North American Weather (U.S.A & Canada)

[BARRY]

down town Anchorage today

[WhiteFox]

down town Anchorage today

Shouldn't be much of a surprise up there! We had some snow here in Boise, ID this morning. I had no snowbrush, so had to make do with using the windscreen wipers and hoping the snow would fly off as I drove along...

[Roger J Smith]

Just a heads up for Rich (C coops) and Kippure if they happen to see this, a very warm wedge of subtropical air is settling in over Alberta for Sunday and part of Monday, expect much warmer temps up to perhaps 22-25 C in the south and 12-15 C in the far north. A sharp cold front will develop Monday and push through during the mid-day period, bringing a fast end to the warm spell. This is moving east into the plains states and prairies for Monday-Tuesday. We had it here today, it was quite nice with sunshine and 22 C. About time we had a warm day, I think this is the first one really all year here.

[debs]

Hi all,

Its looking to be very nice here for a while. Temps are definately rising. No more snow here at all and grass is turning green. The snowdrops and daffs are growing nicely. The long range forecast is for 14 days of sunshine, heres hoping it comes off. Temps are set to rise into the mid 20s by end of week into next week. A little way off yet, but better start preparing the BBQ just in case

TTFN

Debs

[Coast]

An unexpected snowstorm snarled traffic in Calgary and cancelled flights at the airport on Thursday. Heavy snow in the morning broke an 88-year-old record for the day, piling up to 23 centimetres.

There were hundreds of crashes on city streets amid poor driving conditions, and for many commuters, morning drives became hours-long crawls along the snowy roadways. Despite the mess, Calgary employers mostly reported it was business as usual

Source: www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news

[Roger J Smith]

Yep, the weather is a real roller-coaster ride in western Canada at present, Calgary had that freak snowfall (from a trough that upsloped, nothing much on the weather maps), then on the weekend and Monday-Tuesday it was into the mid-20s (28 C at Regina, SK), now it is cooling down rapidly again and snow is predicted for this Saturday across parts of BC and Alberta. Rather typical April weather, Alberta gets more snow in April than any other month of the year. But it tends to come and go over 3-day cycles.

Look at this recent map, it shows the contrast between the warm air which has now reached the central parts of N America and the Great Lakes region, and much colder air flowing into SK, MB and ND-SD. These comments only apply if you're reading this on April 16-17, after that the map will show the current conditions as you read the thread.

http://www.wximages.org/data/imag21.html

Edited April 16, 2008 by Roger J Smith

[Roger J Smith]

Still Friday evening here of course, 0445z, 9:45 pm local, and since 6:00 pm it has turned progressively colder with a strong northeast wind, thunder-snow, hail, and now settling large snowflakes. Most unusual for this location in mid-April.

Temperature is about 1 C.

Forecast for weekend, more of the same, any breaks in the overcast will just allow more thunder-snow showers to develop quickly. This is heading quickly towards Alberta too, if it seemed a bit cool on Friday, just watch out tomorrow it will be wintry for several days now.

[Roger J Smith]

Major weather records have been set in British Columbia and Alberta by cold and snow.

For example, YVR which is near sea level has had its latest ever measurable snowfall, 3 cms. The previous latest seasonal snow was on April 14, 1955. Over in Nanaimo on eastern Vancouver Island, they had 24 cms, easily a daily record because it had never snowed there (in many years of records) before on April 18th or 19th. In fact, the old monthly record was 5 cms.

Snow has fallen through the fruit-growing Okanagan valley and is worrying local growers although at least the snow will help insulate buds from a sharp frost expected in coming days. And Alberta is even colder, with 20-25 cms of snow in some parts of the Calgary region, strong northerly winds and temperatures holding steady near -12 C.

This is all of course about 15-20 C degrees below normal in many areas. Here, the 4 cms of snow that fell last night slowly melted away today under occasional sunny breaks, but there are still some snow showers to the south and it has hardly warmed up from morning readings near freezing, to about 6 C.

