Snow Cover Expanding Southward...

One thing I always watch out for during the heart of Winter is...how far south does the snow cover extend?  Why is that important to us?  For one thing, snow is a great reflector of incoming solar radiation, plus it allows night time lows to really dip.  If the snow cover extends close to us, that doesn't give the Arctic air coming out of Canada much time to moderate.

You can tell snow cover on satellite pictures because you can see the river outlines.  The second view I added the snow cover line which extends almost down to the Arkansas border.   Another snow storm, now the system on the West Coast, will add on to this blanket already there.   What starts to make me nervous is when i see building cold air in Alaska & Canada.

We haven't seen the 30-40+ below zero air in many weeks.   What we don't want to see now is the upper trough that's over the west shift to the East coast giving the cold air a straight path into the U.S.

The top graphic is today's upper flow with the trough over the west.  The bottom graphic is valid 10 days from now with almost a "Polar Vortex" looking set up over the Great Lakes.  If that proves reality, we could be dealing with a southern snow storm &/or freezing temperatures down to our coast.  Plenty of time to watch.    Some of our coldest record lows have happened in February.

We've enjoyed lots of sunshine today with temperatures staying in the 50s.  A light freeze is possible north of the Lake tonight with a slow warming beginning on Friday.   The California system will march across the country over the weekend bringing us a cold front late Sunday.  Models are predicting a major Nor'Easter will develop for Sunday and Monday with snow totals topping 1-2 FEET in the big cities.

Finally, as the nation gets ready to endure several weeks of really nasty Winter weather, President Biden signed executive orders regarding climate change/global warming.

Those of you who are quick to cheer these actions should know there are often unintended consequences.   There are usually key phrases used to promote the fight to stop climate change...carbon neutrality,  $2 trillion dollar investment (carbon taxes), existential threat, etc, etc, etc.  You know I'm a believer in climate CYCLES and that our current warming has been enhanced by the addition of 4-5+ billion people who exhale CO2.  My worry is scientists are trying to get us to believe that IF we cut carbon emissions, the climate will stop warming.  But what about the other green house gases like methane?  We can't stop the methane seepages in the oceans or the flatulence of cows. Do I think the right path is to shift to cleaner fuels?  Absolutely!  However, abandoning fossil fuels will harm many without making much difference in helping stop a warming world.  More to come.  Stay tuned!