cheeky_monkey

Interesting Chinook yesterday that never quite got across the whole of Calgary..as i left work the temp where i was was hovering around 0c..i drove east along Stoney Trail (Calgary ring road) as i hit the north east loop the temp suddenly dropped to -18c within a space of about 1 mile... as i swung back west again it rose back to 0c again within the space of 1 mile..as i reached home it was -1c that was at 6pm..when i put the bins out at 7pm (in my tshirt) it was brutally cold..checked the temp and it was -19c at my house..so looked on the computer at the temp profile across Southern Alberta and there was a distinct line that cut the city in two between much warmer temperatures to the west and much colder air to the east..quite something to witness.

Only got down to -23c here and that was about 10pm last night had risen to -15c by the time i went to work at 5.30 am..now its a balmy -1c.

Does it..it distinctly looks above average across North America

I find it more than comical that every year people compare previous years..and say its is like 1962 or 1978 and nowadays its just like 2009 or 2010..if nothing transpires in December be prepared for the its very similar to Jan 1947 quotes come mid Jan..or dont forget how cold March 2013 was as February draws to a close. No 2 years are ever remotely the same whether it be cold or mild..in fact i have never seen anyone chirp on about this month is very similar to Nov 1988 or 1974?

looks very accurate as to how things panned out in N.America at least

We only got a dusting yesterday.

Blizzard condition here and -18c right now..hopefully +11c and sunshine by Sunday....maybe be a taste of how winter will pan out here...cold one week warm the next?

was a tad fresh over the weekend....very snowy with almost white out conditions Saturday morning as the temp fell from -2c to -11c in the space of less than an hour..Sunday however was very sunny...but cold -13c touched briefly after lunch...and quickly dipped below -20c after sundown.

another very snowy saturday in Calgary that 4 weekends in a row now

no i live in Canada and get Russian like winters most years...not much fun TBH

where does 17 years come from?..i hope you are not hanging your hat on 97-98 which was a very strong El nino year thus was a very high baseline to other years around it.

Nice little flip flop in temps here...gone from high of -12c on Sunday to a high of +12c today..then looks like back to highs of -12c at the weekend.

Things should be looked at globally rather than cherry picking hot or cold spells in particular locations at particular times...how many record warm years globally have there been in the last 10 years for example and how many reocrd cold years have there been in the same time frame?..personally i dont know the answer but they may give you an idea of the state of the climate surely?

Not so Dec 2010 was a classic example as was Feb 47 where a Greenland high will bring very mild south easterly Atlantic winds across eastern Canada..both months were extremely cold across western Europe and extremely mild across eastern Canada..also those charts would if the High pressure is where you show it produce extremely cold conditions across Europe Scandinavia and Russia but they show no such anomaly..so to me its shows a continental high across central Europe forcing warm winds over the top of Scandinavia into northern Russia and the arctic..hence the dark oranges and reds in those areas.

Blocked where exactly?..cant be over Greenland as it is colder then normal over the eastern flank of Canada which would mean low pressure over Greenland pulling North to North west winds across eastern Canada... looks like blocking over Germany pushing warm winds up the north west flank of Norway into the arctic north of Scandinavia?

plus the fact it gives a nice balance to all the cold solutions that are endlessly rolled out

They probably just mean the weather is much more chaotic during the winter months...can cause lots of accidents..there are increased incidents of illness during the winter months..doesn't necessarily have anything to do with prolonged cold or snow

they are the right way up when i post them not sure why the end up being upside down?

powder snow today lol

antoher snowy weekend here in Calgary

hardly a fair battle as the clinate for both places is virtually the same nothing to separate them...i wouldnt like to live in either place

http://weather.gc.ca/saisons/image_e.html?img=s234pfe1t_cal Environment Canada monthly update is out today...looking like a colder and drier scenario for my neck of the woods Dec 13 - Feb 14...Greenland isnt shown but the oranges are heading up there so could be high pressure in that region..well above norm temps at least

Warnings have already been issued here upwards of 20cm of snow forecast sat and sunday

First big winter storm is forecast for the weekend and could dump between 20-25cm of snow by Sunday night...here Autumn is now over..i suspect the snow that falls will now be on the ground until April.

i spent a glorious 2 weeks in Cyprus in the summer 2009...BBQs a plenty for me