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Florida freezes but it’s snowing in Phoenix?


bubba

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This is tongue in cheek but I noticed Corona, Ca. and other normally beneficient spots in California, Arizona and Nevada are under Winter Weather Advisories. Snow showers may occur until 6 AM PST tomorrow in Corona, Ca. with high/low 48F/32F (Coconut Blues but for micro-climate).

It is snowing North of Phoenix, where downtown reports 38F at 3PM MST with predicted high/low of 52F/44F today with a few snow flurries tomorrow.

Vegas is a toasty 39F mid-day with an inch of snow on the strip predicted through 10 AM tomorrow morning.

At the same time, freezing Florida, per the head of the weather thread as I spawn this, is cooling down towards the mid-70’s with high/low 83F/68F tomorrow. I saw RGV highs just below 90F today. That is flat too hot for January. Of course, all of the spins on a dime but it never makes headlines unless it is freezing in Florida!

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What you look for is what is looking

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Already saw a little snow here but quickly turned back to rain. One of the coldest storms I've seen living here!

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8 hours ago, bubba said:

This is tongue in cheek but I noticed Corona, Ca. and other normally beneficient spots in California, Arizona and Nevada are under Winter Weather Advisories. Snow showers may occur until 6 AM PST tomorrow in Corona, Ca. with high/low 48F/32F (Coconut Blues but for micro-climate).

At the same time, freezing Florida, per the head of the weather thread as I spawn this, is cooling down towards the mid-70’s with high/low 83F/68F tomorrow. I saw RGV highs just below 90F today. That is flat too hot for January. Of course, all of the spins on a dime but it never makes headlines unless it is freezing in Florida!

Yes, Bubba, the central and eastern U.S. must now be in possession of the ridge and we have inherited the trough. But what a trough...Incredible snow surrounds this "subtropical desert" valley at very low elevations and this is like the kind of winter storm I remember from Natchez. Very biting, cold, wet atmosphere. I certainly have become Floridated over my years in the Keys, and think I forgot about my 40-some years growing up and living with California winters. At our house in Rancho Mirage currently (10:30pm) 37F and 93% humidity with a dewpoint of 35F. 

After the cold core landed on us late this morning it went to low 40s all day with on-and-off rain, and the "snow" happened about 3pm. I missed it but talked to some people who encountered it a block from our house, supposedly lasted about 15 minutes and I think it was actually just a tiny bit of sleet. They had a pretty heavy dusting up the road in Palm Springs today. NWS calling it "graupel" which is a technical variation on sleet I guess. All I know is my own, as you might say, "blue coconut" (actually a Malayan Green) must be pretty blue right now. It has done very well this winter under a Thevetia tree in a perfect sun-trap, and has actually been growing a tiny bit during warm spells. But boy oh boy I didn't think this was going to be so cold. Singapore Plumeria in the yard opened up a bunch of blooms this morning and others have thrown new leaf-flushes, Pyrostegia getting ready to flower, some Heliconias had started back into growth, Cattleyas throwing buds, and I guess all my various juvenile palms are just going to have to deal tonight (or not). I'm just hoping that some freezing event doesn't land on us over the next couple of days. NWS has no handle on temps in this area, they are always dead wrong with lows it seems.

In Arizona it looks like they are being hit pretty hard, Phoenix area seems to dance around the freezing point for a low, but pity the poor folks in Tucson, they are having widespread low/mid 20s except in the high air-drained foothills, with down to single digits in the colder outlying valleys. Can't imagine the Delonix and Cassia fistula at UofA, nor any of the borderline palms growing in that city, are too happy tonight. Be glad you are in SoFla!

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Michael Norell

Rancho Mirage, California | 33°44' N 116°25' W | 287 ft | z10a | avg Jan 43/70F | Jul 78/108F avg | Weather Station KCARANCH310

previously Big Pine Key, Florida | 24°40' N 81°21' W | 4.5 ft. | z12a | Calcareous substrate | avg annual min. approx 52F | avg Jan 65/75F | Jul 83/90 | extreme min approx 41F

previously Natchez, Mississippi | 31°33' N 91°24' W | 220 ft.| z9a | Downtown/river-adjacent | Loess substrate | avg annual min. 23F | Jan 43/61F | Jul 73/93F | extreme min 2.5F (1899); previously Los Angeles, California (multiple locations)

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Michael,

My comments were tongue and cheek because in the twinkle of an eye it could be “Florida Freeze”. I did not know the Coachella Valley was effected and hopefully it moderates quickly with little damage.

