Arctic Blast for New Year

Posted by Tim Kelley January 1, 2009 (5 days ago) at 1:19 pm

Happy New Year from Vermont’s tallest Mountain.
The 4,393 foot summit of Mount Mansfield bottomed out at -14 January 1, 2009 at sunrise.
Great day to sleep late

It could be worse.. Mount Washington got to -25 with 130 mph.. Ouch

Forecasting weather is some tricky business. When I left work on Monday, it appeared that we would have a little snow Wednesday and a lotta snow Friday Saturday. We new it would be cold, but this cold??

Now we have 10″ new snow at home (south shore MA), and only 7″ since Monday here.
The Friday storm is a bust! The Wednesday storm rearranged the flow enough to keep southern moisture separate from northern energy, thereby cancelling the Nor’Easter. It hurts as a skier to hear, it hurts even more as a meteorologist to say.. I was wrong.
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Sunday Noreaster Discussion

Posted by Joe Joyce December 21, 2008 at 8:33 am

Light Snow is developing this morning ahead of a our developing storm center. A slug of rain is pushing off the coast of the mid-Atlantic states where once this gets off the coast of the DelMarva Peninsula will become a stronger storm over Cape Cod this Afternoon and eventually a full out Noreaster with near Blizzard conditions for Maine tonight. We can expect the snow to start off light but become heavier by Noon time and continue through the afternoon. Read more

Winter Solstice Celebration! Let it Snow!

Posted by Joe Joyce December 21, 2008 at 7:52 am

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice occurs on December 21, 2008 at 7:04 AM EST
While the beginning of summer marks the longest day of the year, the winter solstice brings the shortest day - and the longest night! - of the year.

The reason for the different seasons in the two hemispheres is that while the earth rotates around the sun, it also spins on its axis, which is tilted some 23.5 degrees. Because of this tilt, the Northern Hemisphere receives less direct sunlight and the Southern Hemisphere receives more this time of year.
The sun will be setting at 4:15 PM.

Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around this time.

It Keeps Snowing!

Posted by Joe Joyce December 20, 2008 at 3:15 pm

1st, let me say that we have been stressing that it would continue to snow today…with an additional 1-3″ of snow. But, also let me also say that we did not expect the snow to be so far inland and so persistant in Worcester County of all places. This persistant light to moderate snow has been falling all day and will continue into the evening for some. Less traveled and back roads are snow covered and are slippery thanks to this recent snowfall. It is making this final weekend for last minute shoppers a little ticky navigating. Be sure to slow down. So what is causing this? It is a bit more than just ocean effect snow showers that is for sure! Off and near the coast, temperatures are near freezing, yet when you head inland temperatures are in the teens! We have been stuck in the teens at Logan Airport all day…yet the Boston Buoy is at 32! This is a stalled arctic front right along rt3. NE winds providing warmer air off the ocean is overriding and lifting over the cold heavy air in place over southern New England. Today’s snow is putting some over 1 foot of snow in the past 24 hours…and more to come tomorrow! By the time this weekend is over …We will have seen 1.5-2 feet of snow in many areas.
Heaviest snow will be North tomorrow…..but accumulating snow is likely south, heaviest by midday into the afternoon. This will keep the knuckles white on the steering wheel. Did I mention the flash freeze and damaging winds for Sunday Night & Early Monday? Good Grief. Try to stay safe, off the roads. The shopping can wait can’t it? What’s another day? Ha! Still dreaming of a White Christmas?

Winter Weather for the Winter Solstice

Posted by Joe Joyce December 20, 2008 at 10:10 am

In case you have not noticed, we are slugging it out with Mother Nature. This winter is like a fifteen round fight where the Ice Storm put us on the ropes immediately, and now we are taking body shots to the gut one after the other. As Rocky said…”No Pain, No Pain.” Temperatures are very cold today as arctic air has settled in. Highs will only be in the teens and Lwr 20’s today. Snow will persist along the coast along a stalled arctic front where an additional 1-3″ of snow will fall today. Cold & Quiet tonight ahead of our next storm which will be here by tomorrow morning. “You can’t win Rock!” -Adrian Balboa. Yo Adrian…how about a little faith in you man! Sunday’s storm is complex with even more of an impact for this region. Read more

Yes, that was Thundersnow!

Posted by Joe Joyce December 19, 2008 at 7:03 pm

A wintertime thunderstorm from which falls as snow instead of rain. Violent updrafts and at or below freezing temperatures throughout the atmosphere, from surface to high aloft, discourage the melting of snow and ice into rain. Intense snowfall rates often occur during these situations where up to 3″ in one hour can fall. Most of our snowfall rates this afternoon and evening have been 1-2″ an hour. The storm is a quick moving hit of snow which will dump between 6-10″ of snow through much of central & southern New England by midnight. Snow will be tapering off overnight as cold arctic air settles in. Read more

Record Warm & Windy Monday, Colder Snow Ice Rain Tuesday Night

Posted by Tim Kelley December 15, 2008 at 9:37 pm

Southerly wind gusting over 55 mph pushed the temperature to a record highs Monday. The good news was that warm air melted a lot of ice, the bad news was more tree damage reported in Maine.
An overnight cold front passage will bring seasonable chill Tuesday.
The front stalls south of New England with low pressure tracking near Cape Cod Wednesday. The air will be cold enough for a few inches of snow in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine from Midnight Tuesday to sunset Wednesday. For Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the precipitation will transition from snow to sleet, then rain, at the shore. But inland we may have a low level wind from the north, trapping air cold enough for snow to change to sleet and freezing rain. This time though, ice accretion amounts will be less than a quarter inch, probably less than a tenth of an inch. If this forecast works out, we should not see further tree damage, but we will have icy roads with possible delays and/or cancellations Wednesday.

Historic Ice Storms Northeastern U.S.

Posted by Tim Kelley December 12, 2008 at 10:09 pm

Brad Ferris Photo Chesterfield MA

Close to One Million Customers without electricity due to .5″ to 1″ Ice storm in the Northeast. Damage from Binghamton New York to Eastport Maine, about 500 miles long, about 50 miles wide. Hundreds of Thousand of Trees Broken by weight of Ice. We could be without electricity for days, as many roads are still impassible.
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Snowstorm to catapult Ski Country into the weekend…ice will cause problems farther south

Posted by Matt Noyes December 10, 2008 at 4:52 pm

Though some uncertainty always lingers with a major storm given the number of parameters that must come together to bring a complete evolution in the manner that’s forecasted, uncertainty is at least able to be identified, and confidence in important parts of the forecast continues to increase. By and large, there have been no wholesale changes to the thinking here, and the risks taken earlier this week in trying to nail down storm evolution have proven worthwhile on both timing, intensity and precipitation type…
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-25 Degrees, 122 mph. Cold even for Mount Washington

Posted by Tim Kelley December 8, 2008 at 9:30 pm

At 5:33 AM Monday December 8, 2008 the wind on Mount Washington NH gusted to 122 mph. The temperature had just bottomed out at -25.2 degrees Fahrenheit. That reading set the record for December 8, breaking the old record of -24 set December 8, 2002. If you have to ask what the wind chill was, you don’t want to know the answer.
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