Temps plummet toward a frigid 0-deg or lower minimum Wed night/Thu morning for the 14th or 15th day this season (depending on whether OHare manages a 0-deg temp by midnight Wed night--or waits to dip to 0 or lower AFTER midnight). The most 0-deg or lower days which have occurred in a season here have been the 25 which occurred in the 1884-85 season followed by 24 in both the 1935-36 and the 1962-63 seasons, according to an excellent analysis produced by our National Weather Service-Chicago colleagues. But as pervasive as the bitter chill and its irritatingly frequent snows have been over the area of the Lower 48 east of the Rockies this month, theres actually been a HUGE variation in temp departures across the country--with the West posting large temp surpluses. This shows up strikingly on this analysis of this months temps to date across North America and the surrounding ocean waters. The map depicts where its been colder than normal (areas shaded in blue) and where its been warmer than normal (areas shaded in yellow and orange). This January temp analysis has been generated by analyzing the initial data which goes into the National Weather Services long range Climate Forecast Model (CFS). Its reproduced from the Weather Bell data base. While Chicagoans and most folks east of the Rockies are shivering through the third consecutive month thats been colder than normal, western North America is posting huge temp surpluses! And the warmth there is being accompanied by record drought across California--with northwest Californias mountains having received only 15 to 25% of their typical rain over the current water year--the 12 month period which begins Oct 1. Im posting the Climate Prediction Centers plots of temps over the past 30 days for both Chicago OHare and Los Angeles just to underscore how different Januarys been in both cities. (Californias in the midst of a historic period of drought. Its NW mountains have seen just 15 to 25% of their normal rain since Oct. 1. As youd expect, these temp plots depict periods of colder than normal temps in shades of blue and periods of milder than normal temps in shades of orange.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 03:56:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015