Wind Advisories are hoisted for travelers today for both Mono and Inyo County’s beginning at 11:00AM

 

Monday AM:

The first of two cold fronts are moving through Central CA bringing mainly wind and cooling. Some light snow shower action may happen this afternoon, however, the main snowfall potential will be with the 2nd cold front beginning this evening into Tuesday AM. Tuesday’s weather will be highlighted by the storms cold core with cold snow showery weather expected. The storm is highlighted by a lot of wind as it is moving into antecedent conditions which were well above normal in temperatures yesterday.  As an example…Bishop reached 81 degrees on Sunday. The average high is 65 degrees and so the high was 16 degree above normal. It will be very breezy today, windy on Mammoth Mt. with highs in town in the high 40s Monday then upper 30s on Tuesday.  I expect 1 to 3 inches at the village of Mammoth by Tuesday PM and 3 to 5 inches on Mammoth Mt the sometime.

The Weather will calm down by Midweek with lighter breezes and high temps returning to the mid 50s by Thursday.

The next round of unsettled weather is expected next Monday….

 

Dr Howard and the Dweebs……………………………….:-)

 

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The Dweebs have taken their good sweet time in updating over the past couple of days because they have not trusted this storm. And accordingly…this system looks pretty wimpy now over Southern Mono County.  The quantitative precip forecast CRFC is for .30 inches of water over the Yosemite valley and that means for us “somewhere between” an inch on highway 395 near KMMH and up to 6 inches over the crest from this storm. So you get the picture…there may not be much of a plow….Just cinders for some ice, once the pavement melts up to an inch or two. What this storm gives up in precip it will make up in wind.  Today will be a day of light breezes over the lower slopes and breezy over the crest as the Dweebs do not expect much more than 30 to 40 MPH gusts over the top until later today. Winds will ramp up early Sunday with gusts in the 40 to 80 MPH range over the upper elevations and Monday will be even windier with gusts to 105MPH over the crest.  Winds will diminish some Tuesday….

Highs today on the mountain will climb to the 50s with low to mid 60s in town. I expect little in the way of breeze in town today until the Mid PM…

The rest of the week’s winds will alternate with breezy weather and days with much lighter breezes. Highs in town will climb to the mid 50s by Thursday.

There is some suggestion of increased amplification and retrogression next weekend and so the next chance for cooling, winds and showers may come by next Sunday night or Monday the 28th….. (This is iffy!)

 

Climate:

In the longer range I am getting conflicting signals…at least for the first week of April. The Climate Models are telling that we have some good storms in April (30 Day) outlook. However, The MJO is diving into the circle of death before it reaches Phase 8.  This is not a good sign for any significant undercutting of the westerlies…at least from an MJO forecast bases.  However, with that said, the MJO plays a less significant role in week 2 and 3 forecasts by April. By April, other teleconnections come into play which can force undercutting or at the least, drop systems down the coast giving the southern half of the state extra precip.

One thing is for sure, the easy days of winter forecasting are over because of the time of year we are coming into….

La Nina:

If you have not heard by now, there is a La Nina brewing for next Winter. ENSO is expected to be at least in neutral mode by this Summer, then in negative territory by the Fall. If you believe in the Scripps forecast model, a Major La Nina is in the offering. (-2.5C) However a blend of all the models show a weak La Nina which would be best from a climate forecast point of view associated with the highest probability of major AR events; IE (pineapple connections) for the central west coast between Dec and March.  However, at the moment, mother nature is still adding her ingredients to the mixing bowl and has not even turned on the Oven for baking yet.

 

Dr Howard and the Dweebs………………………..:-)