Weekly Weather Watch: Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024
Good morning! Since last week’s update, I returned from Canada, where I gave a quick lecture on North American drought patterns and why their Prairies (as well as the U.S. Plains) have had more drought since 1998 - hint, there’s a connection to La Niña’s frequency, which is driven by greater decadal oscillations correlated to the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Anyway, I’m back in the States and hope to get you next week’s Weather Watch on Monday before I head to Florida to give an outlook through the year into early 2025 to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association CattleCon2024 (If you are one of the 7,000+ expected there, come by the CattleFax booth and say hello). For this week’s weather briefing, here are some highlights of what you’ll see this week from the weather.
Excessive rainfall and flooding are possible over the South.
Warmer temperatures spread across the country from the West. Speaking of the West, a moisture surge will hit Northern California to the Pacific Northwest later this week.
For Alaska, heavy precipitation spreads over multiple days from the Panhandle to the southern coast.
For Canada: Some problematic freezing rain will hit central B.C., and downright cold will hit much of Quebec and parts of the Maritimes—strong wind will develop in parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan this week. Snowfall will continue in the mountains; BANFF has progressed well in the past few weeks. Moisture for the Prairies? Eh, let’s not talk about it at the moment, it is pretty dry.
Here’s an animation to show you the systems as they cross the States and Southern Canada.
From that storm flow, the bulk of moisture focuses on the South. Here are totals for the next ten days, which shows areas of 7+” for the Northwest and the Gulf Coast. That’s a lot of water! Good for tacking drought in these areas, but too much at once and flooding a concern from the Gulf to Southern Appalachians.
Of that moisture, how much is snow? Not much this time; the snow flow is slowing a bit this week. The Sierras and pockets of the Rockies will have some heavy snow, two to three feet, but overall less snow this week versus the last two weeks.
I alluded to it, but warmer temperatures are spreading across the U.S. from the West. The next push of cold may hold off until February, but we’ll discuss that next week. Plus, we will chat about the likelihood of the return of heavy snowfall next time.
Are you cirrus…err, serious? Jan 23, 1988: Northeastern Colorado experienced its most severe windstorm in years. A wind gust of 92 mph was recorded at Boulder, Colorado before the anemometer blew away, and in the mountains, a wind gust of 120 mph was reported at Mines Peak. The high winds blew down a partially constructed viaduct east of Boulder as nine unanchored concrete girders, each weighing forty-five tons, were blown off their supports.