weatherwiz

I think the final week or so of the month could be above average but I can see things kind of changing moving through December...but we all know how this works. We've seen plenty of times these last several years where models break down patterns and yield favorable looks past D10 and it never verifies. My really main worry with moving into December is we get wave breaking across the west coast then troughs begin to weaken and lift northeast while pumping up a ridge out ahead. The ridges won't be long lasting but will be timed with storms and then we deal with cold on the back end with snow showers while ski areas up north cash in. I get very, very cautious when it comes to needing the PAC to breakdown. We need to see something in the short term that indicates this will happen. Hopefully we can win with threading the needle early on.

dendrite should ban you for posting that

Pretty wild the differences that evolve between the GFS/Euro moving past like D4-5...first with strength/orientation of several features and then flat out how the pattern evolves. Here is to another winter of this crap I guess

Fair

Go big or go home and since I'm pretty much always home, may as well go big

I hope we get smoked for the first half of winter and then warm up in March. I've been thinking about this lately. As much as I hate the cold, its tolerable in December, January, and February but by the time March rolls around...I'm done, fed up, ready for warmth. Hoping for about 20-25" in December and January, then 30-40" in February, then off to the 70's in March.

Correct, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything for us. This could just as easily benefit Europe. But something to watch for sure

Let's hope

yeah satellite looks awful (though I guess there may be some thinning/decrease). Probably be similar to last night in the cloud category. Figures this one would be weaker. Oh well...can go to bed early

looks like storm arrived 1915z

I really hope something changes moving through December. But I hope this really isn't another year of major wave breaking along the West Coast that pumps up a massive ridge across the eastern third of the country and we just see cutting/weakening storms as the approaching trough lifts out then we get several days of cold/dry on the backside of the systems and just rinse and repeat as the next wave break occurs and the next ridge builds. I think a month or two ago I made some comments that I didn't think ENSO will be a big player in the overall regime but kind of looking ahead...I actually wonder if (regardless of what ENSO indices show) the hemispheric pattern this winter may be reflective of what you would see in a stronger Nina event.

IMO, the expansion of the western Pacific warm pool (which Ray did a great discussion on within his winter outlook, which I will hopefully finish reading today or tomorrow and comment on) in recent decades probably elicits far more weight on the global regime versus ENSO (maybe even a stronger ENSO event) given the expansion of 29-30C SSTs which is going to contribute to a great deal of convection and latent heat release...oh and add in the regime of the WHWP.

Last October was epic, no? I remember running outside because a friend of mine sent me a picture his mom took in West Hartford...I was watching a Bruins game and missed a goal. Pretty sure that was October last year.

There was a paper I read a few years ago about the use of the RONI and how it is a better indicator of the true state versus the traditional ONI. There were multiple examples used, but there was one that looked at the 2015/2016 event, which per ONI was super strong. Based on forecasts and guidance for a super strong EL Nino certain measures were taken (I want to say it was western Africa) in preparations for impacts to precipitation, etc and ultimately took too aggressive measures and it cost some industries alot of money. But per the RONI, the event was not nearly as strong and their weather for the winter season was more reflective of that of a moderate event. Essentially, the study indicated if they used the RONI they wouldn't have taken as aggressive measures.

Well stated, and I completely agree with the bolded as that can translate with respect to ENSO as well. I think alot of thinking and ideas out there when it comes to ENSO and impact to global regime are based off ideas from like the 1980's through early 2000's. Our wealth of knowledge, data, and event have grown substantially. In fact, I even think ENSO state may be overplayed, particularly if it is a weaker or even a moderate event (depending on how coupled). I think one issue here is we are too married to the CPC definition of ENSO...there are something like 50 published definitions on ENSO. There is more to it too then just what the SSTAs are.

Agreed, it gets overstated way too much, especially wen it comes to worrying which phase the NAO is in. I get that a -NAO has a higher correlation to cold/snow versus a +NAO, but it's not a significantly higher correlation. What's most important is the structure of the NAO, placement of the pressure anomalies, and how the NAO is transitioning. I believe there is a much stronger correlation to snowfall with respect to a transitioning NAO versus a static state NAO

Am I the only spot in the region that has clouds??? This is BS

have a few flakes falling first of the season unless I missed any last night.

Getting some graupel mixing in here but was short lived

I think they've been shut out 4 times at home so far? That's nuts. Lots of internal turmoil within the organization...but they may have to do a bit of re-tooling themselves. They have some young talent in Hartford, but not many who are probably ready to step in and be a big contributor right away. They going to waste Igor

Went outside for two seconds about an hour ago, lovely day. Working on some school work, going to take the dog on a walk, and then drink a few IPAs and watch the Bruins hopefully crush the Leafs

A big problem is, and I guess this comes from whatever was said in the 70's or 80's, but climate change and global warming does not mean there won't be any more cold or won't be any more snow in places where these two phenomena are part of the climate. The Earth goes through cycles of warming and cooling, we all know this, this isn't a secret. Since the last ice age, the Earth has been on the warming part of the cycle. The issue here is, since the Industrial Revolution, the vast increase in concentrations of CO2 have led to the Earth warming at an alarming rate, much more so than what should be occurring naturally. The greatest extent of this is being felt at both poles and why is this a bad thing? Well the Earth's energy budge consists of a net deficit at the higher latitudes and a net surplus at the equator. So, for the Earth's energy budget to be close to in balance, this surplus of energy is transported to higher latitudes via oceanic and atmospheric currents. But this balance has been disrupted, and because of the advanced warming in the polar regions, the delta in this net deficit is being reduced. This has an impact on the natural currents (such as Hadley Cell). A warmer atmosphere holds more water, CO2 and H20 are two of the biggest heat trapping gasses , especially H20. This is an easy experience to conduct, and I mean take a look at Venus. Venus is immensely hotter than Mercury, despite Mercury being closer to the sun. Why is that. We see this clearly in our region during the summer, when everyone is talking about being way above average but that being driven by warm overnight temperatures? Why is this, well CO2 and H20 are also extremely efficient at absorbing longwave radiation (which is emitted by the Earth's surface at night) but they are not efficient at absorbing shortwave radiation (emitted by the sun). But significantly altering concentrations of CO2 (which we all know exists naturally), H20, and other gasses in the upper atmosphere will also impact production of ozone and can disrupt the structure of the upper atmosphere. We go through cycles of terrible winters and snowfall and fantastic winters for snowfall...that is not going to change, however, the frequency and and rate of returns will be altered and we will increase the occurrence of mild patterns and the duration of those patterns.

maybe some thunder for the south coast late tomorrow night?

Just went back and looked and noticed the models backed off on the narrow jet streak of 130+ knots it had developing around the base of the trough. Looked through at 0z models last night and yeah that shortwave was vastly different than what was modeled just a few days ago.

I also wish this would have busted with the LLJ that was advertised a few days ago versus busting because the LLJ just didn't pan out. If we got the 50-60 knot LLJ, I wonder if last night would have performed or not. I find these setups to be interesting, whether its 35-45 mph gusts or something that has potential for 50-60 mph. Over the years we've had plenty of times where wind advisories (this includes high wind) were issued and nothing happened, and times it's like "where the heck is the wind advisories". I am also wondering if the showers helped to develop or enhance a subtle inversion above the surface which maybe knocked off like 10 mph of gust potential? Was looking at some 6z NAM bufkit soundings and there are some subtle inversions just above the sfc.