The last day of January proved to be a very stormy day here in Connecticut!  Around 2AM, the winds really picked up and a weather station just a mile from me registered a 54 mph wind gust.  My station is blocked by a lot of trees so my peak wind gust along Spring Road was only 31 mph.  Personally, I had never felt wind so strong in my life.  I wasn’t in town when Hurricane Irene came through but I was here during Sandy.  The winds in North Haven were on par with what we received during Sandy.  

Around 3AM I heard a loud noise which turned out being a tree that had broke in half and fell mere feet from my deck!  I went outside to assess the damage and on my way inside my gas grill was completely blown over by the wind. 

North Haven received about a half an inch of rain from this storm.  We close out January with 1.68” of liquid precipitation.  I’m still in the process of analyzing the January weather data from my weather station but I can tell you with strong confidence that January of 2013 was above average in temperatures.  Even with that frigid cold snap that we had earlier in the month, the average high and low temps appear to be at least 4 degrees above normal. 

It’s really amazing how the temperatures can fluctuate on different sides of a front.  Many in the Midwest saw very mild temps one day and then frigid temps the next!  Connecticut experienced the mild temperatures last night as some towns rose into the 60’s!  In the Montowese section of North Haven, I reached a high temperature of 59.5 at 3:30 AM.  Just 12 hours later the temp had fallen to 44 degrees.  Thursday night lows are expected to be in the mid 20’s.

There will be a chance for some flurries on Friday and then a chance for some light snow on Sunday.  

A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued for New Haven County from 1 PM Monday until 6 AM Tuesday. 

Precipitation is expected to start as snow, then change to sleet, before finally changing over to rain.  It remains unclear how quick the changeover will take but always be ready for the worst.  A prolonged period of sleet or freezing rain would make the roads extremely dangerous!  

Tonight:  Mostly Clear with a low of 18 degrees. 
 
Monday:  Snow starting around 1pm.  Changing to sleet around 3 pm and then rain by 6 pm.  Rain will taper off to light showers and then drizzle overnight.

Mid 50s by Wednesday but then right back down to low 30s by next weekend.  But this is January in New England and we all know this is normal.  

2012 was my 7th year blogging and first year doing solely weather blogging.  Overall it was a great year!  The year started off with incredibly warm temperatures.  Then I got to experience pea size hail and was able to get it on video.  WTNH aired the hail video on the nightly news.  Summer offered several opportunities to chase storms.  I purchased a waterproof video camera that I use in all weather conditions.  It was a great investment and I've taken video underwater, during thunderstorms, and during blizzards.  Then of course we had Hurricane Sandy.  This is why weather is so amazing!  After 2011, I wasn't sure I'd get a chance to experience an active year like last year was.  But 2012 gave us a lot of great diversity as well!  Drought, record setting warmth, historic super storms, and flooding that hasn't been seen in almost a century!

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the blog and one of things I'd like to do in 2013 is take more video.  I have webcams, cell cams, and portable video cams already but the addition of a dash cam in my car could allow me to deliver stunning videos while being able to concentrate on driving.  

So far in 2013, I have published several videos to my YouTube page.  If you like some of the videos then feel free to subscribe to my videos.  My latest video is shown below.  I took a drive in North Haven Connecticut in the snow.  I think this is from the late December storm.  

This rap is even worse than the last one!  It was a lot of fun to do it though.  

Today is the one year anniversary of when we lost a Connecticut weather legend.  Dr. Mel Goldstein was born in nearby Massachusetts and worked as an on air Meteorologist for WTNH (in New Haven,CT) from 1986 – 2011.  In 1996, after being diagnosed with multiple Myeloma, he was given only a few years to live.  He received treatments at Yale New Haven Hospital and lived well beyond his prognosis.  He never gave up and never lost his passion for the weather and the people of Connecticut. 

He authored a book titled “The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Weather” and while teaching at Western Connecticut State University, he created the only bachelors degree program in Meteorology that Connecticut has to offer.  He also wrote “ Dr. Mels Connecticut Climate Book” which is a great resource for studying the history of Connecticut’s climate.

Dr. Mel is missed by many in Connecticut and especially by those who had the privilege to work with him.  "He had a smile every day, no matter what kind of pain he was in," said WTNH anchor Keith Kountz, who worked with Goldstein at the station for more than 20 years. "That was the kind of guy he was. Always in the happy place. He didn't let the cancer stop him." 

In August of 2011 when he retired he said “I mainly want to be remembered as I am — honest, helpful to others, always around when needed. I can't think of a better tribute than that, and it is something for which I will always be grateful. I have worked hard in an area that I truly love, and I will likely continue in some weather venue until I no longer have the energy to do so.''

He would be very happy to know that this is exactly how he is being remembered. I miss him just as much as I did a year ago and I can only imagine the excellent coverage he would have given us during Hurricane Sandy.  God Bless and RIP my friend.  

At my home in North Haven, I picked up 3.75” of snow before the precipitation changed over to sleet. As of 12:30 PM, light rain was falling and the temperature was just above freezing at 33 degrees. Some towns are still below freezing and roads are very icy. Please drive carefully today.

