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Weather: Southern winds to knock polar vortex back up to Canada
(CNN) -- Soon, it will be time to strike up an old fight refrain and send the iceman packing: "Na na na-na, na na na-na, hey-ey-ey, goodbye!"
The mighty polar vortex marched down the length of the nation to the Gulf of Mexico with a glacial momentum that may have seemed unstoppable.
But its days are numbered, as a southern one-two punch is set to knock the rare arctic blast back up to Canada, said CNN meteorologist Jenny Harrison.
"It really is a snap, just a few days of that really, really cold air."
A blustery high pressure area rising from the Southwest to the Northeast will throw it a broad, left hook this week, pushing it into the upper Midwest and Plains States. Then balmy southeastern air will rush up from the gulf and hit it straight on to finish the job, Harrison said.
Low blows
When the subzero polar vortex plunged down the middle of the nation early in the week, it tormented people as far south as Alabama with broken water pipes, according to local media reports.
It also turned geographic warm and cold spots on their heads.
On Tuesday, it was warmer in Anchorage, Alaska, where temperatures were in the 20s, than it was in Atlanta and Cincinnati, which saw respective lows of 7 and minus-7 degrees.
Those temperatures had not been felt in those cities since the mid-1990s, Harrison said.
The mercury is predicted to stay steady in Anchorage through Saturday, but in Cincinnati, it will slingshot up to about 50, and in Atlanta to about 60 degrees.
In New York, it was just 4 degrees in Central Park Tuesday, still well off the all-time low of 15 below zero in 1934.
But by Saturday, New Yorkers will be thawing with highs over 50 degrees, the weather service said.
North Dakota, which saw the worst of the arctic blast with lows around minus-30 with wind chills below minus-50 will drift back into normal winter lows in the plus 20s.
Slow melt
By the weekend, people may be strolling along the Gulf Coast in short sleeves with highs right around 70. But that will take a few days. Early Wednesday, they covered their tropical plants to shut out the frost, local media reported.
The National Weather Service issued a freeze warning early Wednesday for Gulf Coast regions, where palm trees swayed in an icy breeze.
The coming warming trend will not be sudden, but gradual, and that is good news, Harrison said.
"We will not have a sudden thaw of that snow in the north and the northeast." That should help prevent some flooding.
Temperatures -- both highs and lows -- are to jump up by about 10 degrees per day, until the mercury in most of the United States stepladders from lows not seen in decades to unseasonably warm highs, the National Weather Service said.
The southerly air masses will push in some rain, which will fall in places where there is still cold weather, and, as a result, land as a slushy winter mix, the NWS said.
Cold plagues
Relief is already here for airline passengers, who waited in airports for hours.
The weather-related cancellations and delays that sowed U.S. flight maps with red pock marks -- indicating clogged airports -- have abated.
At over 3,000 per day at their peak, cancellations sank Tuesday to under 500, and early Thursday fewer than 50 were expected, according to flightaware.com.
The vortex is still handing rough treatment to some places. Take Buffalo, New York, where the snow didn't seem to want to quit until early Wednesday. The NWS lifted its blizzard warning at 4:00 a.m.
High arctic winds whipped moist warmer air off of the Great Lakes and dumped it as snow there and in other places along their shores.
There were also gas outages in some areas of Buffalo because of broken water mains that flooded gas lines, CNN affiliate WIVB reported.
And the Niagara River was jammed with ice, which could push water over the banks and cause flash flooding.
Authorities have blamed at least 16 deaths on the cold so far, including 11 from traffic accidents and three involving hypothermia.
SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/08/us/winter-weather/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
The mighty polar vortex marched down the length of the nation to the Gulf of Mexico with a glacial momentum that may have seemed unstoppable.
But its days are numbered, as a southern one-two punch is set to knock the rare arctic blast back up to Canada, said CNN meteorologist Jenny Harrison.
"It really is a snap, just a few days of that really, really cold air."
