Weather Headlines
Wednesday February 6, 2002
More troughing in the East and ridging in the West. Pattern developing as
advertised, but will the cold air materialize?
The Southern stream storm track is alive and well and should continue to be
so for the next couple of weeks. All of the models point to the potential
of healthy winter storms in the midst of a warmer than normal temperature
pattern. The lack of realized cold continues to frustrate me as once again
the air simply is not that frigid. We are still below normal relative to
normal over much of the South and West. In the West, it is due to high
pressure trapped in the Intermountain region while in the South it is in
response to inclement weather along the storm track. The North and East are
back into a warming mode in spite of the fact that a trough will reform in
the East. Upstream over the Western half of Canada, it is just not that
cold anymore. The MRF is up to its old tricks of a sharp cooling "just past
this period" and the Canadian still insists on a moderate intensity high
coming down this weekend. It may well turn cooler, but certainly not in an
excessive way. The five day numbers will be warming, not cooling.
The 6-10 day period appears to be much more favorable for talk of storms
rather than any excessive cold. We are rapidly running out of time for that
as normal temperatures are now on their way up. We may not see anything
extreme, but I still see some potential for the East being slightly below
normal for the period if the Canadian is on the right track. The models do
seem to show ridging to continue out West. It has been a very slow process,
but moderation should continue.
For the period Wednesday February 6 through Sunday February 10, expect the
following temperature trends:
Average 4 to 6-degrees below normal: Gulf Coast, Southeast...
Average 1 to 3-degrees below normal: Intermountain West, Desert SW,
California, Mississippi Valley...
Average 1 to 3- degrees above normal: Mid-Atlantic, Southern Plains..
Average 4 to 6-degrees above normal: Ohio Valley, Rockies, Central Plains
Average 7 to 10-degrees above normal: Northern Plains, Great Lakes...
Andy Weingarten, Meteorologist APB Energy / True Quote