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Posted
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada

Rich, I agree with your forecast suggestions there, the front coming in Friday night will be quite intense and temperatures will drop very fast in most regions, then a strong low develops to the south of us both and in your own region 10-15 cms of snow could develop in an upslope situation with blizzard conditions especially out of the mountains around Calgary and southern Alberta, winds will be NE 30-50 mph and temps -20 at first dropping to -30 C so wind chills -40 to -50 C possible, as for Canmore itself, a little more protected but still quite cold, -24 C would be my guess and feeling like -35 to -40 C. This intense cold is going to last several days and perhaps reload from a very strong high forming over Alaska while the Alberta high fades a little by midweek. Some lows of -45 C can be expected out on the prairies by Monday and Tuesday.

I should emphasize that Saturday could be quite dangerous for travel outside of local areas in southern Alberta, highways are likely to be closed north, south and east of Calgary, not so sure about Calgary to Canmore but I could imagine that being closed in places as well.

Meanwhile with the low to the south intensifying and dropping a little south then circling back around to the west, a snowstorm appears likely for the Portland and Seattle regions, Vancouver is likely to get some snow from the frontal passage then more through the weekend from the fringes of that storm but it will be worse on the east side of Vancouver Island and down to the south of us, I think. Amounts around here could be 5 cms or possibly more, but 20-40 cms could fall further south and on the Island. I think we will get down to -7 C at some point which is close to record cold for mid-December here.

Debs, you can expect a heavy fall of wet snow, cold rain, sleet, ice pellets, a real mess as this east coast storm goes by on Friday. I think it will be a slushy event for you, further inland in NB there could be 10-20 cms of snow. NYC and Boston could see 2-3 inches of rain from this storm while a heavy freezing rain event takes place just inland and then snow on the higher slopes of the Appalachians. The low is in Alabama right now heading for around Washington DC tomorrow morning and near Boston by tomorrow evening. This is the same low that the GFS was showing a few days ago racing across the ocean and clobbering Scotland on Sunday, but that timing was too fast and the storm will arrive in that region in subdued form on Monday now.

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Posted
  • Location: Caterham-on-the-hill, Surrey, 190m asl (home), Heathrow (work)
  • Location: Caterham-on-the-hill, Surrey, 190m asl (home), Heathrow (work)

Quite stunning seeing the snowy scenes in Louisiana, with snow falling on Bourbon Street:

http://www.easternuswx.com/bb/index.php?sh...2024&st=160 (think you need to be member to see the images)

Obviously the locals aren't accustomed to snowy conditions ... as there was a fatal accident caused by th slippery conditions.

Even Houston saw some snow out of this system too, created by a 500mb cold pool spreading deep to the south over the mid-west towards the Gulf.

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Posted
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft

Many warnings issued for BC and Alberta

BC - snowfall warnings in place anywhere from 5 cm's to 15/20cm's

Alberta (including my region) - Winter storm warning , possibly upto 20cm's snow here in the foothills with wind making wind chill values minus 35 to minus 40oC

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Posted
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada

Looks quite nasty for all western regions, it is already trying to snow here although it is not accumulating yet, but heavy wet snow flakes falling ... the worst of it will come around 03-09z as the arctic front moves south.

Debs, it would appear that you will get a few hours of very windy and mild weather as the low is tracking well to your north, could hit 14 C with winds from the SSW at 40-60 mph.

On the Bay of Fundy, high tides will be running about 2-3 feet above normal with this wind and as these were going to be unusually high tides with the lunar perigee, it could come up quite a ways, looks from photos I have seen that there is lots of room to accommodate a higher tide, but some spots could see coastal flooding.

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Posted
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft

I have decided to give a 24 hour feed intot he storm that is about to hit here, I have a feeling it is gonna be nasty. Hopefully I will be able to get out and take some pics

Storm Report #1

12pm (7pm GMT) - Friday - Temps at minus 5oC, low level cloud coming in but fairly still in the air. Not a bad day. Approx 10cm on ground from Sunday snowstorm

Feels Like: -10

Wind: SW 11km/h

Relative Humidity: 93%

Pressure: 100.52 kPa

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Posted
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada

Good idea, I will add any relevant details from the storm centre. Looks to be about 995 mbs, dropping quickly, just off the west coast of WA state.

