Polar Vortex

[Las Palmas Norte]

Beginning Monday Nov. 28 forecasters are predicting a polar vortex to move in (PNW) and take up residence for some time thru December. I don't see devastating numbers but much cooler than we've had so far. I haven't checked to see how far southward this extends. 

[Maltese coconut project]

I am from Malta in the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Africa and it hailed here, damaged most of my plants. Surprisingly the coconut palms got the least damaged 

[WSimpson]

I check this from time to time . Looks like things might be  shaping up to be a little cooler in the PNW . 

Will

 

https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=1

[ShadyDan]

The forecast looks much better this morning than it did yesterday. -4C on my weather app now vs -10C yesterday. Night and day difference! Should have 0 issues with those temps. 

[Silas_Sancona]

2 hours ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Beginning Monday Nov. 28 forecasters are predicting a polar vortex to move in (PNW) and take up residence for some time thru December. I don't see devastating numbers but much cooler than we've had so far. I haven't checked to see how far southward this extends. 

Who... is saying this??    There is nothing that i have seen that is suggestive of the P.V. shifting from where it is currently set up, to a position over the Pac.N.W.

An episode of cooler conditions likely, for the next week or so, but nothing even close to a dislocated P.V.  event.  At least for the northwest...  A lobe of the P.V. may try to take a swipe at S. Central Canada after the start  of Dec. though.

[Las Palmas Norte]

4 hours ago, ShadyDan said:

... -4C on my weather app now vs -10C yesterday. ...

For real? Yikes !!! Those are some nasty cold temps. 

[Las Palmas Norte]

4 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Who... is saying this?? ... 

This could be local only, but I know it extends to the BC mainland. Unsure if it will dip into the Puget Sound Region.

 

 

[Chester B]

I know they are talking about a series of cold fronts pushing through.  Forecasts are looking better and better as it gets nearer.  I do see a long string of nights in the upper 20's, with day time highs all well above freezing.  Still a pretty cold stretch regardless.  Hopefully Jan/Feb will treat us good.

[Banana Belt]

North America and the Arctic temperature map.  Notice how the cold air stays mostly inside the continent and rarely extends out into the ocean. 

[JLM]

If the polar vortex was shifting position and parking over the Pacific Northwest, it would be a whole hell of a lot colder than at or just below freezing, or even mid to upper 20's.

[Las Palmas Norte]

This polar air is expected to produce snow or wet snow Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning. I have winterized all that requires it. 

[Chester B]

In my neck of the woods for the next 2 weeks no temps below freezing and daytime highs in the 40's which is around seasonal temps.

[Las Palmas Norte]

We have about an inch of snow right now and more expected thru this coming evening. It's forecast to change to rain tomorrow or sooner. The temp hasn't changed much from this morning and the wind is up to about 25 knots. 

[Foxpalms]

London's about to get a blast from the arctic, north eastern winds for about a week and half. Luckily though because northern Europe is above average no frost forecasted.  Also when you consider its always warmer than the forecast here it might not be that bad, but still cold! 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Foxpalms

[BeyondTheGarden]

We had a half inch of snow this morning, but it warmed and melted pretty quick.  Tonight the weather is Nasty.  Raging winds, decently heavy rainfall.  I was all over the interstate coming home tonight, blinding road spray everywhere. 

The good news is, they're no longer calling for a week in the low 20's.  Only a single night in the upper twenties in the 10-day, the rest is wet but generally mild. 

[Chester B]

Just a cool wet drippy day here. No signs of any winds yet, but they said tonight was supposed to be blustery. 

[southpacific73]

Chaos on the lower mainland as a major bridge shutdown last night along with numerous accidents and people getting home the next morning! Vancouver is never ready for winter!
 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/drivers-stranded-night-thousands-still-150205911.html 

[Chester B]

Oh man what a mess.  12 hours stuck in the car, it's not something I would expect there.

[Las Palmas Norte]

At my place we received 6" of snow. There may have been more, but with the wind blowing, it might be hard to get an accurate measurement. I know I shoveled 6" of heavy wet snow off my driveway this morning. Polar air is hanging around, but daytime today is a thaw event.

[Las Palmas Norte]

1 minute ago, Chester B said:

Oh man what a mess.  12 hours stuck in the car, it's not something I would expect there.

I'd wager it's never happened before.

[southpacific73]

People just starting to pickup the cars they abandoned all over the city.  We are just not used to snow even though it visits us every year. Wonder how everyone else in the PNW faired? Glad all my plants are covered or in the heated greenhouse! La Niña can just go home now please!

[Chester B]

We had some rain and a few wind gusts overnight, nothing too strong.  Woke up to 42F/5.5C, and its cloudy with sunny breaks today.  So really nothing down here.

[ShadyDan]

Got a decent dumping here, but its melting quick. +3C currently, but supposed to freeze overnight (roads will be skating rinks!). We lost power for a bit, and internet for about 14 hours. Not sure how cold it got last night as my remote weather station did not collect data with no internet, but I imagine no less that -1C. Nanaimo and the North Island (as per usual) were hit harder than us here in Nanoose. Lots of accidents on the highways, when will Vancouver and Vancouver Island drivers just learn to stay home if they are not properly equipped to drive in these conditions?

[BeyondTheGarden]

Tumwater Wa

[Banana Belt]

[Chester B]

I saw snow up in Longview and in the two mountain ranges.

No snow here, its sunny right now.

