BLOG: Weather in 2014 in Youngstown Area; A Look at January 2015

Happy New Year all!!! As you know, I love statistics, charts, graphs, maps, etc. So it's a no-brainer that I would do a "year in review" about our weather in 2014. Let's start with the "top stories" of the year for our area.1) EF-1 Tornado in Ellsworth Township on July 8It was a wild afternoon of weather and this tornado caused structural damage to parts of Ellsworth Township and the Canfield area. The twister tracked for nearly 5 miles with a maximum width of 800 yards and estimated wind speed of 90 mph. 2) Coldest Weather in 20 Years in January It had been since 1994 that we had cold this severe. Wind chills were as low as -25 or so a couple of mornings. The worst of the cold occurred in 2 separate waves, one early in the month and one toward the end of January. We were not alone, as much of eastern North America had an extreme month:  3) Unusually cool weather in mid-Summer; highs in the 60s several days in JulyMany were asking "what happened to Summer??" Again, we were not alone: 4) Early season cold and snow in November"Here we go again" was a popular refrain as last Winter was still fresh in everyone's minds.  A high of 18 in mid-November (after several inches of snow) is pretty extreme!  5) 2nd least snowy December on record; mild as wellAfter a cold, snowy November, December was a dud! Pacific air dominated the pattern and less than 1" of snow was recorded in Youngstown. Snow lovers and those who depend on snow to make a living were not happy.Let's dive into some other statistics for 2014.The year in temperatures: One record high was set in 2014; it was on October 28. An overview of the year in temperatures and precipitation: How did 2014 stack up against history?? It was a cold year, in fact the coldest since 1996: Snow-wise, nothing remarkable....a snowier December would have made for a different story. Overall precipitation was very close to average and nearly identical to 2013: Looking globally for a second, have a look at who had a warm and cold 2014: WHEN WILL IT SNOW AGAIN??? WILL JANUARY BE COLD??Let's look ahead to what the next few week have in store. It's cold out now, but a weekend warm up is coming with rain. AFTER that though, the pattern will turn cold for a handful of days. Here's the jet stream next Wednesday: Notice the ridge on the West Coast and Alaska. The air over our region will have originated over the Arctic Circle (follow the lines over Ohio NE into Canada and into the Arctic.) This will result in a couple of days where temperatures may not get out of the teens: Will it come with snow? Maybe. There will certainly be at least some flurries around at times next week as the Great Lakes will interact with the frigid air. I think the best chance of a "general" snow will be with a "clipper" system on Tuesday, as shown on the GFS model: It's much too early to speculate on accumulations from a storm that could track far enough away that we get nothing. But, clippers that take favorable tracks are capable of producing enough snow to shovel and plow.The cold pattern is likely to ease fairly quickly by mid-month. The pattern shown here around the 13th is not a cold one: There are signals that the last 1/3 of January and all of February will be the "heart" of Winter with the most opportunities for snow and harsh cold in Ohio and Pennsylvania.Thanks for reading!Eric