Monday, July 29, 2013

North Slope Cold Front

It's a raw summer day in Barrow with drizzle, mist, 34 °F, and winds gusting to 30 mph.  The UAF webcam reveals bits and pieces of sea ice along the beach.



A strong cold front went through yesterday just after midday, bringing a sharp temperature drop after late-morning warmth of near 60 °F.  In advance of the front, a substantial amount of rain accompanied the warm, moist airmass: the daily precipitation total of 0.55" and the two-day total of 0.70" are the highest respective precipitation amounts in Barrow in over three years.

Today's pocket of cold air is apparent in the following time-height temperature cross-section for Barrow, which shows a computer forecast for the lower atmosphere beginning at 10 am ADT yesterday; time increases to the right and the vertical axis is pressure in mb.  Surface temperatures near or a little below freezing are possible for the rest of today and into tonight.



2 comments:

  1. I see where Barrow had 6.0" of snow on this date in 1922. It's never to late (or early?) to snow there.

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  2. Agreed. Although July snow has become much less common in recent decades... I count 16 July days with 0.5 inches or more from 1921-1963, only 3 since then.

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