NH Winter/SH Summer 2021-2022 Discussion Thread

Officially a high/low of -7.8c(18f)/-15.3c(4f) at YVR (Vancouver international airport) today.



-7.8c(18f) = 17th coldest daily high on record* for Vancouver.
Coldest daily high temperature since -8.7c(16f) on November 27, 1985.

-15.3c(4f) = 22nd coldest temperature on record* for Vancouver.
Coldest temperature since -16.1c(3f) on January 29, 1969.



*Records back to 1898
*1898-1936 data from Downtown Vancouver station
*1937-present data from YVR (Vancouver international airport)

Catastrophic Fire Danger Heading To Coastal WA
( source: Weatherzone )

A catastrophic fire danger rating has been issued for the Gascoyne coast for the first time in five years, as an intense heatwave over Western Australia carries on.

Conditions have been anything but cool for the last week over WA, with temperatures soring into the mid-to-high forties over the last few weeks. Some standout temperatures have been:

42.3°C at Perth on the 25th, its hottest Christmas Day on record

47.3°C at Geraldton on the 25th, its hottest December day in 114 years of records

41.2°C at Bunbury on the 26th, its hottest day of any month in 56 years of records

47.9°C at Mardie on 20th, this month's hottest temperature in Australia so far

An overnight ‘low’ of 32.3°C at Port Hedland on 28th, its hottest min of any month in 109 years of records

Thanks to the blistering heat, bone-dry conditions have persisted over much of the state. The dew-point temperature (the temperature at which you would have to cool the air to get it to 100% relative humidity) have fallen below freezing in some parts. At 9am Wednesday, Carnarvon temperature was 39.3°C, with a dew-point temperature of –1.0°C, making for a mere 8% relative humidity.

The final ingredient to catastrophic fire dangers is strong winds, something the state hasn’t been short of during this hot period. Winds have been gusting to 40-60km/h each day for almost every location. While this isn’t anything like the strongest winds the state can see, after many days and weeks in a row of these conditions, there is not much moisture left to slow down blazes.

Image: Fire Danger Ratings and Temperatures at midday WST

Fortunately, a break in the heat is coming over the next few days. A cold front will start to cross the far south on Thursday 30th, drawing the hot air into the WA interior and away from the coasts. This will allow much cooler and comfortable seabreezes to reach coastal cities and will drastically reduce the fire danger and heat. However, the heat will start to return to coast once more from around Sunday 2nd.

warm southeast, chilly but about average northeast. airmass change about at northern Virginia

Through 28 days, Fort Collins is currently 6.7 f above average this December, good for 3rd warmest.

This will be the warmest last 2 months, last 3 months, and last 4 months of the year on record. 

The average temperature since June 1st is a full 2 f (!) warmer than the previous warmest June-December ever. Assuming no more precipitation falls, it’ll be the 2nd driest such period as well after 1939.

May alone will have 250% of the precipitation in the last 7 months of the year combined showing just how dry it’s been. The combination of record warmth and record dryness has us in the “extreme drought” category per the US drought monitor—the 2nd worst category.

Rain, sleet and snow expected during various points of the day. Hope it's not much rain, we have a nice 16 cm snowpack in Turku. -1C, but expected to rise to 3C this evening.

Not much activity over Northern Australia

Nor much happening over the whole continebt it seems.