Good Evening Everyone,<\/p>\n
I’m very excited to share with you a very interesting blog. Starting on Tuesdays I will be putting a blog together to show you some very interesting analyses that provides insight into the past weather pattern. Typically, whenever I try to put a forecast together, I like to try to get an understanding of the weather pattern by looking over climate data. Today, we have so much weather data to look over that it can get very overwhelming. So, the key is to break things down into\u00a0sections. So, we’ll look over over Upper, Surface, Temperatures and Precipitation Total trends.\u00a0 For each section, I’ll provide some brief notes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Upper Air Trends Precipitation Trends
\nSome of the basics about the 500mb anomaly map.. Its a view from 18,000 feet above the ground.\u00a0 It helps me identify the jet stream, although you can look at 250 or 300mb maps for that.\u00a0 But its an analyses for tendencies how ridges (high pressure) and troughs (low pressure formed.\u00a0 Think of ridges as regions of stable weather (i.e., dry, cold or hot) and troughs as regions of active weather (i.e., wet and stormy).\u00a0 The shades of yellow to dark reds indicate ridging while shades of blue indicate troughs. These maps really show the lack of winter weather across the US.\u00a0 Now as we transition into spring we still see the general pattern.\u00a0\u00a0
\n– 500mb Upper Air Height Anomaly Map (Thu,\u00a0Mar 1 – Fri,\u00a0Mar 16)<\/a>
\n– 500mb Upper Air Height Anomaly Map (Wed,\u00a0Feb\u00a01 – Wed,\u00a0Feb 29)<\/a>
\n– 500mb Upper Air Height Anomaly Map (Tue, Dec 20 – Thu,\u00a0Mar 16)<\/a>
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\nSurface, Upper Air, and Storm Report Trends
\nCheck out these images below.\u00a0 Note the coorelation on what we saw with the upper maps and now the surface maps.\u00a0 For the Storm Prediction Center maps, I sketch in the jet stream.\u00a0 Notice how busy its been for severe weather.\u00a0 One of the key players has been the effect on La Nina.\u00a0
\n– Sea Level Pressure Anomaly Map (Wed,\u00a0Feb 1 – Wed,\u00a0Feb 29)<\/a>
\n– SPC Storm Report with Jet Stream Overlay (Wed,\u00a0Feb 1 – Wed,\u00a0Feb 29)<\/a>
\n– Sea Level Pressure Anomaly Map (Thu, Mar\u00a01 – Fri,\u00a0Mar 16)
\n<\/a>– SPC Storm Report with Jet Stream Overlay (Thu,\u00a0Mar 1 – Fri,\u00a0Mar 16)<\/a>
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\nTemperatures Trends
\nThe anlyses below are anomaly maps.\u00a0 I really like to use these analyses to show me a signal or trend over the past several weeks and months.\u00a0 What you will see from the maps I put together was how above average its been for the past couple months. This year’s winter season has been a mild one.\u00a0\u00a0Just looking at these maps, there’s not doubt its been impressive mild. Just check out how warm last week was. Over a 1000 record high temperatures were recorded last week..
\n– Record Warmth (Mon,\u00a0Mar\u00a012 – Mon, Mar 20)
\n<\/a>– Record Cold (Mon,\u00a0Mar\u00a012 – Mon, Mar 20)
\n<\/a>– 30 Day Mean Anomalies (Thu,\u00a0Feb 16, 2011 – Sat,\u00a0Mar 17, 2012)
\n<\/a>– 90 Day Mean Anomalies (Sun,\u00a0Dec 18 – Sat,\u00a0Mar 17)<\/a><\/p>\n
\nFinally, the last batch of images will show you precipitation trends.\u00a0 Notice here and the prior sections, I like to work from the past week to several months back.\u00a0You’ll notice I like to look over the River and Lake Flood stages. If the models are forecasting more rain for these areas, the high the risk for flooding.\u00a0 Just one of\u00a0the many analyses you can take a look at….
\n– Record Rainfall and Snowfall Reports (Mon,\u00a0Mar\u00a012 – Mon, Mar 20)
\n<\/a>– River and Lake Flood Stages (Sun, Mar 19)<\/a>
\n– 30 Day Mean Total Anomalies (Sat,\u00a0Feb 18 – Sun, Feb 18)
\n<\/a>– 90 Day Mean Total Anomalies (Tue,\u00a0Dec\u00a020 – Sun,\u00a0Mar 18)
\n<\/a>– Year Mean Total Anomalies (Sat, Jan 1 –\u00a0Sun, Dec 25, 2011)
\n<\/a>– Precip Need to End Drought (Week Ending March 10)<\/a><\/p>\n