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February 2022


cleetussnow
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So, there has been a lot of speculation as to why the pattern for the beginning of March has taken such a turn since just last week. I was pretty much in agreement with much of the meteorological community that the beginning of March would be quite warm as the pattern would be breaking down. It appeared that the tropical forcing would move into unfavorable areas of the Pacific for E US winter weather, like towards the Maritime Continent.

However, that tropical forcing has become less and less of a factor in the pattern, as the amplitude of the wave looks quite low:

ensplume_full.gif.999f78720b18f5749ae95f6f33268373.gif

So, instead, there must be another pattern driver that's led to such a dramatic change in the NH waveguide. It looks like the culprit is an extratropical cyclone over the W Pacific near Japan. It will develop by the beginning of next week, and it looks to become a highly anomalous cyclone, reaching over 4 sigma below normal SLP:

1143253586_ETcyclone.thumb.gif.618632b6b9fb6d4011b7606749042356.gif

This cyclone will induce an extension of the Pacific jet and anticyclonic wave breaking, which leads to the anomalous ridging over the EPO domain:

jet.thumb.gif.9976ba6a35ded185fc58810d7c88fdc3.gifpvu.thumb.gif.b389a21bb690cf29f0926de30f610246.gif

I don't think that this is a head fake, and there is the potential for a significant high-latitude blocking event. It hinges on the strength of the cyclone in the Pacific, but there is tremendous agreement between models and their ensembles, so I do think that it's a legitimate pattern driver. Something similar to this also happened with Nuri at the end of October 2014, which was also a highly anomalous N Pacific cyclone. Nuri had a tremendous impact on the pattern in November 2014 with regards to N Pacific blocking:

nuri.png.95e96509718c7445dcd6837d214c5e98.png

Therefore, I do believe that the first couple (or perhaps few?) weeks of March hold elevated potential for a significant late-winter event. Time will tell, but things should start to ramp up once heading into the start of the month.

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7 minutes ago, snowman19 said:

Funny how there’s no mention from you about the torch coming up lol Let’s look ahead to March and ignore it instead 

You mean how you ignored the entire

month of january? 
 

glass stones and all that. Back To the weather now. 

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7 minutes ago, snowman19 said:

Funny how there’s no mention from you about the torch coming up lol Let’s look ahead to March and ignore it instead 

I don't think anyone on here is denying that we are in for a substantial (yes, possibly record-breaking) warmup over the next 7 days or so.  But trends over the past few days undeniably seem to favor a shorter duration one and possibly a return to a colder, snowier pattern than we originally thought for at least the first half of March.

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3 hours ago, EastonSN+ said:

Perhaps the forum could correct me, however I feel like while NYC has had a hard time getting 10+ storms in March, Long island gets them far more frequently.

What would be the cause of this? Like the storm below, being east seems as important as being north.

03132018snowmap.thumb.png.21f20abe06a485ecce9015c084e6fd41.png

Urban heating really destroys the city accumulating in any kind of marginal events (which most March storms tend to be) . LI would actually have less issues generally in March than December because ocean is colder.  

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8 minutes ago, HVSnowLover said:

Urban heating really destroys the city accumulating in any kind of marginal events (which most March storms tend to be) . LI would actually have less issues generally in March than December because ocean is colder.  

I think for NYC recently it has been more about storm tracks in March. NYC missed going over 10” with Stella in March 2017 since the storm tucked too much with the +AO and March wavelengths. So there was a changeover around NYC and the big totals of 20-30” went NW.  March 2018 featured the persistent near or just east of the benchmark tracks with the -AO and +PNA favoring Suffolk county for 30”. 

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1 minute ago, bluewave said:

I think for NYC recently it has been more about storm tracks in March. NYC missed going over 10” with Stella in March 2017 since the storm tucked too much with the +AO and March wavelengths. So there was a changeover around NYC and the big totals of 20-30” went NW.  March 2018 featured the persistent near or just east of the benchmark tracks with the -AO and +PNA favoring Suffolk county for 30”. 

the first two big nor'easters in march 2018 had good tracks for nyc but the airmass was too marginal 

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28 minutes ago, SnoSki14 said:

I'm not sure exactly how late Feb & March will play out but it should be interesting if you enjoy stormy weather & not just snow. 

I'm definitely going to enjoy the milder weather though. Wasn't a fan of this recent cold. 

Agree this pattern seems more exciting, im actually kind of tired of cold all the time with ACY snowstorms. 

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30 minutes ago, forkyfork said:

the first two big nor'easters in march 2018 had good tracks for nyc but the airmass was too marginal 

Those storms also had marginal temperatures for Long Island with the heaviest snows over the interior. The Hamptons jackpotted on the 13th with the storm further east. The best banding on the 21st was over Eastern Nassau to ISP. NYC not reaching 10” on that storm may have been another famous late under-measurement if the Gramercy Park total is to be believed.

