Heh. I recall the winter when it snowed in South Florida - and Nome was having one of their warmest winters on record. There was one day when Miami had the lower high temp for the day.
@werehatrack when did it snow? I lived in the Miami area and remember two times it got to freezing but no snow. When DD was at UCF they had flakes once
@Enigma From what I’ve heard, snow in Chicago is an entirely different experience than snow in CO. Here it’s usually a pretty dry snow that melts away fairly fast or sublimates if it’s really cold because it’s dry and sunny. But we’re setting records now for dryness and that’s not good.
@Kyeh Yes indeed, Chicago snow is a special kind of variety. Early on, we start out lite and fluffy which is cute, nice for pictures and playing in. It’s also, easy on the back if you have to shovel it. As the weather starts to get colder we shift into another gear. We start getting snow that has its own attitude. It comes in overweight, and sticks to anything that doesn’t have any heat. This is the snow that’s heavy and makes you work overtime to clear if you don’t have a snow blower. This is the snow I hate and makes me dread any mention of the word snow period. I’ve never skied before so can’t remark if it’s good for that. I have been snowmobiling on it before so it just might be good snow for Colorado. Either way your still welcomed to have ours whenever it comes. I’m hoping for a mild winter though .
@Enigma@Kyeh Same here in Upstate NY- think between Rochester and Buffalo.
Maybe just the first snow of the year is ‘lovely’, but thereafter, it’s just crappy stuff that’s a pain to deal with.
We also get episodic freezing rain, and ice storms that have their own misery involved.
@Enigma@Kyeh Not really, more just every day weather.
Lake effect is another whole animal.
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake-effect_snow
Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water. The lower layer of air, heated up by the lake water, picks up water vapor from the lake and rises up through the colder air above. The vapor then freezes and is deposited on the leeward (downwind) shores.
The effect is enhanced when the moving air mass is uplifted by the orographic influence of higher elevations on the downwind shores. This uplifting can produce narrow but very intense bands of precipitation, which deposit at a rate of many inches of snow each hour, often resulting in a large amount of total snowfall.
The areas affected by lake-effect snow are called snowbelts. These include areas [south and] [my addition] east of the Great Lakes in North America, the west coasts of northern Japan, the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, and areas near the Great Salt Lake, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Baltic Sea, Adriatic Sea, and North Sea.
Lake-effect blizzards are the blizzard-like conditions resulting from lake-effect snow. Under certain conditions, strong winds can accompany lake-effect snows creating blizzard-like conditions; however, the duration of the event is often slightly less than that required for a blizzard warning in both the US and Canada.
Lake-effect occurring when the air at 850 millibars (85 kPa) is much colder than the water surface can produce thundersnow, snow showers accompanied by lightning and thunder (caused by larger amounts of energy available from the increased instability).
As if the persistent bands of lake effect snow weren’t enough.
@Enigma@Kyeh
Also:
Even when precipitation is not produced, cold air passing over warmer water may produce cloud cover. Fast-moving mid-latitude cyclones, known as Alberta clippers, often cross the Great Lakes.
After the passage of a cold front, winds tend to switch to the northwest, and a frequent pattern is for a long-lasting low-pressure area to form over the Canadian Maritimes, which may pull cold northwestern air across the Great Lakes for a week or more, commonly identified with the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).
Since the prevailing winter winds tend to be colder than the water for much of the winter, the southeastern shores of the lakes are almost constantly overcast, leading to the use of the term “the Great Gray Funk” as a synonym for winter.
These areas allegedly contain populations that suffer from high rates of seasonal affective disorder, a type of psychological depression thought to be caused by lack of sunlight.
Utah, “The Greatest Snow on Earth”, if you believe the license plates. And no snow on the valley floor yet, and not much in the mountains. We’ve barely hit freezing so far. None of this is normal.
@Kyeh Most of the Utah resorts haven’t opened yet, it’s been such a dry year. Usually they push to open for Thanksgiving weekend, even if it means snowmaking. Even that wouldn’t have been enough this year.
Heh. I recall the winter when it snowed in South Florida - and Nome was having one of their warmest winters on record. There was one day when Miami had the lower high temp for the day.
@werehatrack when did it snow? I lived in the Miami area and remember two times it got to freezing but no snow. When DD was at UCF they had flakes once
@allergycheryl @werehatrack Go Knights!
I saw that! Meanwhile here in the states that are supposed to get snow, we’re left high and dry. Well, at least in CO you can be high.
@Kyeh Yeah, driving around with the AC on in my truck yesterday because I was too warm with the windows down. Go home Colorado- you are drunk.
@Kyeh I’m happy about no snow. I hope you get whatever snow that’s supposed to be for Chicago. Those here who will miss it can visit your State.
