Friday night: Snow exited Houston and fell near New Orleans. This storm is heading north.
It's one thing to bash Global Warming with rhetoric, or even confirmed emails and documents in Climategate. It's another for Al Gore to hide from the controversy and cancel his planned speech at the global climate summit in Copenhagen next week. However real events can not be disputed. Houston, Texas had their earliest snowfall on record Friday when 0.8 inches of snow fell making it the earliest date ever. This beats the old record of December 10th set in 1944 and again 2008 (last year) with 1.4 inches. Houston averages one snowfall every four years, and this is the first time ever that snow has fallen two years in a row. A reminder of last year's early snow that also set a record in Las Vegas on December 18th.
New Orleans and Louisiana Earliest Snow on Record
These images from the National Weather Service in New Orleans show the same system around the Big Easy. Last year, the city had their earliest snow on December 10th, with nearby Livingston Parish getting 6 inches. They went from 1989 to Christmas in 2004, and then last year. New Orleans only had 17 events with more than a trace seince 1850. This makes two years in a row, with a forecast of 1 inch for the city, but north of Lake Ponchartrain and into southern Mississippi.
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So many reasons this scientific mind will say that we can't jump to that conclusion based on one or two local events, but it is a notch in the belt of skeptics. It is definitely not Global Warming. That debate has exploded with the recent Climategate revelations. However, a sign of a cold and snowy winter for the south and Mid Atlantic has been expected thanks to El Nino this season.
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For Baltimore, December 5th is not a record, but rather a custom for snowfall. This city is not known for it's snow, but we get an average of 20 inches per year. We average a storm with a foot or more a few times per decade. But this decade: December 5th has been our first significant snow date 5 times already since 2002. The year 2001, ironically, was our record high temperature for the date. A confirmed forecast in 2009 will make it 6 of the past 8 years. The day will start with rain and the high temperature early, but it will get colder throughout the day. Look for snow to mix in during the afternoon, with the best chance of accumulation after dark. Our Winter Weather Advisory has a general 2-4 inches forecast for late Saturday afternoon and evening.
December 1st marks the beginning of winter on the meteorological calendar. That is three weeks before the winter solstice (December 21st at 12:47 PM... Full Story
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