Stone's Ongoing Meteorological Predictions and Informational Whatnot

Found an interesting graphic showing some of our weather extremes from 2016.

It doesn't say if they are historical records, but I know for sure a few of them aren't.

 

Interesting ^. This one seems a bit larger, easier to read.

 

Speaking of extreme weather ... we are going to get a rain storm with heavy prolonged rain on Tuesday evening through Wednesday morning. It'll start as snow, then to sleet, freezing rain, then plain rain for hours, some of it heavy. That's going to wreak havoc on the 18" - 24" of snow on the ground now. Flooding is expected in low, marshy areas and near rivers and streams.

Here's this morning's jet map. Check out the big blocking high over the Gulf of Alaska that drives it north into Canada, where it loops around the SW branch of the polar cyclone (vortex), which drives it back deep into the US with (no doubt) frigid air. It then joins with another split off piece of the jet (separated over the Pacific)) and brushes the gulf coast, pics up moisture from there, and heads right at New England bringing all that water to dump here.

 

^ That's @Expat's grandson, right? So talented.
I think he could get a job doing play-by-play for professional football.

That storm is heading this way, also.

 

Speaking of that storm, here are images from my colleague's morning forecast. It's a great way to illustrate how the polar jet pushes weather systems (or sometimes blocks them if their are ridges or troughs involved).

Here's the morning surface map showing cloud patterns, precip levels (color), temps and wind vectors (speed and direction; those latter will be hard to see in this resolution, but they're there. Notice that massive cloud mass that stretches all the way from CO, KS and OK, sweeps the US SE then north to Nova Scotia and beyond. It's riding the bifurcated (splits over the Pacific) polar jet that comes back together over the US SE, and brings gulf moisture to the NE.



Here you can see the polar jet that it's riding. And you can see that the polar cyclone (aka vortex) that slipped off the pole into Canada around Nunavut some time ago now is sending icy tendrils all the into southern Canada above the Great Lakes. Frigid Arctic air meets warm, moisture-laden air from the gulf -- bigga badda boom.

 

This is quite the monster, it seems.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/winter-weather-sweep-us-rain-snow/story?id=44570830

 

Finally got to the bottom of my colleague's lengthy analysis. (He's very thorough in his reports, which can be up to two pages.) Here's his bottom line that includes that southern-extending set of lows off the polar cyclone (vortex; a name coined by media, not meteorologists) that's diverting the polar jet so far into the US, dragging Arctic air all the way to 'Bama and Atlanta.

"But overall, it still looks as though the East will tend to be much warmer than the West with this current pattern which will see the huge polar vortex circulation dropping the Arctic air from the Canadian tundra down over the West while we tend to see more moderate air coming up from the Southeast and even the Gulf of Mexico. And even if we don’t get to see the warmest air here in Maine, the relatively colder air that we do see will still be a lot more moderate than what they continue to see out West."

That Arctic air is going to join up with the southern branch of the polar jet coming off the Pacific into CA on Sunday/Monday. They're predicting massive snowfalls in the Sierras: up to 6' some say. And of course, it'll be heading east after that. Wonder where?

 

Ladies and gentlemen, the Pineapple Express is now pulling into the station -- or rather blowing past it.

________ Excerpt _______

The first band of what forecasters predict will be the region’s most powerful storm in a decade moved into Northern California on Saturday, prompting official warnings of widespread flooding and epic snowfall.

“People are definitely in a state of panic right now,” said El Dorado County Sheriff’s Sgt. Todd Hammitt. “We’re getting a lot of calls asking if we’re going to be able to deal with everything. It’s the general pandemonium of not knowing what’s coming.” ["The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"]

The epic system — known as an atmospheric river — could dump so much rain and snow that some ski runs and roads will be declared off-limits, with forecasters warning of significant flooding, mudslides and avalanches in the Sierra Nevada.

Up to 12 inches of rain is expected to fall on areas below 8,500 feet beginning Saturday morning, and up to 7 feet of snow could bury higher elevations, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters said the storm was packing the same wallop as one that hit Northern California in 2005, causing $300 million in damage."

 

Here's the on-the-scene reporting of the first CA storm, including the human impact.

It's all quite tragic.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-california-storm-20170106-story.html

 

This will include you far northeast peeps

 

Fortunately, it only grazed us and left us (an hour NW of Bangor, well away from the coast) with about 6" of fresh powder (along with temps in the single digits today with winds to 30 mph; bumping -20F tonight). But south of here (NYC, BOS) got dumped on, and downeast coast (Gulf of Maine near Nova Scotia) got mercilessly stomped.

 

Im crying.lol. That weather guy is a riot.

 

Haven't seen front teeth like that since we raised rabbits... needs them bastards clipped ASAP.

 

He's ... an interesting person for sure.

 

He is actually an amazing person. I watched a interview of his and that dudes memory ability is incredible.

 

Oh and he is referring to this coming Monday in that latest video.

 

You're right. The storm that passed here last night has already passed Nova Scotia.

Another on the way Monday, I learned today, and that's what he's talking about.

Bring it. Just adds to the enjoyment of spring, and helps with the drought.

 

His recall to speech is rapidfire. It is the pauses that get me.

 

Very interesting storm heading our way for Monday wee hours. This is an update on the one described above by our meteorological wonder guy. One low developing now over the Great Lakes will move this way tonight and Sunday. When it slides off into the Gulf of Maine (the upper NE end of which is Bay of Fundy bounded by Nova Scotia), it'll join with another low to produce a deeper trough. The pressure gradient will be intense, meaning not only snow, but big winds. They're ranking this one up with Nemo, a famous nor'easter from a few years ago. Winds on the downeast coast near Bar Harbor could peak around 75 mph, equiv to a cat 1 'cane. Predictions for snow totals for any given area of Maine range from 18" to 28", depending how the eye tracks.

Bring it!!! Yeeeeeeee hhhhhhhaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!