Good Thursday and a big Happy Groundhog Day to each of you. Today is a big day for our old furry forecasting friend as he comes out of his little hole in the ground to tell us what the next 6 weeks of weather have to offer. Bluegrass Bubba is our virtual groundhog and he’s been with me for the better part of the past decade. Bubba did see his computer version of a shadow, meaning 6 more weeks of winter. That may not be what most snow and cold lovers want to hear as those two things have been in short supply this season. 😉
The actual weather out there today looks great with temps back into the 50s with an increasing amount of sunshine. Temps as we head into Friday should be very similar with highs in the mid 50s for many areas.
Clouds will begin to increase by Friday afternoon and evening ahead of a big storm moving in for the weekend. This system has been on our radar for more than a week and will bring some healthy rains to much of the region. Here is a look at the NAM simulated radar…
That’s some chilly rain moving in for Saturday and that rain may be heavy at times. An elevated rumble of thunder can’t be ruled out by the end of the day or during the overnight hours. Take a look at the impressive rain totals coming from this same run of the NAM through Sunday morning…
Looks like our Super Bowl Weekend will be something of a washout. Better make sure to throw some extra little smokies in the crock pot for the bigger than normal crowd at your Super Bowl party.
I really meant to talk more about the possible wintry looking pattern for the middle and end of February, but decided against it. What stopped me? Thunder and lightning crashing and flashing outside my window. Something about trying to find winter things to talk about while a thunderstorm was in progress just didn’t cut it for me. Maybe later today. 😉
I leave with some words of wisdom. If you are thinking of kidnapping a Groundhog and letting him drive, be a positive influence…
“That’s not bad for a quadruped. You gotta check your mirrors, just side of your eye. Side of your eye.”
Have a great Thursday and take care.
Well folks we’ve officially backed it on up to the middle an end of february. HILARIOUS
Well folks we’ve officially backed it on up to the middle an end of february. is this familiar?
Bring on REDS BASEBALL!!!
Chris, any thoughts on the eventual effects, if any of the eventual eruption of Mt. Cleveland in Alaska on our weather next Winter?
Next winter? Last time I looked at this site on Monday, there was a big snowstorm potentially for the east coast. Weather seems to be even harder to forecast even though the technology is improving.
Seriously! I don’t get it. Mid Feb. to end of month now. If the groundhog see’s his shadow today he’s is on crack. No way we are going to have six more weeks of winter. Heck we haven’t even had six weeks of winter. How can we have six more???? Like I said last night . Bring on Summer and 90 degrees. My pool water is sitting at 52 degrees and at this rate we might be swimming during my Derby party that I thought would be snowy. This has been the best and worst winter ever. Best because it has been mild not cold and worst because of no snow.
Mowers are coming out of the garage and getting tuned up. I see an early mowing season for us.
Don’t want to say it, but I will,
THINK SNOW!!!
how can we have 6 more weeks of winter when we haven’t had one yet ? i say get out of golf clubs, mowers, weedeaters and get ready for spring
well, winter is out west…lol…Denver expecting 15-20″ of snow…lol..lol..
…BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 11 PM
MST FRIDAY…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A BLIZZARD
WARNING…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 11 PM MST
FRIDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
* TIMING…SNOW WILL DEVELOP BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE
THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW WILL DEVELOP
TONIGHT AND CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING…THEN GRADUALLY
DECREASE BY SATURDAY MORNING.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS…TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 12 TO 24 INCHES WILL
BE POSSIBLE OVER THE PALMER DIVIDE WITH 8 TO 16 INCHES OVER THE
NORTHEAST PLAINS.
* WINDS/VISIBILITY…NORTH WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 20 TO 30 AFTER
MIDNIGHT AND CONTINUE ON FRIDAY…WITH GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH.
BLIZZARD CONDITIONS WILL DEVELOP AFTER MIDNIGHT AND CONTINUE
THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING EAST OF A GREELEY TO DENVER TO CASTLE
ROCK LINE WITH VISIBILITIES NEAR ZERO AT TIMES
Don’t it just make ya sick.
check out this video of the recent almost 10 feet of snow that fell in parts of Japan!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=Tgyz2_a63PA
be nice to see at least one snow like that
Same old song and dance….on the bright side…softball practice this afternoon with warm temperatures and sun expected! Whats wrong with this picture….I keep thinking this cannot be the first of February and that I’m hoping if winter doesn’t visit in the next two weeks lets just cut our losses because it would suck horribly to have the March softball game scedule be messed up with snow. Its now or NEVER!
The storm last night was LOUD. We didn’t have many lightning strikes…but the ones that did strike seemed to be huge bolts….and the sound was tremendous. It was like the atmosphere was holding everything in until the last second then released a bolt larger than normal. We had one hit so close that something popped in the house as the lightning flashed…then a second later came the thunder……and it rolled for almost 30 seconds. It was one of the strangers storms I can remember. But it was cool. Ready for severe weather season.
