Monday, January 10, 2011

10 January, 2011

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TODAY'S TOP WEATHER STORIES
On Weather & Climate Through the Eyes of Mark Vogan

TODAY'S NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Heavy rains caused the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton, Queensland, to burst its banks last week, inundating homes
Photo Courtesy of CNN

4 drown in northeast Australian flash floods
CNN

Plane Crashes During Snowstorm In Iran
AccuWeather News

SOUTHEAST US SNOW/ICE STORM

Atlanta weather: Snow, ice blankets the metro area
Atlanta Journal Constitution

TODAY'S WEATHER ACROSS SCOTLAND & UK

ICE WARNING FOR MORNING COMMUTE AS HEAVY OVERNIGHT RAINS GIVE WAY TO CLEARING SKIES AND FALLING TEMPERATURES!

**See Weather Talk below for details on Scotland's weather tomorrow and Wednesday as well as just how warm it's gotten in central Europe!
BBC Scotland's Evening Forecast presented By Gail McGrane

TODAY'S WEATHER ACROSS AMERICA
From AccuWeather



Powdery, Cold Snowstorm Impacting the Midwest
By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist


Widespread Snowstorm Takes Aim On Northeast
By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

Significant Snow Event Possible for Seattle, Portland
By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist


WEATHER TALK
By Mark Vogan

SCOTLAND'S SNOWPACK BECOMES A SLIPPERLY, SLOPPY MESS AS ATLANTIC AIR CONTINUES TO EAT AT OUR SNOW WITH INCREASINGLY MILDER AIR AND HEAVY RAIN, CREATING DANGEROUS DRIVING

View yesterday of Lennoxtown with Campsie Fells behind from Lennox Forest

Snowy Lennoxtown and Campsie Fells yesterday

A beautiful winter's day, looking south from my house yesterday

ICY MESS IN DUMFRIES AS ICE LIES THICK BENEATH POOLING RAINWATER ON TOP!
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES AS POURING RAIN MOVES IN AFTER YESTERDAY'S GLORIOUS SUNSHINE, MUCH OF THE SNOW AROUND DUMFRIES AND MANY AREAS OF LOWLYING SCOTLAND IS NEAR GONE, INCVLUDING HERE AT MY HOUSE THANKS TO 41-DEGREE HIGHS AND HEAVY, PERSISTENT RAINFALL TODAY AND THIS EVENING!

THE PROCESS OF WARMING ACROSS SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN ENGLAND IS SLOW BUT ONE STEP AND A TIME AND WE'RE GRADUALLY GETTING THERE WITH A 10C HIGH FOR THE CENTRAL BELT ON WEDNESDAY!

Once off the main roads which were generally clear, my truck was failing to turn corners and travelling SIDEWAYS down a Dumfries backroad on approach to one of my multiple drops within the town this morning. On one particular corner, the truck actually would'nt change direction despite me turning the wheel and once turned, the front and rear was facing the sides of the road, yet I was still going down the road! This is the kind of conditions we all face, especially on untreated backroads of communities. The ice is now worsened as rain water lies deep on top of solid ice, some of this ice is in fact growing as the rain water in places will actually be freezing, adding to ice thickness on both road and pavement surfaces.

Frozen and snow/ice covered ground stops this rainfall from seeping into the ground and thus, we are seeing increasingly nasty surface water and flooding. One of many nasty byproducts to prolonged snow and cold.

Atlantic air that arrives behind a powerful period of snow and ice creating major issues as Atlantic air tends to take time in eroding the left over cold air, especially so when there's widespread snowcover. That nationwide snowcover refrigirates the air above and as the Atlantic air moves inland, precipitation often changes over to snow or freezing rain. As I write this, the rain is battering off my windows and the snow that lay on the ground up to an inch in thickness just yesterday morning is merely a sloppy, treacherous mess now.. Come a couple of days from now and I believe it may be completely gone once we see those temperatures soar above normal and we feel that true Atlantic, maritime air once again.

