Snow on Mars and our September Summary

Snow!
Have you noticed the widget on the right side of this blog reporting weather conditions from the Phoenix lander on Mars. It's the Canadian contribution to the mission, and not considered to be biased after reporting snow early in the week. That's right, snow on Mars! There is a polar ice cap, which was thought to be made up of mostly Ammonia and Carbon Dioxide, but this mission is on a search for water and the basic building blocks for life. You can find more in this link.
This image is from one of the digs when the Phoenix uncovered (or can we say unmarsed?) apparent snow just under the surface. This snow report came out on June 20th.


Back on Earth...
Fairbanks, Alaska had their first 1 inch of snow for the season. After record snowfall in Alaska last winter, this round of snow arrived about 2 weeks ahead of normal.
Marquette, Michigan has snow in the forecast for the hills away from Lake Superior tonight. I'm jealous, but will wait at least until November until I start sharpening the edges on my snow board.

Is it me, or did September seem chilly? Not like the snow now in the forecast for Marquette Michigan, but an abrupt end to summer. In fact I remember blogging about some leaves turning in PA on Labor Day Weekend. Well, as it turns out, September in Baltimore averaged temperatures above normal- thanks in part to three 90F+ days in the first week. However, we have not had an 80F day since September 21st (nearly two weeks). Rainfall was almost twice the norm with Tropical Storm Hanna passing on the 6th, and the remnants of that no name storm last week. The wet weather can take the credit for our warmer than normal month. That is due to cloud cover and moist soil that tends to hold the overnight temperatures up a little higher- skewing the overall numbers.
Here is the breakdown:






With this chilly start to October, it will be interesting to see how this month ends up. I am sticking with my earlier projection for another warm up. Typically, this early surge of below normal temperatures will not last. The upper level patter does show a sign of a change trying to develop next week. This is temperature map at 850mb (about 5,000 ft) for Monday evening. The battle developing here is the shift in the ridge of High Pressure from the Ohio Valley, and a trough of Low Pressure coming out of
Colorado and entering Nebraska. That means a warm up for the northern plains, and a return to normal for the Mid Atlantic coast. I will be watching the strong flow and blocking pattern in the North Atlantic, which has allowed a steady flow of cool air down from Eastern Canada. Next week will determine if we can shake that by the middle of October. That cool flow in Canada is what tends to be leading the charge in what could be an early arrival of winter. Another outlook I am holding on to. Stay tuned...

What's The Bigger Story?

Note: BWI had .67" of rain yesterday. We are 1.19" away from the record for wettest May.

Yesterday's high temperature in Phoenix was 108F, setting a record. Baltimore's official high was 57F. That was not a record, but farther away from normal. Looking at the map, I've highlighted that Phoenix was 12 degrees above normal, but Baltimore was 18 degrees below normal. Considering today's media climate, the record high gets the headlines. I think our cool temperatures deserve it.

What do you think?


Oh, there were damaging storms from Atlanta to Charlotte, but it is severe weather season after all- that's par for the course.
a total of 329 severe weather reports yesterday. Most wind and hail, but there were 4 tornadoes.

Today will be a little more tame, but a chilly north west wind gusting to 25 mph, and the lingering chance of showers may not seem that much better.




As we approach Memorial Day, the patter looks like it's about to change. The transition to from trough to ridge is already underway- but it will be a slow process. As Canadian High Pressure builds in with that shower threat today- and perhaps tomorrow just to our north- it will get better. All it will take is a little sun to get us back to near normal. That normal is 75F. When you consider the average of cool wet days like yesterday, and pre-summer heat like the 80s and 90s like last year at this time... well 75F is where we end up. Getting a day of full sun, should actually boost us above normal, and that is what I expect this weekend.
Here is the GFS map for Sunday morning. Dry weather will return this weekend, but Sunday's shift is the wind from a northerly to west or southerly flow will be our turn of the corner. That should get us back to the low 80s, and by a chilly pool on Memorial Monday.