Brutal Winter Predicted for U.S.

[progressoid]

The AccuWeather.com Long-Range Forecasting Team is predicting another brutally cold and snowy winter for a large part of the country, thanks in large part to La Niña... yet again.

...

The way the jet stream is expected to be positioned during this winter's La Niña will tend to drive storms through the Midwest and Great Lakes. Last year, the jet stream steered storms farther east along the Northeast coast, hammering the Interstate 95 corridor.

Therefore, instead of New York City enduring the worst of winter this year, it will likely be Chicago.

"The brunt of the winter season, especially when dealing with cold, will be over the north-central U.S.," stated Paul Pastelok, expert long-range meteorologist and leader of the AccuWeather.com Long-Range Forecasting Team.




Southwest, Texas Stay Parched and Warmer than Normal

"Mild and dry" will unfortunately be the mantra this winter for much of Texas and the Southwest, a region that desperately needs rain. Texas continues to suffer through the worst drought in its history.





http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=brutal-winter-predicted-for-us

[UrbScotty]

1. Making it more brutal: Republican candidtes on TV all the time

claiming that this is proof positive that global warming doesn't exist.

Never mind something called "climate change."

[kwolf68]

2. And this is why climate change is so complex

And just yearly temperatures can't be used as an argument. I remember last year when it was snowing and unseasonably cold in April, climate-change deniers used the, "its cold" argument the same way our side uses very hot temperatures.

This issue is much too complex by proving/disproving one side or the other because it was really cold/hot one week.

Climate change IS happening...that's a fact, I've seen the data, I am not concerned, but ...

cold weather will be used to propagandize and give doubt to scientist advancing the idea of climate change in much the same way George burns was used to 'prove' that smoking wasn't really bad for you.

[Scuba]

3. That's not very far out on the limb for those of us here in Wisconsin. n/t

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. Snow becomes shelter: Igloos!

Stupid idea or useful idea?

[KamaAina]

5. I do not like the look of that "More ice than snow" belt draped across the Mid-South

and neither, I'll wager, does my friend who's just starting an organic CSA farm in northern Mississippi. :scared:

http://www.tubbycreekfarm.com

[NickB79]

6. Oh please. They said the same thing last winter

All I heard all winter long was "We're finally having a good ole-fashioned Minnesota winter, just like we used to have years ago."

Sure, we got a lot of snow (5th-snowiest on record, I believe), but when you took a look at the "bitterly cold" temperatures, the coldest it got in the Twin Cities area was approximately -20F. While that might sound pretty bad anywhere else, here in MN that's nothing like how winters used to be. That would have been balmy 15 yr ago. In 1996, for example, we had -40F air temperatures; -60F if you factored in the wind chill.

My pawpaw, medlar, and persimmon trees (all species of fruit trees unheard of growing in Minnesota 20 yr ago) shrugged it off like it was nothing and put on another foot or two of growth this summer.

[RagAss]

7. It's been Brutal in the U.S. since Reagan !!!!!!!

[truebrit71]

8. Last winter sucked here in Chicago...had a feeling we were gonna get it again this year...

...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. "Brutal" is normal for this neck of the woods.

Looks like it will actually be a little less brutal than last winter, just regular brutal.

[zappaman]

10. All that snow proves global warming is bullshit!

says the clueless dittohead.

[ThomWV]

13. Until it melts.

[Edim]

11. Interesting

Interesting development.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.html


Some forecasts for Nino-3.4 are colder than -2.5 °C, around March 2012.

[RebelOne]

12. Looks like Georgia will be spared any brutal winter this year.

We had very harsh weather this past winter. Georgia is not accustomed to a lot of snow and ice, which we had. People here (me included) do not know how to drive on icy streets, and we do not have the equipment to clear all the roads. The interstate highways are usually cleared, but not in the outlying areas were I live.

[benld74]

14. Use NOAA, all Accuweather does is take NOAA data and make it pretty like USAToday does

[Bonhomme Richard]

15. That prediction is in line with my Hickory tree.

We have lived here in CT for 25 years and every year our Hickory tree dropped a lot of nuts we had mild winters.
Just sayin'

[AverageJoe90]

16. I kinda wonder if this'll be a repeat of '83-'84, or '84-'85?

This country got hit with brutal winters, twice in a row, during those 15 months.