Fall snow bonanza in North America and Siberia may portend brutal winter

Publish Date: October 13, 2014
Article Source: Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang blog
Article Link: www.aer.com/news-events/in-the-news/2014/fall-snow-bonanza-north-america-and-siberia-may-portend-brutal-winter

"Judah Cohen, director of seasonal forecasting at Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), a unit of Verisk Climate, believes the North American snow tilts the odds towards a cold winter.

“'[Siberian] snow cover has really picked up, it has rapidly advanced over the last week,” Cohen said.  “It’s ahead of anything since at least [the year] 2000...Normally on this date there is about 1 million squared kilometers of snow cover south of 60°N across Eurasia and instead this year there is 5 million.'

"Cohen says this snow cover is a 'robust, strong signal' for a negative AO this winter. He offered a sneak preview of his winter outlook, which he issues in November."

Read the rest of Cohen's comments and those of other researchers in Jason Samenow's roundup of the early October outlook for the upcoming winter in this article "Fall snow bonanza in North America and Siberia may portend brutal winter", in the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang blog.