Happy New Year! Not too often do I get to have my column published on the first day of a new year, but today it is. I certainly hope you are enjoying this fine winter weekend holiday.
It felt a little like winter on Saturday with a good frost in many areas and icy roadways as well. That resulted from the active cold front on Friday that lowered temperatures and piled some fresh powder in the mountains. Good thing as it was getting pretty barren up there on the slopes.
Looks like we will have a chance of rain most of this coming week with rather mild temperatures for January, with highs 45-50 and lows upper 30s to mid-40s. I don’t see any freezing temperatures this week at all.
Believe it or not I noticed some crocus and daffodils pushing upwards through the damp earth Saturday. Seems maybe a bit early but no one has told nature to hold on. I am not a horticulturist but I think we still need some cold weather to harden things off and make for a good season with the trees and such.
Now, I am not going to hold my chilly breath just yet over this one, but we may see some cold weather coming our way in the near future, maybe. I just hate to add that “maybe” word. Long range forecast models, at least a couple, hint that the flow of air will be such that we could receive some arctic air after say, Jan. 9 or 10. That opens the door for a chance of snow too.
Of course that is a ways out and I haven’t been particularly impressed with the way the computer models keep suggesting a change in the weather pattern. But it is certainly something to watch out for. I mean, sooner or later, we should get a taste of old man winter eh?
Looking back to 2011 it seems to me from observation that winter was a little late, not really going until late January into February and March. Spring was early and kind of carried on the chill and wetness of winter. Summer was way late and meshed in with autumn. Winter so far has yet to really arrive in my book so here we are again in a similar situation as last year.
Last year we were concerned about the mountain snowpack on New Year’s day but February through April erased those fears. Weather is sometimes unpredictable and wavers from one extreme to another.
Well, I have my ice scrapper and gloves in the car and my weather eye peeled towards the north, so let it snow, baby.
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://weathersystems.com.