This satellite image should provide an animation link.

http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/satellite/a...ges=1&clf=1

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Posted
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft

Storm report #2

3pm (10pm GMT) - Friday - Temps at minus 6oC, light/moderate snow started at about 1:30pm. maybe 1-2 cm's so far. Wind changed to the East but not yet picking up. Doesnt feel too cold yet

Feels Like: -9

Wind: E 6km/h

Relative Humidity: 100%

Pressure: 100.10 kPa decreasing

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Posted
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada

Main low has deepened to 980 mbs and moved across n.w. WA state to a position just north of Seattle. Winds there have picked up to SW 30-50 mph, it would be stronger but the Olympic Mountains force the air around and partly block out the strongest gusts, the west coast of WA state had gusts to 80 mph and some localized damage earlier.

Here the wind has backed from E to NNW and with slightly milder air mixing in the earlier snow changed to rain about 22z and it continues to rain for the time being. Looking at BC and Alberta obs I can see the main arctic front is now about 3-4 hours away from Canmore, and about 5-6 hours from me, about in an east-west line at 52 N. Rich is closer to 50 N and I am closer to 49 N here.

Pressures continue to rise in the core of the arctic high, which is now showing an even 1050 mbs near the Alaska-Yukon border. The coldest temperatures are about -38 C but as this swells up overnight and contacts a zone of lower thicknesses waiting ahead, I expect some really frigid core temps to develop.

More later ...

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Posted
  • Location: Seattle, WA
  • Location: Seattle, WA

Just had about five minutes of snow that's left everything very icy. Slightly unexpected as the temperature was 44F just before, but fell down to 37 in about 2 minutes as the wind moved round to the north http://www-k12.atmos.washington.edu/k12/gr...nw_weather.html (click for a lot on the ATG roof).

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Posted
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft

Storm report #3

8 p.m. (3am GMT) - Friday - Temps at minus 8oC, light/moderate snow started at about 1:30pm..turned lighter but still going. maybe 6-7 cm's so far. Wind changed to the North East but not that bad. Still doesnt feel too cold yet so guess the cold front is not that close. Dont think its gonna be as bad as they thought but we still got another 12 hours to go

Feels Like: -13

Wind: NE 15km/h

Relative Humidity: 79%

Pressure: 100.32 kPa increasing

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Posted
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft

Storm report #4

11 a.m. (6 p.m. GMT) - Saturday - Temps at minus 22oC, light/moderate snow started at about 1:30pm..turned lighter but still went through the night. maybe 10-15cms but its tough to tell as all snow has drifted. Wind changed to the North East and was fairly bad around 3am this morning as the front moved through and dropped the temps considerably. Wind Chill is cold but sunny and quite a nice winters day

Feels Like(wind chill): -32

Wind: NE 17km/h

Relative Humidity: 70%

Pressure: 102.04 kPa increasing

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Posted
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks

if we got those temps mate the whole country would lock up solid!!

you can keep it thank you

if we got those temps mate the whole country would lock up solid!!

you can keep it thank you

but keep the reports coming its fascinating reading your and Rogers reports

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Posted
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada

So far it has not snowed here on the coast, the arctic air has arrived and it is currently -1 C with a strong NE breeze that becomes a 30-50 mph wind out to the east of here where the Fraser valley opens out from the Cascades. That wind heads down towards Bellingham WA and fans out over Puget Sound. Another strong outflow comes down the Howe Sound which is northwest of here, and that one hits the east coast of Vancouver Island. We tend to be in a bit of a windshadow relatively speaking so the wind here is about 15-20 mph. Looks like some light snow may develop because the somewhat milder air is still trapped just south of Seattle and low pressure is forming again on the coast.

The main blizzard has raced east across southern Alberta, northern Montana into southern SK province and most of North Dakota. The conditions are worst on the U.S. side of the border now but it's still pretty nasty in the far southwest corner of Alberta, well to the south of where Rich is located.

