Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Winter of 2010-2011 Wrap Up

We all went into this winter thinking it would be drier and warmer than average due to the effects of the ongoing La Nina.  We also thought snow chances wouldn't be that great and ice would cause the most problems in this type of pattern.  Obviously the only thing that worked out with the forecast was the fact it was drier than average.  This winter shows us that no matter how hard long range forecasters work to make a three month forecast, mother nature can throw curve balls.

The winter weather contest continues through the end of the month, but the first one has already been decided.  Zac Bradley guessed the most combined snow for Little Rock, North Little Rock, Harrison, and Pine Bluff.  Who would have thought those four locations combined would have 57.4 inches of accumulating snow this winter?  Zac did and he won a one year subscription to weathertap.com, 2 tickets to the Golden Corral, and an Arkansas Weather Blog t-shirt.

The outcome of the 2nd contest is still up in the air.  How many days will the North Little Rock airport drop to 32 degrees or colder?  So far that number stands at 48.  Right now, Brent Brainerd is winning, but several are still in the running including, Chad Gardner, Paul Wilkerson, Anthony Jolivette, Jeff Mesko, and Josh Green.

The meteorological winter of 2010-2011 is over so check out the cold facts below from the National Weather Service office in NLR...



5 comments:

jimmylee42 said...

Todd-

Thanks for posting those stats on the winter. Some might wonder why the snow total from NLR station would rank #2 for that location. Remember the records for that station only go back to 1976 I believe.

Anyway, all so interesting to me because my hobby for years has been recording and studying winter weather.

The next few weeks I will be watching to see if both LR and NLR weather stations record 32 degrees or below. The last freeze this year so far is Feb 12 at both locations. There would be an incredible record set if we don't get another freeze at either location. A new record for the earliest late freeze would be set.

Anonymous said...

Todd, I looked closely and could not see your source for these data. Did you do this yourself or could the data have come from those dedicated NWS meteorologist that have the budget ax on their collective necks?

In the journalism world, using information without stating your source with the implication that it was yours, even in a blog, I would dare to call plagerism.

For all the information not posted on this blog from the NWS about the recent data from the climatological winter months (Dec-Feb) go to this link:

http://forecast.weather.gov/
product.php?site=LZK&issuedby=
LZK&product=CLM

Thanks Todd

Anonymous said...

Todd
I work for a water utility and was wondering where I might veiw daily temp and snowfall totals for Jan.& Feb. 2011. This data would be most helpful. Thanks

jimmylee42 said...

Replying to Anonymous--If you look again at Todd's post above you should see where he credits the NWS at NLR. The NWS puts out this information for everyone and it is prepaid by our tax dollars. I do some posts with facts on this blog. All my information comes from the NWS or I have checked their climate sites to verify data that I have recorded over the years. No one on this blog is copying someone's work and calling it their own. Hopefully, everyone is using information gathered by the experts and using it to enhance the topics being discussed at the time.

Unknown said...

Todd, I know this is probably not the right place to ask a question about weather radios, but I can't find how to email you directly. We live in Hazen, and our older weather radio's reception has never been the best, and it doesn't have SAME (county specific) technology. I researched online and it came up with a Midland WR300 as a model with good reception. I found a model at Radio Shack, not Midland, and brought it home but it has a feature called Skywarn on it. Do I need this, or should I keep looking for the Midland model.

The NEW Arkansas Weather Blog