Snow & Ice coverage in the Northern Hemisphere Winter 2018/19

[ItNeverSnowsInWindsor]

No presents from Santa then

[Don]

2 hours ago, Summer Sun said:

Indeed

https://news.sky.com/story/no-snow-in-lapland-as-rising-temperatures-take-sparkle-away-from-dream-holidays-11559423?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter

What a shame!

[Don]

2 hours ago, prolongedSnowLover said:

No presents from Santa then

[Katrine Basso]

[Katrine Basso]

The Scandinavian snow cover has greatly increased

 

[Aleman]

We've seen Hudson Bay is freezing up very early so it should be no surprise to see the Great Lakes start early, as well.  Whilst marginal edge freezing is not always representative of when deeper waters will freeze, it is about 3 weeks early, and the surface temperatures are generally pretty cold.

https://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/CVCHDCTGL/20181119180000_CVCHDCTGL_0010331547.pdf https://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/CVCSWCTGL/20181119180000_CVCSWCTGL_0010331549.pdf https://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/NAIS25WCT/20181124180000_NAIS25WCT_0010337376.pdf https://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/NAIS25ECT/20181124180000_NAIS25ECT_0010337364.pdf Nearer home, the Baltic has started to freeze up about a week early, although again it does not necessarily represent well when the deeper waters will freeze. Surface temperatures have generally been on the warm side there recently. http://baltice.org/pdf/IceChart_20181122_Baltic.pdf

Edited November 25, 2018 by Aleman

[Don]

4 hours ago, Katrine Basso said:

The Scandinavian snow cover has greatly increased

 

Lets hope it continues!

[Katrine Basso]

The snow cover is still increasing.

[Summer Sun]

Ditto to the above

[Aleman]

Sweden about 85% covered - so not ditto? (or is this derived from same model as NIC?) All the same, I've seen modest UK snow not shown in the past so I'll tend to side with whoever reports most.

https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx/DailySummary/#snowd-mslp

A little blob for Scottish Highlands, too, seen better on this one

https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx/DailySummary/#seaice-snowc-topo

 

Edited November 26, 2018 by Aleman

[Aleman]

Snow on the summit of Weardale Ski Club in County Durham (summit 2150 feet) suggests a snow line at 2000 feet.

http://www.skiweardale.com/#img2

Snow has come and gone on Scottish mountains in recent days so coverage is variable. Most cameras just show a cm or two. One summit cam showed 4 or 5 inches but I can't find it now. If it keeps melting, I don't suppose it won't show up much on maps but it's nice to see reoccurrence on camera for those hoping for snow at lower levels soon.

https://www.onthesnow.com/scotland/lecht/webcams.html?id=4286

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2018 by Aleman

[Katrine Basso]

[Aleman]

You can see in the map in the previous link that the Caspian Sea is starting to freeze up. That is about a week early and seems in line with both the 2018 YTD and recent temperature anomalies there. The new ice can also be seen here:

https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx/DailySummary/#seaice-snowc-topo

 

[Aleman]

Comparing to previous years:

[Aleman]

Ice has been building nicely down Greenland's east coast this year from a low start. Already 2/3rds of the way to Iceland. Could be a nice walk for someone.

http://www.dmi.dk/uploads/tx_dmidatastore/webservice/r/u/o/l/o/chart0_Greenland_201811251200_Colour.pdf

 

[Shunter]

The NSIDC site shows Arctic Sea Ice for 26th November being at a 10year high...…    

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/charctic-interactive-sea-ice-graph/

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

4 hours ago, Aleman said:

Comparing to previous years:

That is impressive, Kazakhstan nearly covered in snow with snow coverage at least as good if not more extensive across the board, Hudson Bay with a lot more ice than previous years with general coverage elsewhere still matching the other years.  

[Aleman]

Shunter - you lost the s on https. This should go through:

https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/charctic-interactive-sea-ice-graph/

Edited November 27, 2018 by Aleman

[Ice Day]

9 hours ago, Shunter said:

The NSIDC site shows Arctic Sea Ice for 26th November being at a 10year high...…    

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/charctic-interactive-sea-ice-graph/

Indeed, just noticed that myself.  Just simplistically comparing today vs same day last year and the sea ice is significantly greater this year, particularly around northwest Alaska and the Hudson Bay. 