I’m with you there. I’m very excited for some severe weather. This year has that feeling, and I think we’ll have another record breaker. We’re overdue for a major tornado outbreak. Last major one I can remember was feburary of ’08.
We’re virtually at the 4th anniversary of the Super Tuesday outbreak, during my senior year at WKU. We were a bit on edge, but the worst wx missed Warren County. However, adjacent Allen County was struck, along with Central City in Muhlenberg County. It was KY’s deadliest day from twisters since the infamous Super Outbreak of 1974.
Arkansas and especially Tennessee were also hit. This Super Tuesday twister in the Boston Mountains (Ozarks) is a reminder that contrary to popular misconception, rugged terrain has little effect on an already formed tornado (see graphic of tornado path traversing ridges):
http://www.theweatherprediction.com/weatherpapers/103/index.html
Yeah ik. I can’t believe it’s been four years already. One insane night. Seem like we have a big tornado outbreak about every four years. I don’t see us escaping from one this year….
While I was at WKU, we sustained $512 million in damage from a supercell. Campus looked like a war zone. DUC was shut down for a long time. Parking lots had 4 feet of water standing in them. Windows were gone, trees were gone, people’s roofs were gone. This all happened coming off a fairly strong El Nino cycle. Just proves that cycles, teleconnections, and oscillations don’t mean jack sometimes. Nature is going to do what it wants to do. Last year was La Nina, this year is La Nina…but neither Winter looks even remotely the same. My prediction: Reed Timmer is going to be one busy dude when March rolls around.
Hey WXMan and fellow WKU alumnus. Was this April 98? The huge Bowling Green hailstorm? Same day as downtown Nashville twister and south central Tennessee’s so-called ‘forgotten F5’? Anyway, same day as Nashville was an F2 that hit Cleveland TN with a fatality, near where I lived when I was 14. This startled me out of my teenage funk enough to take future watches/warnings much more seriously. BTW, even over a decade after Bowling Green’s 98 storm, there were still a few ‘hail cars’ on the streets 😉
Seems El Niño in 98 really fueled that devastating central Florida outbreak (and again in 2007). Still, no kidding about wx doing its own thing. I never took met (did biology and geology to satisfy science gen-ed) but chatted with wx profs and students which fueled my interest in wx.
Yeah that was it. 16-April-1998. I’d also point out that it was in the 50s when that happened. So anytime I hear someone say it’s “not warm enough for severe weather” I remind them temperature doesn’t have much to do with it. We were rolling camera as the storm struck. We were on live…seen on the campus TV network. Brian Goode (who is now at WAVE-3 in Louisville) was at the desk. I was doing outside reports. We had some other storm team members getting info. We relayed a report to him of a tree on a car…and Brian misunderstood us and reported a car in a tree.
“not warm enough for severe weather”
I believed this myth, too.
But I then read with surprise how NWS Little Rock once issued a severe t-storm warning even though ground temps were only in low 40s.
I hear many stories of that hailstorm. the Warren County EM talks about it a lot. The super Tuesday outbreak inspired the creation of a storm spotting in Warren county mainly composed of WKU meteorology students called the Stormtopper network. The STN provides bi-weekly forecasts and weather statements as needed along with a met students spotting during severe weather.
The new 4 seasons of the year….Spring, Summer, Fall and Spring….
The Earth must be flipped on its axis…before long we’ll have a climate like Hawaii…
The good folks in Alaska and Siberia may beg to differ! Even by their standards, this winter has been extreme. So much snow roofs are collapsing. High temps (again, highs) at times around -30F. Hard to find much positive, but guess one little good thing is that when it’s around -40F, no need to do math to convert to Celsius as it’s also -40C (the two temp scales overlap at -40).
I want to give credit to CB for saying one thing several months ago that has proved quite accurate. He said that we shouldn’t get so caught up with telecoms this year…and if you look at it though the lens of a -AO not working out for us (and the eastern conus)…with all the colder air spilling over onto the opposite side of the world…it makes perfect sense to me.
On a second note, I’m so ready for people to stop complaining on here. These winters happen. Gotta get over it and move on. When you gotta a broken record, you throw it in the trash. Let’s just focus on talking about what is…instead of what isn’t. Get the vibe on here more uplifting.
I agree. I am still holding out hope and believing for some chilly temps and snow, but its not going to ruin my life, lol. Instead I’d rather be awed at the weird weather and all the changes happening. 🙂
*not going to ruin my life if it doesnt happen* I meant to say. 😉
Europe now having -20 below weather that suddenly interrupted their mild winter. We usually see what happens in Europe happen to the eastern US according to some Mets. Any truth to this?
