Forecasters: U.S. winter to be volatile

[montrealboy]

http://us.cnn.com/2003/WEATHER/11/07/us ... index.html

Friday, November 7, 2003 Posted: 6:08 PM EST (2308 GMT)

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Mother Nature will be volatile this winter, and U.S. energy suppliers should brace for dramatic shifts in demand for heating fuel from month to month, and even week to week, forecasters said Friday. (...)

[Colin]

Well, that's good news for us winter lovers!

[deguy50]

thanx for the info!

[PTrackerLA]

Hopefully we'll get some major arctic outbreaks down south this winter too!

[Guest]

Its already starting to show this trend.............Take this past week for example................Here a couple of days ago it was in the md to upper 70s and today not making it out of the 30s with tonights low expected to be between 15 to 20 and then by tuesday perhaps back up around 60 or so...............Pretty much the same can be said from the western US to the Eastcoast...................The question is when will we see a storm with this colder air and such farther south then the last storm or 2??????? May wanna keep a eye out for late this week comming up as a few of the models are hinting at a possible storm with more cold air to work with??????? Will get into this more so a bit later........

[donsutherland1]

King of Weather,

I fully agree with you that recent weeks (with the ups and downs in the temperature) seem to be reinforcing the idea of a more changeable winter than last year. Certainly, there should be some fairly impressive Arctic outbreaks. At the same time, I believe there might be situations where fairly deep storms drive warm air well north and send temperatures above normal to much above normal for periods. SE ridging and periods where the NAO is positive will also contribute to warm periods.

The averages will probably be near normal to somewhat below normal with regard to temperatures in the East with snowfall generally near normal to above normal. But if one only were to look at averages, one would probably miss the far greater volatility than last winter (consistently cold and snowy--January was the exception).

The possible system for next week is worth watching. While it is possible that the heaviest snows remain north of the Canadian border, it is too soon to make a definitive call. In spite of this uncertainty, there's little doubt that another shot of cold air should arrive perhaps of a similar magnitude to the current cold air mass (even as seasonal norms are somewhat lower than they are now). So, perhaps the coldest air of the season will again overspread the Ohio Valley and then the East in the wake of that system.

[BritBob]

Certainly been a crazy fall in the Maritimes, with well above average temps. Only now has the transition begun, and a quick one at that. From upper sixties a week ago, now below freezing by day!