Longer Range Continues To Look Like A Dream (Come True) For Winter WX Lovers: Before I get into what’s coming our way over the next couple of weeks, let’s take a look back at this past week’s winter weather. Remember the average high for last week in Mountain City would be in the lower 50s with an average low in the upper 20s. Here were the numbers, which can be found over on our Climate and Snow Data page. (The first number is the date followed by the low, high, peak wind, rainfall, and snowfall).
16: 27, 34, 22, -, 0.75
17: 25, 35, 26, -, Dusting
18: 20, 26, 25, -, 2.50
19: 11, 40, 17, -, -
20: 26, 45, 26, -, -
21: 14, 28, 35, -, 4.00
22: 5, 38, 16, -, –
Folks, those numbers would be impressive for the dead of winter, but it’s almost unheard of to get such an impressive blast of winter weather during the third week of November. Heck, two of the days our high temperature didn’t even reach where we would normally be for a low this time of year. Couple that with a weekly total of 7.25 inches of snowfall in Mountain City and yes, I would say this winter has gotten off to a fast start.
What’s as equally impressive is when looking into the longer range I see a negative NAO along with tremendous blocking over the top. This will lead to a continued hammering of WELL below normal cold (and in some cases, record cold) not only as we head through the last week of November, but as we go on into December. In addition to the extreme cold (and the northwest upslope snow events), we’re really going to have to keep our eye on what will become an increasingly active/ stormy southern stream of the jet for the potential of some kind of widespread major winter weather maker sometime during the first couple of weeks of December. For much more in depth research and ideas as to why the mountains of Johnson County should see a colder and snowier winter than normal, please see Bill’s Annual Winter Outlook For Johnson County.
Moral of this story I guess is to say to all of you winter weather fans out there, hold onto your hats because it’s going to be a wild (white) ride for quite some time to come, as this truly is a special pattern we’re in if you’re a winter weather fan. For those not so fond of winter weather, I might add that you try working on that…if not, it very well may be a long stretch for you.