A blustery high pressure area rising from the Southwest to the Northeast will throw it a broad, left hook this week, pushing it into the upper Midwest and Plains States. Then balmy southeastern air will rush up from the gulf and hit it straight on to finish the job, Harrison said.
Low blows
When the subzero polar vortex plunged down the middle of the nation early in the week, it tormented people as far south as Alabama with broken water pipes, according to local media reports.
It also turned geographic warm and cold spots on their heads.
On Tuesday, it was warmer in Anchorage, Alaska, where temperatures were in the 20s, than it was in Atlanta and Cincinnati, which saw respective lows of 7 and minus-7 degrees.
Those temperatures had not been felt in those cities since the mid-1990s, Harrison said.
The mercury is predicted to stay steady in Anchorage through Saturday, but in Cincinnati, it will slingshot up to about 50, and in Atlanta to about 60 degrees.
In New York, it was just 4 degrees in Central Park Tuesday, still well off the all-time low of 15 below zero in 1934.
But by Saturday, New Yorkers will be thawing with highs over 50 degrees, the weather service said.
North Dakota, which saw the worst of the arctic blast with lows around minus-30 with wind chills below minus-50 will drift back into normal winter lows in the plus 20s.
Slow melt
By the weekend, people may be strolling along the Gulf Coast in short sleeves with highs right around 70. But that will take a few days. Early Wednesday, they covered their tropical plants to shut out the frost, local media reported.
The National Weather Service issued a freeze warning early Wednesday for Gulf Coast regions, where palm trees swayed in an icy breeze.
The coming warming trend will not be sudden, but gradual, and that is good news, Harrison said.
"We will not have a sudden thaw of that snow in the north and the northeast." That should help prevent some flooding.
Temperatures -- both highs and lows -- are to jump up by about 10 degrees per day, until the mercury in most of the United States stepladders from lows not seen in decades to unseasonably warm highs, the National Weather Service said.
The southerly air masses will push in some rain, which will fall in places where there is still cold weather, and, as a result, land as a slushy winter mix, the NWS said.
Cold plagues
Relief is already here for airline passengers, who waited in airports for hours.
The weather-related cancellations and delays that sowed U.S. flight maps with red pock marks -- indicating clogged airports -- have abated.
At over 3,000 per day at their peak, cancellations sank Tuesday to under 500, and early Thursday fewer than 50 were expected, according to flightaware.com.
The vortex is still handing rough treatment to some places. Take Buffalo, New York, where the snow didn't seem to want to quit until early Wednesday. The NWS lifted its blizzard warning at 4:00 a.m.
High arctic winds whipped moist warmer air off of the Great Lakes and dumped it as snow there and in other places along their shores.
There were also gas outages in some areas of Buffalo because of broken water mains that flooded gas lines, CNN affiliate WIVB reported.
And the Niagara River was jammed with ice, which could push water over the banks and cause flash flooding.
Authorities have blamed at least 16 deaths on the cold so far, including 11 from traffic accidents and three involving hypothermia.
SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/08/us/winter-weather/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/14/161156783/wind-power-plentiful-study-says
Old SciFri transcript and audio regarding wind power. Twenty minute listen.
Old SciFri transcript and audio regarding wind power. Twenty minute listen.
So you think that the goverment should tell people how many children they can have, like China does?
Yes illegal immigration is a problem that starts not with labor but with the GOVERNMENT. They refuse to enforce the laws on the books.
Yes illegal immigration is a problem that starts not with labor but with the GOVERNMENT. They refuse to enforce the laws on the books.
Texas' problem is the same as the rest of the planet's -- too many people. As long as Texans continue to raise families like it's the 18th century (overlarge families as a form of retirement security) and as long as authorities turn a blind eye to undocumented immigration as a means of keeping labor costs low (50% of Texas construction workers are undocumented) resource demands will outstrip any reasonable growth in supply. Do the math and Houston will eventually go the way of Lahore and Mogadishu and every other day will seem like a luxury.
