The Southeast missing winter

[dude1984]

I will probably be wrong, but I don't think there will be that much more cold. I expect mild weather that turns below average (based on monthly averages) through the Spring.

[holdenlecroy]

It all depends on if that arctic jet could come south into the U.S., cause Alaska has seen the cold this winter with temps near record low temperatures and extreme amounts of snowfall. Last winter what caused the extreme cold was caused by the 'Greenland block' which brought the cold air and snowy conditions to us in the southeast and extremely warm and sunny temps to Greenland.

[Patricius Maximus]

Originally Posted by Chzanne

What I find most interesting, is that as soon as it warms up to the high 60s and low 70s in Mississippi, people run to their air conditioners! It drives me nuts! In Minnesota that is when we open our windows and enjoy the weather after a long winter. But I guess in Mississippi everyone has trained themselves that as soon as they start to feel warm, they need to cool themselves down. I think I do the opposite. I love the cold weather, but as soon as I start to feel cold, I simply throw on a layer.

Maybe they haven't had time to cool off yet after the nearly perpetual summer they just endured . Also keep in mind that warmer than normal temperatures are often accompanied by high humidity in the Deep South, whereas a warm spell in someplace like Minnesota would feature dry air, so the air coming inside may be uncomfortably humid. Another possibility is that they are simply sick of putting up with warmth and having A/C on a hair trigger is "the final solution", so to speak.

I'm like this myself and I don't even live near the Deep South, but I'm rather heat intolerant, and any inside temperature above 72 F is too hot, so on the air conditioning is.

[MrMarbles]

Originally Posted by Cambium

Snowpack does not "create" weather. It simply keeps temps cooler (like a refridgerator)

So the Polar vortex can move south no matter if there's snow on ground or not and vise versa, even with a snowpack a ridge can build from South warming temps up but not as warm as with a snowpack.

Another way to look at it, this "mild" day we're having today. Its 60 in NYC. If there was a snowpack on ground this mild day would still happen but temps instead of 60 would be 55-57 because of snowpack.

To answer your other question, nobody has a crystal ball but the rubber band can only stretch so much. This pattern has to change eventually.

Interesting. I think on a local level you are definitely correct in that a snow pack acts like a refrigerator by simply absorbing some of the warmth from the air. However I'm not sure if that is the only impact if we are talking about snowpack missing from a large part of the continent. I'm talking about snow missing entirely or almost entirely from hundreds of thousands of square miles of land where at this time of the year there should be many inches if (not feet) of snow. I would think that should change the amount of sun's energy that get's absorbed (rather than reflected into space). Just like polar icecaps and sea ice reflect suns rays, so does snow on the ground. Of course, this does not mean that arctic air masses cannot move south temporarily and cause the temperatures to drop significantly. But all things being equal my guess is that if there is considerably less snow on the ground it should have an effect on how much of the sun's energy is absorbed.

[The Dissenter]

I'm in Louisville and there was a dusting of snow in the city proper and some light acculamation in the South surburbs. Also, in my 5 day it does not go over 45 degrees.

[Patricius Maximus]

Originally Posted by Alanboy395

I'm in Louisville and there was a dusting of snow in the city proper and some light acculamation in the South surburbs. Also, in my 5 day it does not go over 45 degrees.

Some winter . If that's all you get in a "winter" it doesn't count in my view - that's still autumnal/spring weather, and you're still missing out on wintry weather. Not that that matters to this thread as Louisville isn't in the Southeast region.

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by Patricius Maximus

Some winter . If that's all you get in a "winter" it doesn't count in my view - that's still autumnal/spring weather, and you're still missing out on wintry weather. Not that that matters to this thread as Louisville isn't in the Southeast region.

Most people would put KY in the Southeast. Also, we usually get more snow than the pitiful 2 inches total we've gotten so far.

[Icy Tea]

Cold fronts and warm fronts clashing means tornadoes, right? I'll take winter blizzards over tornadoes any day.

[Cambium]

I guess their not missing winter tthis weekend. lol

Special Weather Statement for Florida and Georgia.

Teens
Blooms a month ahead of schedule??
Snow to North Georgia

...STRONG COLD FRONT TO BRING A BRIEF...YET SIGNIFICANT SURGE OF
COLD AIR TO GEORGIA DURING THE WEEKEND...

AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT...REALLY ONLY THE SECOND ONE THIS ENTIRE WINTER
SEASON...WILL SWEEP THROUGH ALL OF GEORGIA BY EARLY SATURDAY. THE
COLD FRONT WILL BE FOLLOWED BY SHARPLY FOLLOWING TEMPERATURES AND
VERY GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS.

TEMPERATURES SATURDAY WILL FALL FROM THE 40S DURING THE MORNING TO
THE 30S BY LATE AFTERNOON...THEN WELL INTO THE 20S BY EARLY
SUNDAY...WITH TEENS POSSIBLE IN THE FAR NORTH AND MOUNTAINS. IN
ADDITION...NORTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS OF 30 TO 35
MPH ARE ALSO EXPECTED. THESE WINDS WILL COMBINE WITH THE SHARPLY
FALLING TEMPERATURES TO CREATE SIGNIFICANT WIND CHILLS BY SATURDAY
EVENING IN THE TEENS...THEN DROPPING TO NEAR 10 EARLY SUNDAY AS
WINDS BEGIN TO DIMINISH.

GIVEN THAT THIS HAS BEEN A VERY MILD WINTER OVERALL WITH ONLY ONE
SIMILAR BRIEF COLD SNAP IN EARLY JANUARY...THE WIND AND COLD WILL BE
MORE NOTICEABLE THAN USUAL. IN ADDITION...THE EXTENDED WARM WEATHER
THIS WINTER HAS RESULTED IN EXTREMELY PREMATURE BUDDING OF FLOWERS
AND PLANTS...MANY A MONTH OR MORE AHEAD OF THEIR NORMAL BLOOMING
SCHEDULE.

FINALLY...SNOW SHOWERS WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THE NORTH GEORGIA
MOUNTAINS...AS WELL AS THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL AND
NORTHWEST GEORGIA SATURDAY INTO SATURDAY EVENING. A MINOR DUSTING OF
SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS...MAINLY ABOVE 2500
FEET...WITH UP TO 1/2 INCH POSSIBLE IN THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS.

[wavehunter007]

Originally Posted by Cambium

I guess their not missing winter tthis weekend. lol

Special Weather Statement for Florida and Georgia.

Teens
Blooms a month ahead of schedule??
Snow to North Georgia

Keep in mind that snowfall above 1500 feet is not all that uncommon in North Georgia and into the southern end of the Smokies. When people think of Georgia they often think of the image of South Georgia as swamps and alligators – but they forget that it SNOWS annually in the north Georgia Mountains. Blairsville averages 3. 5 inches annually. Areas of higher elevation around the Blairsville region have climates similar to that of the Michingan or New Hampshire.

As a winter fan you might find this interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blairsville,_Georgia