This morning I took a ride and took some pictures as well as a short video. Start the slide show to check them out.

Here's a video I recorded while driving around town this morning.  Snow drives are a lot of fun when the roads aren't that slippery.

What is it?

Thundersnow is an extremely rare kind of thunderstorm with snow falling as the primary precipitation instead of rain.  They typically occur in regions of strong upward motion in the cold sector of an extratropical cyclone or over Jim Cantore’s head. <--- more on that later.

How dangerous is it?

All the same dangers are present in thunder snow with regards to the lightning.  Instead of heavy rain you’ll have very heavy snow.  Snowfall rates of 2-4”/hr are common and make driving treacherous. 

Meteorologist Jim Cantore has experienced this rare weather event four times in his life already!  When weather geeks and meteorologists get to experience such rare instances of weather, it’s very exciting and we know we may never see that again in our lifetime.   

Jim has never been shy behind the camera and is one of the most animated and excitable guys on the planet.  Check him out in this video reacting to thunder snow happening live during his live segment.  This video is in my top 5 All-Time favorite videos to watch.  

After a pretty uneventful and mostly dry first 2 weeks of 2013, Connecticut will see some more snow on Wednesday.  Showers tonight will change to snow overnight across the state.  In North Haven, you can expect 1-2 inches of slushy accumulation from this system.  Most of the state should receive 2-4 inches of snow.  The locales closer to the shore will see a longer duration of rain and therefore will receive less.

Streets will be slick for the morning commute tomorrow and I wouldn't be surprised if there were some delays and possible cancellations of school tomorrow.  

I don't expect the snow to start much before midnight so if you have anything you need to do tonight, I wouldn't cancel those plans!

As a weather geek, I am someone who is constantly checking the weather.  Because of this, I often see weather terms being overused and sometimes misused.  It can get annoying but I also understand why some of this happens.  Maybe a TV station is looking for ratings so they’ll use the word “Blizzard” when really it’s just a snow storm.  Or maybe on Twitter someone will use the word “Derecho” at the first sign of a bow echo on the radar.  I asked for some help naming a few while on twitter this afternoon and here are some of the responses I received: 

Mike Haggett (@westernMEwx) writes “Blizzard” fries me.  When I was a kid, it was 18”+ in 24 hours.  Now it’s anything with white out conditions.

Mike continues and says “Graupel.  It’s just sleet”

Jared Kaufman (@RealJBlizzard) tackles a controversial subject.  “Climate Change, because climate has been changing since day one

Meteorologist Ryan Gallagher (@ryangallagher) writes about the cold snaps in New England.  “The term cold snap gets thrown around every time the temperature falls below freezing.  It dilutes the real cold we’ve seen”

Zach Jacomowitz (@Zak_NYCMetroWx) has an issue with the term “rain gear” that is often used in forecasts.  “Every time a little rain is expected we are always reminded to get out the “rain gear”.  I always picture rain gear as a set of fins, goggles, and wet suit that I change into if it’s going to rain.  I wish there were still telephone booths around.  Then  I could change in there like Superman and come out wearing a red cape.  

Last Adventurer (@last_adventurer) chimed in about the term “feels like” often used when talking about the heat index in the summer.  “feels like.  Talk about a descriptor that is unscientific and subjective.” 

Do you have any overused or misused weather terms that annoy you?  Let me know in the comments section!

In the years before radar, people had very little advanced warning of severe weather.  Because of this many died in floods, snowstorms, hurricanes, etc.  When Doppler radar came around it helped save millions of lives!  For many years scientists and inventors have upgraded the capabilities of radar and now we have a brand new one!  It’s called dual polarization radar and it’s being rolled out by the National Weather Service on all of their radars.  The process has already begun and will continue in 2013 and 2014.  I’m excited because this will help tremendously in forecasting and warning people of what to expect in a storm.

Conventional Radar tells us about the relative size of objects whereas dual polarization radar tells us about the size, shape, and variety of objects.  Here are a few things that the new radars will have:

Differential Reflectivity (ZDR) will help meteorologists locate hail cores in Thunderstorms.  Also, vertical columns of ZDR will also help in determining updraft location and strength.

Specific Differential Phase (KDP) is a great new feature.  If you have similar reflectivity values, this feature can let you know if the area is experiencing many small raindrops or fewer but larger raindrops.  It will give you better insight about how light or heavy the rain is falling in a particular area.

The Correlation Coefficient is a measure of strength or weakness between 2 (or more) variables.  A CC will have an absolute value between 0 and 1 where 0 would be a very weak relationship and +1 a very positive one.  CC is helpful in find the melting layer by comparing all the different shapes and sizes of the wet and frozen particles.  It’s also helpful in determining how wet or dry snow is falling.  There are many other applications of the CC but I won’t go into that here. 

If you are interested in learning more about dual polarization radars, the National Weather Service has provided a large set of Training  modules online to educate weather geeks and meteorologists alike.  I took an overview course in writing this article.  Lots of great information to look at! 

Source:  www.weather.gov