After 41 today, we're back to the upper 30s tomorrow, but the sun will shine and we could be approach the lofty heights of 50 on Wednesday... A reading not achieved December, January or February last winter!

Tomorrow, Scotland will be cooler than today as a bubble of more settled, sunnier weather moves in on the backside of this frontal system that's been creating the heavy and persistent rain which has been gradually moving north throughout today. Where's the real mild air then, you ask? After another day of upper 30s (2-4C) tomorrow and likely a sudden drop in temperature into the later of the overnight tonight as rain departs and skies clear out which is likely to exasberate the ice risk for tomorrow morning's commute, Wednesday will be VERY MUCH MILDER though, likely wet and windy but temperatures SHOULD warm to near 50, that's 10C for most lowlying areas of the south and central belt of Scotland. The Highlands, though warmer will remain more like the upper 30s to perhaps low 40s since there's a lot more snow on the ground which will be added to tonight as this band of rain moves north through and turns readily to heavy snow once it reaches to southern Highlands and the air will therefore be cooled more even when we're warmer here!

As expected, European countries suffering majot flooding as Atlantic air warms most of the continent! German cities threatened by flooding after winter thaw

MOSCOW BARELY BELOW FREEZING AT THE COLDEST PERIOD OF THE YEAR

It really is a first-class thaw when we have seen such a brutal period of cold and snow which covered much of Europe, similar to what we saw between December 18 through January 15 last winter though I do believe this year's cold and snow was worse by quite a margin. However, as was expected and indeed forecasted by myself, a mid point of winter thaw was to arrive given the global weather patterns and the La Nina and this is certainly a MAJOR warmup and made more remarkable when comparing the huge temperature departures from normal across a large chunk of Europe with the focus on Scandinavia during December.

So just how mild are we talking?

The latest BBC forecast for Moscow suggest's tonight's low will only fall to 34 degrees (+2C) with highs through the rest of the week hovering between 30-32 (0 to -1C) and nights ranging between 30 and 21 (-1 and -6C), that really is warm for this northern interior-continental city. It appears that by Friday it's cools a little.

Berlin, tonight's low 30 (-1C) and high tomorrow of 41 (5C). By Friday high's appraoch 50 and lows only fall to 45 (7C), bare in mind that Berlin is also typically cold and continental in climate, not maritime like we are here in Britain.

In Paris, it's relatively mild tonight with a low of 36 (2C) and tomorrow will warm to 50 (10C).

WILD WEATHER ON A WILD WORLD
MEXICO WEATHER
BY ARTURO SALINAS

Coming Shortly!
WHAT'S REACHING TODAY'S BLOGS?

Gulf of Mexico Squall Line Gusts to 74 MPH
Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather

Major Nor'Easter to Blast New England
Joe Lundburg, AccuWeather

Widespread Big Daddy of a Storm Snow Map Update
Henry Margusity, AccuWeather

THE EXTREMES OF THE DAY

TODAY'S US EXTREMES
COURTESY OF ACCUWEATHER

HIGH: 83 degrees at Edinburg, TX
LOW: -29 degrees at Farson, WY

TODAY'S UK EXTREMES
COURTESY OF THE MET OFFICE

HIGH: 51 degrees (10.6C) at Isles of Scilly
COLD HIGH: 34 degrees (1.1C) at Loch Glascarnoch (Highland)
LOW: 23 degrees (-5C) at Shoreham (Kent)

TODAY'S EXTREMES HERE AT MY HOUSE

HIGH: 41 degrees
LOW: 29 degrees

TODAY'S CONDITIONS (LOCALLY)
Snowcover (patchy)
A day which started cloudy and remained relatively dry up until late morning as heavy rains over Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire pushed northwards throughout the afternoon and finally by mid-afternoon onwards, rain became persistent and at times heavy, helping erode the snowcover. This evening, though temps aren't particularly cold, the 37 with a breeze and heavy rain, makes for a raw feeling night!

Thanks for reading.
-Mark

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