2011-2012 Winter Thread

[adamb100]

Guess it's time to make this thread. It has snowed pretty much everywhere today except in Milwaukee.

[hawing]

It didn't stick much in Madison, but there was a lot of precipitation, and the liquid/ice mostly flew sideways. That was awesome.

[pitchleague]

wait, wait, WAIT! You mean it snowed here in Kingman, AZ before it did in Wisconsin????? Maybe I should have started this thread instead last week.

[hawing]

wait, wait, WAIT! You mean it snowed here in Kingman, AZ before it did in Wisconsin????? Maybe I should have started this thread instead last week.

I can't speak for northern Wisconsin, but the first significant snowfall in southern Wisconsin fell today.

[TooLiveBrew]

Yep, same in the Fox Valley. Got pretty nasty here for a while, but it's not bad now.

[Hammer]

Wow, two full months between posts in this thread. Thankfully for my little boys sanity it is going to snow a bunch tomorrow. He has been asking about the snow forcast since he got a snowboard for Christmas! 5-7" is the forecast for the Oshkosh area!

[brettac1]

There have only been two significant snowfalls this winter, with the November one (7-8" that melted in a couple days) and then New Year's Eve (maybe 4" where I am and nearly all gone now). Pretty scary how little precipitation there has been, as well as the temps lately. It's felt like spring training the last couple days.

[owbc]

This isn't a very impressive storm. Most areas are probably only going to see 4-6" from this and it is going to be light and fluffy and fall over a long period of time. But at least you guys are getting something for a change.

[Baldkin]

Looks like the Milwaukee area expectations have dropped from over a foot to about 6".... won't be nearly as bad as expected.

[brettac1]

I had probably 3" on my deck this morning. Definitely light and fluffy - I was able to clear it off in two minutes with a regular broom.

[hawing]

Snow's flying pretty good in Madison, if you define "good" as "perfectly angled to hit northbound pedestrians in the face with the sting of hundreds of needles." This had better mean I'll have the wind at my back on the way home tonight.

[CheezWizHed]

This had better mean I'll have the wind at my back on the way home tonight.

 

You just guaranteed that it won't... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Hammer]

The roads up in the Fox Valley were horrible this morning. Add to that the amazingly large amount of FIB plates that I saw and my trek from Oshkosh to Green Bay was TERRIBLE!

[hawing]

This had better mean I'll have the wind at my back on the way home tonight.

 

You just guaranteed that it won't... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

I didn't. But the precipitation had stopped, so no hundreds of needles anymore. Yay?

[OglivieHomePerm]

The Record low temperature for today in Green Bay was set in 1994 (-28 degrees). I remember that cold snap, as I was a senior in high school. The temperature fell below zero at 3pm on Thursday, January 13th. It did not get back above zero until Thursday, January 20th.

[BradWI]

so what's the deal with the forecast for tomorrow? i've seen everything ranging from a chance of rain to possibly 8" of snow...

[jerichoholicninja]

I like that the winter weather thread is only 17 posts this year instead of the usual 17 pages.

[adamb100]

I think there will be mostly rain in the Milwaukee area. Temperatures call for above freezing temps.

[RockCoCougars]

I'm praying for rain. I have no desire to deal with a wet, heavy snowfall at this point in the game.

[hawing]

Our next door neighbor - the one with the snow blower - is in Florida this week. He and the S.O. pondered whether we should take over the blower this week, just in case. They looked at the 7-day forecast last weekend and decided not to. Swell!

[adamb100]

So Milwaukee got more snow than I thought. This is why I'm not meteorologist.

[trwi7]

First it was supposed to be 1-2 inches, then it was 3-8 inches, then it was down to 2-3 inches and we end up getting 4-6 inches.

[sauveb]

Less than 2 pages in the winter thread. You have to love the winter of 2011-12.

[pitchleague]

thing is, it's not just you guys. In 15 years of NW Arizona living, this is by far the mildest winter we've had. Very few days in the 30s/nights in the 20s or teens. Most of the winter has been in the 40s and 50s. Which is unprecedented.

[owbc]

Models flipped twice on that last Milwaukee storm. First it looked like a big snow event, then storm track appeared to be well south, and then at the last minute things shifted back to the original forecast. Always want to avoid that as a forecaster, but sometimes it can't be helped. Just takes a 20-30 mile shift to mess everything up.

 

Jet stream already looks like the spring pattern. Very active. The next one looks like the biggest storm of the winter for the Midwest. But the track is more typical of late March to early April. Best chance for heavy snow is north of a Minneapolis to Green Bay line. Huge swath of 12"+ totals showing up on the forecasts right now. Good chance at smaller areas of 18-24" from Central MN to Northwest WI. Can't really trust the forecast until wave makes it to California on Monday night, but very confident that Southern WI will be almost all rain.

 

Here in South Florida it has also been a warm winter. Only 2-3 cold fronts strong enough to cause sweater weather. Opposite story in eastern Europe. The jet stream has been very high amplitude the last few winters. Lots of debate over whether that is a consequence of global warming or not--specifically the huge reduction in sea ice over the arctic. It's a big experiment and there will be plenty more data soon since it's obvious that the ice isn't coming back. Ice loss is 30 years ahead of the "worst case scenario" from the 2007 IPCC report. Will be interesting to see the political reaction to the next report in 2014, sooner or later the evidence will be impossible for even the most ardent deniers to ignore.