Is we back? February discussion thread

[powderfreak]

36 minutes ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Lets not get Wolfie started today…yesterday was brutal.

Sun angle is ever so slightly higher than it was yesterday .

[Kitz Craver]

1 minute ago, Damage In Tolland said:

I have trouble giving snow up 

That NMB yesterday reeled you back in… lol

[CoastalWx]

8 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Sun angle is ever so slightly higher than it was yesterday .

Should be more melting today in the sun since it will be 22.

[CoastalWx]

Might get a 1-2” refresher here tomorrow. Gonna need it for sun angle season now.

[Ginx snewx]

4 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

Might get a 1-2” refresher here tomorrow. Gonna need it for sun angle season now.

NWS BDL depth 15 15 15 15 15

Weymouth is a special place 

[WinterWolf]

6 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

NWS BDL depth 15 15 15 15 15

Weymouth is a special place 

As we thought.  Deep winter. 

[CoastalWx]

11 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

NWS BDL depth 15 15 15 15 15

Weymouth is a special place 

It’s very special. 

[Ginx snewx]

2 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

It’s very special. 

 

[HoarfrostHubb]

15 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

NWS BDL depth 15 15 15 15 15

Weymouth is a special place 

Where do you get the snow depth data?

ORH seems to just have a series of M’s 

BOS doesn’t seem to show it

[CoastalWx]

4 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

 

That’s a nice shot with the plane at final approach on runway 270.

[ORH_wxman]

1 minute ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Where do you get the snow depth data?

ORH seems to just have a series of M’s 

BOS doesn’t seem to show it

Most airports don’t do snow depth anymore. Consequence of getting rid of full time weather observers and going to ASOS in the 1990s. Airports that still have an observer on site will have snow depth. Guess BDL has one again. For a long time they didn’t. 

[Snowcrazed71]

52 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

Everyone got fooled by this one. I just held on longer 

You mean.... Longest! Lol

Ha, at least you stuck to your guns and went down with that ship! I'm sure we all secretly hoped for a last minute change

 

[CoastalWx]

Logan is lucky they have someone who measures never mind snow depth.

[SnowGoose69]

19 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Most airports don’t do snow depth anymore. Consequence of getting rid of full time weather observers and going to ASOS in the 1990s. Airports that still have an observer on site will have snow depth. Guess BDL has one again. For a long time they didn’t. 

Some NWS offices call and ask the tower to measure, but not all seem to do so.  Mt Holly always gets measurements from TTN/ABE though neither has an observer anymore.  NYC though does not do the same at GON/HVN/FOK/FRG despite the fact probably they could get TWR staff to do it.  BOS/PHL/DEN/DTW all do not measure on the field for whatever reason so they never have SNINCR remarks or 4 groups.  My assumption is that none of them have good spots on the field to measure snow accurately.  They all use someone just off the airport grounds to do it.

[VivaManchVegas]

Does this cold pattern bleed into spring and summer?  We have had a number of hot summers in the past 10 years.  Wondering if the mini split gets a rest this year. 

[SnowGoose69]

1 minute ago, VivaManchVegas said:

Does this cold pattern bleed into spring and summer?  We have had a number of hot summers in the past 10 years.  Wondering if the mini split gets a rest this year. 

Most developing El Nino summers are cool in the East.  I'd expect if we see the expected transition to at least a weak-moderate El Nino this summer would be below normal

[Ginx snewx]

37 minutes ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Where do you get the snow depth data?

ORH seems to just have a series of M’s 

BOS doesn’t seem to show it

Daily climate report 

[Typhoon Tip]

2 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Sun angle is ever so slightly higher than it was yesterday .

I love it!  keep it comin' 

Yeah, so, you know all this, but for the general audience.   Feb 9th is the closer approximation time 45th parallel exits of the solar minimum.  About the 8th at 42... 

It's an interesting aspect of celestial mechanics that these time windows do not correspond with the seasonal calendar. These human inventions handed down from antiquity are actually irrelevant to astro-dynamics.  The first day of spring in terms of planetary orbital mechanics should be on or about the date the sun switches from nadir to gaining.   The first day of summer should be on or very near May 8th...  Autumn should begin on August 9th or so and so on.  Winter is November 8th.   

Thing is, the year is split up in to 91.25 days per temporal quarter. That makes up 365 days total.  However, there are some numerical idiosyncrasies baked in that make it not exactly 91.25 days per max vs min, vs the two transition solar seasons.   For one, the orbit of the Earth around the Sun is not a perfect circle.  The planets spends slightly more time in summer max than we do in winter min ... because it is closer in its pass to the sun in the winter. Such that by a small amount the orbital velocity is faster than the summer.  So the solar max is actually about a couple of days longer on each end...  I think the solar max actually begins around May 4th or 5th... then running out to August 10 or 11.  But for simplicity, we just figure a roughly 91 and change days goes into each quarter.   So Nov 8 to February 9 to May 10 to August 11 then reset at Nov 8.   

When we pass through these virtual boundaries in space, you don't really notice much difference at all. But if one looks around they may detect.  Example, as others are noticing, we are already sensing some warm direct sun exposure sensation just 41 days past the Solstice now.   But, that sensation will be noticeably stronger by the 15th of February.  That's sort of how these boundaries are blurred as they pass.  I have ruminated in the past how hopping in your car at the end of a work day having parked it in the sun, the interior is noticeably warmer from solar bake on or about February 10, noticeably more so than February 1.   There are some specialized physical settings where these transitions may evince.   Also, snow packs facing the sun will start to shard appearance no matter what the ambient temperature is by February 15.  That's the intensifying solar radiation heating darker embedded particles and then the melt back through. Micro effects.