Snow And Ice In The Northern Hemisphere 2012/13

[gottolovethisweather]

But nice to see Iceland still whiter than last year.

And that being especially noteworthy in my opinion, because as Scandinavia cools down and other parts of Northern Europe do too, it can only assist our chances. If you were to add to that, an increasing amount of snowcover over those regions, the odds would surely swing towards a colder winter.

Like most on here, I'm slowly learning about all the other climatic complications upon which this thread is based, so as I said before, my comment is not a forecast. It has to be, best advice, to wait until at least Mid October and possibly much later in Autumn before making any firm judgement on the course that Winter 2012/13 takes.

Now back to lurking.

[LincolnSnowstorm]

The difference in Ice cover is still substantial. It doesn't look like much, but I'm pretty sure it is in terms of numbers. I'm sure BFTP could conjure up some data for comparison.

Snow cover is probably about even.

With the lack of snow locked in around near Northern Canada and Northern Russia in this month in recent years due to I believe the lack of ice , my hope is that the North East Siberian positive snow anomaly does not disappear in the next 3-5 days or we could be into our first big Negative snow amount on the N.H. map which would be a little disappointing.

Will have to keep an eye on the weather forecast in that area to see what is likely.

Edited September 21, 2012 by harshwintercoming

[cheeky_monkey]

With the lack of snow locked in around near Northern Canada and Northern Russia in this month in recent years due to I believe the lack of ice , my hope is that the North East Siberian positive snow anomaly does not disappear in the next 3-5 days or we could be into our first big Negative snow amount on the N.H. map which would be a little disappointing.

Will have to keep an eye on the weather forecast in that area to see what is likely.

Expect the negative snow amount across northern Canada and Alaska to continue as a large warm pool of air keeps pushing north out of BC and Alberta floods the arctic basin on the Canadian side

[Updraft]

Some signs of snow in Norway on the latest update!

[Turnedoutniceagain]

Some signs of snow in Norway on the latest update!

Not looked at this for a few days. Siberia's taken a dumping !!

[LincolnSnowstorm]

Some signs of snow in Norway on the latest update!

Norway and Iceland have positive amounts of snow, its getting interesting , Heading towards October will Norway keep that extra snow or add to it or it lose most of it because of the fact that its too early for it to stay? If Iceland and Norway add a good extra bit of snow soon how will that effect our exceptions of winter? Looking forward to finding out! Edited September 22, 2012 by harshwintercoming

[Gavin Hannah]

Looking very good for Scandi. And the Ice is definitely spreading............

FIRST DAY OF NORTHERN AUTUMN: The seasons are changing. Today, Sept. 22nd at 10:49 a.m. EDT, the sun crosses the celestial equator heading north. This marks the beginning of autumn in the northern hemisphere and spring in the southern hemisphere. At this time of year, day and night are of nearly equal length, hence the name "equinox" (equal night).

spaceweather.com

So, it's only going to get colder and darker up North.

Edited September 22, 2012 by IBringTheHammer

[TAFKAP]

Good covering of snow snow in the high Tatras (part of the Carpathians on the border of Poland and Slovakia). Pictured here is Kasprowy Wierch at just under 2000m asl.

[bobbydog]

spot the difference....

[Polar Maritime]

spot the difference....

Less ice and snow this year...?

[Eskimo]

Current ice cover as a percentage of previous years, based on NSIDC extent.

So a gradual upward trend? That's interesting!

[BornFromTheVoid]

So a gradual upward trend? That's interesting!

It's not really a good thing... perhaps I didn't make the graph quite clear enough!?

This graph shows the sea ice extent for September 19th from 1979-2012

The extent is on the y-axis, and is in millions of km2, while the years are on the x-axis.

[gottolovethisweather]

Good covering of snow snow in the high Tatras (part of the Carpathians on the border of Poland and Slovakia). Pictured here is Kasprowy Wierch at just under 2000m asl.

Welcome aboard jbuffett.

You will learn a lot from this and the many other threads within these forums. Keep your own input coming.

[LincolnSnowstorm]

Just trying to focus the mind on the positive!

[cyclonic happiness]

Is that a pixel in the middle of Romania I see?

There are alot of negative anomalies in Siberia and Northern Canada, but I feel if we can get above average snow cover for Scandinavia, we should get a decent shot at an earlier cold spell as 2010 was.

Here's an anom' image from early Nov' 2010 showing the negative anomaly to our east and the p[positive over Scandi'.