My point is that you never hear about any cold freeze out West but it is world news when a cold front moves towards Florida!

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What you look for is what is looking

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Maybe the reason California (probably also Arizona) freezes get ignored is because it has to be a big agricultural freeze to make national headlines, also topography is so varied that temps are hard to generalize. We bottomed out about 33 (so did the La Quinta coconut in La Quinta Cove) and while there was a little frost on rooftops and cars and other similar surfaces, ground and plants were covered in heavy dew/leftover rain and the PWS's around the low desert were all in the 33-34 range, upper 30s in 600'+ drainage belts, a few spots (e.g., Smoke Tree Ranch) hit freezing, just barely. Agricultural areas south of here around the Salton Sea to Mexico were a little warmer, thank goodness. Over the mountains to the west, the Corona Coconut neighborhood saw upper 30s while downtown Corona had a 32 station (so maybe that is a hint as to its favored location); and from downtown L.A. through the Glendale Narrows up into the entire San Fernando, San Gabriel, Pomona and San Bernardino Valleys it was all flirtation with the freezing mark. The entire coastal plain San Diego to Santa Barbara was 30s and low 40s with only a little I noticed in the way of sub-freezing temps in valley/canyon drainage basins. Now at least some of the region has the possibility of a repeat tonight, if the bunglers at NWS (who finally issued a frost advisory at 11:30pm last night) can't call temps correctly...though to be fair, nobody had a handle on it, including Weather Channel/Wunderground, or the popular NBC Palm Springs "broadcast meteorologist" (that's actually his degree, heaven help us), all were off by nearly ten degrees. At least in Florida, when a frost/freeze threatens, the nearly level topography has a more predictable temperature profile after a frontal passage.

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Michael Norell

Rancho Mirage, California | 33°44' N 116°25' W | 287 ft | z10a | avg Jan 43/70F | Jul 78/108F avg | Weather Station KCARANCH310

previously Big Pine Key, Florida | 24°40' N 81°21' W | 4.5 ft. | z12a | Calcareous substrate | avg annual min. approx 52F | avg Jan 65/75F | Jul 83/90 | extreme min approx 41F

previously Natchez, Mississippi | 31°33' N 91°24' W | 220 ft.| z9a | Downtown/river-adjacent | Loess substrate | avg annual min. 23F | Jan 43/61F | Jul 73/93F | extreme min 2.5F (1899); previously Los Angeles, California (multiple locations)

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Strange situation that came out of nowhere from my limited perspective. Many more micro-climates out West. Here we are down to the lip of the lake (Pahokee) and Gulfstream (2 miles offshore 85F to 90F year round)...

What you look for is what is looking

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17 minutes ago, bubba said:

Strange situation that came out of nowhere from my limited perspective. Many more micro-climates out West.

The current weather pattern out here has been well advertised for about 2-3 weeks..

Especially once models hinted the PNA was headed into negative territory..  Resultant signal at the surface is about on schedule for this time of year.  MJO signal, currently waffling between phases 6 and 7 can also signal colder conditions in the west.
pna.sprd2.gif


-PNA almost always brings cool/cold & wet to the west in winter. Combine that w/ the current set up over the Arctic / Eurasia, current MJO signal and it can get extra cool for X number of days on this side of the Rockies. Sometimes the start align just perfectly for some flakes in the desert..  Not a " happened out of the blue " kind of situation.



 

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On 1/26/2021 at 12:42 PM, Silas_Sancona said:

The current weather pattern out here has been well advertised for about 2-3 weeks..

Especially once models hinted the PNA was headed into negative territory..  Resultant signal at the surface is about on schedule for this time of year.  MJO signal, currently waffling between phases 6 and 7 can also signal colder conditions in the west.
pna.sprd2.gif


-PNA almost always brings cool/cold & wet to the west in winter. Combine that w/ the current set up over the Arctic / Eurasia, current MJO signal and it can get extra cool for X number of days on this side of the Rockies. Sometimes the start align just perfectly for some flakes in the desert..  Not a " happened out of the blue " kind of situation.



 

I got a video of snow falling up here in Wickenburg.  Temps never got below 30F so it wasn’t super cold, but it sure did snow!! 
 

I’ll try and host it and post a link for you guys.

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