2007/2008 Snow coverage graphics

[Extremeweatherguy]

Here is the latest ice comparison...

10/27/07 VS. 10/27/08

[jimvb]

I notice that 2008 has more snow and ice than 2007, and I note that the 2008 you quote does not have a long string of snow cover reaching to the Minnesota border that is present in the natice display. I also note that 2008 is about the same as 2006. It seems like we are in an alternating pattern. There has been a rapid increase in ice in the last two weeks as shown by this link:

http://www.socc.ca/seaice/seaice_current_e.cfm

[Extremeweatherguy]

Sea ice extent is now very near levels we were at a few years ago.

[jimvb]

This is an interesting chart. It shows that in the winter (February, March, April) ice has been less each year from 2005-2007, and then all at once it jumps higher again in 2008. In the summer (August, September, October), the deviant years are 2007-8, the most recent, when record lows were hit and the Northwest Passage opened up for the first time in history. What is also notable is that in the spring (May, June, July) and in the fall (November, December, January), the ice levels are practically the same for all years.

From what I gather from this, with 2008 winter as an outlier, the ice has been shrinking at the solstices but has been staying the same during the equinoxes. This tells me that man-made global warming is at work, but it has many negative feedback loops, for example, a low summer ice cover causes more precipitation through evaporation on the open water, and much of this turns into snow, which reflects light from the Sun. This in turn leads to cold, and then more snow and so forth. So this accounts for rapid recovery of ice from record lows. The action of global warming thus is complex and erratic.

[Extremeweatherguy]

November 2nd, 2008 VS. November 2nd, 2007:


November 2nd, 2008 VS. November 2nd, 1989:


Current ice levels are still above last year's and are actually quite close to the levels we were at on this same date way back in 1989.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Current sea ice extent is at its greatest level since 2002...

[Extremeweatherguy]

Arctic ice continues to be well above last year's levels...

[jimvb]

I have compared December 10 snow and ice of 2008 with 2007. It has turned into a mixed bag. Hudson Bay is starting to freeze up, but at this time last year it was already all frozen over, so 2008 is warmer over the bay. However, there is considerably more ice in the Bering Sea this year than last. Otherwise, there is no difference in the ice.

Snow has surely turned around. There was a lot more snow at this time last year; it was farther south, with only a few exceptions, such as Connecticut.

This means that the chill that had been occurring earlier has eased up. It is my feeling that 2009 will set a new record for low sea ice, beating 2007.

This is all based on http://www.natice.noaa.gov/ims maps.

[pwrdog]

It will be nice to see SE Texas Have snow coverage for at least one day...

BTW... So far this year we have set our all time record low for october and just set the record for the earliest accumulating snow ever..

It was kind wierd to see it raining in Montanna and snowing on galveston island at the same time..