As Expected May Snow And Cold Hits Hard

Snow settles on this weather-weary looking daffodil in my
St. Albans, Vermont yard this morning.

Much of the eastern United States has done a time warp and gone back to March, at least in the weather department.

As expected, there's widespread cold and snow around, and it ain't done yet.  There are some pretty impressive facts and figures with this blast of Arctic air.

New York's Central Park reported a trace of snow, tying with 1977 as the latest snowfall on record there.

Up here in Vermont, some early reports are pretty wild for May 9.  At an elevation of just under 1,500 feet in Cabot, 6.3 inches of powder fell. There was a report of six inches in West Pawlet and 4.8 inches in East Barre.

Heavy snow was reported in Bennington at 7 a.m. There were numerous reports of four or more inches of snow in different parts of Vermont.

At my place in relatively low elevation St. Albans, Vermont, I "missed out" on the snow with an accumulation of only 0.2 inches.  I'm not complaining that I didn't get buried, that's for sure.

The cold in the East is widespread and record breaking.  That's because there's pretty much been nothing like this type and intensity of a blast of cold air straight from the Arctic this time of year.

Dozens of cities reported record lows for today's date. It appears that more than two dozen cities in the Midwest and East at least tied their records for their all time lowest readings in the month of May.  Theres surely a lot of crop damage out there.

In one other snow report I didn't mention earlier, there was 3.7 inches of new snow at a high elevation spot in Readsboro,  The reason I waited to mention this now is because the temperature there was only 24 degrees. The snow there was light and powdery, like January. Not the wet snow you'd expect so late in the season.

This rapid drop in temperature with elevation, as we saw in Readsboro this morning, is key to the rest of the day here in Vermont.

The storm system that brought the snow overnight and this morning is moving away, even as it turns into an incredibly strong nor'easter for this time of year in the Canadian Maritimes and northern Maine.

Another snowy daffodil in my St. Albans, Vermont garden this morning. 

However, the core of the coldest air from the Arctic will be overhead today in northern New England. You'll continue to see these incredibly cold temperatures at high elevations, and it will be ridiculously cold as you go up and up above the mountain tops.

The sun angle this time of year is about the same as it is at the beginning of August. That means a strong sun will try to heat the ground.

Spotty sun is developing as of mid-morning. This sunshine is causing rising air currents. The air currents rise much more quickly and efficiently when it's cold up above.

That creates billowing clouds and showers. Or in today's case, snow showers. The sky might actually be rather picturesque amid these blustery snow showers. I guess that's a bright side, no?

As I mentioned yesterday, today's weird situation will create those numerous snow showers, especially this afternoon.

The winds will be strong and gusty today to begin with, and they will be more so under these snow showers. When or if you get hit by one, you'll get a brief period of heavy snow, stronger wind gusts and a quick temperature drop from today's already low readings.

It's going to be a strange day indeed.  

And one more, just to rub it in. 

The forecast going forward for the next few days hasn't changed much. It'll warm up, sort of Sunday, but stay incredibly cold for this time of year with highs in the 40s to around 50 in the Banana Belts of Vermont.

Monday will be "warmer" still with highs in the 48-55 range. Then we have a setback on Tuesday when it will get colder again with highs staying down in the 40s. After that, the warmup will resume, with near normal temperatures in the  low 60 by Friday.

Before then, we will have almost nightly problems with frosts and freezes at least into Wednesday morning.

The next shot any any real precipitation in Vermont will probably come along next Friday. Mercifully, all that Friday weather will be in the form of rain, NOT snow.

CLIMATE CHANGE:

By the way, this record cold spell says nothing about climate change. Or if it does saying anything about the subject, it's counterintuitive.

While we New Englanders shivered in April, most of the rest of the world was warm. April, globally will likely come in as one of the top three warmest on record.

Also, while this cold wave is freezing gardens throughout the eastern half of the United States, many other places are warm.  The western U.S. is experiencing record high temperatures. Unprecedented warmth has enveloped Siberia, where wildfires are breaking out many weeks before they normally do.

Overall, cold waves are becoming less frequent than they used to. So when you get one like this, it really captures your attention.

You can't judge one odd weather spell in one little corner of the world to pick on climate change.

Having said that,  the bitter Arctic May air is unsettlingly consistent with what a lot of climate scientists have been warning us about.  The world is indeed warming, but it might be making the jet stream, which controls the path of weather systems, much more wavy.

With bigger northward bulges and bigger southward plunges than normal, climate change can make things weirder. Even as it warms up overall, every once in awhile, this newly wavy jet stream can create some sharp, intense cold waves. That is, if you're caught in one of those oddly deep dip in the jet stream, as we currently are.

I can't say one way or another if this particular cold wave has anything to do with the above. But it is similar to what a lot of the climate scientists are tellling us. Just sayin'.