Warm soil temp.'s: big modifying effect on later cold?

[dashwildwood]

Ill throw my 2 cents in on the idea of warmer soil, I am a soil science major at nc state so I have a bit of knowledge in this area. But anyway, yes the soils are warm, that is why trees are budding and flowers are blooming well ahead of schedule however the soil can be cooled fairly quickly. The soil "breathes" fairly well and if a cooler airmass were to move over an area it will not take an extremely long time for the soil temps to cool quickly. Also if the soil is moist that will aid in the process of cooling if you have a day or 2 with lows in the low 20s and highs in the low 40s the water in the soil freezes and has a hard time thawing which inturn brings the temp of the soil profile down quickly. Basically what im saying is, yes the soils are warm and im guessing that will have an effect on any airmass that heads south from canada, but it will not take very long for that problem to be reversed, its not as tough as it is to drop the temperature of water.

[Portastorm]

Nice write-up, dash. Thanks!

[MGC]

I can only conclude that the lack of snow and warm soil temperature will modify any artic air that is headed my way.....MGC

[Extremeweatherguy]

I can only conclude that the lack of snow and warm soil temperature will modify any artic air that is headed my way.....MGC

the problem with that is that (if you read above) it only takes a short period of time for the soil to cool. After about a day or two of colder weather it is not a problem. Also, snow will probably re-build over the midwest between now and Feb. 10th...then after that the door will be open for a big arctic plunge.

[bob rulz]

Wow, 105 degrees. I know what that feels like...in dry heat. It's Texas, so I suspect that the humidity was pretty high. Am I right?