Thursday, February 19, 2009

Beware of the 3 S's: The Siberian Express, Snow, and the Saskatchewan Screamer

What a pattern! We are back in mid-winter form. Bring in the pets, although in my case I will have to go find mine because he is hiding under one of our beds. I asked him if he wanted to go on a walk and he ran upstairs. Yes, our Prangley dog BJ is a basket case. This weather has a lot of folks all shook up. There is a lot of shaking going on with wind chills plummeting to near zero early this morning. Yesterday, we had tons of reports of Canada geese flocking northward and you can see they actually invaded Mary Anne in Remington's bird feeders above. Well, apparently once those cold winds hit the area last night they were spotted heading south again. Now I think they are onto something. I am worried about the sandhill cranes and their paper thin legs which will not take long to freeze in this weather. Hopefully they are finding some warm nesting sites. This cold outbreak is being caused by the Siberian Express.


I call it this because this cold air has been tracked all the way from Siberia where there is still plenty of cold air. Check out our weather update from Siberia which includes pictures of frostbite and an update from our Siberian pen pal via his Mom!

Hi, Mike,

Attached is the photo of my son, Cole, at -49 C in Surgut, Russia (in Siberia). The white spot is frostbite. This mama is trying not to worry... :D

The other photo was take in December. Cole says he climbed 840 steps to get the view of Mt. Medeyu (not sure where that is, but it's somewhere in Russia.)

Enjoy!

Lynn Isenbarger
West Lafayette


Thanks for sharing this Cole and Lynn. We have nothing to complain about here in Lafayette after seeing that picture. Tell Cole to cover that face up and hopefully he was not in too much pain once he went inside to a warmer location. I know that frostbite can be quite painful. I had a milder form of it when I lived in Minnesota and to this day I still have trouble with that small patch of skin on my hand, especially when it is cold and dry outside. This is a good reminder that frostbite will be possible in as little as 40 minutes this morning. Bundle up the little ones. A piece of this bitter cold air Cole saw last week in Siberia is settling over our area. Luckily it had some time to at least moderate a little. Here is the latest check o
n what Cole is experiencing in Siberia today. Unbelieveable....still near -55 degrees without wind chill! Ouch, it hurts just typing that. Siberia is located in the upper corner of the map....the left side of the map is Greenland, northern Canada, Alaska.
At least it looks absolutely beautiful there. Here is the picture of Mt. Medeyu.


Now I know some of you need to get some sleep and so do I. Try to lay off the ice cream. I heard that is really bad for you this time of night. I usually eat more before a nice big snow so it will be tempting, but I am making a pact with you tonight....a sandwich but no ice cream. Besides, I will be in boot camp with Kristen at International this weekend and I want to survive. If you have not taken agility jam I highly recommend it.
Okay, here is the deal.....the models right now are a joke but I am looking a climatology for this time of year and I love our chances of this clipper system going above and beyond for snow lovers here in Lafayette. Usually clippers bring our area one to three inch snows in the winter. But this is not a usual circumstance. Meteorological Spring is less than 10 days away and thermal contrasts or temperature differences tend to energize these type of weather makers this time of year. So our one to three inch snowfalls are sometimes doubled. Take a look at today's highs.


On Friday a similar temperature gradient will set up over the high plains helping our Sasketchewan Screamer hold together. It will actually be even more impressive with a range from single digits to 50s in a span of just 250 miles! We are also calling our clipper the Saskatchewan Screamer because this is where I think this system gets its act together and develops. The province of Saskatchewan in Canada is located east of Alberta. It is also called a screamer because it moves very quickly and this one will be no exception. It will be riding in on a 125 mph jet stream out of the northwest.



My first call holds....I like 3 to 5 inches of snow moving in late Friday night and Saturday morning. The European and Canadian models (NOT GEESE) are my models of choice. The GFS seems to be coming around nicely as well with 5.2 inches of snow being cranked out for Lafayette with the main track going right over Randy's house in Frankfort. This is an increase from late last night when it printed out 4.4 inches of snow for us. It should be fun to see what happens. But I really like our chances for good sledding weather this weekend. The SOUTHSIDE SNOW MOBILE CLUB WILL BE HAPPY! They will get the three or more inches of snow needed! Send in some pictures. I am really rooting for this one because my original winter forecast was for Lafayette to have 25 to 30 inches of snow. This would put us closer to that range. I will have more on just how much snow we actually have had and where it compares to normal here on the blog and on tonight's newscasts. Speaking of snow, the second "s" which stands for snow and slippery roads are already out there after our rain changed to a dusting to almost an inch of snow in spots last night, there are some icy patches on the roadways out there. Make sure to be safe and allow extra time. Some car doors may be frozen shut after the big temperature fall. But as Hoosiers we can deal with this and handle it. Here is an inspirational quote before I go have some green tea (no ice cream).

Summer is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. -John Ruskin

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

I need to know what model you are looking at!! I am not finding 5" for our area....however, you are the expert!!!

C in T

Anonymous said...

