Meatyorologist

Wow. It's absolutely incredible how a midlatitude ridge can inadvertently lead to enhanced thunderstorm activity in the tropics many months later, via insane and unintuitive thermodynamic and mechanical processes. Hell, tropical convection itself can lead to midlatitude ridging, so it's all a big crazy cycle. It's so fuckking connected. I love this planet

Fascinating. I'm assuming such a delicate balance like that can only happen when the stratosphere and the troposphere are separated into their own closed systems. I can see how deeper connections between the two can be made during boreal winter when the thermodynamic profile at the poles becomes more or less vertically isothermal, muddying the transition between the two layers, or even bringing the stratosphere down to the surface.

I might be wrong, but the July 2008 outbreak might be the very event which got me into the weather. What I do know is that it was a thunderstorm during the summer when I was six or seven. The lightning was so close and so numerous, and during the afternoon too, with sheets of rain. At first I was scared, then quickly, well.... I'm here now. I think it was inevitable. If it weren't that storm, it would've been the next. I was always fascinated with flowing water and the patterns in nature as a kid. Seeing its true power for the first time was an enthralling experience.

The more and more I learn about SSW's, the more I realize the warming and wind reversal are a small part of a much larger, more interconnected event. Hard to say whether the troposphere or the stratosphere guides it...a chicken and egg situation. Or perhaps those are two elements of a larger behavior which the atmosphere undergoes during the right circumstances. I'm just an uninformed spitballer here. But I'd be shocked if the leading experts in the field even had a marginal grasp on how they work... And I'm guessing you share the same perspective as well, albeit with a few more acronyms and a couple years of grad school stuffed in your back pocket...

Right on time

Some Central Valley snowfall on the 12z...

Matching with you here at 43F tonight. Might crack open a window to feel the cool air when i go to bed in a sec

We're due for a March blast. 1989/1955 redux anyone?

Was just thinking that. This pattern will probably reappear at some point in AMJ.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ to remember...

Stood outside in the sun today, it felt great.

Even with the cooling upper levels, southerly winds and a filling sfc low are giving us the most mixed profile since September, maximizing the warmth today. Tomorrow will be similar, if not a little cooler.

Alaska...

Whoops! Almost left my own Feb 2024 topic pinned, then I noticed this one. Thanks Bryan!

The 18z GFS is also entertaining the idea of a brief cool trough w/ marginal snowfall before the big bad warm comes in. Hopefully the ridging we get will be of the dry variety, so any mountain snow that might fall over the next couple weeks won't melt immediately. And that way we can score some 55/29 type days to tack onto the freezing counter.

Two weeks ago today it SNOWED

Well you got to experience winter of 1968-69. You have any pictures?

Some estimates determine Americans dropped an average of 6 IQ points per person from the 1920s-70s due to atmospheric lead poisoning. Who knows what microplastics are doing now...

Heights in Alaska are below 570dam...

Actually that's a really good cold core convection pattern. To the south of the Aleutians, though. Duh.

IDK that looks like near average temps and dry to me.

August 2015?

Awesome news!

Above freezing over 10,000ft is incredible. Especially at this time of year.

Midnight highs are always more likely in the winter due to solar radiation being less of a factor.