2! Enjoy...
Stay warm; I'm out!
Smitty
AA: Coldest New Year's minimum temp at KMDT since the climatological records began in 1888! Likely to see another sub-zero day or two before moderation of this arctic cold by middle of next week. Happy New Year my friend!