3-13 storm

Suffolk County...
   Southampton           18.3   332 PM  3/13  Trained Spotter
3-21 storm

Newark Airport         8.3   800 AM  3/22  FAA CONTRACT OBSERVER 

New York County...
   Grammercy Park        10.0  1115 PM  3/21  Law Enforcement         
   Central Park           8.4   800 AM  3/22  Park Conservancy      

 

Queens County...
   Queens Village        14.5   738 AM  3/22  Trained Spotter    

 

Suffolk County...
   Patchogue             20.1   852 AM  3/22  NWS Employee            
   Terryville            19.7   724 AM  3/22  Trained Spotter         
   East Patchogue        19.0   900 AM  3/22  Public                  
   Port Jefferson Stati  18.9   640 AM  3/22  Trained Spotter         
   North Babylon         18.7   655 AM  3/22  Public                  
   Islip Airport         18.4   756 AM  3/22  FAA Observer      
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5 hours ago, LibertyBell said:

 

Heh how many remember that it was in the 60s in February 1994 for a few days after those back to back big snowstorms?

60s is no big deal in the winter.

*Raises hand from the back*

I remember it very well. It flooded like heck here in NW NJ (western Morris county to be exact) those days. 

 

If I recall, that was the winter that it either snowed or iced every Wednesday for like 7 weeks straight. Talk about being stuck in a pattern. 

 

Back to lurking...

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2 hours ago, TriPol said:

Oh FFS. Can we please, just once, have a warm spring? So much has been shut down over the past two years... I just want to get out and enjoy warm weather after work.

When was the last legit warm spring? 2012? I recall several warm days around St Patrick's day. Though, I think we got freezing rain and cold again in April. 

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9 minutes ago, golfer07840 said:

When was the last legit warm spring? 2012? I recall several warm days around St Patrick's day. Though, I think we got freezing rain and cold again in April. 

In terms of top 10 warmth, last year was the 7th warmest. But 2010 and 2012 are in a class by themselves. 

 

Time Series Summary for NEWARK LIBERTY INTL AP, NJ
Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending.
Rank
Year
Mean Avg Temperature 
Missing Count
1 2012 57.6 0
2 2010 57.4 0
3 1985 56.2 0
4 1991 56.0 0
5 1977 55.3 0
6 2016 54.9 0
- 2011 54.9 0
- 1945 54.9 0
7 2021 54.8 0
8 2004 54.7 0
- 1998 54.7 0
- 1986 54.7 0
9 2000 54.5 0
10 1973 54.4 0
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03082018snowmap.thumb.png.849070340996771982a0a3e0b96286c2.png

1 hour ago, bluewave said:

Those storms also had marginal temperatures for Long Island with the heaviest snows over the interior. The Hamptons jackpotted on the 13th with the storm further east. The best banding on the 21st was over Eastern Nassau to ISP. NYC not reaching 10” on that storm may have been another famous late under-measurement if the Gramercy Park total is to be believed.

3-13 storm

Suffolk County...
   Southampton           18.3   332 PM  3/13  Trained Spotter
3-21 storm

Newark Airport         8.3   800 AM  3/22  FAA CONTRACT OBSERVER 

New York County...
   Grammercy Park        10.0  1115 PM  3/21  Law Enforcement         
   Central Park           8.4   800 AM  3/22  Park Conservancy      

 

Queens County...
   Queens Village        14.5   738 AM  3/22  Trained Spotter    

 

Suffolk County...
   Patchogue             20.1   852 AM  3/22  NWS Employee            
   Terryville            19.7   724 AM  3/22  Trained Spotter         
   East Patchogue        19.0   900 AM  3/22  Public                  
   Port Jefferson Stati  18.9   640 AM  3/22  Trained Spotter         
   North Babylon         18.7   655 AM  3/22  Public                  
   Islip Airport         18.4   756 AM  3/22  FAA Observer      

Part of LI did well on the 2nd event. Up here lost power for 3 days.

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7 minutes ago, EastonSN+ said:

03082018snowmap.thumb.png.849070340996771982a0a3e0b96286c2.png

Part of LI did well on the 2nd event. Up here lost power for 3 days.

Even with all the great late season snowstorms in recent years, my all-time favorite still remains the April 1982 blizzard. An unusually high amount of lightning and true blizzard conditions in April. It was also the last time NYC had 3 consecutive record low temperatures in a row. My 2nd place late season event was that heavy wet snowstorm on 3-21-18. The trees were absolutely gorgeous when the sun came out the next morning. 

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