What are we looking at here? That’s the state of California today, with almost no cloud cover. Yes, that white stuff is snow and it’s quite a sight for our drought-parched eyes.
Frigid temperatures and a walloping series of storms brought enough snow to California’s mountain ranges over the past week that many places were reporting a snowpack that’s 80 per cent of normal for today. That’s great news.
Although this latest burst of moisture isn’t technically El Niño yet, the warm ocean temps are certainly wreaking havoc with our weather, at least for the next week or so. A powerful jet stream is piping warm air to the East Coast while keeping the West extra chill. Let’s just say most of the Northeast is probably not having a White Christmas.
Looks like this warm weather is going to be here for awhile.
Christmas Day outlook:
https://t.co/9vT9tqUfJd pic.twitter.com/iPnxS1B3b8— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) December 14, 2015
But back to that California snowpack! Is the drought over? No, but that’s an encouraging start to a season where we’re due for at least a little relief. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
[@NWSHanford]