[Sabal King]

dang guys... sorry for the cold weather.  I always hate to see it happen to anyone.  It's been cooler than usual here in NTX as well, but nothing to worry about thus far..  Good luck on the winter going forward!

[BeyondTheGarden]

7 minutes ago, tlow said:

dang guys... sorry for the cold weather.  I always hate to see it happen to anyone.  It's been cooler than usual here in NTX as well, but nothing to worry about thus far..  Good luck on the winter going forward!

In the summer time I can't stand to think about cold weather, I just want to be out in the sun and heat.  But when we get snow I actually enjoy it.  There's something cool about seeing snow on palms and knowing that they're fine.  But it gets old after a few days. 

[Las Palmas Norte]

The skies here cleared overnight which allowed the temperature to tank. 22.8°F / -6°C by sunrise. My little Neele palm tucked in the snow.

[ShadyDan]

Coldest night of the year last night @ -5.4C. Seems too early for that kind of cold. Looking through old photos, I still had dahlias blooming last year. Took some comparison shots from Dec 2, 2021 to today of some of my palms "chilling".

Sabal palmetto (got rid of the stupid cedar hedge in favour of a proper fence):

Chamaerops humilis 'cerifera':


Butia odorata (some damage where I burned the fronds last year trying to protect it... won't be doing that again):


Not a palm, but my Eucalytpus seems to be still growing through the cold:


My Acacia to the left of my windmill didn't make it through last years deep freeze

[Las Palmas Norte]

We got slammed with 9 more inches if snow last evening and into the night  15" in total. 

[Chester B]

1 hour ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

We got slammed with 9 more inches if snow last evening and into the night  15" in total. 

Wow. What the heck, that is a ton of snow. My parents back in Ontario have none, they’ve primarily getting our type of weather. Cool and rainy. 

[Las Palmas Norte]

The sun is shining now and temps are fast approaching 40°F / 5°C. Not sure were we'll end up but anything freeze free is fine with me.

My brother just flew back from Maui after a three week stay. He says there's snow from Seattle up to Edmonds but no new snow north of that.

Digging out 

[BeyondTheGarden]

Goodness you're getting hammered up there!

[Las Palmas Norte]

9 hours ago, Jesse PNW said:

Goodness you're getting hammered up there!

This'll be the third winter in a row, and like usual it's wet heavy snow. On the bright side, I get a cardio workout on the shovel.

[Las Palmas Norte]

Polar air is certainly in place now. The local airport is reporting 25°F / -3.8°C but at my place it's much colder, 18.9°F / -7.3°C !!! Looks like more to follow and no normal temps being forecast for the foreseeable future. Tough to establish a new garden.

[UK_Palms]

We are about to get hit by the worst December freeze since the infamous 2010 event. Certainly the earliest 'big freeze' that I can remember. All the other proper cold snaps happened in late December, January or February, so this is fairly unusual to have it happen so early on in the season. It has come out of nowhere as well following such a warm autumn / fall and a 'hot' year in general. Like it has actually been the warmest year on record up to now and we have literally just had the mildest November on record too, so its bizarre.

It is like the stars have aligned perfectly though with Greenland blocking to allow a prolonged freezing cold northeasterly airflow coming down directly from the arctic and Scandinavia. Similar to what happened in 2010, only sea surface temps are much higher this time and 850hPa temps are a bit warmer too. We have still got -9C / hPa temps over London and my area next week though. That is pretty concerning. We didn't have anything as cold as that last winter and yet we have this coming in early-mid December after the mildest November ever.

 

I am still yet to even record an air frost here. The lowest so far has been 0.4C / 33F a few weeks back. We have had an exceptionally mild autumn / fall. However in 72-96 hours time I could be facing -7C / 18F temps as a severe arctic plunge hits us from the Scandinavian Arctic. The coldest night looks to be Wednesday or Thursday, when I could expect -7C / 18F here potentially. If so that will be colder than anything I experienced last winter, and colder than anything in 3 of the past 4 winters, with the exception of the Jan 2021 freeze. So it's a significant cold snap for us. Wisley and Farnborough are my two nearest Met stations and they look absolutely frigid. I hope they are overstating the minima being forecasted.

 

The warmest parts of London by the Thames could see 5 consecutive nighttime frosts, which is very unusual. The last time that happened was January 2021 I think and then before that the February 2018 freeze as well. So it is arguably going to be in the top 3 worst freezes over the past 4-5 years. Although some would laugh at an ultimate low of -1C / 30F in central and eastern London. I suppose that is a testament to how mild it really is there, if this is still one of the worst freezes in several years.

[Chester B]

We had snow starting overnight, and it resulted in 12 hours of snow showers.  Temps above us are much colder than at ground level so it has mostly been melting on contact.  Trace amounts of snow by midday but we've now turned to drizzle.  No temps below freezing last night or tonight.

 

[BeyondTheGarden]

@Chester B this illustrates the difference between our climates, despite the mere ~2 hour difference in lattitude.  We're on our 3rd or 4th snow even this winter, can't remember.  None have been major but we've had a little accumulation with each event.  Local schools and Ft Lewis were on a 2 hour delay earlier this week, and probably should have been one more day.  

We've been into the low twenties 3 times so far, and the mid/upper twenties several times more.  Stopped counting.  And a handful of times, between 30-32.   

[Las Palmas Norte]

4 hours ago, UK_Palms said:

We are about to get hit by the worst December freeze since the infamous 2010 event. ...

Yours arrives just as we're about to leave our cold snap behind. It'll still be chilly and below average, but on the plus side and some rain. It was our first snow this season, but it was monumental.