"What we have here is a FAILURE to COMMUNICATE."
- From the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke starring Paul Newman
11:00 AM 3/4 (Long Range Team) Operational Note: We've been notified of many school closings that were initially two-hour delays. Apparently the cold is so intense that our request for a cancellation of future cold on behalf of the districts FROZE while being typed on an iPhone outdoors.
The ensuing Phone shutdown caused a delay in being able to reassure schools that temperatures would be warming up again. We are mediating a contract settlement between Old Man Winter and Mother Nature to at least provide for an on-time arrival of appropriate Spring weather on or about March 20. However, one of the "poison pill" provisions that was in the earlier buyout plan for March included several late-season events. We are working out the relevant details (that our legal team is allowing us to share with the public) and will post said information this afternoon.
10:45 AM 3/3 (Long Range Team) As the Arctic Attack from Canada and the Upper Midwest moves east, has brought with it the coldest daytime snowfall some have seen in 10+ years. For areas of the Mid-Atlantic still under Winter Storm Warnings, not since February 17, 2003 have temperatures been THIS COLD, this late in the season, while snow is falling!
The ensuing Phone shutdown caused a delay in being able to reassure schools that temperatures would be warming up again. We are mediating a contract settlement between Old Man Winter and Mother Nature to at least provide for an on-time arrival of appropriate Spring weather on or about March 20. However, one of the "poison pill" provisions that was in the earlier buyout plan for March included several late-season events. We are working out the relevant details (that our legal team is allowing us to share with the public) and will post said information this afternoon.
10:45 AM 3/3 (Long Range Team) As the Arctic Attack from Canada and the Upper Midwest moves east, has brought with it the coldest daytime snowfall some have seen in 10+ years. For areas of the Mid-Atlantic still under Winter Storm Warnings, not since February 17, 2003 have temperatures been THIS COLD, this late in the season, while snow is falling!
It also begs the question that we know many have lingering in their mind (or screaming at the forefront)... ARE WE DONE or is there MORE?? A look at long range indications heading into March show the answer is, sadly, no. Factors including Central Pacific warming that is signaling the eventual return of El Nino this Spring and Summer. This in turn could be related to model projections for an increasingly active Equatorial Pacific to Gulf of Mexico as a source of enhanced moisture input for future storms. If you combine this with the Climate Prediction Center's call for a rising probability of below normal temps now to MARCH 16 for the Eastern U.S., that means a phrase few of us want to hear OR see: More Winter-like Storms.
It would seem whomever is processing Mother Nature's emails and twitter account is suffering from a case of communication breakdown: We CLEARLY requested in writing a cease and desist order for this weather. What are your thoughts on the pattern ahead?
(Forecasters Foot, Long Range Coordinator Nic R. and the LR Team)