Monday, January 28, 2008

"March Madness" Arrives About A Month Early, Walk the Dogs While You Can!


Lauren Prangley & BJ Enjoying the Weather

If you do not like the weather just wait a few minutes. We will live up to that saying and then some tomorrow and as we head into February. It looks like a March Madness weather pattern arrives about a month early with incredible temperature changes, brutal wind chills, and even chances for big snowstorms. Temperatures in Havre, Montana today have fallen 65 degrees in the past 24 hours and wind chills will crash to near 40 below by this evening. Once I saw this I immediately went outside with Lauren and our dog BJ today before the winds of change moved our way. Those 40s today were feeling about 60 degrees warmer than late last week. But this weather is too good to be true. This is the time of year is known for snowstorms and wild weather. I always circle the days around Ground Hog Day on my calendar because we always seem to have extreme weather. The Northern Hemisphere is now receiving more insolation or solar radiation and if you notice our average temperatures are now on the rise. The problem is the warming of our atmosphere sets the stage for bigger storms to form due to bigger contrasts in temperature. This in turn fires up the jet stream and things can get really interesting in a hurry this time of year. It is the equivalent of somebody adding high octane fuel to the atmosphere. The longer daylight hours and extra sunlight makes us all feel better and it really brings our weather to life, not that it needs it here in Indiana. For meteorolgists this is certainly one of our favorite times of year.

Now that you know we are in a volatile pattern it should not surprise you that we have the potential for our biggest snowstorm since December 16th by Friday. Fasten your seatbelts and make sure to tune in for the latest. This certainly is not a forecast you will want to miss.

No comments: