A few Friday night thoughts

(See Sunday notes at end of post.)Well, what's in store for our future now that the high pressure is prepping to move east? There's no lack of Wazillas trying to knock down our doors. In fact, it appears that various pulses of water vapor coming out of Siberia are stacked up like airliners in a busy airport landing pattern. Currently the jetstream is largely zonal until its hits the high pressure wall. Once the high departs, the zonal flow will blow straight onshore along the Western US coast. Be sure to click the SST Map (sea Surface Temps) on your left. There's been an interesting anomaly developing in the heart of the Eastern Pacific. Currently, it's core is 2.59 degrees centigrade above normal. Keep an eye on this. Likewise, keep an eye on that east-west area west of South America that appears to be cooling rapidly. It could be a precursor of a weak resurgence of La Niña. It's obviously too early to tell right now but things are cooling down rapidly there. Watch it!

I suspect we haven't seen the last of the impacts of the summertime volcanic ash that's circulating in the Arctic latitudes. Even though it's been "hot" in Alaska lately, there's a lot of cold air om the arctic latitudes--very frigid up there! (See note below.) The winds in the Central Gulf of Alaska are medium stout right now but their are kicking up 18-20 waves. Check good ol' buoy 49001 to see for yourself.

This has been a wonderful mid-winter break--amazing in scope and power. It's ending soon--you can already see the patterns developing for its departure. Enjoy this weekend--get out and do something really unusual for January--because soon it's "back to the future" and the future is Winter! I'd guess we have 4-6 weeks more winter before the seasonal tilt of earth's axis loosens winter's grip on our latitudes.

Personally, I'm expecting another round of medium decent Pacific storms to begin to pulse ashore soon--building in intensity as the jetstream refocuses it's wrath on the western states. It's time to give the Midwest and the East Coast a well-deserved break! It's going to be our turn once again soon.

Well, that's about all I have to say about it tonight. Maybe tomorrow we will have some different thoughts. Thank you for reading and have a great and glorious weekend!

Sunday thoughts: The high is still there, looking perhaps even stronger. Click the Navy water vapor to see for yourself. Despite the warm chinook winds in Alaska, there still has to be some frigid air up in those latitudes. Consider this from Fairbanks: "The temperature never rose above 20 below for 16 straight days from Dec. 27 to Jan. 11. The low temperature was 40 below or colder on 14 of those days."

Look at Saturday's highs!

CHECK THIS OUT! The Saturday high temperature near Glacier National Park is progged to be HIGHER that the temps on the Gulf Coast and the Georgia Atlantic Coast! What? Have the Weather Gods lost their minds? This is amazing! (Note added Sunday morning: It was 20 degrees warmers in Anchorage, Alaska, than Alabama!)You can click this sentence to go to the map as it may appear in real time. I grabbed this picture Friday evening. It might be different tomorrow. But the bottom line is that you won't see this again in January--and possibly not in any January again in your entire lifetime!

(Additional Sunday morning note: Turns out the now famous high pressure system pumped a chinook into Alaska and Fairbanks got to 54 degrees! Here's the full story of the Fairbanks high temps records.

Wazilla vs. Super High

Ladies & Gentlemen, in this corner we have Wazilla, Conqueror of The West, and in this corner we have Super High--the most powerful January phenomena we've seen along the Coast in many a year. As Wadzilla and Super High come into the Pacific Ring of Fire--watch them collide with the massive force of the juggernauts they are. WOW--what a show they are putting on for you, Ladies & Gentlemen!

Seriously, this is one of the best displays of the "blocking" affect of a strong high pressure system. The water laden low pressure troughs are literally "hitting the wall" on the west edge of this high pressure system. It's really impressive and due to hang around possibly to the middle of next week. Eventually, it will break down and move downstream, dissipating into the data dust bin of climatological history. WHile it's here and strutting its stuff, it sure is an awesome sight to behold. Enjoy!

80 degrees @ Monterrey, CA on 13JAN!

