bluewave

The issue is that the models are converging on a bootleg +PNA to at least start January with lower heights under the Canadian Ridge out West. Anytime we see lower heights in the Western US with a +PNA ridge in Canada it leaves room for storms to continue tracking to the Great Lakes. We get short term Southeast Ridge amplifications. The trough returns to the East after the storm has past. The EPS has been struggling the most showing too much of ridge beyond 10 days near EPAC and WNA. Same model bias since the beginning of December. New run Old run

Luckily, looks like the peak of the drought is behind us. As NYC will probably finish December over 3.00”. Still drier than what were before the fall. We’ll know we are back to the old wet pattern again when we get a month with over 5.00”. Monthly Total Precipitation for NY CITY CENTRAL PARK, NY Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending. 2024 5.28 2.05 9.06 3.47 4.11 1.71 4.20 7.02 1.58 0.01 3.35 2.70 44.54 2023 4.38 1.28 3.32 7.70 1.28 1.62 5.34 6.56 14.25 3.90 2.95 6.71 59.29 2022 4.29 3.23 2.39 4.53 4.52 2.92 4.55 1.71 4.10 5.08 3.15 5.83 46.30 2021 2.31 5.13 3.41 2.69 4.36 2.62 11.09 10.32 10.03 5.26 1.12 1.39 59.73 2020 1.93 2.54 3.78 4.49 1.65 1.76 6.58 5.03 3.94 5.05 3.99 4.61 45.35

Getting 3” or more is all that most of us care about in NYC. So far that doesn’t look like it’s in the cards. But a light accumulation or no accumulation seems to be what’s on the menu now.

The only monthly temperatures which matter for snow are on the days that the precipitation falls.

The pattern coming up doesn’t equate to any one individual MJO phase. The forcing is split between the EPAC and WPAC. So it’s a bit like playing a chord with the forcing instead of an individual note. So the resultant pattern has features of several different MJO notes playing together.

December 2022 was the last time the 7 station average finished below average at -0.5. EWR….+0.3 NYC….-0.6 LGA…..-1.3 JFK…..-0.8 HPN…..-0.1 BDR….-0.9 ISP……-0.3 avg…-0.5

A very super El Niño look to the pattern close to close out the year.

The whole area averaged out will probably be not too far from normal by the end of the month as we are currently at -1.3 for the local station average. 3 cooler departure days coming up with 3 around average. Then the 26st to 31st will be back above average. EWR….-0.9 NYC….-1.9 HPN….-1.1 LGA….-1.9 JFK…..+0.2 ISP…..-1.5 BDR…..-1.8 AVG….-1.3

Don, I believe that forecast would represent near the top 3 warmest last weeks of December for the entire North American continent. The Hudson Bay Area would be ridiculously warm with the delayed freeze up from the marine heatwaves back in the summer and fall. My guess is that the North American snow cover extent would dip to near the lowest for late December.

While we won’t have the highest departures here, it will be one of the warmest last weeks of December on record for the North American continent.

While 23-24 and 22-23 were both in the top 3 for warmth, at least the El Niño driven STJ was able to improve the snowfall situation in 23-24. Time Series Summary for NY CITY CENTRAL PARK, NY Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending. 1 2001-2002 41.5 0 2 2022-2023 41.0 0 - 2015-2016 41.0 0 3 2023-2024 40.6 0 4 2011-2012 40.5 0 5 1931-1932 40.1 0 6 1997-1998 39.6 0 7 2016-2017 39.3 0 8 2019-2020 39.2 0 9 1990-1991 39.1 0 10 1998-1999 38.6 0

This is why I would much rather take my chances with a record STJ than a record Northern Stream.

This was probably the first time we saw such a narrow snowband track exactly due east from Illinois with the record jet streak.

December 89 was colder than all but 2 Januaries since 91. I can still remember the snow around Thanksgiving. Was thinking we may have been on a 76-77 track that December. Everyone was really surprised how quickly the pattern changed around New Years with one of the warmest Januaries after the 2nd coldest December. That December would have been considered cold back in the Little Ice Age. Time Series Summary for NY CITY CENTRAL PARK, NY - Month of Dec Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending. 1 1917 25.0 0 - 1876 25.0 0 2 1989 25.9 0 3 1880 26.4 0 4 1872 26.7 0 5 1926 28.9 0 Time Series Summary for NY CITY CENTRAL PARK, NY - Month of Jan Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending. 1 2004 24.7 0 2 1994 25.5 0 Time Series Summary for NY CITY CENTRAL PARK, NY - Month of Jan Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending. 1 2023 43.5 0 2 1932 43.2 0 3 1950 41.8 2 4 1990 41.4 0 5 2006 40.9 0