Meanwhile, anywhere east of central SK to eastern MT is above normal with temps 22-26 C near the Canadian-US border and 25-30 C in parts of the midwest and lower Great Lakes. Strong lake breezes are making for some much cooler readings around parts of Toronto and Hamilton, ON ... it is as cold as 7 C near the shorelines of Lake Ontario, almost 20 degrees lower than a few miles inland.

Quite remarkable especially the cold and snow in the west, the eastern warmth is not that atypical of what April often brings from time to time.

[Coopsy]

I am in the UK at the moment so have missed all the crazy weather back home, but friends tell me its was so warm last weekend and now they are in nearly a foot of snow in Canmore, west of Calgary. Its April and to be expected in these parts, the snowfall that is, but definately not the cold, that is a suprise

[Roger J Smith]

Alberta and Saskatchewan remain locked in the grip of late wintry weather with more snow in the south, and Manitoba has recently been added to the list as the frontal zone has now reached far northwestern Ontario. Max temps are widely in the range of -3 to -7 C. Here in B.C. we have seen a moderating trend although it remains rather cool for this time of year, 8-12 C being the range here. Ontario and the northeast US are enjoying sunny, warm weather, slightly cooler today after a weak cold front yesterday, but still above normal values.

The plains states can expect another round of severe weather tonight and Friday, this moving towards Ontario on Saturday. It looks like the pattern will buckle over the weekend and put the trough further east, essentially retrograding the heat over Texas to the desert southwest from where it can reload early next week. This will set off some heavy storms in Texas on Sunday but those will move rapidly east as the Net-weather storm chasers arrive, I think. They will be looking west at a hot, dry pattern that awaits a strong shot of energy from the Pacific around Wednesday into Thursday for the first really strong action of the week. That should move into Colorado and set off a strong front and dry line set-up later in the week.

Looks like some tropical activity in the Gulf next week too, whether anything reaches TD status or not remains to be seen.

[debs]

Hi all.

Weather here pretty much the same as last time. Its still quite cold at night but not below freezing again thankfully. Daytime temps are good. The heatwave we had last week has gone and been replaced with normal temps. Even so sun is strong and I already have a coloring. Quite a dull day today, which makes a nice change. Bay of Fundy looks quite rough so I guess its pretty windy as well as dull (not yet been outside to confirm). I've actually had to turn the heating up for the first time in a couple of weeks today, so its probably nippy outside too.

Saw the snow in Alberta...WOW. Has it gone yet?

Catch you all later

TTFN

debs

[Coopsy]

Hi Debs

All the snow has gone now here in Alberta, temps have been above 16oC for the past 4 days, enjoying so very nice spring weather, however it looks like we might get a few inches of snow in the next few days, such a tease

[Roger J Smith]

All eyes on the storm chase threads now, but in the larger picture with the developing low over Nebraska, some heavy rains can be expected from southern SK and MB into the Dakotas and Minnesota, severe storms for the next couple of days through the central plains states and upper Midwest, and hot/dry in most of Texas as much colder air spills out of the Rockies into Colorado. Some places where it was near 32 C (90 F) Wednesday in eastern Colorado will have 5-7 C and snow mixing with rain tomorrow with 50 mph northerly winds.

Hang in there Kippure, you seem to have wandered into some nightmare LIA scenario up there. (and they say the Alberta Tar Sands are a big cause of global warming, yeah right).

[WhiteFox]

Been busy for a while, but a couple of records missing on this thread!

