Dry-winter forecasts miss mark

[ben_meyers]

Dry-winter forecasts were flat wrong this year for much of Colorado and the Southwest, and weather experts say they're struggling to understand why the snow just keeps falling.

Some forecasters blame climate change, and others point to the simple vicissitudes of weather. Regardless, almost everyone called for a dry-to-normal winter in Colorado and the Southwest — but today, the state's mountains are piled so thick with snow that state reservoirs could fill and floods could be widespread this spring.

"The polar jet stream has been on steroids. We don't understand this. It's pushing our limits, and it's humbling," said Klaus Wolter, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_8256129

And we can be grateful that they were wrong. Lets hope it refills Lake Mead, we don't need another year like 1965 which was the worst since the Hoover Dam built.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. "weather experts... struggling to understand why the snow just keeps falling. "

could it be the clouds?

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. *snarf* Could be!

[phantom power]

2. And let's talk about the polar jet stream....

because if it's been driving cold polar air to the south, then that means warm air from the south is ending up at the pole.

And all that that implies.

[ben_meyers]

3. Maybe that implies that when the polar jet stream

shifts again that the pole will refreeze and that day to day and season to season weather patterns are unpredictable.

[phantom power]

4. Or maybe it implies that there's a big goddamned heat-exchange in progress.

And the jet stream is just another positive-feedback component to add to the growing list.

[all.of.me]

6. The experts are the local people...

... and people who can read the skies. Last summer and fall, I had three local guys working on my house. Their families have lived here for generations. The first two weeks of September were stormy, stormy, stormy. They said the weather during that time period indicates the winter weather to follow. I had been listening to 'the experts' and expected a warm, dry winter. Hmmmm..... The guys were right. The experts were wrong. Locals are now saying they have not seen snow like this in 20-25 years.

PS - I'm in northern New Mexico.