Usually is. The past several winters when Britain was seeing those rare winter storm, we would usually see some type of wintry conditions soon after. Only time will tell if this theory is in fact the case.
Yet again, Nws spot on with an all rain event. They have stuck with their guns all winter, and they’ve been right a majority of the time.
LMK is my favorite NWS office around the nation. They are very well, and though they may mess some stuff up, they’re at least better than the SPC, and they are usually pretty accurate. They work super hard too. I think the reason people on here have given them so much crap this year I because no one likes to see rain in the forecast.
Couldn’t have said it better.
GROUND HOG DAY….It seems like this whole winter we are in the MOVIE..But we wake up and see NO snow, instead see the same day in and day out 50’s’60’s– the news station (or weather blog) says good morning, tells us that in a week or so it may get cold, Over and over here the word Deep Trough coming, Bottled cold air has to go somewhere,
I’m not sure if we will snap out of this bad winter dream (ie takes a BIG snowstorm to snap out of it) or we will just slide right into spring with no more winter. I have a feeling we are just going to gradually wake up and slide right into spring…
I agree 100%. The winter of my discontent.
Looks like the 1st 2 weeks of December ’12 will be favorable for winter activity..:)
🙂
I we are talking for this year, that will probab;y be the next real winter weather, beyond a few day spike 😉
actually next winter will be a winter lovers dream if a weak to moderate el-nino comes on think 1976-77, 2009-10 to name a few el-ninos after double la-ninas.
Ready for grilling, flip flops and shorts, and summer vacations….ahhh……
would’nt this forecast be nice…the current forecast for Denver Co.
Tonight: Snow and areas of blowing snow. Low around 24. Blustery, with a north wind between 13 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 6 to 10 inches possible.
Friday: Snow and areas of blowing snow. High near 30. Blustery, with a north northwest wind between 15 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.
Friday Night: Snow. Low around 20. Blustery, with a north northwest wind between 9 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible
NOW THATS A FORECAST….I BET THE SNOWLOVERS OUT THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY DROOOOOOLING !!!!
oh My !! I just heard Dr. Forbes, say there are indications of a flip in the coming wks of Feb…hmmmm he might get in trouble for that comment…LOL…
Complaining about the weather is like complaining about death & taxes, their is nothing you can do about it. Most people think a mild winter is great. Us snow fans are a minority remember?
that was a crazy storm last night. The thunder really shook the house several times, Does anyone know how much rain we got last night in the Flatwoods,Russell area? I know it rained hard for a long time!!!!!
well since we cant see snow fall here, here is a link to some traffic cams out of denver area…that is if you wish to torture yourself like I will…lol..
http://trafficland.com/city/SCE/index.html
58 sunny degrees here in Barbourville. OH this dreadful harsh winter weather were having…LOL…LOL…
Glad to hear Chris say no comment on coming colder period. Will it ever come? 🙂
How can anyone say this has been a terrible winter. It has been great. Most days in the 50’s with occasional rain showers. Few days in the 60’s…Not very cold at night. No snow is a terrible thing, but not as bad as Sunny and 20’s for weeks on end.
Mild winter no snow OK….
COLD winter no snow…Terrible….
Bring on Summer and 90’s to warm the pools and lakes…
Mid 80’s sound better, 90’s to hot, AC Bill can bite hard man?
But — Winters are “supposed” to be be cold and snowy — that’s why they are called winter. Summers should be hot and dry, winters cold and snowy — kind of the the natural way. A warm winter just doesn’t feel right, like somethings off balance.
For the first time in history, CPC’s 3-month outlooks are coming true. The cold will not blast us from the north. Winter will be mild and wet. They’ve hit it on the head. Wow.
Just posted the link below. lol
This doesn’t sound good for people hoping for a change. Don’t kill the messenger, I know it’s the NWS. Hope the link works.
Not good if you like snow.
works great. Think its funny that people have been preachings that the cold air in canada has gotta come down sooner or later. Yeah, not gonna happen. Think its awesome that the Nws has owned everyone this winter!!! They were the only ones not calling for a treacherous cold, snowy winter, and they nailed it.
We heard you all day, chill now please
Haha ok. Please don’t take my comments in a negative way. I kinda jus look at it like the nws is an underdog, and I love seeing underdogs have their time. Seems like I always get yelled at on here 😉
Not yelling…just talking…
If that prediction comes true it wouldn’t be all that bad. Warmer than normal Feb-May and normal temps during the summer. Can’t be greedy.
Yep – Phil forecasted 6 more weeks of (60 degree) winter??? Happy Groundhog Day everyone! I like mine with mashed potatoes…
no signs of pattern change anytime soon based on the euro weekly product out today. Some new analogs I’m looking at have warmth through early spring then a cool period around mid spring. They also bring a cold winter for 12-13.