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Sunday, November 11, 2012

WeatherWatcher: Weekly Report - ENSO explained

  • The week ahead
  • Highlight: Cold Snap
  • ENSO explained
  • Last week's data
The week ahead: Most models are suggesting we will not see much of the sun. We won't have the drenching rain that we had two weeks ago but I suspect we will have some periods of rain this week, and mostly cloudy otherwise.  Wednesday - Thursday looks to be the driest two days this week.

Highlights:  Late last week and over the weekend here we had a little cold snap. Some dry arctic air moved down into the region Thursday in to Friday, giving us low temperatures below freezing.  Saturday morning November 10th was the coldest morning at 28.4ºF for a low temperature.

ENSO explained: I realized that I didn't explain ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) during my last article involving the winter outlook. The El Niño Southern Oscillation is a seasonal oscillation in Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean.  Anomalies means temperatures that are above or below seasonal averages. During an ENSO neutral event sea surface temperatures in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean are near normal (within 0.5ºC of average.) An El Niño event means that Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures are above average. A La Niña event means that the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures are below normal. This oscillation that happens seasonally effects our weather and much of the weather across most of the Northern Hemisphere, especially during winter months.  Other oscillations also have effects on local and global weather.  Some last 20-30 years during a cycle, some over a 100 years, and others change every 10 days.

November 3rd - 9th weather data:
High temperature: 61.3ºF (Sunday)
Low temperature: 31.8ºF (Friday)
Rainiest day: 0.28 inches (Sunday)
Total rainfall: 0.36 inches
Warmest day: 57.1ºF (Sunday)
Coldest day: 37.4ºF (Friday)
Average temperature last week: 47.9ºF (2.1ºF warmer than normal)
3-Year average temperature for last week: 45.8ºF

Warmest and coldest days are based on average temperature of the entire day, starting at midnight. All other averages are based on the whole week, starting Saturday morning at midnight. All weather data unless otherwise noted is sourced from Carl's Shoreline Weather Station.

For fall and winter storm updates, check out my weather station web page or follow me on Twitter: @SWeatherWatcher


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