Give us FL weather...I am sick of this depressing weather!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

The southside snowmobile club is on the sidelines watching this one,:( Locked up the motor:( but I will have the old garden tractor out plowing out some driveways just so I can be out in it. Rick

Anonymous said...

Good Morning!!! Rochester received about two inches of snow over night. Of course, it is hard to measure due to the blowing/drifitng.

F/C

Anonymous said...

Well, I guess I won't travel this weekend so I'll stock up, stay and home and enjoy the (last?) snow ;D

Anonymous said...

My vote---
No to snow
Yes to the 70's

Anonymous said...

Well, after looking at the Euro and Canadian models....yes, I am seeing the potential for widespread 4+" accumulations....espec. from our general area to the northeast. The clipper is expected to strengthen as it races southeast. Mike is right, there is a great temperature contrast, and it looks like that will help to fuel the precipitation.

Something to keep an eye on, that is for sure!!!

Chris in Tipton

Anonymous said...

Has anyone ever been to Siberia or Saskatchewan? I hear it is lovely this time of year. I'm so tired of the snow and cold weather. I can't wait for the humid summer that awaits us.

Anonymous said...

Before I left for school, I was on a two-hour delay, I measured the snow, and I am confident to say that we received almost three inches as of this morning in Rochester.
SR 25 was snow/ice covered with drifting snow until I reached Cass County.

F/C

Anonymous said...

I am so glad we are close to spring now. I too cannot wait until to get out and do yard work. Winter really has flew by, because I have been so busy. At this point there is only so much cold winter weather to be had. It certainly will not stick around for long. The sun is nice and warm now, days are getting longer.

Things are going to look very good in all due time. :)

Anonymous said...

Hey Mike Not much snow for my area this morning only around 0.1" inches. Most is blowing and gone by now though.

That is fine we will still look for the bigger snow on saturday.
:-) It is very cold out everybody so please bundle up good and Mike I'M off to grab my glass of cocoa you did say there is a Hot cocoa advisory right? :) Well I must do as you say! LOL.

Have a good day Mike and Bloggers.

Justin.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it amazing what a difference the mid-February sun can make? Even though it is cold...I am at 19 degrees....the sun feels very warm in my truck...and the roads are mostly wet!

Chris in Tipton

Anonymous said...

Its darn cold out there, I did not have gloves as I was filling my gas tank! Took for ever to get my hands warm! Windy and cold in Laf. starting to get cloudy

Anonymous said...

Given our pending snow storm when would be the best time (lesser of two evils?) to travel? Friday evening or Saturday morning?

Richard said...

Attica

Temp 24 degrees
Dewpoint 14 Humidity 64
Pressure 30.03

Anonymous said...

Could there be a chance for freezing rain since the high temps for tomorrow look to be around 36*?

Anonymous said...

Wow Lynn, thanks for sharing your son Cole's photos and weather where is he located.

I would bet your are a worried "mama". We in Indiana can count our blessings wx wise.

Take care!

Teri in Laf.

Anonymous said...

I do agree with the comment about the sun angle and the road conditions. I found it so amazing that SR 25 in Fulton County was still a sheet of ice in many areas, due to the blowing snow, but the thirteen miles of county roads I travelled were clear this evening.

I do hope, that this winter storm will be the last for us. It is almost March, and I, like so many others, am tired of being stuck in the house!!!!

F/C

Anonymous said...

Where's all the snow? Horrible forecast, Mike. Just horrible.

Anonymous said...

Things could be worse, and look on the bright side, the snow wont stay for long. I am worried about Thunderstorms, not too far away for the season:(

Anonymous said...

Maybe if you would pay attention you would know that the snow isn't supposed to hit until friday night/ early sat morning.


You're horrible.

Anonymous said...

Awww, Come on gang, be nice,please! We cannot do anything about the weather.

What we can do is be ready for what nature has to throw at us! That is what this blog is about, keeping each other informed on the weather.

Please, please dont attack the bloggers or Mike! Winter will be over soon.. hang in there! And for the snow lovers, good for you!

Take care and be safe.

Anonymous said...

I thought I was the only one you people attacked on this site.Heaven forebid you say anything bad about your god.what flavor cool-aide do you people drink.

Anonymous said...

By the way it is Kool Aid

Anonymous said...

It's interesting to watch the snow amounts AccuWeather has been forecasting the past couple of days. It changes every few hours. up and down. Up and down.

Richard said...

Hope this front shifts a little more to the north! :) Did anyone see the sunset tonight? I was on my way to Lafayette and after the sun had set it left a red to orange pillar into the sky. Was a great experiance to see.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I caught a glimpse of the sunset too. My view was fuschia/pink! I hope the storm moves further North too.

Anonymous said...

Blog seems pretty quiet tonight!!! Prang Gang you ok?


Richard

Anonymous said...

I caught the sunset when we were over by SIA , once we got into town it was hard to view. Been cool to see the fuschia pink.

Richard

Anonymous said...

by the way,I know how to spell Kool Aid.It was a play on words.Put your head back in your snow drift.That was another play on words!