Snow & Ice Cover for North America

It certainly doesn't feel like snow today, although it does look like it. Temperatures today are in the mid 60's with low gray clouds. If you didn't know any better, you might think it could snow at any minute by the looks of things. However, the warm weather is here to stay ahead of a storm that should be passing through the area during the day Wednesday. Once we are on the backside of the storm, snow showers may be the norm with temperatures in the low to mid 30's during the day and low to mid 20's at night. :-)

Since we are getting into the snow season, I thought I'd post a map showing the snow and ice coverage over North America as of today. Hopefully, we will watch it progress further south each week.

Pennsylvania Snow & Thanksgiving Storm

The first major snow of the season fell across northeast Pennsylvania and western New York this morning. Most areas received an inch of snow, but higher elevations received up to 12 inches of snow. Up to 16,000 customers were without power because of the storm. Most of the power has since been restored.



It looks as though holiday travelers are going to have a tough time getting to their destinations this week. A large storm is heading into the midwest from the northwest. Heavy snow warnings and snow advisories are already posted across Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. This storm will begin to affect our region starting tomorrow. High temperatures should be near 70 degrees tomorrow with falling temperatures and thunderstorms during the day Wednesday. Thanksgiving Day will bring temperatures in the 30's and snow showers. I expect a lot of news reports about airport delays by Wednesday night and Thursday. If the storm holds together as forecast, some holiday travelers may be spending Thanksgiving stuck in airports, bus terminals, or in their cars.

Do You Remember the Blizzard of 1978?

I may have only been 6 years old, but I remember the blizzard of 1978. I bring this up, because this January will be the 30th anniversary of the storm that all other winter storms have been compared to since. You can read a bit about what I remember of the blizzard by clicking here.

Season's First Snow Flakes

It wasn't much, but there were a few snowflakes falling from the sky early this morning and later in the early afternoon. These were the first snowflakes of the season. It has been quite cold and windy today. It certainly felt like winter outside.

The winter outlook is out. Hopefully, things will work out the way things are suggested here as

far as precipitation goes. A >40% chance of being wetter than normal may mean more snow. I just wish we weren't in the warmer than normal area. There may be some big temperature swings though which will help make *big* storms. :-)

The diamter of Comet Holmes has now become larger than the sun! It isn't the comet itself that has become larger, but the atmosphere that surrounds the comet that has expanded. Apparently, the explosion that made the comet bright enough to be seen has also thrown a lot of dust and gas into space surrounding the comet. The picture shows a comparison of size between Comet Holmes on the left and the sun on the right. You can see Saturn in the lower right corner of the photo as a comparison to both.

November Rains

Hi Elen. A friendly hello to you and thanks for reading my blog. I imagine you are the only one who reads it. :-)
Finally, some interesting weather on tap for this week. The first ten days of November have been quite boring. Normal to a bit below normal temperatures and absolutely no rainfall until this morning. A weak disturbance is moving across the area today and is bringing some much needed rainfall. Nothing is too heavy, but I have heard a few rumbles of thunder. It's also a cold rain. The temperature is at 40 degrees currently at 11:45am. A warm front will approach the area later this afternoon and is promising to bring more rain. Hopefully, we can squeeze a half inch or more out of this. We are almost ten inches below normal in rainfall for the year with only 7 weeks remaining in 2007!

Warmest October in 60 Years at Indianapolis

From the NWS in Indianapolis: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=ind&storyid=10822&source=0

Warmest October in 60 Years at Indianapolis
Temperature

Above normal temperatures could be felt across central Indiana once again last month. October 2007 goes down as the 4th warmest October on record at Indianapolis and as the warmest since 1947.

The average monthly temperature of 62.1 degrees was 7.5 degrees above normal. There were 25 days in October with at or above normal temperatures, including a remarkable run of 9 consecutive days to start the month in which the temperature was 10 degrees or more above normal. 3 days during the month saw temperatures 20 degrees or more above normal.

The warmest October on record was in 1900 with an average temperature of 63.4 degrees. The coolest October on record was in 1925 with an average temperature of 46.6 degrees.

Five temperature records were set or tied during October 2007, including 4 consecutive days of tied or broken high temperature records from the 5th through the 8th. The new record on October 8th of 91 degrees is also the highest October temperature on record at Indianapolis and the latest 90 degree day on record. Prior to 2007, 90 degree temperatures had only been recorded twice in October in the 136 years of records at Indianapolis. October 2007 recorded two 90 degree days. In addition to the early October record warmth, a new record high minimum temperature of 65 occurred on the 18th.

Precipitation

Total precipitation for the month at Indianapolis was 2.80 inches, which was 0.04 inches above normal. This does however, make October 2007 the first above normal precipitation month at Indianapolis since March. Measurable precipitation occurred on 9 days during the month.

The wettest October of record was 1919 with 8.98 inches. The driest October on record was 1963 with only 0.17 inches of precipitation.

Other Notable Features

The peak wind in September was 39 MPH from the south on October 18th. This was also the only day in which thunder was observed at Indianapolis.

Sunshine for the month was 45 percent of possible.

Weather records began at Indianapolis in 1871.

October Review

The month of October 2007 started out hot and humid, but ended very autumn like with cool weather and the first hard frost of the season.

Overall, the month ended 6.5 degrees above normal with the warmest temperature being 87.8 degrees on the 8th of the month and the lowest temperature being 29.7 on the 29th. The first hard frost of the season occurred on the morning of 29th.

The month ended up being near normal in precipitation, but still fell short of normal by 0.16". Total precipitation for the month ended at 2.69". The largest 24 hour rainfall was 0.92" on the 23rd. This was from a very large storm system that dropped up to 7 inches of rain along the Ohio River. The farther north you traveled from the river, the less rainfall fell. We were right on the edge of the heavy rain. Fortunately though, this was enough to put a large dent in our drought assessment. Currently, we are on the edge of the "abnormally dry" category. Our rainfall deficit for the year now stands at 9.95" below normal. I have to say though that this is likely inaccurate because of the lack of a rain-collector heater which allows accurate measurement of winter precipitation.