I'm currently in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St Paul for those who don't know) in Minnesota. A pleasant 16oC today, but last week was a different matter. Snow fell here on Friday; not unusual at all for these parts - snow is quite possible pretty much from early October to late May, but further north in Minnesota towards the border with North Dakota near Fargo they had 18 inches of snow in one day. This beat the previous daily record of 14 inches. This area does not receive the extreme snow totals which you would see further East; there is not enough moisture. The heaviest snowfalls usually occurs in March when systems are able to tap the moisture from the Gulf. The fact that this storm occurred on April 26th to 27th reinforces the fact that winters in the Upper Midwest and high Plains can be very, very long! I don't have the data, but if Kold Weather reads this, I'm pretty sure that Winnipeg recorded a couple of ice days last week.

Incidentally, Yellowstone remains in the grip of winter. It is estimated that up to half of the bison herd has died over the season due to the extended cold conditions. Daytime highs remain below freezing, but a let up is in sight; temperatures are forecast to rise to the dizzy heights of 8oC by Monday!

[WhiteFox]

I'm sat in my hotel room in Minneapolis at 1am watching a thunderstorm moving in from the south. Looks like the worst of it will miss us to the West, but there is constant lightning at the moment and a spectacular show going on. Anyone who has seen a Midwest thunderstorm knows what I'm talking about. Anyone who hasn't....then I recommend doing a couple of weeks of storm-chasing one spring. Your respect for nature will know no bounds once you've done it!

[Hodgheg]

Ive been following the weather in america accross oklahoma especially. Oklahoma city's tv station has good coverage on storms. Check news9.com

They have some pretty intersesting stuff on there about radar images and tornado safety.

Edited May 7, 2008 by john2006

[Coopsy]

Big spring storm in effect here in Southern ALberta in the foothills of the Rockies, biggest flakes of the year so far. Due to go on another 16 hours with possibly a foot (30cm's) of snow by the end

At the moment we have about 8 cm's of snow on grass but nothing on the pavement or road as its too warm, but that is due to change this afternoon as colder air digs in from the north

EDIT: TIME 6:40pm MST - total now 22cm on grass and other sufaces....less on pavements but still going

[Coopsy]

Last Friday we finally ended up with 67 cm's of snow downtown in 24 hours, but 85 cm's in higher communities. Truly amazing for such a short time

Here are a few pics

However, its all change as is oftne the case in May as temps are due to be upto 25oC by the weekend, possibly 30oC

[Roger J Smith]

Yes, sunny and very warm across BC and Alberta today, looking for some isolated thunderstorms with a weak cold front on Sunday, and a more general steady rain Monday into Tuesday. The Monday is a holiday here in Canada (Victoria Day) so a little sunshine and warmth is much appreciated.

Eastern Canada into a cool, wet pattern and most of the USA dominated by sprawling high pressure, hot out west, rather cool everywhere else.

[south_holland_uk]

you lucky lucky people,

what i would give to be living where you are http://nwstatic.co.uk/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif .Us in the uk can only dream of anywhere near 67cms.I know it will be long since melted now but you are lucky none the less!

[Callie]

A few storms here today in Orlando which is hopefully bringing relief due to the fires nearby

Got turfed out of the pool here at Animal kingdom Villas but great to see a storm here, for the first time in a few years, although the animals have also taken shelter!!

Callie

Edited May 23, 2008 by Callie

[Hodgheg]

Some interesting video here of the storms across oklahoma yesterday. http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=M9JYgDLG-Qk

[debs]

Hi all,

Wow some fantastic footage of the storms. I've not been on here for a while as the weather here has not been that dramatic, just days of sunshine followed by a day of rain. Not that I am complaining. Its nice to see rain after so much sun, plus you get that really lovely smell when the rain hits the hot concrete......anyone no what I mean.???

Weather for the weekend not looking to promising however, but according to local weather station, this summer is set to be above normal......not sure how they predict that but certainly going to enjoy it.

TTFN

Debs

[Coopsy]

Cold miserable start to Spring/Summer here in Alberta. Possible 5-10cm's of snow possible overnight into tomorrow. Ah well, its only June 6th. We had some wet snow last night very briefly.

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/CAAB0053

[BARRY]

June snow at yellowstone park