Know the Lingo:

Here are a few winter weather definitions.

How is snow formed?

Snow is commonly formed when water vapor undergoes deposition, which is when water vapor changes directly to ice without first becoming a liquid, high in the atmosphere at a temperature of less than 32°F and then falls to the ground.

What are snowflakes?

Snowflakes are made of ice crystals. Each snowflake is six-sided and made of as many as 200 ice crystals. Snowflakes form in clouds where the temperature is below freezing. The ice crystals form around tiny bits of dirt that has been carried up into the atmosphere by the wind. As the snow crystals grow, they become heavier and fall toward the ground.

How do blizzards form?

A blizzard is a long-lasting snowstorm with very strong winds and intense snowfall. You need three things to have a blizzard; cold air at the surface, lots of moisture, and lift. Warm air must rise over cold air

Why is snow white?

Bright snow blinds us with its gleaming white color because it reflects beams of white light. Instead of absorbing light, snow's complex structure prevents the light from shining through its lattice formation. A beam of white sunlight entering a snow bank is so quickly scattered by a zillion ice crystals and air pockets that most of the light comes bouncing right back out of the snow bank. What little sunlight is absorbed by snow is absorbed equally over the wavelengths of visible light thus giving snow its white appearance. So while many natural objects get their blue, red, and yellow colors from absorbing light, snow is stuck with its white color because it reflects light.

Why can you see your breath when its cold outside?

Your breath is reasonably warm and humid and it has invisible water vapor as a large component of the gas. Warm moist air meeting the cooler air outside the body causes the invisible water vapor to condense the cooler air outside are visible and form the cloud that you see. The relative humidity which depends upon water content and temperature goes to 100%. As the breath gets further from the person's face the water content dilutes and the relative humidity goes down and the droplets go back into vapor form.

Weather Jokes

What’s the difference between weather and climate?

You can’t weather a tree, but you can climate.

What happens when it rains cats and dogs?

You have to be careful not to step in a poodle.

Fall 2012 in Review

Superstorm Sandy
The 900-mile-wide Superstorm Sandy left a huge swath of damage when it hit the Northeast last week, claiming at least 106 lives in the United States and two in Canada after earlier killing 67 around the Caribbean. Worst-hit New York state suffered 48 deaths, including 41 in New York City. Twenty of those were in Staten Island. As communities grapple with the human toll, the price of the damage is stunning: between $30 billion and $50 billion, according to disaster modeling firm EQECAT. As millions will attest, the headaches are far from over.

In New Jersey, Sandy cut off barrier islands, swept houses from their foundations and washed amusement pier rides into the ocean. It also wrecked several boardwalks up and down the coast, tearing away a section of Atlantic City's world-famous promenade. A huge swell of water swept over the small town of Moonachie, and authorities struggled to rescue about 800 people, some of them living in a trailer park. Police and fire officials used boats to try to reach the stranded.

In New York, the storm sent a nearly 14-foot surge of seawater, a record, coursing over Lower Manhattan's seawalls and highways and into low-lying streets. The water inundated tunnels, subway stations and the electrical system that powers Wall Street. A large tanker ship ran aground on the city's Staten Island. In Queens, nearly 200 firefighters tried to contain an enormous blaze that consumed more than 80 homes in the Breezy Point neighborhood. They had to use a boat to make rescues and climbed an awning to reach about 25 trapped people.

In West Virginia, Sandy also brought blizzard conditions to the Appalachian region with more than 2 feet of snow in some places with major power outages. Some snowfall totals from the storm as of midday Tuesday include 26 inches at Redhouse, MD; 22.9 inches at Davis, WV; 13 inches at Champion, PA; 12 inches at Lynch, KY; 8.4 inches at Burkes Garden, VA; 5.6 inches at Boone, NC.

Winter Precip Outlook

The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting above normal precipitation across parts of the Midwest and Tennessee Valley. They are also forecasting below normal precipitation across parts of the Southwest and California.

Winter Temp Outlook

The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting above normal temperatures across the Southwest and Plains. They are also forecasting below normal temperatures across the northern Plains.

2012 Records Broken

According to NOAA, the summer of 2012 will go down in the history books as the third-warmest summer on record for the lower 48 states. The nation’s second-warmest summer occurred just in 2011, and the only other summer that was warmer than the past two occurred during the Dust Bowl era of 1936. This summer was just two tenths of a degree cooler than the summer of 1936.

Winter Deal

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Product Information:
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