Edited September 23, 2012 by cyclonic happiness

[LincolnSnowstorm]

'cyclonic happiness'

Is that a pixel in the middle of Romania I see?

Romania got hit hard only 8 months ago its worth keeping on http://www.jurnalul....a-balea-55.html

....nearer home EGXU daily 1997 record broken by a third of an F http://weather.gladstonefamily.net/site/EGXU

Edited September 23, 2012 by harshwintercoming

[LincolnSnowstorm]

No new gains apart from a large gain in North West China.

Ice has grown again, and looking for some big snow increases when it gets close to North Russia.

A refill of snow for Iceland and Norway would keep the map interesting, Norway has go from positive to normal on snow amount. Iceland has lost some snow but is still has positive amounts.

[Nights King]

No new gains apart from a large gain in North West China.

Ice has grown again, and looking for some big snow increases when it gets close to North Russia.

A refill of snow for Iceland and Norway would keep the map interesting, Norway has go from positive to normal on snow amount. Iceland has lost some snow but is still has positive amounts.

Is this correct? I always thought in back of my mind more water would give us more snow around this area due to lake effect snow?

Edited September 24, 2012 by mullender83

[BornFromTheVoid]

Is this correct? I always thought in back of my mind more water would give us more snow around this area due to lake affect snow?

I think over the course of the winter the open water does generate more snow. But it probably isn't quite cold enough for that effect to take hold until October.

[cheeky_monkey]

Is this correct? I always thought in back of my mind more water would give us more snow around this area due to lake effect snow?

Lake effect snow only occurs when waters are warm..if they are cold then the effect is hugely reduced..and if very cold the effect is zero. Edited September 24, 2012 by cheeky_monkey

[LincolnSnowstorm]

'BornFromTheVoid'

I think over the course of the winter the open water does generate more snow. But it probably isn't quite cold enough for that effect to take hold until October.

I think I'll stick to what CM said for now.

''dont forget the great lakes etc in the US and Canada are relatively warm come early winter so great deal of snow is produced but this amount falls significantly as winter progresses and they get colder and colder to the point were little or no snow is produced...i would guess because the waters to the North of Russia are so cold there will be very little in the way of convective snow produced.''

I'll be waiting to see if October delivers the goods, as the ice gets close.

we will see if it comes before that.

Edited September 24, 2012 by harshwintercoming

[BornFromTheVoid]

I think I'll stick to what CM said for now.

''dont forget the great lakes etc in the US and Canada are relatively warm come early winter so great deal of snow is produced but this amount falls significantly as winter progresses and they get colder and colder to the point were little or no snow is produced...i would guess because the waters to the North of Russia are so cold there will be very little in the way of convective snow produced.''

I'll be waiting to see if October to delivers the goods as the ice gets close so if it comes before that.

The thing with open water in the Arctic at this time of year, is that the heat that built up over the summer is now being released, increasing the surface air temperature of the Arctic. This is happening again this month, as you can see on the chart below.

So a lot of areas along the Arctic coast, whilst having much more moisture in the air, are marginal for snow fall.

By the time we reach October, the air temperatures, while still above normal, and so holding more moisture than normal, will be well below freezing anyway and so most precip will fall as snow, resulting in above average snow cover, as we've seen in many recent Octobers.

[LincolnSnowstorm]

The thing with open water in the Arctic at this time of year, is that the heat that built up over the summer is now being released, increasing the surface air temperature of the Arctic. This is happening again this month, as you can see on the chart below.

So a lot of areas along the Arctic coast, whilst having much more moisture in the air, are marginal for snow fall.

By the time we reach October, the air temperatures, while still above normal, and so holding more moisture than normal, will be well below freezing anyway and so most precip will fall as snow, resulting in above average snow cover, as we've seen in many recent Octobers.

Hope your right with the leaning towards an above average October BFTV a October 1976 snow cover would be interesting.

[LincolnSnowstorm]

Latest lack of snow map! Note It has been worst in some previous years.

[LincolnSnowstorm]

Snow at sea level Longyearbyen Svalbard Norway. Must of been some of the first snow on the dock.Winters is on the way.

.

Alaska gets snow! Fresh snow was in Mongolia, and now crossed into Southern Russia which has a latitude like Sheffield's. Inc. last years

Snow Anomaly 5 days ago then latest showing new snow in China and Mongolia

Edited September 26, 2012 by harshwintercoming