Well, I would never make it as TV weather guy--not unless somebody dressed up my maps for me! From the looks of the goofy doodles on the map above, I'd never make it as a graffiti artist either. As you can see a huge chunk of the West is living under the influence of a gigantic high pressure system. This puppy is so big, it's making the jetstream turn almost 90 degrees north and then arch clear up into Alaska before bending back to head into the Midwest. Farther West, way out in the Pacific, there's a lot of high pressure. The big question is whether subsequent pressure areas will come and follow the one we have right now. What's it going to take to break this pattern and send us back to winter weather? Who knows? Right now it looks like we have a planetary scale pattern in place that could dominate Pacific for some time to come.

A LOT of new record high temps were recorded along the California Coast Tuesday. Amazing figures such as 75 degrees at the San Francisco Airport were logged. Records will be broken today, too but values will be a few degrees less. Just trying to imagine 80 degrees at Monterrey in January is truly mind-bending!

Meanwhile, attention is turning the weather for January 20 when Obama will be sworn in. Click here for a great historical look at such days. The Eastern half of the Nation is getting bodyslammed by cold weather. Luckily, it's supposed to ease to 35 degrees in DC by next Tuesday with mostly sunny skies.

Say HI to your HIGH!

Guess who's coming to dinner? He's big, he's coming from California and he's HIGH! Oh, gawd! A few days ago back when we spoofed that snake out in the Pacific, we kinda thought there would be a giant high pressure system taking up residence in the Great Basin and Southwest US. Today, it looks virtually certain that this high pressure will soon move in for a visit. Below are some Sunday morning snippets from various western AFD's. Please take time to note and ponder the comments out of Las Vegas. MOST interesting!

(Pocatello)--BY THURSDAY THE STRONG HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE ALONG THE WEST COAST MOVES INLAND WITH AGREEMENT OF ALL EXTENDED MODELS. THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY SHOULD BE SHOWER FREE EVERYWHERE IN SOUTHEAST IDAHO. SOME HIGH CIRRUS CLOUDS CONTINUE TO DRIFT THROUGH. OTHERWISE THE MAIN WEATHER TRENDS WILL BE FOR A WIDER DIURNAL TEMPERATURES SPREAD AND THE POSSIBILITY OF PATCHY FOG UNDER STRONG SUBSIDENCE INVERSION.

(ELKO) SHORT TERM...CURRENTLY HAVE A 595DM RIDGE CENTERED AT ABOUT 300 MILES OFF THE NORTHERN CA COAST...MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT THIS MORNING THROUGH NEXT WEEK. HIGH PRESSURE CENTERED NEAR THE CALIFORNIA COAST ON TUESDAY NIGHT WILL BECOME MORE PROGRESSIVE IN THE FOLLOWING DAYS WHILE MAINTAINING STRENGTH.

(LAS VEGAS) LONG TERM...I HAD SOME TIME TONIGHT WITH THE QUIET WX TO LOOK THIS UP BUT FOUND IT INTERESTING...ALL 3 PREVIOUS DECEMBERS WHERE LAS VEGAS HAS SEEN AT LEAST AN INCH OF SNOW FALL WERE FOLLOWED BY A JANUARY WITH EITHER A TRACE OR 0.01 INCH OF LIQUID PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH. WHILE ONLY TIME WILL TELL IF THIS JANUARY WILL FOLLOW SUCH AN ANALOGUE THE LATEST LONG RANGE MODELS REMAIN CONSISTENT WITH KEEPING A HIGHLY AMPLIFIED PATTERN LOCKED IN ACROSS THE US THROUGH THE EARLY PART OF NEXT WEEK. A VERY STRONG 500 MB HIGH IS FORECAST TO BUILD INTO NORCAL WEDNESDAY WHILE A DEEP TROUGH PERSISTS IN THE EASTERN US. THIS STRONG RIDGE WILL RESULT IN 700 MB TEMPS OF +4C TO +6C BY THE END OF THIS WEEK WHICH WILL RESULT IN WELL ABOVE NORMAL TEMPS IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS...WITH TEMPS IN SOME INSTANCES AS WARM IF NOT WARMER THAN VALLEYS WHERE INVERSIONS WILL LIMIT JUST HOW WARM THINGS GET.

(FLAGSTAFF) BY TUESDAY WE EXPECT A WARMING TREND TO START...WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES 8 TO 10 DEGREES ABOVE SEASONAL NORMALS LASTING THROUGH FRIDAY.

(RENO) HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN 8-15 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL...OR IN THE 50S AT MOST ELEVATIONS THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK.