Snowstar Ski Resort Blog

Friday, January 16, 2009

Global Warming at It's Finest

Got to the area about 6am this morning and the temp was sitting at -33 degrees. Yesterday's high here at Snowstar peaked at -12. Today holds far more promise as the forecast is for lower teens. Doesn't sound very warm, but it will be about 25 degrees warmer than yesterday.
Where did this all come from? The most recent entrance can be traced to Alaska where they have even experienced an unusual cold spell. Their(Anchorage) cold invasion really began just before the new year when temps fell well below zero on the 29th of Dec and stayed there non-stop through the 7th of Jan.
Generally speaking, when you see that kind of cold in Alaska, 2 things are usually true. First of all, it is rarely very cold in Alaska AND downstream in the Midwest at the same time. Secondly, when the cold air does move our way, it often means a dramatic flip in Alaska. Flip, it did. Eislson Airforce Base near Fairbanks went from -55 to the mid 50's a couple days later. A temp swing of 110 degrees in a matter of 72 hours.
If you think about that, it currently is much warmer in Alaska than it is in northern Florida. That does happen from time to time with a high amplitude pattern like this. But that is just crazy!
This kind of pattern will not last as a monster storm is coming across the Aleutians which will put Alaska back in the freezer and we see easing of the brutal cold this weekend.
Bundle up and when the temps approach 30 on Saturday, we ourselves will witness a 60 degree temps swing............
eed