Mountain West Discussion

[ValpoVike]

20 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

True, but not with temps in the 60s/70s

I was referring to the snowfall amounts. I think you would agree that temps were not 60 during the event. 

[smokeybandit]

2 hours ago, ValpoVike said:

I was referring to the snowfall amounts. I think you would agree that temps were not 60 during the event. 

I'm referring to the winter season in general. It'd have been more tolerable to date if it was seasonable cold during our dryness.

[tacoman25]

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I'm referring to the winter season in general. It'd have been more tolerable to date if it was seasonable cold during our dryness.

That's fair, but your first statement was about this last event busting. Which wasn't the case, at least for most of the Denver area. It was never forecast to be a big storm.

[ValpoVike]

35 minutes ago, tacoman25 said:

That's fair, but your first statement was about this last event busting. Which wasn't the case, at least for most of the Denver area. It was never forecast to be a big storm.

Exactly 

[Roger Smith]

Generally clear skies over the PNW and s BC, but widespread fog in valleys, sunshine on hills and alpine areas. Where I live, my north view is clear blue skies and my south view is a bright white cloud a little below my elevation and drifting towards me at times, but it has stayed sunny with highs around 7 C 45 F. A few valleys getting out of the fog are 10-15 C and valleys in fog are just slightly above freezing. Most of eastern WA and the southern ID region are under this inversion fog. Visibilities are quite low.

Very mild on the Oregon coast, highs near 17 C 63 F there today. 

[Chinook]

Denver: warmest December since 1933

Fort Collins:  record warmest December

[Roger Smith]

Well that's interesting because Feb 1934 was super cold in eastern N. America. (so was Dec 1933, Jan 1934 was closer to average)

[smokeybandit]

A sunrise temperature dip this morning down to 5 degrees. Must have been that 1/10th of an inch of snow we got overnight.

[Chinook]

12 hours ago, Roger Smith said:

Well that's interesting because Feb 1934 was super cold in eastern N. America. (so was Dec 1933, Jan 1934 was closer to average)

You are right! But in February 1934, the West was warmer than average. 

 

There was a peak wind of 53kt (61mph) at Greeley Airport yesterday and the high winds were close to the Denver area

[mayjawintastawm]

14 hours ago, Roger Smith said:

Well that's interesting because Feb 1934 was super cold in eastern N. America. (so was Dec 1933, Jan 1934 was closer to average)

Reviving my Dust Bowl musing from a couple weeks ago. Looking to see if there are any parallels in patterns between winter 33-34 and this winter. In Denver, Dec 33 was #1 warmest and this year #2, Jan 34 was #2 warmest (and the beginning of Denver's warmest year on record) and this year so far is #1. I kind of hope not, because 1934 was the kind of year you read about in history books, and not in a good way...

I'm sure sea surface temperatures were not a thing yet in the 1930s, nor was PNA etc. but I wonder about other things they did measure.

 

EDIT: Holy crap, I found something. (This is why atmospheric science is SO important...) La Nina from 90+ years ago.  https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-top-story-source-of-1930s-dust-bowl-drought-in-tropical-waters-nasa-finds-march-18-2004/#:~:text=Scientists used SST data acquired,storms blew across the U.S.