Welcome back for another year of Wildcard Weather! Albuquerque had two cold fronts move through during the past week. For most areas, that would mean measurable rain or snow. But not here in the desert, by the time the fronts reached us here in Albuquerque most of the moisture was gone. Instead we ended up …
Good evening everyone, No two snowflakes have the same shape, right? It's almost Christmas so its time for a festive post, and I personally can't think of a more festive topic than snowflakes. Those beautiful, 6-sided symmetrical designs that your mind immediately goes to. But is that really the case? Do they all really look …
Continue reading No two alike? Snowflake Shapes and Formation
Another week and another big storm, so another post. Welcome back! California has seen some flooding rains the past few days. How much rain? San Francisco received 3.75 inches in one day, about one-third of the total received during the 2013-14 rain year. Hurricane force winds have been reported, major highways were closed, and 4.5 …
Continue reading The Pineapple Express and California’s Rain
Good evening everyone, I grew up in New England, an exciting place for a budding meteorologist. The weather is ever-changing with so many types of storms; hurricanes, tornadoes, and blizzards are all possibilities. The most representative of the region is, of course, the nor'easter. Nor'easters like The Blizzard of '78 and the February 2013 Blizzard …
Welcome back everyone, It seems lake-effect snow has become this year's polar vortex, so there's no more timely subject to write about this week. This week's Buffalo snow,lasting from Monday, November 17th to Thursday, November 20th was truly a historic and devastating event. Over seven feet of snow has fallen on some areas and at …
Continue reading Lake-Effect Snow and the November 2014 Buffalo Storm
Good evening everyone, There's a lot of jet contrails in the sky today, and that's not surprising considering my proximity to Albuquerque's Sunport (an international airport) and Kirtland Air Force Base. The contrails are the long, crisscrossing lines formed by passing planes. Unfortunately, many people don't understand what contrails are and make wild "chemtrail" accusations. …
UPDATE: Find out which forecast won HERE. Let's get this out of the way first. This is for winter 2014-2015. Hello everyone, Since last year's post on the winter forecast was so popular, I've decided to do it again. This time, I'm going to look at two totally different winter forecasts; one from the European …
Continue reading What will this winter be like? Two Forecasts for Winter in your Region
Good evening everyone! The biggest hot air balloon festival in the world, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, is this week and I have some pictures! I was able to make it to the balloon park this past weekend and got some pictures from the Saturday Mass Ascension and Sunday night Glow. Mass Ascensions occur at …
Continue reading The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and the Albuquerque Box
Good evening everyone. Welcome all of new readers to Wildcard Weather. Let's start tonight's post with a question. What is a monsoon? If you do not live in an area with a monsoon, its quite understandable to never come across the term or have any idea what it means. But don't feel bad, many people …
Evening all! I was looking through some old pictures and I found this beauty. It was taken back in December during my road trip from Boston to Albuquerque. I believe we were driving through upstate New York at the time. The picture is of a Sun Dog inside a Hole Punch Cloud. Short story on …
