With all that snowy hoopla over the weekend, I forgot to welcome you to the solar winter. Essentially, we are entering a period with the darkest – wait, that’s a little too depressing, let’s use ‘lowest sun angle’ – of the year. The “season” runs through January 31st, then we enter the solar spring on the first of February.
I know what you’re thinking. This is “winter”? Obviously, the cold lags behind the solar seasons, so meteorological winter will have to wait until the 1st of December, and the astronomical winter will come on the 21st of December this year.
While we wait for those milestones, the pattern remains active in the East. Two separate storms will swing through New England in the next 7 days: one on Thursday/Friday and another Sunday/Monday. Exact timing has yet to be pinned down for both systems, but they promise soaking rain with a sharp jab of cold air behind. Right now the cold and precipitation are NOT in synch, so ‘snowy episodes’ are now out of the picture.
The whole cold/snow/freeze affair is in shambles to be honest with you. We had 4 hours of snowshowers on Sunday morning in Boston, but we haven’t even seen our first freeze of the season. Portland, Maine saw 1/2″ of snow accumulate before they saw their first freeze of the season last night.
Last week I said I thought the cold would take a back seat in the coming weeks, but after a through read of the weather maps today, that idea has changed. Colder temps will seize the Midwest/East through at least the middle of the month – perhaps even longer.
We’ll see.
Pete