Winter Weather Thread: 2013-2014

[adamb100]

When I woke up at 4 this morning, the windchill -46, it has appeared to "warm" up since then as the windchill is "only" -37 now.

[LouisEly]

Of all the nights this year for my little space heater that I keep in the bathroom to crap out, it picks last night to do it.

 

And my refrigerator is up against an outside wall of my townhouse, and apparently this afternoon it got so cold along that wall that the water line to the fridge froze as no water is coming through the dispenser. My microwave is along the same wall, right next to an exterior vent, and it is COLD inside my microwave. The food steams when it is being heated.

[RobDeer 45]

Of all the nights this year for my little space heater that I keep in the bathroom to crap out, it picks last night to do it.

 

Of course! That had to be fun. I hate it when it's super cold in the house in the morning!!!

[adamb100]

Looks like more snow is coming...

[TURBO]

Appleton is getting pounded with snow as I type this... Going to be a fun ride home tonight...

 

BOOOOOOOO!

 

I am BOOOOOOing Wisconsin winter weather!

[Invader3K]

Why can't we ever seem to get a snowfall overnight that's done by morning? It seems like every time we get any major snow, it starts during daylight. Really messes with my day, given how much driving I have to do for work.

[owbc]

Since the polar vortex is now a fun buzzword:

 

Polar vortex part 2 coming to Wisconsin on Tuesday.

Polar vortex part 3 coming to Wisconsin on Thursday-Friday.

Polar vortex part 4 coming to Wisconsin in about 8-10 days.

Possibly part 5 sometime in the 12-14 day period.

 

The first two are not especially cold (highs in the single digits above 0 in Milwaukee). The second two might be more impressive, but it's too early to tell.

[NeedMoreFans]

This winter has killed most of my will to stay living in Wisconsin...

[DuWayne Steurer]

Since the polar vortex is now a fun buzzword:

 

Polar vortex part 2 coming to Wisconsin on Tuesday.

Polar vortex part 3 coming to Wisconsin on Thursday-Friday.

Polar vortex part 4 coming to Wisconsin in about 8-10 days.

Possibly part 5 sometime in the 12-14 day period.

 

The first two are not especially cold (highs in the single digits above 0 in Milwaukee). The second two might be more impressive, but it's too early to tell.

 

 

Is POOOOOOOLAR VOOOOOOOORTEX something we've recently discovered, or something new we can fashionably blame on global warming?

 

I already want to start punching people now when they say "Polar Vortex" whenever it gets into single digits.

[owbc]

Is POOOOOOOLAR VOOOOOOOORTEX something we've recently discovered, or something new we can fashionably blame on global warming?

 

I already want to start punching people now when they say "Polar Vortex" whenever it gets into single digits.

 

Technically those people are correct. The polar vortex is nothing new, it just refers to the polar jet stream. I have no idea why the term went viral, I guess it sounds cool and the media likes buzzwords these days. It probably has nothing to do with global warming.

[Invader3K]

This winter has killed most of my will to stay living in Wisconsin...

 

Ditto, but I've petty much hated Winter my entire adult life anyway. It's just a big inconvenience as far as I'm concerned.

[craigharmann]

This winter has killed most of my will to stay living in Wisconsin...

 

It's not that much better farther south. Here in Texas, we had ice/snow yesterday, and the possibility of it two more times in the next two weeks. TEXAS!!

[1992casey]

I think the cold feels worse today than it did on the days that it was way below zero.

[Storm]

Just shoveled the deck and sidewalk. Wanted to take advantage of a balmy 19.5°.

 

Am not looking forward to another day where the high is 10° below zero.

[adamb100]

On the bright side, after Tuesday, it's going to feel like spring with highs of 20.

[Thurston Fluff]

 

What do you mean you want to go in? It's hardly snowing, almost zero out and you have gloves.

[TooLiveBrew]

That put a big smile on my face, BUC. Dogs are awesome.

 

Cold? No, uh, I'm not cold... why, are you?

[Thurston Fluff]

She makes me go out for a couple hours every day no matter the weather. It's kind of like a four legged personal trainer/therapist for winter blues.

