Weird weather

[Admin]

I never thought I'd see snow at 53 degrees, but that's precisely what I saw driving home from work today. More graupel than anything else, but snow nonetheless.

Now it's dropped to 43 degrees only an hour later and big, fluffy flakes are falling on my green grass. This should be a big storm in the Wasatch Mountains. \/

 

[SoCal Rider]

evaporative cooling :?:

 

[Tony Crocker]

The clouds are very cold so when they condense it snows. The air near the ground may be warmer but gravity may bring the snow down before it completely melts. Worst case scenario will be slush or graupel.

Unfortunately in the East you often get the opposite: warm clouds, colder air lower, the rain freezes as it falls and you get an ice storm. I've been skiing in the West since 1976 and I've never seen an ice storm on a ski trip. I recall one at college in New Jersey.

 

[Admin]

You're both right.

 

[Jonny D]

I recall one at college in New Jersey.

I'm sure that Patrick will recall one from not to many years ago :shock:

 

[Patrick]

I recall one at college in New Jersey.

I'm sure that Patrick will recall one from not to many years ago :shock:

Oh yeah. The Great Ice Storm of 1998. I actually only missed 2-3 hours of electricity, however the worst hit of my friends didn't have any power in over 21 days (Eastern Ontario, South Shore Montreal, St.Jean).

As for the snow comment, I'm not a meteorologist so I'm not sure and the rain/freezing rain in the East versus the West. By the way we got some snow in Ottawa this week and temps were above freezing.

 

[SoCal Rider]

I recall one at college in New Jersey.

I'm sure that Patrick will recall one from not to many years ago :shock:

Oh yeah. The Great Ice Storm of 1998. I actually only missed 2-3 hours of electricity, however the worst hit of my friends didn't have any power in over 21 days (Eastern Ontario, South Shore Montreal, St.Jean).

As for the snow comment, I'm not a meteorologist so I'm not sure and the rain/freezing rain in the East versus the West. By the way we got some snow in Ottawa this week and temps were above freezing.

I don't know about ice storms in California, but Portland has had em' - a pretty bad one around Christmas 04.

well i was pretty close on timeframe: http://www.oregonphotos.com/Ice%20Storm%202004.htmlPortland ice attack

 

[snowave]

I've also seen it snow at around 50 degrees in Colorado a few times..

This is fairly typical in semi-arid environements..

 

[Tony Crocker]

My guess is that the orographic uplift at most western mountains would make the warm-clouds-over-colder-ground scenario extremely rare. Does anyone know what the weather was in the Cascades or on Mt. Hood during that Portland ice storm? My guess is that warm cloud cooled below freezing as it rose over the Cascades and dumped snow (probably of the cement variety) there.