Give No Quarter

Posted by Pete Bouchard

Big slop-fest out there this afternoon/evening. After 6-12 inches of snow in Greater Boston and Worcester - and lesser amounts south of the Pike, it's time to clean up and move on...again.

I think we've passed the point of tolerance with these ceaseless storms. Gone are the days when viewers would flood our inboxes with pretty pictures of their pets and kids frolicing in the snow. Constant cleanup has made us snippy and short - even a few plow guys have hoisted the white flag. The holidays are long past, the winter is stale, and the people just want spring...

...and accountability.  Instead of pictures, I get questions in my inbox. "Why are we getting so much snow? Why did it turn on a dime? And when will it stop?"

Those are fair questions. But with the limits of the long range (10-14 day) forecasts, I'm not ready to answer the last question. We may sail out of this in April, but so far the first week of the month isn't looking much different from the first week in March. The ultimate question is why.

The jetstream has taken on an odd path.

The black lines represent the jetstream (wind moving from west to east). The colored areas represent the departure from the normal position of the jetstream. The bullseye is apparent: right over Nunavut (Northern Canada). High pressure has dominated this area since early February, diverting the cold and the jetstream over the Lower 48.

So there you have it. The culprit, the scapegoat, the reason for over 100" of snow in Worcester, and the reason I can't talk about 70s and 80s like last March. But the bigger question is, why does it last so long.

Ocean/atmosphere interaction is still a young branch of the science of meteorology. There are many reasons for stalled weather patterns, but I believe the biggest is the lack of sea ice from climate change. An open ocean leaves a lot of heat in the poles. This fosters high pressure (or blocks in the jetstream), and with very little movement to weather patterns at the top and bottom of the globe, we get pinned down in these long periods of heavy precipitation/drought and hot or cold.

An undeniable link in the cog has been established. And we're left to wait it out.

Pete 

Back and Forth

Posted by Chris Lambert

Quite a few clouds in the sky at times this afternoon, but the atmosphere lacked ample moisture to produce showers, so we made out just fine with temps near 70.  Even the coast made it well into the 60s before the onshore wind knocked temps back.

Pretty Good Weekend Overall

Posted by Chris Lambert

Sure, it's a cool start with many of the suburbs down into the upper 30s and lower 40s, but we'll warm up quickly through the day as that sun helps us out.

Strong Finish

Posted by Chris Lambert

An overall cooler day, but also a great end to the workweek as highs neared 70, low humidity continued and plenty of sunshine dominated the skies.  Now all we need is this to continue through the weekend right?

Still Good

Posted by Chris Lambert

How about yesterday?  The 82 in Boston matched the warmest temp we've had since September 13th.  Of course, with a wind gusting past 30mph and relative humidity near 18%, it certainly didn't feel oppressive.