snow again

I heard on the radio that last week's snowstorm was eventually rated the #5 blizzard in Minnesota state history. I know it was unusual because it was the first time that I had to miss a day of work (Monday) to continue digging my truck out of snow, even after spending the previous day shoveling snow.

Today we've had more snow. It took 2.5 hours for me to drive home from a SQL Server 2008 class that I'm taking this week. Ugh! I've shoveled what was already on the ground in the driveway.  We're in a lull at the moment, but more snow is expected soon after midnight. At least it's been warm here recently. (Note: "warm" here in winter means only about 10 degrees below freezing.)

I read somewhere a few months ago that this winter in North America was predicted to be colder and wetter than usual.  We're certainly on our way to fulfilling that prediction. The prediction was based more on La Nina conditions than global warming.

As I understand them, La Nina is characterized by colder equatorial Pacific ocean temperatures than usual. Meanwhile, global warming means that average temperature increases, but this increase means that liquids (ocean) and gases (atmosphere) get "well mixed" like watching the various eddies and currents that accelerate in a pot of water that continues to warm. Expect to see more of the jet stream meandering into weird configurations that draws weather into unusual times/places.