Snow And Ice In The Northern Hemisphere 2012/13

[LincolnSnowstorm]

Can't wait to see the next chart.

Its looking good Still waiting on Mondays anomaly chart but Sundays finds blue positive for England so the snow hunt is over for me.

[March Blizzard]

Looks like joe b was right we do seem to be having a very severe NH winter but as per usual our little dot of an island is missing out, damn gulf stream!!

It's remarkable to think that sea ice regularly reaches James Bay in Canada roughly on the same lattitude as most of England and even the north coast of Hokkaido in Japan at a lattitude almost as far south as the north coast of Spain, yet it comes nowhere near us. We are both blessed and cursed, depending on who you ask.

[Summer Sun]

You can see clearly now where the milder air has been over the UK

[frozencanals]

That chart is really looking good now, and tomorrow it will be even better :-)

[be cause]

or do you mean .. hotter ?

[coram]

Can somebody do an update please?

[Aaron]

[coram]

Thanks Aaron.

[BornFromTheVoid]

Snow cover was the 6th largest on record for the Northern Hemisphere in January.

http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/table_rankings.php?ui_set=1

[March Blizzard]

Wow, what happened in '81?!

[Jax]

Wow, what happened in '81?!

Bucks Fizz

[damianslaw]

This thread has been v quiet these last few weeks. Any chance of an update to see maximum extent of arctic sea ice and n hemisphere snow cover.

[sundog]

Here are the latest charts.

[damianslaw]

Thanks how does current sea ice cover compare to recent years at this time point.

Edited February 20, 2013 by damianslaw

[sundog]

I dont know tbh but i would be interested in knowing myself. At a guess i would think that the snowcover is above average for the time of year,anyway i hope someone with a better knowledge then myself will have the answers.

[BornFromTheVoid]

Thanks how does current sea ice cover compare to recent years at this time point.

Extent and area are doing quite well compared to recent years, for the time of year they're 7th lowest and 9th lowest on record respectively, but still way below average. Lowest volume on record too.

One good point is that it's currently very cold up past 80N. From what's been a predominantly well above average winter, temps have dropped to the lowest since around 2004, according to the DMI data http://ocean.dmi.dk/...meant80n.uk.php

[be cause]

I wonder if anyone can tell me what date does the northern hemisphere on average see ice cover at its greatest extent.. I suspect it isn't until mid-late February.

And the same for snow cover - probably not until late January or possibly early February as this is on average the coldest period of the northern hemisphere winter.

December often sees snow cover come in fits and starts, there was no snow cover for instance in Moscow on New Years Day 2007, quite unusual mind...

Both are getting closer..

[March Blizzard]

I'm sure I remember it being said on a programme about the seasons that March 8th is the average date of maximum sea ice and the coldest date in the NH, on average, is 19th January. I have no idea about maximum snow cover, though.

It's clear that in the arctic sea ice effects temperatures. March is actually colder than December throughout much of the arctic, despite an almost complete lack of daylight throughout December. This is due to the sheer amount of ice in March which obviously removes the moderating effect of open water.

[Interitus]

Interesting blog on wunderground - http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=127

Yuki-no-Otani Snow Canyon - just wow!

[March Blizzard]

Any chance of an update? Sea ice is still growing at this time of year.

[BornFromTheVoid]

Any chance of an update? Sea ice is still growing at this time of year.

The sea ice hit a preliminary maximum around the end of February, or 1st or 2nd of March, depending on what measure you use. It may well grow a little more this month, but if it doesn't, it will be the 5th lowest extent maximum on record and 6th lowest area maximum.

As for an update on the snow, the February stats are now in, the February snow cover was the 16th largest in 47 years for the Northern Hemisphere. http://climate.rutge...gs.php?ui_set=1

[March Blizzard]

Thanks BFTV!

[Polar Maritime]

[coram]

Please keep these coming Polar. Looks like there could be further gains in the Baltic and on our side of the Arctic generally. Thanks.

[BornFromTheVoid]

March stats are now in, and snow cover was the 16th largest on record in the northern hemisphere

http://climate.rutge...gs.php?ui_set=1

In recent years, we've seen a very strong downward trend from April onward. So it will be interesting to see if that changes.

The monthly graphs can be viewed here http://climate.rutge...land&ui_month=5