Category: Long Range Discussion

Looking Closer At The Current SST Anomalies…

It may only be November, but we’ve been locked in the grips of Old Man Winter for the past few weeks (really since the early season snow back at Halloween).  While some “relaxation” will likely occur at a point during the first half of December, simply taking a look at the latest Sea Surface Temperature anomalies has to put a smile on the faces of those wanting cold and snowy weather for the upcoming winter.

waterprofile112114

Let’s take a look at the highlighted features above, starting in the Atlantic and moving towards the Pacific.

1.) Warm water off the eastern seaboard: Suggests some ridging is likely from time to time that could force would-be east coast storms inland.  This is a factor in our forecasted above normal snowfall for the winter of 2014-2015.

2.) Modoki El Nino: A Modoki event, or central-based, El Nino is far different than an east-based El Nino event and the associated “blow torch” that can ensue for the winter months.  Computer modeling continues to suggest a weak to borderline moderate Modoki event is in the cards.  The sensible weather here in the states is vastly different from this type of event than many of the broad-brushed El Nino impact maps you may see on various media outlets.  This is a cold, snowy look for many central and east.

3.) North-central PAC Waters: Water temperature profiles in the north-central PAC region continues to be an item we at IndyWx.com lean heavier on in looking at our longer range forecast outlooks.  The ring of warmth around the colder north-central anomalies in the Pacific suggests plenty of Alaskan ridging ahead in the coming months.  Downstream impacts?  Central and eastern troughiness and associated colder than normal air.

As we state, there are MANY drivers that impact the weather, and this is simply taking the SST anomalies (1 ingredient) and dissecting the impact that they alone would have on the region.  There are many other factors that we look at as we forecast long range weather.  Taken verbatim, the SST anomalies suggest we’re on the right track suggesting a colder, snowier than normal winter looms…  By the way, if you haven’t seen our winter outlook that was posted back on 10.19.14, you can view it here.

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Cooler To Open September?

As we move through the next week, we continue to think we’ll cool things off as we wrap up August. We’re not talking about any sort of major unseasonably cool…

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Tuesday Morning Video Update…

Busy times continue in the good ole forecast office!  This morning’s video talks about the one-two punch of cool air inbound to close July and looks at our increasingly-needed rain…

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A Look At Where We’ve Been And Where We’re Going…

We write this tonight with an anomalous pattern in place. Here we are in late July and we’re watching an organized storm system (non-tropical) roll through the Deep South while…

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These Aren’t Any Ordinary Dog Days…

Mid July through early August typically represents the greatest stretch of “lazy,” (yes, even in the meteorological community we can usually bank on a little down time this time of year) hazy, hot, and humid days throughout central Indiana.  Average highs are in the middle 80s with average lows in the middle 60s.  Finally, for the most part, organized storm systems of the spring and early summer are not as frequent as thoughts begin to shift to the busier, colder times ahead of fall and the upcoming winter.  That’s certainly not been the case this year.  And, as we look ahead, busy times will continue as we wrap up July and head into August- biased continued cooler than normal.

Let’s take a look at July so far.  Through the 17th, we’re running significantly cooler than normal:

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While the current chilly spell (labeled as “Autumn in July”) begins to give way to warmer, muggier times ahead, our sights are already looking ahead to the next round of cooler than normal air towards late next week.

Before we get into that, let’s take a look at some of the short range model data.  Most of this data agrees a significant ridge of high pressure, and associated heat dome, will take up residence across the western half of the country.  Initially we’ll see “fingers” of heat attempt to come northeast, but we caution these hot attempts will likely be thwarted from becoming what they otherwise would be.  While it’s possible a 90 degree day could come out of this next week, we still see no reason to believe any sort of prolonged heat is in our future.  Additionally, we’ll have to keep abreast of potential thunderstorm complexes moving southeast in what can be a challenging northwest flow pattern next week.  As it stands now, best rain chances will arrive Wednesday.

Note how the GFS and European ensemble data is in agreement on the developing significant ridge central and west.

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This will aid in moderating temperatures back to where we would normally expect them this time of year along with plenty of humidity.  That said, the hottest air associated with this pattern will remain to our west.  As stated above, we’ll have to keep an eye out for potential “surprise” thunderstorm complexes riding the periphery of the hot dome.

After a cold front provides increased shower and thunderstorm chances mid to late week, model data is keying on yet another unseasonably cool push and associated trough by Day 10.

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Geopotential32at32500hPa_North32America_240

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The Canadian NAEFS also sees the developing late July cool.

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Moral of this story is that while we’ll warm back to normal levels over the weekend into next week, overall model agreement leads to a higher than normal confidence in the mid to long range of a developing cool pattern yet again.  We’ll have to handle rain and storm chances on a more short-term basis.  Needless to say, these are no ordinary “dog days…”  Much more later!

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