The timing of actual winter

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drm
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Re: The timing of actual winter

Post by drm » January 3rd, 2022, 8:48 am

I would think that the difference between the coldest time matching the winter solstice and the warmest being after it would be explained by jet stream patterns. November is usually our wettest month, though December is about the same. That means that the jet stream has fully descended south by the time of the solstice, so astronomy and meteorology are in sync. All this happens just a few months after the summer heat, a quick change.

But the transition the other way is very slow, taking six-plus months. Spring, even late spring (think Juneuary), can still be pretty wet here, which means that the jet stream has not ascended north yet. Remember - that happens on July 5th, at least it used to. So the heat has to await the jet stream climbing north into Canada.

Of course that just leaves the question of why the jet stream patterns are out of sync with astronomy. That one I have no idea.

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Chip Down
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Re: The timing of actual winter

Post by Chip Down » January 4th, 2022, 8:13 pm

drm wrote:
January 3rd, 2022, 8:48 am
... the jet stream has not ascended north yet. Remember - that happens on July 5th, at least it used to.
Cute.
I like to tell the story of the day I was climbing Jefferson on July 4th weekend, slept really high, maybe 8500ish, so was at 9000' very early, but the snow was so unbearably soft, I gave up. Couldn't have known it at the time, but that turned out to be the hottest day of that summer.

vacagol
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Re: The timing of actual winter

Post by vacagol » January 25th, 2022, 10:53 pm

Chip Down wrote:
January 4th, 2022, 8:13 pm
drm wrote:
January 3rd, 2022, 8:48 am
... the jet stream has not ascended north yet. Remember - that happens on July 5th, at least it used to.
Cute.
I like to tell the story of the day I was climbing Jefferson on July 4th weekend, slept really high, maybe 8500ish, so was at 9000' very early, but the snow was so unbearably soft, I gave up. Couldn't have known it at the time, but that turned out to be the hottest day of that summer.
When I was younger I though there are no snow in summer even on peaks. When I started hiking, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my opinion was wrong. Snow is really soft in summer, I also noticed it.

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