I love el nino! (snowfalls, hot, warmest, ice)

[ColdCanadian]

Canadian meteorologists say that El Nino is responsible for keeping winter storm tracks south of southern Ontario.

We've only had 27 cm (11 inches) of snow the entire winter.
Our two "heaviest" snowfalls about 8 cm (3 inches) in my neighbourhood.
As far as snowfall events totalling 1+ cm, (0.035+ inches), we've probably had 5-8.

Last winter we had above-average snowfall,
but this year we've had about one-quarter the snow we had last year by this same date.
I don't know what that means in terms of an average winter,
but I think it's safe to say we've had less-than-half of our average snowfall to date.

To put this into perspective,
an "ordinary" single snowfall event for us is 10-15 cm (4-6 inches) and anything less is "light."
In a normal winter we probably would have had at least one dump of 15+ cm (6+ inches) by now.
Considering this, it's safe to say my city has had no significant snowfalls the entire winter.

We might even be on our way to breaking the Winter 1952-1953 record lightest snow totals of only 54 cm (21.25 inches) of snow.

El Nino has also affected how much rain we get too.
The average at Pearson Intl. AP for January is about 55 mm (2.2 inches) of combined frozen and unfrozen precipitation,
but for January 2010, the airport only observered 25 mm of precip; that's 0.96 inches of precip for the whole month!

Temperature-wise,
this winter has actually been fairly-seasonal, making our dryish and mostly-snow-free winter even more surprising.

[susancruzs]

I'm thinking I like El Nino, too! The last two winters here were crazy, over 100" of snow (normal would be 45" or so), colder temps, winds blowing the snow around, this year not so much! I have patches of grass visible in my back yard (on the north side of my garage), last year I didn't see any lawn until mid-March at least.

My natural gas bills have been less, too, 3 weeks in January were above normal temps so El Nino is not a bad thing unless you are looking to ski or snow mobile around here.

[tasmtairy]

Ok well, I don't like EN, if it is causing us to have a winter I haven't seen in 10 years. Our third snow of more than 6 inches!

[ColdCanadian]

Originally Posted by tasmtairy

Ok well, I don't like EN, if it is causing us to have a winter I haven't seen in 10 years. Our third snow of more than 6 inches!

Funny to hear from North Carolinians who're sick of ice and snow.
You're not the only one either. I remember one poster from Western Cary was getting angered by ice and snow too.
Ususally when I hear people from the Carolinas talk about snow, they say:
"...if we're lucky, we might get X-amount...",
"...I hope to see snow for Christmas, that would be a real treat..." and
"...I love living in the Carolinas because we never get enough snow to get sick of it..."

I think it's fair for us Northerners to brag/gloat since El Nino is a once in seven year event,
this one seems to be doing more than most other El Ninos
and most residents here agree that our winters are normally excessive.

As far as being "ready for snow"
I heard somewhere the City of Toronto has budgeted for 2000 snowplow trucks and 5000 "salt-trucks",
which is probably why all the major roads can be cleared in a few hours.

[sedimenjerry]

I hate El Nino!
December's highs were about 6 degrees below average. Same with January. Right now it should already start to warm up. Our average high today is 55/56 with a Febraury high of 58. Instead, 7 of the next 10 days will be in the 40s with just two days at 51 and the warmest day is 54 when it should be 58.

[tasmtairy]

Originally Posted by ColdCanadian

Funny to hear from North Carolinians who're sick of ice and snow.
You're not the only one either. I remember one poster from Western Cary was getting angered by ice and snow too.
Ususally when I hear people from the Carolinas talk about snow, they say:
"...if we're lucky, we might get X-amount...",
"...I hope to see snow for Christmas, that would be a real treat..." and
"...I love living in the Carolinas because we never get enough snow to get sick of it..."

I think it's fair for us Northerners to brag/gloat since El Nino is a once in seven year event,
this one seems to be doing more than most other El Ninos
and most residents here agree that our winters are normally excessive.

As far as being "ready for snow"
I heard somewhere the City of Toronto has budgeted for 2000 snowplow trucks and 5000 "salt-trucks",
which is probably why all the major roads can be cleared in a few hours.

It's totally fair CC. I'm from Northern Ca. so I never minded snow. But I'm older and have been here 10 years and it's crazy. My Dad has been here 15 and can't remember it being this bad except their first year here, which had tons of ice!!

It's funny when people complain about the weather that seems so normal for us, like when it's cold in Fl. at 60 degrees.

[susancruzs]

Listening to a local Green Bay station with evening news reporting about the storm, too.

We are not getting snow due to a strong northeast wind, cold dry air coming in from Canada is keeping everything south of us.

Storms like this have an effect on the whole country, air travel, trucking companies, a nightmare, very serious stuff two feet of snow no matter where you live! The only difference is northern states have more equipment, bigger plows to deal with sizeable snow amounts.

[tasmtairy]

Wow Virginia and DC are really getting it. Virginia state gov't is shut down! I'm only a couple of miles from the border. El Nino isn't being nice to VA and DC!!

[§AB]

I love el nino too, except this year. El Nino is supposed to bring us a hot and dry summer, which hasn't been the case this year. Unless ofcourse if you live in Sydney, Adelaide or Perth

[ADGreen]

Originally Posted by §AB

I love el nino too, except this year. El Nino is supposed to bring us a hot and dry summer, which hasn't been the case this year. Unless ofcourse if you live in Sydney, Adelaide or Perth

Actually make that just Adelaide or Perth. Our summer here in Sydney has been sh*t. Warm, sure, including very warm nights, but the sun has taken a permanent vacation.....