Yeah, the JFK ASOS is actually fairly close to the 5 Towns area in Nassau in a very marshy spot. Readings would be much warmer especially during the summer if the ASOS was closer the Belt. When I lived in LB JFK readings were several degrees warmer than what I got a few blocks from the beach. But I would get the sea breeze sooner in the warm season so my highs would be a little lower than JFK. Oceanside was fairly close to JFK with the sea breeze timing and temperatures. The Newark ASOS is fairly close to the Bay. So any SSE component will drop the temperatures relative to downtown Newark. Unfortunately, that whole corridor in NJ is the warmest spot in the area due to how urbanized NE NJ is plus the warm down sloping from the hills to the west. So my guess is that we are probably missing the highest temperatures in that region since there isn’t a good downtown Newark site. We probably owe it to the people that live there and don’t get the benefit of a sea breeze like EWR gets. Harrison may be the closest in number of 90° days that the downtown of Newark gets. Data for January 1, 2024 through December 18, 2024 Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending 90° days HIGHTSTOWN 2 W COOP 41 HARRISON COOP 41 CANOE BROOK COOP 37 SOMERSET AIRPORT WBAN 35 NEWARK LIBERTY INTL AP WBAN 33 CALDWELL ESSEX COUNTY AP WBAN 33

It’s a good question. I have noticed that the JFK departures can vary either up or down from the other sites from time to time. It could be the onshore influence.

Is anyone working on an AI bias correction to the EPS weeklies numerical forecasts? It seems like this is the way to go. Since the AI forecasts on their own I have seen haven’t been the greatest. But maybe if they join forces with NWP they could make some real progress in modeling beyond 10 days.

These quick forcing shifts from the EPAC at the start of January back to the IO and MC after that don’t inspire a lot of confidence in the individual 500 mb forecasts especially longer range.

Yeah, the EPS runs at the start of December had much higher heights over the EPAC and WNA than are currently being forecast in late December. So I like to look at the GEFS for some counterpoint against whatever the EPS is showing beyond 10 days. Thats why I am glad they added the GEFS weeklies so we don’t just get stuck with one piece of guidance longer range. Since the CFS is just too erratic a model to be of much use most of the time. New run 12-23 to 12-30 much lower EPAC and WNA heights than forecast Old run

Cold departures pulling back again after the warm up. Should start to increase again with the colder temperatures coming up from the 21st to 23rd. Then the cold departures will recede again following Christmas as we go back up above normal again. The current station average is -1.3. It will be interesting to see if we can get a day or two warm enough near the end of the month to fall in the -1 to +1 range for the average which was my guess at the start of December. EWR….-0.9 NYC….-1.9 HPN….-1.1 LGA….-1.9 JFK…..+0.2 ISP…..-1.5 BDR…..-1.8 AVG….-1.3

You can see the long range models struggling with the Pacific pattern again as they are showing lower heights over the EPAC and the Western North America to start January than previous runs. This has been the long range bias since the start of December. 500 mb Heights over the EPAC and WNA have been verifying lower than forecast beyond 168-240 hrs. New run Old run

For the UKMET fans out there Pivitol now has 168 hr forecasts with maps every 6 hrs. https://www.pivotalweather.com/model.php?rh=2024121800&fh=9&dpdt=&mc=&r=conus&p=prateptype_ukmo-imp&m=ukmo_global

That band in CNJ was the exception rather than the rule across the area. All the sites across the area are similar to NYC in having one of their lowest snowfall starts to a decade. It was a bright spot for locals in that area. Almost like a version of what happened in a very narrow band on Long Island in December 1988.

Yeah, Boston has averaged 26.1” for this decade so far which was what NYC used to average. Monthly Total Snowfall for Boston Area, MA (ThreadEx) Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending. Mean 0.9 T 5.2 12.2 7.0 0.6 0.2 26.1 2019-2020 0.0 T 11.5 3.1 0.5 T 0.7 15.8 2020-2021 4.3 T 13.0 5.8 15.3 0.1 0.1 38.6 2021-2022 0.0 T 0.4 36.2 15.3 2.1 T 54.0 2022-2023 0.0 T 1.0 6.9 3.6 0.9 0.0 12.4 2023-2024 0.0 T 0.2 9.0 0.5 T 0.1 9.8

I posted it to show how remarkably warm the North American continent will be. Probably near record low snow cover extent for this time of year with Hudson Bay not frozen over yet. I agree about that big high east of New England should keep us in an onshore flow from the first 3-4 days of the period. So we’ll probably have to wait closer to New Years’s Eve to get over 50°. But the greater story is NYC could go the 26th to 31st without dropping below freezing for the 2nd year in a row.