Sunday, January 17, 2016

A winter arctic air incursion!

Date: January 17, 2016 log
Loc: Forsyth MO.

Detail: Following was the official National Weather Service forecast for Sunday, January 17, 2016: 'An arctic front was approaching the Ozarks this morning. This feature was forcing a band of snow across central Missouri, which will eventually drift southward into southern Missouri throughout the day.'

They then went on to state that the 'coldest air of the winter' will arrive during the nighttime hours dropping some areas into the single digits! Snow accumulation were expected to be light, anywhere from a dusting to up to an inch. Swell!

I wanted to see if I could do all that I could to conserve both heat (and therefore energy use) over the following 24 hours. [I plan to post figures and data logs on Monday, January the 18th]!

 The take away from the data at right was that 38.8 kWh figure! That was the total energy use to heat and maintain my dwelling for the 24 hour period where the average outdoor temp was 23.2 degrees!

UPDATE: On Tuesday, things did get a little dicey as  Old Man Winter cranked it up a notch! At about 3:00 PM, a very light drizzle began to come down and my windshield had about a tenth of an inch of ice on it. Traffic was also slowing to a crawl and reports form friends told stories of one hour commutes home from work becoming 6 hour endurance contests!

In the closeup picture taken Wednesday morning, at right, you can see a clear demarcation line on a piece of wood that gives one an idea of the amount of ice that covered elevated and exposed surfaces. I gauged the ice at about an eight of an inch in depth.

After taking a short breather during the day on Wednesday when the temperatures were forecast to get to the upper 30's, southwest Missouri residents were advised to brace themselves for a much stronger winter style mix of both rain and snow as a stronger (but, more moisture starved) storm passes slowly overhead! 

NWS forecast for Wed evening: Mostly cloudy. A 30% chance of freezing drizzle...snow and sleet after midnight. Low in the mid 20's. Light wind early in the evening becoming southeast around 10 mph in the late evening and overnight...

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Prelude to an ice storm?




Springfield MO on January 14, 2007

I wanted to chronicle some mid January weather. A point of time during the winter of 2015-16 that the weather service was hinting at a change in the weather status quo by even mentioning the word ICE! I hope to append notes to this post as we move towards the 23rd of the month!
 
January 14, 2016 – Breezy and windy. Winds 20-25 from the south. High ~60F. A cold front then moves through overnight.

Friday - Much cooler temperatures will move into the area late Friday into Friday night when lows will return to the low to mid 20's.

Saturday - A reinforcing shot of colder air will arrive with a clipper type system Saturday night and may bring some light snow to the area.

Sunday - A cold winter day with lows dropping down to the teens overnight.

Monday - Same old thang..

Tuesday- Same old thang..

Wednesday - Weak fronts move through our area, but don't cause any winter related problems.

Thursday - The weather may get a bit dicey as a closed low pressure area moves into the Southern Plains. Conditions may set up for a possible rain/snow mix or may even produce an icing event towards the weekend on or around January the 23rd. [www.taneyservices.com]

Mid January 2016 trending warm!

Graph comparing the average temperatures 2015 vs 2016
Forsyth MO. - It looked like much of southwest Missouri was trending warm in a month that can be rather frigid! Half way through the month of January, the average temperatures were at about 37 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 4 degrees higher that the historical normal (West Plains MO data). That translated into the occasional warmish days we've experienced with highs running at or just over 60F!

And, OK, I have to observe that if this warmth is a result of the Global warming that Obama has been talking about, then I'm all for it! Please feel free to check out my weather webpage at www.taneyservices.com!

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Arctic air is on the way!

Forsyth Mo. - The coldest air of the 2015-16 winter season will be due to arrive sometime on the weekend of January 9. According to the NWS;

"High temperatures Sunday will not reach the freezing mark with highs again Monday struggling to each freezing. Lows will fall well into the teens
Sunday and Monday nights with wind chill values in the single digits."
 
In both this blog and my Energy Blog, I hope to chronicle my efforts to get through this period of days using the least amount of heating energy that is practical. Stay tuned for updates....

January 9, 2016 Update
 
Forsyth MO – January the 9th, 2015 dawned cool and rainy. Overnight a half inch of rain had fallen near my home in southwest Missouri. It looked as though snow was already beginning to fall to my north. I checked the clock and the time read 10:00 AM and a sour expression crossed my face. It was hard enough for me to handle the cold of winter, but snow was even worst! Where I live, in southwest Missouri, it's hilly and any kind of slickness at all on the roads meant I would be stuck in place. A glance at the local radar was not comforting, (although I suspected that most of the returns were virga and thus not making it to the ground). By 10:45 AM, the temperature outdoors was at 35.4 degrees. The winds were then picking up out of the NW at 3-5 mph and the day only promised to get worst!
The winds were the story!

 I got out and about right around 3PM as the winds were really beginning to make themselves felt!





January 10, 2016 Update

Well, that was rude! I got up at 4AM to find that the temperature outdoors was a crisp 16.9F! The winds were still coming down the northwestern pike at 1 to 5 knots and my furnace was about to work itself to death trying to keep my very humble casa warm.
www.taneyservices.com

Thankfully, this arctic incursion was to be brief, lasting about 36 hours as the center of high pressure was progged to moved rather quickly eastward. Monday is forecast to provide a breather before another cold wave moves in on the Tuesday, January the 12th! I was hoping that this would not be the start of a trend!

Saturday, January 2, 2016

What winter cool down?

SW Missouri - December 2015 was twelve frigging degrees above normal! December 2015 had record rainfall and tornadoes! It felt more like the start of spring to more than a few of us and you know what? We like it!

While I'm pretty sure Obama was running up and down the hall of the White House in his tidy whities, screaming Global warming this and Global warming that, many more of us were scooting around town sans jacket and just enjoying life in general! Even gasoline was at an all time low. I know that on more than one occasion, I even went on a joy ride in my car with no purpose in mind other than to drive around town! Something I would never dream of doing when a gallon of gas was three dollars and change....

So, now 2016 has arrived and can you guess? The mild streak of weather just keeps rolling along! Already the weather forecasters are predicting mild that and mild that. and even though the nights will be cold as the dickens, that's OK, as long as we keep seeing those forty and even fifty degree days!!

The question on many minds is, will it stay? It Global Warming really here and can we get through those miserable months of winter in slightly better style? Personally, I hope it will be just that way!