By MARK HANOK
Instead of moving from
west to east, during the
past week the jet stream
has been diving southward
from northern Canada to
the northern Great Plains,
along the east side of a
large ridge of high pressure
that has remained stationary
over the Pacific Northwest
and northern Rockies.
West of the jet stream,
temperatures have averaged
above normal throughout
most of Montana, even
though arctic air has been
dipping southward not far
to the east, like North Dakota
where highs have been
in the single digits.
With a very strong
northwest flow aloft, a series
of Alberta clippers have
been racing southeastward,
bringing snow to our region
every few days, but except
for the snowstorm on Saturday,
snowfall has been
light. During the upcoming
week, the very cold, arctic
air will continue in place on
Friday, followed by a gradual
moderation in temperature
over the weekend.
On Friday, arctic high
pressure will slide south
and east to New York State
and New England, and with
very cold, extremely dry air
in place, skies will be mostly
sunny with highs only in
the single digits.
As milder air aloft pushes
up and over the very cold
air at the surface, we’ll get
more cloudiness on Saturday.
With variable cloudiness
and breaks of sunshine,
there’s the chance of
snow showers, and highs
from 10 to 15 degrees.
Temperatures will finally
reach the low 20’s on
Sunday, on a southwest
flow ahead of low pressure
over the western Great
Lakes. Skies will be mostly
cloudy with occasional light
snow. Monday will feature
partly sunny skies and
highs in the mid to upper
20’s. Following a cold front
Monday night, northwesterly
winds will return on
Tuesday, with partly sunny
skies and the chance of
snow showers, with highs
from 22 to 27 degrees.
Although the wind on
Thursday told a story of
bright sunshine in Otsego
County, most local weather
forecasts on Friday called
for a mostly cloudy day
with occasional snow showers.
The brisk northwest
winds continued around a
huge storm system in Newfoundland,
and after snow
showers in the morning,
skies were mostly sunny in
the afternoon, as cold, very
dry air pushed southward
from eastern Canada, with
highs in the low 20’s. Lakeeffect
snows stayed to the
west, over western New
York. An Alberta clipper
tracked eastward from central
Illinois early in the
morning to southern Ohio
by evening. Very cold, very
dry arctic air was in place
over the Northeast, with a
low of 22 degrees below zero
at Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks.
The air was so dry that
it took all morning for snow
to get from north central
Pennsylvania to the central
Southern Tier, finally
reaching the Cooperstown
area during the early afternoon.
Snow continued through
the evening and overnight,
with 6” to 8” of snow across
our region.
Mark Hanok is an Otegobased
meteorologist. You
can visit him on the World
Wide Web at http://members.
aol.com/weathergazette.
