After the weird, hot and extremely dry (record) summer and the humungus rain events of early November, we are settling into one of the longest periods of favorable snowfall since the early 70's - low snow levels on average and abundant precipitation.
I was at a party with some Atmos Sciences grad students and one of the students and I were discussing the recent windstorm, how this storm was kind of like a flash from the past for cool, wet storms. Anyway the student noted that there was a lot of cold air with the system and it was a very deep developing cyclone as it came over our area.
It was a couple of days later that I saw a listing of previous wind events...this one ranked 5th for peak wind gusts of 69mph. The record holders were in 1951,53,and 55. It is worth noting that the early 50's was the beginning of a 20+ year cool phase of the PDO or the Pacific Dicadal Oscillation which is cgharacterized by cool ocean temps along the W coast. Well we are overdo for a return to the cool phase of the PDO cycle. Although it is too early to tell, I wonder if this current weather just might be the first sign of the return of the cool phase of the PDO. Time will tell...
I hope I didn't just jinx the rest of this winter.....
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