Anyone else noticed how cold it has been this month? Average temperatures are running 3-9 degrees Fahrenheit below normal this month across most of Southern New England.
U.S. Month-to-Date Temperature Departures
From the image above, the eastern 2/3 of the continental U.S. is running well behind schedule this month so far. It’s been cold, there’s no denying that.
Annoyingly for snow lovers, the atmospheric pattern hasn’t worked out. There is very little snow cover south of the U.S./Canadian border.
Northern Hemisphere Snow Cover
Although the mountains of northern New England are doing ok as this weekend is opening weekend for many of the local ski resorts.
MSLP & Precipitation – Pivotal Weather, LLC.
Sunday evening an area of low pressure will form off the coast near Atlantic City and track northeast south of the Cape & Islands. Now traditionally this is a favorable storm track for snow in Southern New England. Unfortunately, there just isn’t a good supply of cold air for that to happen.
925 mb Temperatures – Pivotal Weather, LLC.
Shown above are forecast temperatures only a couple thousand feet above the surface. Anything warmer than a blue shading is a temperature greater than freezing. As is obvious, there’s very little in the way of cold air to support snow.
Eventually on the northern fringes of the precipitation shield, enough cold air may be injected into the system for snow to fall. But that will be challenging to forecast. Very little if any accumulation is expected for those areas that do flip to flakes.
Looking ahead to the holiday next week there is the potential for a storm system to move through during the Wednesday/Thursday time frame. This is still 5+ days out, but this one looks warm.
Wednesday PM – Pivotal Weather, LLC
-Chris
Chris Hampton Weather 