Flip Flop Weather... Under the Weather... Severe Weather Tomorrow

You know weather is a big story when Matt Drudge has it high up on his page. Or.. it's a very slow news day....

2 links...count em 2...to news on the wicked, wild weather...

Flip Flop Weather.... flip flops today, furry lined boots on Thursday...

Personally, I hate going to TWC site online as the moment I click I get video and if I wanted to "watch" vs read, I'd be watching TWC which is currently on mute in my bedroom. I like the maps...
But ...weather IS an issue today in parts of the US where there is an odd flux between COLD days, WARM days, COLD days again.

On a personal level... I love weather of any kind, but this sort of weather puts me under the weather which is why I am in bed and have not posted the last day or two. Though really not much to say as the Ice melted FAST...everyone I know got the sniffles which to me translates as a sinus infection in 24 hours or so (oh THATS why my father moved to Florida where my mother's family was from.. because he always got sick up north...) but either way I keep dreaming of ways to spend  next winter with my best friend in Maine..there has to be a way....   all jokes aside I do love Portland, Maine.

Anyway...............back in the US we are stuck in some pattern that keeps making me think of 2004 and 2005 which keeps making me think of the Hurricane Season of 2004 and 2005 :)

2004



2005



http://www.erh.noaa.gov/rnk/Newsletter/Summer_2005/Climo/Winter0405_article.htm

Note the first paragraph could have been written by any weather person this year:

"Overall our winter was warm with monthly average temperature across Southeast West Virginia, Southwest Virginia and Northwest North Carolina of 2-5 degrees (F) above normal. The first half of each month was warm, especially January, where temperatures were 15-20 degrees (F) above normal. Record high temperatures in early January had people wondering, is winter over already? The second half of December and January reminded us that winter was still around as Arctic blasts of cold air dropped temperatures below zero across portions of the mountains and into the teens and single digits along and east of the Blue Ridge. It seemed the closer we got to Spring (March 20), the colder the temperatures remained."

Please read the article.. it's a great read....

Then when you go down to January you could be reading about January 2013...

"A "Bipolar" month with high and low temperatures running well above and below normal. Under a strong ridge of high pressure, the first half of the month saw a few records broken as temperatures soared into the mid to upper 60s across the west and lower to mid 70s in the east. Overnight lows also remained above normal the first couple of weeks of January. Spring-like weather in the form of severe thunderstorms and flooding was also reported, leading some people to wonder, was winter over? Very unseasonably high dew points (lower to mid 60s) moved into the area on January 14^th. This moisture combined with a slow moving cold front to produce a large swath of rain across the region. Upslope southeast winds into the Blue Ridge in northwest North Carolina and southwest Virginia ahead of the cold front produced an area of persistent heavy rain. Rain rates were around an inch an hour, and total rainfall amounts in a 3 to 4 hour period ranged from 2.5 to 3.5 inches. In northwest North Carolina, flooding was reported in Watauga and Surry counties. Flooding was particularly bad along the Ararat River in Surry county, with flood damage to approximately 50 homes and 10 businesses. In southwest Virginia, flooding was reported in Patrick, Franklin and Amherst counties. Minor flooding occurred along the Dan River at South Boston, the Roanoke River at Randolph, and the James River at Bremo Bluff. The unstable atmosphere also produced rotating thunderstorms and led to the issuance of a couple of Tornado Watches and four Tornado Warnings for the area. No tornadoes were confirmed, however one severe thunderstorm brought damaging winds to the west side of Danville, partially blowing a roof off an apartment complex. After the bout of severe weather, an Arctic blast of cold air in the second half of the month brought back the reality of winter and wind chills as low as -15F. Despite the temperatures dropping well below normal, early January record warmth kept monthly mean temperatures 4-5 degrees (F) above normal.

Cold air in place the latter half of the month, combined with a few storms tracking close by, brought a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain to the region. On January 20-21 (upslope 22-23), a low pressure system tracked to the northeast coast becoming a major Nor'easter. This brought significant snowfall to the New England states. As this system tracked close to our area, warm air was allowed to intrude aloft, bringing a wintry mix of mostly sleet and some snow to Northwest North Carolina and the Southwest Virginia mountains. The Greenbrier Valley and Virginia Highlands stayed in the cold air and saw mostly snow. The foothills and piedmont sections of southern Virginia and northern North Carolina saw a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. It was this warm air aloft that allowed more sleet to fall limiting the amount of snow to 1-3 inches. On January 29^th (29^th ice) another disorganized storm tracked from Southern California and into Northern Virginia. As this system moved through the Tennessee Valley, a coastal low formed off the Carolinas. This system tracked differently, but produced the same results; a wintry mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain, keeping snow amounts low."

Look at the weather map for Raleigh as an example:

Weather for Raleigh, NC

65°F | °C

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Scattered Clouds

Wind: SW at 13 mph

Humidity: 63%

70°

55°

72°

45°

48°

32°

43°

25°

I'm sitting and writing this in thin pajama flannels from Victoria Secrets (purple with little white stars) and a very thin purple tee shirt from Miami.. no socks... windows open and the ceiling fan is on medium.

There is talk of severe weather and a tornado threat for Wednesday (see the dark stormy cloud above) and then............lows drop back fast down to below freezing at the end of the week. Hopefully, I'll be well enough to go to a friend's for dinner Friday night..

Gypsy Cold Care Tea and Keflex...color coordinated ;)

Goldenseal helps...but takes longer and why Zand's drops are so hard to find here I don't know. No, I don't want cough drops.. I want the original... 

Anyway........................the point here is not that you have to remember to stock up and buy things on the Internet because Whole Foods has "their own brand" (which is not as good...) and Earth Fare doesn't have it... neither does any other place I looked.

And, the Internet has everything..............it has maps and charts and articles (like mine) that explain things and give you that funky trivial details you were looking for..

Yes.................the winter of 2004/2005 seems to be a good analog period to use for this 2012-2013 Winter and IF so....................I'd look at those two years as possible analogue years to this coming hurricane season.

Can't wait for the thunderstorms tomorrow...   delayed my trip south for this cold.. not in the mood or mode to travel with a sinus infection...nope. 

So, cold nasty weather is traveling across the country, meeting up with the usual suspects from the Gulf of Mexico and that is setting up to be a violent day of weather somewhere in the highlighted area.

As for me.. it's so warm here I may go outside and sip my Chai Marsala tea on the deck and get some instant Vitamin D ... before the weather gets really nasty tomorrow night............

Besos Bobbi