Warm thoughts on a(nother) cold day

Posted at 4:06 PM on January 29, 2009 by Paul Huttner (4 Comments)

Tucson basks in warm Arizona sunshine today

Here's a bulletin: It's cold in Minnesota.

We are ready to close out the month of January around 6 degrees below average.

From the news headlines with a cold inauguration, a plane down in an icy Hudson River and wicked ice storms you'd think we're on the verge of another ice age everywhere in the good ol' USA. We're not.

Draw a line from Rapid City to Omaha to Little Rock to Dallas. Everywhere south and west of that line is running above average for the month. That's a pretty good chunk of the nation.

That's basically because the polar front jet stream has been running along and north of that line for much of the month.

Rapid City has had 4 days in the 60's and is running 1.2 degrees above average for the month.

Want more?

Phoenix +2.7
LA +2.8
Vegas +4.0
Dallas +4.4
Denver +5.5

The same amplitude of jet stream waves that produces warmth in Alaska when we are cold tends to keep the western U.S. warm during our arctic outbreaks.

Bring on February!

PH

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Comments (4)

"basically because the polar front jet stream has been running along and north of that line for much of the month."

And that area was mainly snow-free. Chicken & egg?

Posted by Chris B. Critter | January 29, 2009 4:53 PM

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Good question Chris:

I would say the "chicken" came first in this case.

Places like Rapid City and Lincoln, NE can obviously have snowcover effects this time of year. But Phoenix and L.A. not so much. So snow cover has zero effect in much of the southwestern U.S.

So I would pose that the orinetation of the jet is much more important, and of course is the reason storms track along that line and put down snow to the north.

Having spent many winters in the southwest, I know what happens in years (El Nino) where there is a split flow with an active sub-tropical jet. Those are the years we tend to run mild, and places like Tucson, Phoenix and L.A. run cool and wet.

PH

Posted by Paul Huttner | January 29, 2009 5:35 PM

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Hey Paul,

Todd Strand and I saw you on TV in Tucson back in '03 while I was down there for the Vikings game in Phoenix.

It's nice weather here in Vegas lately too.

see also www.donnyxmusic.com

Posted by Don Odell | January 29, 2009 8:22 PM

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Bring on February indeed. And then can we have May next?

That picture...green trees, sunshine, no snow...it's an alien planet.

Posted by j | January 30, 2009 3:27 PM

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