The 12z models were showing a high of 1064 mbs building up over the Yukon and the pattern seems to be locking in as expected with cold highs trapped in the inter-mountain valleys of B.C., once they get in there, it is no easy matter to get them out again, if the flow changes sometimes they stay in place for a while modifying very slowly and filling up with freezing fog and other wintry delights.

The blizzard will actually worsen tonight and Sunday over the Dakotas so I will report on some of the worst conditions on Sunday. It will be truly life-threatening, cattle left out in these blizzards can easily freeze to death but there was probably enough warning that most ranchers will have them inside by now. I've been in one North Dakota blizzard back in January, 1982, you would be taking your life in your hands to venture outside of the relative shelter of a town with the buildings and trees at least making for a bit of visibility, out on the plains it is like a trackless waste in one of these blizzards, you could quite easily drive off the roads because you just have no visual clues at all in many places.

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Posted
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft

Just popped outside and I believe the true meteorological term is its bloody freezing. Air temps down to -28oC with wind chill making it -39oC/-40oC.

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Posted
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada

It has been snowing here for three hours now and the temperature dropped to -5 C with the winds NE 20-40 mph.

Not much accumulation, the main roads are very icy.

Some ridiculous weather obs in South Dakota now where the blizzard is at its worst, Rapid City -18 C and heavy snow, winds N 40 mph gusting to 60 mph. Most other places in the Dakotas are colder but not quite that windy. Near the border with Canada it is about -30 C with light snow then you find temperatures close to -40 C in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

There is a pocket of milder air between there and the developing 1060 mb high centre, some long-abandoned warm sector from the Bering Sea, I suppose, and -20 C before you get back into the -40s in the northern Yukon.

We may be into that once in a generation cold winter here, to give some idea how cold it can get, in January 1950 temps were 15 to 20 C deg below normal in a large part of BC and Alberta. Red Deer, not too far from where Rich is, had a monthly average of -34 C and an extreme low of -45 C. Prince George in central BC had an extreme low of -50 C (on Jan. 2nd, 1950). Even out to the coast, it stayed below freezing most of the time from December 15th to February 4th, January's average high was -4 C compared to a normal of +4 C, with tons of snow following on from some snow cover established late in December (about 50 cms). Then it started to rain and stayed above freezing for the rest of February. That warming showed up in modified form inland too.

So this winter it seems to be turning extremely cold at almost the same time, and with these massive highs on the forecast maps, I could imagine it digging in and lasting six to eight weeks as it did then. The winter of 1968-69 was also very cold here. That gives you some idea of how rare these winters are.

The cold over the prairies can lock in for weeks on end, but you do find a few days a little milder as the arctic highs reload, like -5 to -10 C to at least give some relief between the -30 C days.

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Posted
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada

No, that's a different storm, the ice happened Friday morning, from the low that is emerging from eastern Canada into the Atlantic at present. The ice storm damage was inland from Boston and New York City. Closer to the coast, it was 10-15 C and they had up to 125 mms of rain.

The western storms (there are now two) are currently (.a.) the blizzard now centered in northeast Nebraska heading for Lake Superior, and (.b.) the second weaker low is forming up near Seattle WA on the Pacific coast at about 47 N. That one looks like it will drift around this area for a couple of days interacting with this flood of cold air that has already encircled it. Some of the outflow winds up the coast here are astounding, there is one report (well to the north of here) of winds of 60 mph gusting to 90 mph at Cathedral Point. Closer to here, another report of 55 mph gusting to 70 on Howe Sound which is not that far from Vancouver. But here in the city we only have 10-20 mph winds because of the mountain barrier to our north.

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Posted
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft

It been bloody cold here. At 4:30pm the temp had risen to minus -33oC. Low's close to minus -40oC

post-4391-1229308348_thumb.jpg

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Posted
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft
  • Location: Canmore, AB 4296ft|North Kent 350ft|Killearn 330ft

Current obs at 8am...

Temps - minus -42oC

Wind - 0km/h

Humidity - 60%

Pressure - 104.2

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