Don’t know if you’ve heard about this former typhoon (hurricane) in the Pacific that’s heading up to the Bering Sea for a weekend of wind, epic waves and general atmospheric mayhem, but it’s going to make it cold here next week.
Wait. Huh?
It’s a known fact in the weather world that the atmosphere is always trying to strike a balance. When deep storms form, the air moves to fill the void and the greater the storm, the greater the ripple effect around the world. Former Typhoon Nuri is no exception. It could set records for it’s size and pressure in the Bering Sea this weekend, and it’s affects in North America will be a return of the very cold air to parts of the Lower 48.
But let’s cut through the mumbo jumbo about the return of the Polar Vortex, the pending cold and the “Bering Sea Bomb”. The real skinny on all this how it’s affecting the weather pattern over North America. In short, it’s in shambles. Truth be told, the storm is so deep near the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, that the weather models don’t know how to handle it. A consequence of this is the timing of the cold. If you watched over the last few days, the Veterans Day forecast has gone from 48 to 60. (Now back to 58.) The disturbance in the force (that is Nuri) is causing little ripples in the jetstream that are also causing storms (yes, with snow) to show up on our maps along the east coast….then fade away 12 hrs. later. So here’s the bottom line: my forecast confidence in timing and placement of cold and warmth and possible storms is low. Like way low. Like check-back-tomorrow-night (after Nuri finishes going nuts in the North Pacific) to-get-a-better-read-on-next-week low.
Now look. This cold that’s coming has been dubbed “cold like we haven’t seen in years” (in November). But that’s for the Midwest and Northern Plains. Here in New England, it’s not record-setting, it’s not something that will have you cleaning out the nearest supermarket, not anything that will freeze you pipes or cause delays on the T, but certainly cold enough for hard freezes in the morning and highs in the upper 30s to low 40s. In short, New England cold. And it should arrive (see above disclaimer) late next week.
In the meantime, we’re slowly moderating the temperatures starting Sunday and seemingly warding off storms at the same time. Highs tomorrow are a lil’ taste of what’s to come as we struggle to meet 50 in many spots.
Enjoy the weekend and remember: don’t believe the hype.
Pete