Hello February
The past month has been abnormally quite. The snow pack has turned from fluffy goodness to a frozen slab of ice two inches thick. One thing that could be considered neat about the current frozen snow pack is that you can walk on top of it with out sinking in. I know, it's a reach for positivity. Hopefully February has something winterish in store for little ol oshkosh. The monthly summary for January can be viewed by clicking the graph below. (OSNW3 January Observations)
(OSNW3 January 2010 Summary)
(click on graph for the month summary data - it will open a new tab/window)
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Weekly Snowfall
We got a dusting of snow as the system that dropped all that rain moved on out.
(Jan 26, 2010 - 0.3")
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January Flop
The lack of moisture during the month may not have been noticed by everyone in town due to the decent snow pack for most of the month and the countless days with a trace of snow, but it stared me down each and every morning. As a matter of fact, the past two January's have been considerably below average in both precipitation and snowfall. Quite odd in the snowfall department as January is usually the month that averages the most snow in Oshkosh (12.4"). Last year the cause may have been a strong NW flow keeping us dry and cold and this year the cause is most likely El Nino related keeping us dry and warm. Linked below is a ranking of back to back January's for precipitation and snowfall, along with a breakdown of all-time January precipitation and snowfall totals. January 2009 and 2010 together cracked the top 15 for both (lowest to highest), coming in at 14th least for precipitation and 7th least for snowfall. An interesting fact about this January is that a Trace or more of snow fell on 16 of 31 days, but yet less than 4" accumulated.
--> BACK-TO-BACK RANKINGS <--
--> ALL-TIME JANUARY BREAKDOWN <--
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2009-2010 Winter Precipitation Comparison
As the second month of the meteorological winter closes I'd like to share a comparison of "active" CoCoRaHS observer data from Winnebago County. We have three observers in Oshkosh and one in Omro. I've also included the official NWS station for Oshkosh in the comparison. A map with each location is below.¹ From the data it would seem that the western portion of Winnebago County has seen more snow and precipitation than the eastern portion. The Omro station comes in with the highest precipitation and snow total so far this meteorological winter. The big difference being the snowstorm on Dec 8-9. Omro reported 6" of additional snow for the second day of the storm while the Oshkosh reports came in with an inch or two. Please click the map below for the comparison data set. It will open up in a new page/tab.
(Observer Locations)
¹ Currently there are no CoCoRaHS observers in the northern areas of the county. There are two NWS observers in Neenah but that data is unobtainable via the Internet as far as I know.
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Front Of House
The other day I finally remembered to put the 2009 FOH time lapse together. As for right now, we sure could use some new snow.
(FOH - Jan 31, 2010)
(OSNW3 January 2010 Summary)
(click on graph for the month summary data - it will open a new tab/window)
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Weekly Snowfall
We got a dusting of snow as the system that dropped all that rain moved on out.
(Jan 26, 2010 - 0.3")
----
January Flop
The lack of moisture during the month may not have been noticed by everyone in town due to the decent snow pack for most of the month and the countless days with a trace of snow, but it stared me down each and every morning. As a matter of fact, the past two January's have been considerably below average in both precipitation and snowfall. Quite odd in the snowfall department as January is usually the month that averages the most snow in Oshkosh (12.4"). Last year the cause may have been a strong NW flow keeping us dry and cold and this year the cause is most likely El Nino related keeping us dry and warm. Linked below is a ranking of back to back January's for precipitation and snowfall, along with a breakdown of all-time January precipitation and snowfall totals. January 2009 and 2010 together cracked the top 15 for both (lowest to highest), coming in at 14th least for precipitation and 7th least for snowfall. An interesting fact about this January is that a Trace or more of snow fell on 16 of 31 days, but yet less than 4" accumulated.
--> BACK-TO-BACK RANKINGS <--
--> ALL-TIME JANUARY BREAKDOWN <--
----
2009-2010 Winter Precipitation Comparison
As the second month of the meteorological winter closes I'd like to share a comparison of "active" CoCoRaHS observer data from Winnebago County. We have three observers in Oshkosh and one in Omro. I've also included the official NWS station for Oshkosh in the comparison. A map with each location is below.¹ From the data it would seem that the western portion of Winnebago County has seen more snow and precipitation than the eastern portion. The Omro station comes in with the highest precipitation and snow total so far this meteorological winter. The big difference being the snowstorm on Dec 8-9. Omro reported 6" of additional snow for the second day of the storm while the Oshkosh reports came in with an inch or two. Please click the map below for the comparison data set. It will open up in a new page/tab.
(Observer Locations)
¹ Currently there are no CoCoRaHS observers in the northern areas of the county. There are two NWS observers in Neenah but that data is unobtainable via the Internet as far as I know.
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Front Of House
The other day I finally remembered to put the 2009 FOH time lapse together. As for right now, we sure could use some new snow.
(FOH - Jan 31, 2010)
OSNW3, Lewisburg TN, February was ushered in with freezing fog this AM.
ReplyDeleteJanuary here has been wet w/5.77 in. TN has had a WIDE variety of weather this month... Tornadoes, hail storm, snow storm which included sleet,freezing rain.
