And suddenly it’s winter
Just a few days ago, temperatures were in the mid-60s and leaf blowers could be heard throughout the land. Golf courses were busy and some folks enjoyed a late-season bike ride. The brief period of Indian summer was forecast to come to a quick end and by Tuesday snow was falling and temperatures were 40 degrees colder.
The TV weather prophets would have one believe the coming cold, wind and snow may be the end of the world as the hype over the first Arctic cold air was relentless. Cold, snow and especially wind chill were all the rage. The hype did do some good as it motivated some to begin preparations for the coming winter season. I bought a few bags of salt and retrieved the snow shovel, as here in the mountains, the snow continued all day Tuesday piling up some three inches.
Of all the weather hype that is thrown about these days, the use of wind chill instead of actual air temperature is going a bit too far. It certainly is true that wind does make the cold feel worse and I believe that both actual air temperature and wind chill temperatures should be used, but some TV news stations are only using windchill. Standing in a bus shelter or walking on the protected side of the street takes the wind out of the equation. Also, the wind is constantly changing speed and this makes true windchill difficult to forecast. It蘑菇视频 great for hype and for bringing fear to the forecast, but both values need to be used. A pail of water left outside with overnight temperatures in the mid-30s and the wind chill temperature in the low-20s will not freeze.
Another weather term frequently being used to describe the wind chill these days is the word brutal. Come on, its only November. What happens when we get to the really cold stuff in January and February? One forecast was describing a 40 degree temperature in Atlanta as brutal because the wind would make it feel like 25 degrees. November is not a winter month; however, we usually do have a shift from Indian summer with its mild sunny pleasant days to a few periods of cold, snow and wind.
It is interesting to note that in our area November usually experiences the most rapid decline in temperatures than any other month. On the first day of the month we average 64 degrees for the high and 41 for the morning low. By month蘑菇视频 end we are at 43 degrees for the high and 29 for the low. The day time temperature loses 21 degrees. By contrast, October and September lose only 11 degrees and December just 8 degrees.
Some record cold November days include lows of 8 degrees on the Nov. 18 in 1959, 7 degrees on the Nov. 21 in 1880 and -1 on the Nov. 20 in 1929. Several inches of snow can fall on any November day and old-timers may remember the big Thanksgiving snow of 1950 when 20 to 40 inches of snow buried Southwestern Pennsylvania. In 1962 no measurable snow fell during the entire month.
Temperatures should ease a bit over the next 10 days and precipitation should be below average. But winter is not here to stay, yet.