Recent comments in /f/vermont

PeteDontCare t1_j7gcxzu wrote

If you insist on being daft:

There are two groups of people, some saying one thing, others saying the other. I'm not saying anyone is saying both simultaneously. And OP made an observation, they didn't comment on the phenomenon. Quit being smug. It's ok to comment that people are being total wusses about this. I witnessed plenty of it over the past few days, hence my comment. These people weren't discussing the existence and meaning of the drastic temperature swings. Again, you're just as wrong as I am, you ass

0

thunder-cricket t1_j7gbrul wrote

>Yes, some people are saying both things.

You can't say something is both abnormal and normal at the same time. I'm not sure which people you think are saying both things, but they are wrong and make no sense.

>The original post didn't take a stance.

The original post asks if they were hallucinating the cold over the last weekend, since it's so warm today. That means the original poster is taking the stance that this isn't normal, since people wonder if they are hallucinating when they observe something that doesn't seem like it could be real.

>You're just as wrong as I am, buddy

Again, hope all that helps.

2

thunder-cricket t1_j7g9gr8 wrote

There are two contending observations. Some people are observing that the extreme temperature swing we're seeing in the past 7 days is alarming.

And others (including you), are observing "no they're not; we've always had cold days in the winter. This is expected and normal," which obfuscates the point of the first observation. No one is saying it's alarming that it was very cold for a few days. We're saying it's alarming it was -20 one day and 45 two days later.

3

VTsnowboarder42 t1_j7g8eg8 wrote

I’ve been yelled at for snowshoeing, in unmarked areas mind you. I have never once had a XC skier take a moment to explain their self righteous indignation.

3

clamworm t1_j7g1a5n wrote

Not a meteorologist, but this is the best way it's been explained to me.

Think of the jet stream as a river. When the equatorial air masses are significantly warmer than arctic air masses, the jet stream went like a river between two steep mountains, straight and fast, west to east. Cold stays north, warm stays south.

Now that the arctic has significantly warmed, the 'riverbanks' aren't as steep, and the jet stream slowed down and started to meander, like a river when it comes to a broad valley. Like a sine wave. So instead of having a clear line between warm and cold, we have a bunch of troughs and valleys. As these troughs and valleys move west to east we get a cycle of warm/cold/warm/cold/.

In the cold arctic scenario, it takes a lot more energy to move the jet stream north and south, taking days or weeks to move 200 miles. Now it happens in hours on a regular basis.

Something about the jet stream I see more often in the area forecast discussions is the jet stream getting low enough to clip the mountain tops. I don't know for sure if this is a new phenomenon or I just wasn't paying attention. Would be grateful for someone with more knowledge on to chime in on both parts.

6