Fortunately, I will soon no longer be a Texan. My only regret is not sticking around long enough to vote against that renegade Canadian, Rafael Cruz in the next State election.
Fortunately, I will soon no longer be a Texan. My only regret is not sticking around long enough to vote against that renegade Canadian, Rafael Cruz in the next State election.
Edit:
REPUBLICAN Texans could have their lights on every other day, because they can afford batteries for flashlights and personal/home generators, whereas the poor of the state (Democrats) can't afford such luxuries (ie: batteries & genies).
I really think that's an AWESOME idea, Pro.
Seriously.
REPUBLICAN Texans could have their lights on every other day, because they can afford batteries for flashlights and personal/home generators, whereas the poor of the state (Democrats) can't afford such luxuries (ie: batteries & genies).
I really think that's an AWESOME idea, Pro.
Seriously.
Maybe like the Dems want to redistribute wealth, we could redistribute electricity as well. Texans could have their lights on every other day.
Maybe this will be the solution desrt
Rolling blackouts are Texas' future without reform, generators say
Reuters
11 hours ago
By Eileen O'Grady
HOUSTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Four of the largest power plant owners in Texas on Thursday warned of regular rolling blackouts across the state within a few years unless it overhauls its $29 billion wholesale electric market.
The prediction by NRG Energy, Calpine Corp, NextEra Energy Inc and Exelon Corp, under a new umbrella trade group called Texans for Reliable Power, appeared in a full-page newspaper ad Thursday to respond to opposition from big industrial users that have stymied efforts to reform the deregulated power market.
The ad appeared in the Austin American-Statesman, read by policy makers in the state capitol.
It shows a satellite view of lights across the United States at night, but Texas is shown in darkness.
"Is this our future?" the ad said.
Citing the close call for potential rolling outages experienced earlier this week amid sub-freezing temperatures, the ad says Texas could be on a course for "regular rolling blackouts in a just a few short years."
"We wanted something that would get people's attention," said David Knox, a spokesman for NRG Energy, the state's second largest power generator. "The bottom line is reliability: what does that mean to the state of Texas and the residents."
Texas, unlike many U.S. states, continues to see growing demand for electricity. Tight financial markets and low wholesale power prices have stalled construction of most new plants in the state's primary grid, overseen by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
ERCOT has warned that blackouts will be more likely as the amount of surplus electricity in the state dwindles.
The grid agency and the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) have made a number of market changes and are studying more radical changes to encourage investment in new power plants.
The debate has simmered for more than two years. Regulators, lawmakers and market participants are now divided over the issue.
Most companies that own generation, like members of Texans for Reliable Power, along with Luminant, Texas' largest power producer, support creation of a so-called "capacity market" where generators and others are paid to be available in future years.
Large industrial power consumers oppose the additional cost that a capacity market may create.
The Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA), whose members produce more than 90 percent of the crude and natural gas in Texas and operate major refineries, wants to keep the current market design.
"TXOGA does not believe that a centralized forward capacity market is the answer to whatever reliability issues the PUC believes remain," the group said in a filing last week. "When hanging a picture on your living room wall, you do not use a sledgehammer to pound in a nail," TXOGA said.
Generators warn that reform is needed.
"Exelon and other energy companies would very much like to increase their presence and participation in ERCOT," William Von Hoene Jr., an Exelon executive told an industry group last fall.
Companies are reluctant to invest "because the market is failing to provide a clear price signal," Von Hoene said.
Permits to construct more than 12,000 MW of new generation are in the works, but it is unclear whether any of the projects will advance.
Last month, Houston-based Calpine agreed to purchase a power plant near San Antonio, but said it would delay the previous owner's plan to build two "quick-start" power plants at the site until the debate over electric market reform is settled.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rolling-blackouts-texas-future-without-232600344.html
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