raindancewx

As of July 21, ice extent is +0.5 million square km above last year. Math for the win.

The June AMO came in at the lowest value since 2002. https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/correlation/amon.us.long.data AMO peak looks like it was 2005-2012, after warming a lot in 1997-2004 and near neutral for much of 1989-1996. We may be transitioning to a more Neutral AMO for 2019-2026 before the real flip to the cold phase begins. I look at 2013-2018/9 as kind of a "warm, but cooling" era. We seem to be past the era when every month is warm in the Atlantic, to where MOST months are warm, and soon it will be half, then it will be rare, and so on.

Heavy rains missed Albuquerque itself today, but slammed areas due north and south of the city. A levee failed in Belen -

My point was more that even in areas where people supposedly care about environmentalism and global warming, they really don't. If you believe the oceans will rise 50m in the next 100 years why would you live by the ocean? I've been to Cape May County, used to go every Summer - would bet good money no parcel of land is more than 100 feet above level, and it is surrounded by water on three sides, but I'm sure some of the people who live there haven't put two and two together about the possible sea level rise. To go back on topic, the AMO has been warming up recently after the cold May/June, will be interesting to see what it looks look by mid-September. If it stays relatively cold, I don't think the min or shape in Sept of sea-ice extent looks anything like last year.

The idea that civilization can be redesigned because people care about the environment or the Earth's temperature seems kind of ridiculous to me. Liberals are supposedly the people who care about the environment, but they live in densely populated, highly urbanized areas, not just in the US but globally. I live in the West, with people who are small farmers and ranchers, where we have clean water, clean air, and can see thousands of stars every night and we kind of laugh at the idea that somehow the right is the problem. There is literally nothing stopping the Democrats from changing civilization to adapt to global warming in areas that are urban and by the ocean - that is how you know it won't happen. Los Angeles alone probably produces more smog and warming than 30+ US states if traffic is as bad as I remember.

The AMO & 8/1 ice extent, for 1979-2017 when compared to 1979-2016, saw an increased r-value relationship. Jan-May AMO value is down 0.16 from last year (+0.08 v. +0.24). Theoretically worth around 0.5 million sq km in sea ice extent.

Saturday looks like a pretty good day for precipitation in the SW. Fingers crossed.

Looks like the city had 0.5-1.0 inches of rain today, with areas west of town reporting up to 3 inches and a couple confirmed tornado. Lots of hail and thunder around too. Rained so hard it was actually fell into the upper 50s around 3 pm, which is an amazing outcome for June.

Possibility of heavy rain, hail, thunderstorms, tornadoes on Sunday for much of New Mexico. Might give the city the first wet June since 2010. CAPE (up to 2000j/kg?) and Bulk sheer values look fairly impressive for this part of the world.

CPC, the CFS and the GFS currently like a wet June for NM - let's do it. Kill the heat.

With the Pacific fairly Neutral now, the Atlantic and solar conditions are probably going to drive the pattern for 6-8 weeks. Cold AMO in May is fairly strongly linked to a colder June for TX and parts of NM too - we will see.

CFS has been trying to hint at a wet June for a little while now, which is what my analogs have been showing down here for a while. Early onset monsoon, then ends early.

Pending this next little system, I believe we've had only 2 days here (Albuquerque) with over 0.10" precipitation since Oct 1. Very rare here, we're not Yuma, tied with three other years for fewest >0.1" days since 1892.

We were 40F or so on Friday afternoon, I'd call it a Blue Norther level cold front. Wind was fierce and unrelenting. Midnight high of 54F though.

MJO is active once again, it is currently in phase 7 and should be in phase 2 by mid-April. Have to watch for cold in the SW and severe weather in the Plains and mid-south.

Expecting trace to 0.20" here tomorrow with the storm coming through. If we get over 0.13" on 3/27, this becomes the wettest March since 2010 for Albuquerque. If we get over 0.31" tomorrow, wettest March since 2007 (!)