@Enigma From what I’ve heard, snow in Chicago is an entirely different experience than snow in CO. Here it’s usually a pretty dry snow that melts away fairly fast or sublimates if it’s really cold because it’s dry and sunny. But we’re setting records now for dryness and that’s not good.
@Kyeh Yes indeed, Chicago snow is a special kind of variety. Early on, we start out lite and fluffy which is cute, nice for pictures and playing in. It’s also, easy on the back if you have to shovel it. As the weather starts to get colder we shift into another gear. We start getting snow that has its own attitude. It comes in overweight, and sticks to anything that doesn’t have any heat. This is the snow that’s heavy and makes you work overtime to clear if you don’t have a snow blower. This is the snow I hate and makes me dread any mention of the word snow period. I’ve never skied before so can’t remark if it’s good for that. I have been snowmobiling on it before so it just might be good snow for Colorado. Either way your still welcomed to have ours whenever it comes. I’m hoping for a mild winter though
.
@Enigma I hope we can divert it here for a while at least, and drain out the moisture so by the time it reaches you it stays fluffy and pretty!
@Enigma @Kyeh
here is a classic about ‘lovely snow’ posted to another (old) meh snow thread
@Kyeh Awh, thank you. That’s really kind of you
@Enigma @Kyeh Same here in Upstate NY- think between Rochester and Buffalo.
Maybe just the first snow of the year is ‘lovely’, but thereafter, it’s just crappy stuff that’s a pain to deal with.
We also get episodic freezing rain, and ice storms that have their own misery involved.
@Enigma @PhysAssist Is that the “lake effect”?
@Enigma @Kyeh Not really, more just every day weather.
Lake effect is another whole animal.
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake-effect_snow
Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water. The lower layer of air, heated up by the lake water, picks up water vapor from the lake and rises up through the colder air above. The vapor then freezes and is deposited on the leeward (downwind) shores.
The effect is enhanced when the moving air mass is uplifted by the orographic influence of higher elevations on the downwind shores. This uplifting can produce narrow but very intense bands of precipitation, which deposit at a rate of many inches of snow each hour, often resulting in a large amount of total snowfall.
The areas affected by lake-effect snow are called snowbelts. These include areas [south and] [my addition] east of the Great Lakes in North America, the west coasts of northern Japan, the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, and areas near the Great Salt Lake, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Baltic Sea, Adriatic Sea, and North Sea.
Lake-effect blizzards are the blizzard-like conditions resulting from lake-effect snow. Under certain conditions, strong winds can accompany lake-effect snows creating blizzard-like conditions; however, the duration of the event is often slightly less than that required for a blizzard warning in both the US and Canada.
Lake-effect occurring when the air at 850 millibars (85 kPa) is much colder than the water surface can produce thundersnow, snow showers accompanied by lightning and thunder (caused by larger amounts of energy available from the increased instability).
As if the persistent bands of lake effect snow weren’t enough.
@Enigma @Kyeh
Also:
Even when precipitation is not produced, cold air passing over warmer water may produce cloud cover. Fast-moving mid-latitude cyclones, known as Alberta clippers, often cross the Great Lakes.
After the passage of a cold front, winds tend to switch to the northwest, and a frequent pattern is for a long-lasting low-pressure area to form over the Canadian Maritimes, which may pull cold northwestern air across the Great Lakes for a week or more, commonly identified with the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).
Since the prevailing winter winds tend to be colder than the water for much of the winter, the southeastern shores of the lakes are almost constantly overcast, leading to the use of the term “the Great Gray Funk” as a synonym for winter.
These areas allegedly contain populations that suffer from high rates of seasonal affective disorder, a type of psychological depression thought to be caused by lack of sunlight.
Mauna Loa livestream from the observatory:
This last week I had noticed it was completely in clouds. I didn’t know it was snowing. Tonight is the first clear night in about a week.
Flip flops and sundress in Tennessee today. Mmmmm….sweating while picking out a Christmas tree.
BTW… if I have to weather a blizzard I believe Hawaii is certainly a better place to do it than a lot of others I can think of.
Utah, “The Greatest Snow on Earth”, if you believe the license plates. And no snow on the valley floor yet, and not much in the mountains. We’ve barely hit freezing so far. None of this is normal.
@blaineg Exactly the same here. Are your ski areas at least able to open? Some of ours have but not all of them.
@Kyeh Most of the Utah resorts haven’t opened yet, it’s been such a dry year. Usually they push to open for Thanksgiving weekend, even if it means snowmaking. Even that wouldn’t have been enough this year.
@blaineg Wow, that’s really bad!
Time for a classic
@f00l Two feet of snow.
You were warned:
/image dairy queen blizzard
