2012-2013 Winter Weather thread

[Invader3K]

I remember last year, St. Patrick's Day was basically a gorgeous sunny day out. This year it's going to be cold and dreary. Quite the difference.

[Thurston Fluff]

If you've ever been to Ireland cold and dreary is the norm so maybe poetic justice is served this year. Last season I was very put out about the short, warm winter because my dogs ruined our backyard. The lack of frozen ground made for a very muddy household all winter. Not to mention very poor disk throwing conditions. Now we have K-9 grass so spring is much nicer at the Fluff household. Now we get a cold, frozen March. Go figure.

[hawing]

You know that GEICO commercial where the gecko overemotes about having a flat tire?

(i.e. this commercial:)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4njS23NvzPU

 

That is how I feel about the Winter Weather Advisory for Dane and other counties for Friday morning, not to mention every other winter precipitation event that has arisen this week and will arise over the next week (or week plus).

SOMEONE HELP ME! IT'S SNOWING AGAIN!

 

I am also tiring of the local weather media reminding us of how uncommonly warm it was this week in 2012. I know they don't control the weather, but they can control how many times they remind us of last year. Any weather people reading this can feel free to take this to heart.

[owbc]

Weather like last March was a once in a lifetime type thing. Spring will eventually arrive but the cold air looks to hang on at least another week.

 

Back in the late 1800s the lakes occasionally stayed frozen until May so at least the climate has warmed since then.

[Invader3K]

Have we had one overnight snowfall this year? It seems like we constantly get the mid to late morning snow falls, which really mess with my driving for work.

 

Hopefully this winter will finally be over soon.

[RockCoCougars]

This is getting ridiculous. After checking the 10 day forecast yet again, if things hold close to predicted, I'm ready to crown this as the worst March weatherwise I've ever experienced in my lifetime of living in this state. We haven't gotten an extreme snowfall or anything, but the temps have been double digits below normal for almost the entire month, and when it gets close to normal temps for a day or two, it rains. They are talking wind chills right around zero in the next few days. Seriously, enough already.

[owbc]

Was just checking the models and saw the same thing, continued cold with additional chances for snow in the next week.

 

So far, this is only the 53rd coldest March on record in Milwaukee and 31st coldest in Madison but those numbers will probably be much higher after another week of well below normal weather.

[JackNicholson1974]

Can't wait to see where this March ends up after the month is over. Normal highs appear to be in the low-to-mid 40s for most of us, today we will be lucky to see 20 here in Oshkosh. It really is amazing that we are something like 53 degrees below where we were last year.

 

It looks to me like Winter will hang on well into April for us this year, which just seems odd.

 

Any updates/explanations you can provide, OWBC, are much appreciated. The local guys dont seem to either notice or care.

[Invader3K]

Opening Day this year is going to be rather unpleasant, I fear.

[JackNicholson1974]

Not at Wild Wings it wont be.

[JackNicholson1974]

Wind chill is -4 right now. I could handle this if the extended forecast wasnt for 10+ days of continued below average temps.

[owbc]

Basically what's going on is the reverse of last March: the pattern of longwave ridges and troughs in the jet stream is stuck in place. You may hear reference to the "Arctic Oscillation" or "North Atlantic Oscillation" which are just measures of the amplitude of this ridge/trough pattern. They are both highly negative which indicates persistent cold air over the eastern US. That pattern is expected to stay in place for at least the next 7 days. Unfortunately, a storm is also expected to move toward Wisconsin on Sunday-Monday with more snow accumulations possible and then another shot of cold air behind that.

 

By then, we will be less than a week from Opening Day. The long range guidance has the cold air finally receding somewhere around 3/28-3/30. However, the transition is expected to be gradual so I wouldn't expect the high temperature on April 1st to be any warmer than 50 or so.

[BrewCrewForever]

I would say that 50 would be fantastic for opening day the way March has gone so far.

[Patrick425]

Last night I was listening to WTMJ 620 on the way home from work and they said something about a storm on Sunday/Monday. It would go south of us but still give us 2-3 inches. Then they said models also showed another storm system around opening day. However, none of the long term forecast that I see on weather sites are showing this.

 

Also, when did weather.com become a site for viewing odd stories and pictures that mostly have nothing to do with weather?

[Invader3K]

Also, when did weather.com become a site for viewing odd stories and pictures that mostly have nothing to do with weather?

 

Probably after NBC bought it I'd guess.

[Patrick425]

Also, when did weather.com become a site for viewing odd stories and pictures that mostly have nothing to do with weather?

 

Probably after NBC bought it I'd guess.

 

I will admit I did click on the "abandoned amusement parks" pictures. It was actually pretty interesting (and creepy). I had no idea that an amusement park was set to open next to Chernobyl less than a week after the plant's "accident". It actually opened for a few hours the day after the accident and then was shut down when everyone was told to evacuate. It obviously never opened again.

[Gobias Industries]

Also, when did weather.com become a site for viewing odd stories and pictures that mostly have nothing to do with weather?

The only thing I took away from my meterology/weather class I was forced to take in college was to make sure you use weather.gov, instead of weather.com. I've used it ever since and it seems to be pretty accurate and more importantly easy use.

[hawing]

I'll use weather.gov over weather.com most any day of the week. They don't overdramatize everything. It's information, not infotainment. I also like their mobile site, though I have both NWS and TWC on my phone. On the NWS mobile site, you can save as many favorites as you wish. I save Madison for home use and West Allis for Miller Park use.

[LouisEly]

I know it's a pain in the arse with commuting, but go without snow for 7 years and you will learn to appreciate it. As far as I'm concerned, it can be 25 and snowing for all of March (or all of winter for that matter), and then jump to sunny and 60 in April. To me, 35-50 degree highs are kind of useless. Not warm enough to melt the snow quickly, not warm enough to do much of anything outside.

[Thurston Fluff]

I'm glad somebody else likes 25 and snowing. It's not something I can say among friends without getting things thrown at me. Winter is all about having something to do outside. If you do then it becomes the best time of year. Especially if you have dogs because they never get tired. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200423266932556

[owbc]

Opening day: partly to mostly cloudy, slight chance showers, temperature in the 40s.

 

Temperatures should crack 50 away from the lake this weekend, depending on how fast the snow cover melts.

[Thurston Fluff]

Hawing thanks for the tip on weather.gov. Almost as good as Homer's suggested weather site...only for different reasons.

[Outlander]

So far, this is only the 53rd coldest March on record in Milwaukee and 31st coldest in Madison but those numbers will probably be much higher after another week of well below normal weather.

 

Where do you find this information, I would like to see where we are at now.

[Patrick425]

Weather.gov is ok, but no 10 or 25 day forecasts like on weather.com or accuweather. Yes, I know, the reliability of those long term forecasts are not very good at all, but I still like to see them. I also know that weather.gov has long range forecast maps, but I have always found those to be very unreliable as well. Generally if they are calling for cooler and drier weather for the next month, I can count on warmer and wetter.

 

You would think with all the advances in weather forecasting and the dozens of different models they use, that they would have gotten better at forecasting beyond 7 days by now.

 

I also like the radar on weatherunderground better than any other weather site.

[Thurston Fluff]

Isn't the weather underground a militant group from the 70's?