The models have been hinting at a decent to historic precipitation event for NM next week for about 36-hours now. Hope it verifies! Been enjoying this March, its 3:20 pm on 3/21 and have yet to hit 70F officially at the long-term observation site for the city. Last year it happened on 2/10. Also, we've had seven lows of 32F or less this month, that hasn't happened since 2012. The SOI dropped over 40 points a few days ago, from +36 to -8, so I think some kind of big system coming through next week makes sense. The 3/1-3/21 SOI is still +6.4, so its been exceptionally volatile this month, readings of -8.4 to +35.9. So far (1/1-3/20) 2018 is 2.6F colder than last year.

The SOI popped to +35.9 in the most recent reading, and it looks very strongly positive to me over the next week to ten days. Here is a look at what that does to April historically - its a strong warm signal for TX, a strong cold signal for the coastal NW, and a strong wet signal for the western Dakotas, but a strong dry signal for the NM/TX/MX border areas, and the Virginia mountains. SOI is currently +8.41 for March 1-17 (it was -7.7 in February)

For the first 1/5 of 2018, ABQ is running 1.6F colder than last year, with the lows in running almost 3F colder. March looks like it has a real chance of finishing 3-8F colder than last year here. High from 3/9 to 3/15 this year is 11F colder than last year. The 3/9-3/22 period had an average high of 76.5F in 2017, won't be anywhere near that in 2018. Its been years since we've gone so deep into the year without a 70F reading here, only recent year to make it longer is 2010, when it took until 3/29. Our first, official 70F day is probably 3/22 or later. May finish March without hitting 75F...it hit 75F last year on February 10th. First 75F reading is usually around 3/26, so its not unusual that we haven't hit that level yet, but it doesn't look like it will happen in the next week either. The blend of 1st 75F reading as a date and February SOI reading is a strong indicator for the average March high, so will be interesting to see when we do hit 75F, if it is in April or March.

Giant line of precipitation formed...north, south, and west of me. Really hope we get something with this system. Haven't had a wet March in the city since 2007.

Fairly happy with how my winter outlook turned out for this region of the US, and really most of the US besides the interior West - for anyone who read it in mid-October.

Record dry soundings here today (dewpoint: -15F right now at 8:40 pm, 43F air temp). I'm rooting for the low tomorrow morning to get to 22F. That would be the coldest March reading in the city since 2008. If we get to 16F, that's the coldest March reading in the city since 2002. The 1931-2017 record for March is +8F. If we had snow on the ground with this airmass I think we've have a shot at it, but without the snow, can't see it dropping below 15F in any scenario. I'd assuming 19F, +/-4F. Models can't seem to decide if the MJO keeps going (BOM), reverses back into phase two (Euro), or just dies. Consensus might be slow movement in/around phase 2/3 for another 3-5 days? The Euro has something like the light-blue line, BOM the red line. Given how cold it was today (28F low, 50F high) here wouldn't be surprised if it was back into phase 2 already.

We have yet to hit 70F down here, and are now up to 73 frosts through 3/2 (probably won't get one today). It was 75F on 2/10 and then 70F on 2/11 last year, so this is more typical, with the first 70F reading of the year usually around 3/8. The European has been trying to go to what my analogs had for March: a wet period mid-month, sandwiched between two dry periods (3/1-3/6 and 3/21-3/31). Theoretically, it should also be a lot colder than last March, as Nino 1.2 is colder than last year, and there is some blocking, with we've seen drier nights year/year each month since December. Feb SOI is a good indicator on highs in March, as is first 70F day. If/when we get decent precip in March...I think we're done for significant precipitation down here until June, when the data suggests the monsoon develops early and fierce. Amarillo has had exactly 0.01 inches of rain for the Oct 14-March 2 period. It seems like SOME kind of pattern is WAY overdue that can bring that area some precipitation. I'm not sure i believe an area of the US outside maybe Yuma is capable of getting that little rain for much more than a six month period.

Maybe this event gets eaten away from the East? I'd assumed the warmth would come to Nino 1.2 last, but its probably going to be warmer than average in March after the cold February. Nino 1.2 was 23.32C in January (-0.9C v. 1951-2000), probably ~25.10C (-0.6C v. 1951-2000) in February, but the trend is up, and fast, so maybe 26.5C in March (+0.4C v. 1951-2000)?

Can't wait to see what the Canadian has for March on 2/28. The CFS seems to be trying really hard to combine low-solar La Nina conditions with the big -SOI drop (low-solar El Nino). I made this after last March for future reference -