  

As been said on here and other threads, there does appear to be a lot of frigid air around given the relatively early stages of winter!?  Whether that has any impact on our small island over the next few months, only time will tell.  

[Aleman]

Has the Western (Canadian/Alaskan) Arctic started cooling as ice has recovered there a bit in the last few years?

https://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/CVCHACTWA/20181119180000_CVCHACTWA_0010333063.pdf

The Eastern Canadian Arctic definitely looks to be cooling

https://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/CVCHDCTEA/20181126180000_CVCHDCTEA_0010343358.pdf

As does Hudson Bay - for around a decade.

https://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/CVCHDCTHB/20181119180000_CVCHDCTHB_0010332955.pdf

And the Canadian East Coast

https://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/CVCHDCTEC/20181126180000_CVCHDCTEC_0010343267.pdf

And this and other sources don't actually seem to show any warming trend for the Great Lakes either

https://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/CVCHACTGL/20181126180000_CVCHACTGL_0010341766.pdf

 

Sea and lake ice does not seem to back up supposed warming temperatures for North America very well. From what I've seen of the Baltics and Caspian, they are showing more ice in the last few years as well. Maybe the latest forming El Nino will kick things back onto a warming  track when its effect start being felt or maybe the very weak solar cycle will spread the cooling effect. Why doesn't temperature data show several years of significant cooling if ice is increasing around North America?

 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Aleman

[Katrine Basso]

[Aleman]

Ice forming east of Newfoundland already? What's that blob? Is that real or rogue?

https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx/DailySummary/#seaice-snowc-topo

Edit - the sea temperature/anomaly map seems to back up the possibility of new ice forming there. So does DMI's temperature map.

https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx/DailySummary/#sst

http://ocean.dmi.dk/satellite/index.uk.php

It would seem highly unusual. 2015/16 was equal 2nd earliest start for sea ice for Eastern Canada yet ice did not make it to that spot until February! It has been a slightly odd year for sea ice growth and the recent US cold snap has been exceptional. I was just reading last week how the turtles are all being killed by the Arctic cold in St Lawrence Bay (10F or less). It's been very warm there until recently and then turned exceptionally cold. Turtles stopped later than normal and then got frozen solid. I posted somewhere on here about the proximity of very warm and very cold sea surface temps there earlier this autumn. The turtles seem to have got caught on the wrong side as it moved south in the cold snap. Another factor is an Oyster farm there that has warmed waters which confuses them year so some need saving every year. Interestingly, turtles can survive being frozen solid sometimes.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article222168340.html

https://www.phillyvoice.com/long-beach-island-frozen-sea-turtles-jersey-shore-brigantine-marine-mammal-stranding-center/

 

Edit - it looks like it's been snowing heavily there onto sea that is already at 0C. It's probably a build up of heavy slush that will dissipate quickly.

 

 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Aleman

[Ice Day]

2 hours ago, Aleman said:

It would seem highly unusual. 2015/16 was equal 2nd earliest start for sea ice for Eastern Canada yet ice did not make it to that spot until February! It has been a slightly odd year for sea ice growth and the recent US cold snap has been exceptional.

 

Absolutely, you only have to compare North America's snow and ice cover for 28 November for the last 3 years...... 2018 on the left.  The differences are stark, both in terms of snow and sea ice.

    

[Katrine Basso]

Scandinavia has regained some of the lost snow cover. Scotland is also shown with a few pixels.

 

[Aleman]

Spoiler

 

When it dumped snow on Eastern Europe last week, some of it reached higher level Saudi desert.

https://twitter.com/pplofKSA?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1066100102694137862&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Felectroverse.net%2Fearly-season-snow-blankets-parts-of-the-arabian-desert%2F

And it seems to have contributed to a surge in Northern Hemisphere extent that took it briefly to highest of the last 14 years.

https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/smcd/emb/snow/HTML/snow_extent_plots.html

Edited December 1, 2018 by Aleman