Climaticly, things are warming up!

[Resident 2B]

I always enjoy the 25th of January. The reason is that we are now warming up as far as daily averages are concerned. This week marks the dead of winter, but we have a bit more daylight each day, the sun is getting a bit higher in the sky each day, and the daily max, measured in Concord, NH has started its climb upward.

Hang in there, spring is coming!

The recent weather has been a bit boring as far as storms go. maybe a little something in the way of snow on Tuesday, but it would be more due to frontal movement than from a real storm.

Winter is not over by a long shot, but things are starting to warm up.

R2B

[HomeWood]

They have a place for people like you. It's called Florida!!! Grab your palm flower shirts and white shoes

[Sunrise Point]

Yes, the days are getting longer. The geraniums are starting to bloom in my sunny windows. Does it seem warmer? Not to me, not yet, but I am looking forward to it!

We still have February to get through. And yes, Florida is very warm this time of year, but I like New Hampshire.

[CanisLupusArctos]

Originally Posted by Sunrise Point

We still have February to get through. And yes, Florida is very warm this time of year, but I like New Hampshire.

Only February? Last year, Ice-in was happening right about this date, and February marked the beginning of a winter that lasted until April 18 -- our last snow of the season. The coldest weather came in March.

For all its unpredictability and storminess, northern New England amazingly has one of the least hazardous climates in the world. We're not on-edge all summer long from hurricanes and 'category-3' is about the strongest we ever get. Tornadoes are uncommon enough that we remember each one for years. Landslides and wildfires are 100-year events, and when our rivers flood, they only submerge neighborhoods instead of whole towns. Our heavy winter snowfalls gradually seep into the ground when it thaws, permitting our water faucets to keep working during a long sunny summer. Even our snowstorms aren't heavy enough to necessitate the presence of permanently-installed closure gates at our highway exits, as they have in most western states.

When you think about it, the worst adversity we regularly face from our climate is that we have to alter our travel plans in winter storms and occasionally dress to prevent frostbite. It's pretty amazing, considering that we're the most stormy climate region in the world.

[HomeWood]

Stormiest region in the world? Wow, never would have thought that. Your knowledge of weather amazes me, I'd trust your forecast over any TV guy.
R2B, weather is a hobby of yours too right?

[CanisLupusArctos]

Originally Posted by HomeWood

Stormiest region in the world? Wow, never would have thought that. Your knowledge of weather amazes me, I'd trust your forecast over any TV guy.

Thank you. I often check this forum to see what R2B and Rose are thinking! The TV guys do the same - call friends working at other stations - but they have an ever-increasing struggle with the news staff when it comes to reporting storms. When Ed Carroll was still working at Ch. 4 in Boston he told me he didn't enjoy telling the newsroom about an impending storm (because of the hype factor.) You may notice the conflict - in order to compensate for overly-excited reporters generating ratings with "The most complete storm coverage ever," a meteorologist must say words like "...IF..." and "...potential..." louder.

New England's designation as stormiest place on Earth was a surprise to me when I did a climatology research paper on it in college. All the other "weather-notorious' places on earth didn't stand up to New England's mix of parameters when I put the numbers next to each other. I couldn't find anywhere else where everything mixes all at once as often as it does here. I would've thought I'd find some sort of competition from the Himalayas, but they didn't even rank with the 'bad weather places.' Annual monsoons, from one direction... and other than that, nuthin'. Alaska coast? Windy and wet, but usually in the 30s all winter. That's Cape Cod weather, except it only comes from one general direction and on Cape Cod they never know where it'll come from next. Antarctica? Cold, but dry. It's a desert. The only reason they have glaciers so thick is because all the snow they've gotten in the last 12,000 years is still on the ground. If they had our climate, those glaciers might get high enough to qualify as a ski jump for astronauts. Well, not quite, but you get the idea... To rival New England's climate, a place has to regularly combine wind, extreme temps, and heavy precipitation *and* it has to be able to come from any direction at any time of year. I couldn't find that combination in the records of anywhere else.

For that reason, mountaineers call Mount Washington "The smallest of the big (world-class) mountains." There have even been Mt. Everest climbers who've gotten into trouble on Mt. Washington! Part of the "Everest" IMAX movie was filmed on Mt. Washington after the Dave Breshears film crew had to put their cameras down while partaking in the massive rescue of other climbers injured/killed by a storm on Mt. Everest while they were there. To re-create the fatal storm for the film, they came here. It's noted in the credits at the end. The film crew used Mount Washington's *typical* winter conditions. The mountain's more extreme conditions would've prevented them from going outside for more than a few minutes without getting injured.

[hazelnut]

I guess this is why they recorded the highest wind gust ever there:

During a wild April storm in 1934, a wind gust of 231 miles per hour (372 kilometers per hour) pushed across the summit of Mount Washington. This wind speed still stands as the all-time surface wind speed record. Below are excerpts from then-observer Alex McKenzie's book The Way It Was which accounts in detail the experience of documenting and living to tell the tale of a 231 mph wind.

http://www.mountwashington.org/about...recordwind.php

[SIKSUKR]

I think one thing CLP mentioned in his post stands out when talking about NE weather.It's not so much the sustained cold,warm,winds,and storms and the like that stand out.All of those are far worse in other parts of the world.The difference in my mind is when CLA refers to the extremes.We have huge extremes here in NE.I remember having a 100,yes 100 degree swing in temps within 2 days in different parts of NE.We had 30 below in Whitefield NH and 2 days later it was in the seventies in Mass.Maybe CLA can find out when that happend.The extremes variations are what make this part of the world unique.

[CanisLupusArctos]

I just Googled it; I don't know when that happened. It does ring a bell, though. I want to say it was in the last few years... anyone know for sure?

[Weirs guy]

I seem to remember a 60 - 70 degree swing around 1992 in Franklin, NH. Maybe thats the time frame. It stands out 'cause its the only time I played tennis in shorts on a snow covered court!