Winter Weather

[fermi de Sousa]

We're having winter conditions here today - a huge rain band is hitting the east coast with flooding in some areas and temps in the mid-teens. May have to switch the air-condition back to heating mode
cheers
fermi

[Maggi Young]

From Hartside Nursery -
‏

"A covering of snow today, but Galanthus 'Three Ships' is showing its flowers above the snow and there are plenty of buds on petiolaris Primulas in a sheltered position, they will be open soon. Our first trade stand is in a few weeks time at Dunblane for the SRGC Early Bulb Show."

[ian mcdonald]

It snowed here on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Less than 1/2". It was gone by mid-morning. Rain, rain and more rain. Wish I could send some to California.

[Jacek]

OK, so we have the winter. Somewhat too late. Last night temp min -10 C. Now 11pm and -10 C, too. But the forecast is -5 C() I will see if the temp will go lower then -15 C over the next few nights.

I hope it is late enough (I mean the length of the day as opposed to night) and the temperature will not go below -20 C, as it would certainly do in January. On the other hand, plants are clearly prepared for spring and may be prone to damage - we have not had stable winter so far. I will report temps and damage. I foresee buds and open flowers of Viburnum bodnantense Dawn will be cut off, as they usually do here. But till yesterday they were nice and healthy.

No snow, of course, but some hope for it.

David Nicholson said in another thread, that this cold comes from Siberia. We also say so in Poland. But I don't believe it's true. From my place to Siberia is 3000 KM. The source of cold is rather northern Russia, but European part. So now we import the weather from there.

I'm not a climatologist, but I observe that when we (in Europe) have warm winter, you (in US/Canada) have cold spell and vice versa. I checked the current temp in Chicago and it is + 3 C right now - rather warm, I believe. I observe the weather measurements made by Robert in California - they also have a cold spell now. Is it coincidence or a rule?

[Leena]

It's been very cold also here in Finland, but luckily for plants there is some snow (maybe 20cm) and nothing has been growing since November-December. Last week was cold, mostly around -20C at nights, the coldest -24,4C in my garden but colder in the eastern part of Finland. Next week it will be even colder, and no spring in forecasts in March.

[ArdfearnAli]

No snow here in Inverness but very cold winds. Last few days have been frosty in morning and clear and very sunny with a good bit of heat in the sun. Problem will be that plants covered by glass in the frames  will think its spring and come into growth too soon to be uncovered. At least its managing to dry up a bit. We have been wet and damp since Oct/Nov with no drying weather as such. Some plants are looking particularly sorry for themselves. I hope spring comes fairly soon so they at least get a chance to recover although the forecast isn't looking that good for the next couple of weeks.

Alasdair

[Jacek]

No further cooling last night due  to clouds, temp min -10 C. And today we can see snow. Only 1 cm but this may be enough to protect  cyclamen leaves. Further cooling foreseen.

I looked at temp forecast. The centre of coldness is on the border of Estonia, Latvia, Belarus and Russia - not Siberia. But the mentioned area is much closer.

[Robert]

David Nicholson said in another thread, that this cold comes from Siberia. We also say so in Poland. But I don't believe it's true. From my place to Siberia is 3000 KM. The source of cold is rather northern Russia, but European part. So now we import the weather from there.

Look at a 500 mb weather map of western European and one will know the source of the cold air! 

[Robert]

Greetings

I just checked a 500 mb map of the north Atlantic and Western Europe. I do not know what a “normal” pattern looks like, however this map is in many ways very similar to the pattern we experienced on the west coast of the U.S.A. over the last three weeks (the pattern is now changing). The pattern I see over Western Europe seems very anomalous. Currently there is a low-pressure system in the mid-Atlantic at 50N; east of the low the Jetstream flows directly north into the arctic, then travels over the top of a high located at 60N over Scotland. The Jetstream then plunges directly southward through Scandinavia, France, to southeastern Spain before turning to the east. Clearly the source of the cold air is the arctic. The pattern seems anomalous. Can anyone fill me in?

[Harald-Alex.]

The first night with frosts under -10 °C here in Eastgermany,from today, 25.2.18! Over the snowfree soil near the plants in the snowdrop-garden are -13 °C! And the next nights will be colder!

[johnralphcarpenter]

Look at a 500 mb weather map of western European and one will know the source of the cold air! 

Do you have a link to the maps?

[Jacek]

- 15 C here last night. And not at the ground level. Some further cooling foreseen. The inflow will slowly change from NE to E-  this means cold here. Siberia gets closer.

[Robert]

Hi Ralph,

This is a good link to the 500 mb maps and projection over the North Atlantic and Western Europe. The current map indeed shows cold air advection from, plus or minus, Siberia. This seems like a very odd weather pattern. Any comments from anyone in this regard?

Sunny and breezy today in Sacramento. Some nice plants are blooming in the garden: Erythroniums, Narcissus, more. I was very busy today and did not have time to get any photographs.    Tomorrow it is forecast to be rainy with low snow levels again. We are having mid-winter in late February. Some daily low temperatures have been broken in Northern California. It sounds extreme, but it is more like a typical below average temperature event. Most of the record low temperatures broken were "soft" i.e. not extreme.

http://weather.unisys.com/gfs/gfs.php?inv=0&plot=500&region=eu&t=9p

[johnralphcarpenter]

Thanks. It is an odd weather pattern, and an unwelcome one. Beginning to snow here now, and the news says that local trains will not run tonight as a precaution. It only takes one snowflake for things to grind to a halt!

[Hoy]

It is an anomaly but not a very rare one although it is 4 years since last time the met says here. The most uncommon is that it is a bit late in the season.

We have not had extreme cold here at the west coast of Norway yet (last night it was -2.5C) but Tuesday it is expected down to -11C which is very rare.