The temps were cold (lowest low 8 degrees )enough early on to freeze creeks and ponds to a point that skating was possible but two weeks later wearing shorts ( highest high 67 degrees ) was possible.
BTW, our roads were not plowed until after the storm had passed. You have first dibbs on the next snow.
SuzieE, thanks for the recap! Freezing fog is something special, in my opinion. You've had the entire spectrum of weather. I recall you mentioning that you guys were skating on the creeks. Freezing to almost 70 is quite the temperature swing. Unplowed roads with frozen slush on them are the WORST. I'll take whatever snow mother nature throws at us! Again, thanks for sharing the photos!
ReplyDeleteExcellent data set, OSNW3! What can account for the extra snowfall amount in western Winnebago? Does the lake somewhat affect your snowfall amount? I noticed that their total precip amount was a full 1.36" more. That's an amazing gradient for the same county!
ReplyDeleteOur temperature graph trends are almost identical except for the deep-freeze event during the first week.
Great FOH loop! AAHH...the green grass made me smile. I know the game is anything but over, but I'm ready for the temperature to start it's annual increase.
I like the weather twitter updates!
WxWatcher, thanks, and thanks for the interest. It looks like the western part of the county may have had some locally heavier snow amounts on two occasions. Dec 8-9 and Jan 7-8. Watching the radar loops would suggest that. The lake has no effect on snowfall. I suppose on a micro local scale that the lake would act like a cold desert currently... ???
ReplyDeleteYeah, you all were much cooler than we were in the beginning of the month.
Thanks for taking the time to watch the FOH time lapse. I thought it to be pretty cool. For some reason I really like the first green grass of the year more so than the green grass of June. It's wet and shows signs of growth maybe... I am unsure.
As for the twitter account. The NWS around here is taking part in an experiment. I figured I'd sign up.
Yep, Welcome to Feb! interesting notes about how you get less accumulation then the western part of your county. and you definitly have less snow then me, I have 7 inches on the ground, Your ready for more snow? I myself ready for Springtime, beacuase that is my favorite season! but I do want to finish winter, so for now, bring on what winter has left to show! I love watching the seasons change into spring.
ReplyDeleteD, I am reluctant to say Spring is just around the corner. Only because I know it's not. :) But I agree, bring on whatever is to come. Can you walk ontop of your snow?
ReplyDeleteWxWatcher, and another thing. Check out the WGN blog, Kimberling City, Missouri seems like a pretty sweet spot.
OSNW3,
ReplyDeleteI used to live in Springfield, MO during my undergrad (about 30 minutes north of Kimberling City/Branson). We didn't get as many snow events down there, but when we did, watch out! We had an 18" event that even cancelled a day of finals once in early December.
That is a beautiful part of the country full of lakes, streams and plentiful karst topography.
I didn't even see your video of your time lapsed front yard, Thats just Awesome watching it change, and your yard/house is beautiful! I've already started a time lapse photo project of my Garden I started in early January!!!
ReplyDeleteI have to ask, How did you make that video? I would love to use that when I put mine together!
ReplyDeleteHey thanks, D! I think the time-lapse is pretty cool myself. I am a total geek for time-lapse. As far as what software I use to make time-lapse images...
ReplyDeleteFor my radarloops and other misc time-lapse I use GIF Movie Gear. It's a nice product and makes things very easy.
My webcam movies are generated automatically using two pieces of software. Image Salsa and Movie Salsa. Depending on the file size, I sometimes use Windows Movie Maker for downsizing.
The most recent FOH movie was created using Picasa . I'd recommend using Picasa for your photo management if you are not already. It's very user friendly and is a Google software which is FREE. After which, you can upload all your photos and movies to the Internet using your Blogger profile, which again is FREE.
I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have when you start creating your own time lapse movies!
You got me thinking about living in southwest MO, and one interesting tidbit with the winter that we just don't have up here. In late winter, you can have a decent snow, but be in shorts in a couple of days. I can remember wearing shorts and trudging through melting snow on the way to classes.
ReplyDeleteWxWatcher, I remember living in North West Arkansas, Bella Vista back in the 90's.
ReplyDelete18" snows were nice :), just not a big fan of the ice. Usually the snow was gone in a couple of days.
Small world. I had a good college friend that lived in Bella Vista. Visited the town many times. Arkansas is absolutely beautiful. One of my favorite places to visit in the midwest is the Buffalo National River in Northern Arkansas. My wife and I did a 4 day camp/float a few years ago (before kids!), and aside from the 100+ temps, it was amazing.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways I miss that climate, but I really enjoy the snow we get up here.
WxWatcher & SuzieE, thanks for sharing your personal experiences in SW MO. It's a place I'll visit someday, I am sure. I believe my in-laws in STL have connections in the Ozarks. It sure looks pretty from those photos on the WGN blog. I am not a big fan of major temperature swings, though... snowstorm to shorts is just not for me. I would not enjoy living in a place, say, like Denver. :)
ReplyDeleteThere's a guy in Canada who got serious hits for hit daily timelapse of his backyard. It reminded me of you!
ReplyDeleteDewdrop, sweet! The difference between Mr Canada and me is, my time-lapse vids don't get serious hits. :)
ReplyDeleteI searched for something like "canada backyard timelapse" but am unsure of what to click on. Can you link me?!