[Patrick425]

So currently this Dec/Jan is the 17th coldest for Milwaukee since 1870 (according to this chart from the NWS):

 

Dec/Jan Rank Avg Temp (F)

1976-1977 1 12.7

1876-1877 2 12.9

1917-1918 3 15.0

1892-1893 4 15.3

1919-1920 T5 15.7

1962-1963 T5 15.7

1886-1887 7 15.9

1958-1959 8 16.1

1884-1885 T9 16.4

1983-1984 T9 16.4

1872-1873 T11 16.7

1903-1904 T11 16.7

1874-1875 T11 16.7

1981-1982 14 16.8

1880-1881 15 17.4

1978-1979 16 17.5

2013-2014 17 17.6

1887-1888 18 18.1

1882-1883 19 18.7

1961-1962 20 18.8

 

What I find odd is that none of the years between Jan 1920 and Dec 1958 are on that chart and 8 of the periods are 1960 or later.

 

I don't remember a whole lot about it, but I took a 1 credit elective when I was in college called "Are we headed for another ice age".

[jerichoholicninja]

I don't remember a whole lot about it, but I took a 1 credit elective when I was in college called "Are we headed for another ice age".

 

Obligatory "Al Gore-related" comment.

[Patrick425]

I don't remember a whole lot about it, but I took a 1 credit elective when I was in college called "Are we headed for another ice age".

 

Obligatory "Al Gore-related" comment.

 

For the record..wasn't trying to make any type of political commentary, just always found it funny that they even had a class with this name (and I took it!). Also took "Forecasting the weather" my freshman year with Bart Adrian as the teacher.

[RockCoCougars]

This has been a bad winter. Things have kind of run together, but I remember November being uns®easonably cold as well. I wonder where this one ranks if you were to throw November in.

[owbc]

There were some ice age predictions (including from at least one scientist at UW-Madison) in the 70s but even then, most of the predictions were for warming. Nobody really knew for sure at the time.

 

As for the relatively warmer winters (in the Midwest) from 1920-1955, that is a real trend and shows up in other climate records such as the ice cover on lake Mendota: http://www.aos.wisc.edu/~sco/lakes/mendota-dur.gif

The 1980-2010 range has far less ice duration than any other period.

 

Now, here's a plot of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) which is a 20-40 year cycle in Atlantic sea surface temperatures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amo_timeseries_1856-present.svg

 

Notice any similarities?

 

The AMO hasn't yet switched to a cold phase (nobody knows how to predict when that will happen). But it does affect the jet stream and helps to explain why the 1970s were so cold in Wisconsin. The AMO And the AMO wasn't discovered until 1994, so nobody knew about it in the 70s.

[Patrick425]

There were some ice age predictions (including from at least one scientist at UW-Madison) in the 70s but even then, most of the predictions were for warming. Nobody really knew for sure at the time.

 

As for the relatively warmer winters (in the Midwest) from 1920-1955, that is a real trend and shows up in other climate records such as the ice cover on lake Mendota: http://www.aos.wisc.edu/~sco/lakes/mendota-dur.gif

The 1980-2010 range has far less ice duration than any other period.

 

Now, here's a plot of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) which is a 20-40 year cycle in Atlantic sea surface temperatures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amo_timeseries_1856-present.svg

 

Notice any similarities?

 

The AMO hasn't yet switched to a cold phase (nobody knows how to predict when that will happen). But it does affect the jet stream and helps to explain why the 1970s were so cold in Wisconsin. The AMO And the AMO wasn't discovered until 1994, so nobody knew about it in the 70s.

 

Interesting...but I'm not sure I'm getting the correlation. Is the air cold because the Ocean is cold or is the Ocean cold because the air is cold? If the Air is cold because the Ocean is cold, what causes the Ocean to get cold (or warm)? And if the Ocean is cold because the air is cold is there really a whole lot of predictive value in the AMO?

 

Seems like the same as putting a pot of water on a burner and when it starts boiling saying "I know that burner is hot because the water is boiling" (like the boiling water is causing the burner to be hot) when actually the water is boiling because the burner is hot.

[Thurston Fluff]

I love having our own weatherman here.