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The More You Know

Wondering Why This Winter Isn’t Very Cold?

by James Plafke | 12:00 pm, January 12th, 2012

Located in New York, the Geekosystem team has been wondering why this winter doesn’t seem very wintery. It has only snowed once in New York City so far this year, at an oddly early time toward the end of October, compared to this time last year when it literally snowed in 49 states. Right now, it is 45 degrees outside in New York City in the middle of January, with a high of 52. That’s not very cold considering what happened in New Jersey a little over one year ago. Last year around this time, snow cover was at 50% across the country, compared to a measly 19% now. Why is it so not cold this year? Wunderground meteorologist Jeff Masters explains it has to do with an unusual jet stream over the last few months.

The jet stream that sets the weather in North America is controlled by the Arctic Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation, which are climate patterns representative of sea-level pressure. The pressure recorded for both Oscillations have been quite extreme, with the North Atlantic Oscillation setting the most extreme difference ever recorded for a December, whereas the Atlantic Oscillation has recorded its second most extreme difference. Due to these pressure differences, warm air from the southwest has traveled across the Eastern U.S., as opposed to the cold air that is usually drawn in from the Arctic.

If you’re wondering why, exactly, the recorded levels in both the North Atlantic Oscillation and Arctic Oscillation have been so extreme this year, unfortunately, Masters does not have an answer. He explains, “Climate models are generally too crude to make skillful predictions on how human-caused climate change may be affecting the AO [Arctic Oscillation], or what might happen to the AO in the future.” Masters does note, however, that there are links between sunspots and positive values in the Oscillations, and between arctic sea ice loss and the negative values, though neither of these factors explains exactly why we didn’t get snow on Christmas, and why we’re still wearing sneakers outside instead of big rubber snow boots.

(via 80 Beats)

Relevant to your interests

  • http://www.thechildhealthsite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1 Edcedc8

    I think thats because it summer, you dummies.

  • Rayban5016

    I think he was on to something with the sun spots. The man-caused global warming/cooling/change is mostly political BS.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002077682817 Matt Valentine

     it’s winter you dumb ass!

  • Anonymous

    It’s summer in the Southern Hemisphere.  Geekosystem may be NY-based, but its geek base is global.

  • Enthusiast

    Yeah, tell that to the folks in Nome, Alaska.  

    It may not be very cold in NYC, but it was 44 in Phoenix yesterday morning, which is really cold for us.  Florida had a freeze earlier this week.  
    Also… Climate models are too crude for predicting the weather, but not for justifying heavy-handed legislation that takes money away from soccer moms and job creators, and limits our freedom of choice?  Great! 

    All in all, a very New York article ;)

  • Saxman657

    Y’all just might want to check out this thing called HARP.  Run by the government and is located up in Alaska.

  • Anonymous

    It’s just an off year… they happen. Meanwhile in Idaho I can agree to the dry part of the article but considering it was -1 (F) when I left my house this morning .. warm it is not. Have seen -10 at least twice so far as well.

  • Telepresence

    They noted that snow cover is 30 percent less across the entire country compared to last year.  And there’s a big difference between a model not being able to predict the weather one particular year, vs being able to identify long term trends based on decades of data.

  • http://www.thechildhealthsite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1 Edcedc8

    this.

  • Anonymous

    Anyone who reads politics into the global warming situation is too full of political BS.

  • Anonymous

    I am confused why people are so ignorant as to believe that we are obviously warming the globe.  Do you think it’s coincidence that 120 years ago the industrial revolution began and ever since then (and most distinctly since then) the global avg temps are risen along with many greenhouse gases that normally do not increase at the rate we are seeing?  How can people trick themselves into being ok with this?

    It’s like coming upon a crime scene were someone is dead with a hole in their body and bleeding on a sidewalk and you see someone running away.  But for you, you must assume that a car hit them despite the overwhelming evidence of an armed gunman running away from the dead body.  Complicated analogy for a complicated situation.  

  • Booboo

    Notice how the article mention North America and the Arctic.

  • Booboo

    Really Rayban, really.

  • http://www.thechildhealthsite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1 Edcedc8

    notice how the headline says “this winter”?

  • http://www.thechildhealthsite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1 Edcedc8

    GO OUTSIDE! ITS SUMMER! ALL CAPS MEANS I’M RIGHT!

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    I am a 27 years old doctor,mature and beautiful. and now i am seeking a good man who can give me real love, so i got a sername Andromeda2002 on  Agedate.СòM, a nice and free place for younger women and older men,or older women and younger men, to interact with each other.Maybe you wanna check out or tell your friends.

  • Sneed

    As a highschool student, I am very disappointed in the weather. What’s the point of being a kid if you don’t get snow days!?

  • http://twitter.com/qka qka

    Living in NYC, you should be glad it isn’t snowing – your city government can’t handle the job.

    I live upstate and we’ve had some single digit nights this month; I’m sure some of that has cooled you off too.

  • Floraflwrs

    Failure.

  • http://www.thechildhealthsite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1 Edcedc8

    yours.

  • FNG

    WINTER IS COMING.

  • Brittney Cavallari

    Shocker.

  • http://www.facebook.com/JGMoneyPants Jason Michael Fernandez

    SO BRAVE

  • Richardson Jss

    merica’s the only place that matters

  • Tonydbennett

    All caps? You gotta be right, then.

  • Smack80

    I’m going to assume that people in NY realize that we have weather in other parts of the country too. Not everyone is having a warmer than normal winter.

  • Smack80

    Nope, China is the place! Gong xi fa cai!

  • blip

    Dude January 12th 2012 is winter in the US

  • Anonymous

    If you are looking for your true love you should absolutely be out and
    about this year!————-> sugarcupid.C○MIt is a person’als place
    where you can meet success’ful rich men, classy mature women, rich
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    My best friend ,she just has announced her wedding with a millinaire manRonald who is the CEO of a MNC !they met S`u`c`c`e`s`s`f`u`l`m`i`n`g`l`e..C0M it is the largest and best club for wealthy people and their admirers to chat online. …you don’t have to be rich there ,but you can meet one , It’s worthy a try. You do not have to be rich or famous !——-but you can mee one, the most important is you can find yourtrue l-o-v-e! right?

  • Cbtmone

    so short answer: No f-ing clue

  • He is dedsetmad

    Interesting…..down here in the Southern Hemisphere we are currently experiencing a really lethargic summer.
    The first half (December and January) has been more like Autumn. Here we are now in February almost and we still have very little sunshine or even heat. The sun is hotter these days because of the damage to the ozone layer. I can feel that on my skin on a sunny day, but when I was younger back in the early sixties, Australian summers began in December, a prelude to three months of dry sunny days. We never even got much humidity until towards the tail of summer (Feb-March).

    I have been a keenly interested observer of the weather since those halcyon days of my childhood and I can honestly say that even before I had heard the phrases “climate change” or “global warming” I was openly saying that the weather patterns had changed……and even back in the ’80′s people were agreeing with me.

    But yeah, to your dud winter, I add our dud summer.

  • http://www.thechildhealthsite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1 Edcedc8

    THANKS

  • Moleary55

    Maybe this is why Russia and Europe are experiencing harsh cold spells.

  • Ok

    fbgm

  • Troutmagnet

    He’s right you know. He IS using caps.


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