First snow

It's snowing this morning. NWS forecasts 1-3 inches accumulation with possible sleet and freezing rain mixed in.

Just another weather U-turn

Yesterday our high was 59 degrees Fahrenheit. I had to run the heat last night.

Today I am thankful to work in a building with air conditioning. There is a severe thunderstorm watch in effect:

The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for portions of
Connecticut
Massachusetts
western Maine
New Hampshire
eastern New York
Rhode Island
Vermont
coastal waters
Effective this Tuesday afternoon and evening from 1205 PM until 700 PM EDT.

Hail to 1.5 inches in diameter... thunderstorm wind gusts to 70 mph... and dangerous lightning are possible in these areas.

The Severe Thunderstorm Watch area is approximately along and 85 statute miles east and west of a line from 5 miles north of Newport Vermont to 35 miles southwest of Windsor Locks Connecticut. For a complete depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline update (wous64 kwns wou7).

UPDATE: Tornado reported in Lee at 1436 EDT (1836Z).

LATER UPDATE: Also funnel clouds were reported in Barrington and Somersworth. Many reports of hail, the largest being 1.75 inches (about golf ball size) in Dover.

Flood warning

The latest storm resulted in a small stream flood warning for our area. The Town of Durham reports that several area roads are closed or may close:

1. Bagdad Road by pond - 1 foot of water going over roadway.


2. Coe Drive by SAU - water over roadway by large culvert


3. Mill Road at Plaza entrance


4. Pettee Brook/Madbury Road at brook - the Pettee Brook is running over Madbury Road


5. Bennett Road in typical three locations - near Packers Falls Road; by LaRoche Brook; Between Beaudette and LaRoche farms.


6. Dame Road by Dame Farm/twin culverts (on Durham Point end of road)


7. Durham Point Road in two locations - by Bay Road; by Deer Meadow Road


8. Route 155 to Dover is closed


9. Route 4 to Portsmouth is open but a great deal of water on either side of road by Wagon Hill Farm


10. Route 108/Dover Road by Evangelical Church is under 1 foot of water and is expected to worsen


11. Route 108/Dover Road by Beards Creek is a concern - the water is very high here.

UNH was open this morning but curtailed operations sometime around 10:15 EDT. I saw the Mill Road closure on my way to work this morning: water was gushing out of a storm drain at College Brook, which is at the highest level I have ever seen it (and quite a bit higher than during last year's monsoon).

UPDATE: NWS has posted a spotter report of 5.35 inches of rain from this storm as of 8:00 EDT, and it's been raining all day.

One bullet dodged, another coming

Snow in April hereabouts is not that unusual. Three snowstorms in the same April is.

We didn't get much snow out of yesterday's storm, but there's another one coming:

... A potential major coastal storm may affect the entire area Sunday through early next week...

Latest indications are showing a growing potential for a major noreaster to develop and intensify along or off the mid Atlantic
coast on Sunday and then stall off the southern New England coast early next week.

If this occurs the potential for copious amounts of snow or rain exist. Very strong winds would also accompany this storm.

Along the coast coastal flooding and beach erosion may occur due to the potential combination of strong onshore winds and astronomical high tides early next week.

Mariners should also take note and be prepared to head to port and take the appropriate precautions.

This is a storm that will need to be monitored very closely due to its potential size and intensity. All interests are advised to
keep abreast of the latest statements on this developing situation since it is still several days away.

Here we go again...

Tomorrow's forecast calls for 3-6 inches of snow mixed with rain. Another big mess.

It's a mess out there

Lots of tree limbs down, power is out in many areas and not expected to be fully restored until Saturday. At least one neighborhood in Durham was completely cut off earlier today: downed power lines and trees prevented all access.

I had power this morning (there is now a carload of brush in my yard, but none of it fell on power lines), so I shoveled out and then walked to work as usual. Only when I got to campus did I find out that operations were curtailed all day. The power was out in my building (and probably campuswide) for several hours overnight; presumably the administration wasn't sure when (or if) the power would be back today. For the record: it was back by 9 AM.

Just because it's April doesn't mean winter's over

A winter weather advisory is in effect tonight:

A Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect from 6 PM this evening to 10 am EDT Thursday.

Look for occasional snow or rain during the day today... with snow accumulations generally an inch or less. The mixed precipitation will change to snow tonight. By the time the snow tapers to rain and snow showers Thursday morning... expect a storm total accumulation of 4 to 6 inches.

Brrrr....

A record report out of Portland, which is about 45 miles northeast of here:

Statement as of 7:00 am EST on March 7, 2007


... Record low temperature set in Portland today...

The temperature at the Portland International Jetport dropped to 6
degrees below zero as of 7 am today. This broke the old record low
of minus 3 for March 7th which was set back in 1989.

On Tuesday, March 6th, the temperature at the Portland International
Jetport only reached 18 degrees. This was the coldest high
temperature recorded for March 6th since records began. The previous
record cold high was 26 degrees set in 1972 and 1999.

The low temperature on Tuesday was zero degrees, not a record.
However this low and the high of 18 gave Portland an average
temperature of 9 degrees for the day, which set a record for the
coldest average temperature for March 6th. The old record was 10
degrees set in 1948.

Additional records for low temperatures, cold high temperatures and
cold daily averages may be broken at Portland as cold Arctic air
remains over the region today and Thursday.

Temperature records at the jetport began on November 25th, 1940.

Why Portland? There is no NWS office in New Hampshire. Cheshire and Hillsborough Counties get their forecasts from the Boston NWS office, and the rest of New Hampshire gets their forecasts from the NWS office in Gray, ME. (And never mind that the Manchester airport happens to straddle the boundary between Hillsborough and Rockingham Counties.)

Full of fury, but not much sound

It's been a mild winter. Temperatures have generally been well above normal (although the past few weeks have been cold), and there has hardly been any snow: 8.6 inches from 1 July through yesterday.

Today we're making up some ground with the season's first northeaster, and it's a big one. It didn't look so impressive this morning, but this afternoon the winds have picked up, and the blizzard warning (something we don't see every year) issued by the NWS Portland office seems quite justified. They are predicting a storm total of 10 to 14 inches. It's not the biggest storm I've seen--a few years ago we got 32 inches from a single snowstorm--but it was good enough to shut down UNH for the day.