Wednesday February 5th… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing post will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials)😉
Main Topic: Climate Crisis Weather Chaos Ahead For This Month In The U.S.
Dear Diary. Every since the calendar changed from 2019 to 2020 we have seen above normal temperatures for the lower 48 states except in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest. We have logged very few cold records with thousands of warm records as of 2/5. Now the other more significant shoe is beginning to drop across the U.S. The storm track is forecast by most met models to be stuck in “Groundhog Day” mode the rest of February, which Bill Murray would be all too familiar with…or wash, rinse, and repeat.
The first storm system, dubbed “Kade” by the Weather Channel, has already produced heavy, wet snow in the southern Plains and will produce flooding with the potential for severe storms in the Southeast tonight, as noted by these NWS advisories:
The Northeast will see a sloppy wintry mix with some snow also from Kade:
Kade is acting more like a March storm rather than a typical early February one because of the warm ridge located in the Southeast. Also, there isn’t any Arctic air located north of Kade, so the atmosphere will get very moist around the storm system, thus the potential for heavy precipitation, especially over the Southeast. There will be enough instability over the Southeast for dreaded severe storms, including tornadoes to boot.
There will be many more TWC named hybrid winter/spring storms coming after Kade in February as our trough in the west/ridge in the Southeast jet stream pattern remains locked in place. Here is what we will probably see next week with one storm ejecting from the Southwest with another digging into the Pacific Northwest as noted by the cold blue lobes on this Pivatol Weather chart:
The atmosphere across the U.S. is warmer than that of February 2019, so as opposed to heavy, powdery snow falling across the Midwest we should see mostly the wet “heart attack” type falling there from time to time. Don’t forget that a warmer atmosphere usually translates to heavy precipitation in a warming world.
Here is what we may see at the surface a week from today in association with the above forecast jet stream pattern:
Flooding rain may occur as far north as the Ohio Valley, which should be seeing snow this time of the year. There probably will be heavy snow in the northern Plains where drier, powdery flakes are more typical. All of this “climate chaos” will translate to big headaches for residents and travelers across most of the U.S. this month. I’m also concerned about the prospect for rounds of life threatening severe storms with some tornadoes and flooding across the South.
I’ll be updating my readers on this chaotic weather pattern as we move towards March.
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Here is some more weather and climate news from Tuesday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity.)
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Guy Walton “The Climate Guy”