Sig Silber Archives - Page 60 of 118

Crop Report October 25, 2023 – The Agricultural Statistics Board Briefing has Some Concerning Yield and Production Trends

By Sig Silber October 25, 2023agriculture, weatherNo Comments

We are at the point now where crop progress may not be what is of most interest. The monthly Agricultural Statistics Board Briefing (It used to be called an Executive Briefing) may be more useful. The full Briefing can be accessed HERE. It is simply too long for me to snip that many images and publish them. What I have done instead is select certain images that will be of most interest and present them instead of the usual crop Progress Report. But I have included a link to the statistical part of the Weekly Crop Progress Report so that is also available to readers.

What is included in the Briefing is a combination of historical information and in most cases the current forecast for what the harvest will be like. In the full Briefing but not included in this article are slides that show how the forecasts have varied month by month and what the current forecast is and what other industry forecasts are. This Briefing is about crops not animals.

Of interest to me is the history of yields and also the history of actual production. In general, that data is concerning. I think most of the slides are self-explanatory so I have not included commentary on each slide.

Short Term and Intermediate-Term Weather Outlooks for the U.S. and a Six-Day Forecast for the World: posted October 25, 2023

By Sig Silber October 25, 2023weatherNo Comments

Here is what we are paying attention to in the next 48 to 72 hours. The article also includes weather maps for longer-term outlooks and a six-day World weather outlook.

We start with the U.S. Information. You can update this section here but these are 48 to 72-hour forecasts so if I have not been able to update this area twice daily, what is shown is still valid and the images in the body of the article update automatically but sometimes they are a bit slow to update.

NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
Wed Oct 25 2023
Valid 12Z Wed Oct 25 2023 – 12Z Fri Oct 27 2023

..Significant early season winter storm brings heavy snowfall to portions
of the Northwest, Northern Rockies, and Northern Plains…

…Widespread heavy rainfall with scattered to widespread instances of
flash flooding possible in the Southern Plains Wednesday…

…Much above average temperatures for eastern and central portions of the
country while temperatures turn frigid in the Northern Rockies and
Plains…

cone graphic

Short Term and Intermediate-Term Weather Outlooks for the U.S. and a Six-Day Forecast for the World: posted October 24, 2023

By Sig Silber October 24, 2023weatherNo Comments

Here is what we are paying attention to in the next 48 to 72 hours. The article also includes weather maps for longer-term outlooks and a six-day World weather outlook.

We start with the U.S. Information. You can update this section here but these are 48 to 72-hour forecasts so if I have not been able to update this area twice daily, what is shown is still valid and the images in the body of the article update automatically but sometimes they are a bit slow to update.

Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
Tue Oct 24 2023
Valid 12Z Tue Oct 24 2023 – 12Z Thu Oct 26 2023

…A significant early season winter storm will bring heavy snowfall later
Tuesday through Wednesday across portions of the Northwest, Northern
Rockies, and Northern Plains…

…Heavy rainfall and some areas of flash flooding will be possible for
portions of the Southern Plains and Great Lakes…

…Much above average temperatures for much of the central and eastern
U.S. mid-week…

cone graphic

How the NWS Operations Center Views the Coming Winter – October 23, 2023

By Sig Silber October 23, 2023weatherNo Comments

All of this was contained in the NOAA Seasonal Outlook released last Thursday and our article on that information can be accessed HERE. But it is interesting to see what the National Weather Service (NWS) sees as the important messages from that report.

The maps in this article are the same as the maps in that prior set of information but may contain some additional detail.

I left out some information on new products to be released by the NWS as the information sent to me was marked as not for general distribution. I will be including some of the new products in my daily weather article as they become available and I am sure that the NWS will be providing additional information on these new products soon. The NWS and all of NOAA is always trying to improve the information that they provide to the public.

Short Term and Intermediate-Term Weather Outlooks for the U.S. and a Six-Day Forecast for the World: posted October 23, 2023

By Sig Silber October 23, 2023weatherNo Comments

Here is what we are paying attention to in the next 48 to 72 hours. The article also includes weather maps for longer-term outlooks and a six-day World weather outlook.

We start with the U.S. Information. You can update this section here but these are 48 to 72-hour forecasts so if I have not been able to update this area twice daily, what is shown is still valid and the images in the body of the article update automatically but sometimes they are a bit slow to update.

Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
Mon Oct 23 2023
Valid 12Z Mon Oct 23 2023 – 12Z Wed Oct 25 2023

…Heavy rain chances and flash flood potential increases across the
Southern Plains early this week…

…Some locally heavy rainfall possible for the Upper Great Lakes
Tuesday…

…Impactful snow to enter parts of the Northwest, Northern Rockies, and
northern High Plains on Tuesday…

cone graphic

Short Term and Intermediate-Term Weather Outlooks for the U.S. and a Six-Day Forecast for the World: posted October 22, 2023

By Sig Silber October 22, 2023weatherNo Comments

Here is what we are paying attention to in the next 48 to 72 hours. The article also includes weather maps for longer-term outlooks and a six-day World weather outlook.

We start with the U.S. Information. You can update this section here but these are 48 to 72-hour forecasts so if I have not been able to update this area twice daily, what is shown is still valid and the images in the body of the article update automatically but sometimes they are a bit slow to update.

Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
Sun Oct 22 2023
Valid 12Z Sun Oct 22 2023 – 12Z Tue Oct 24 2023

…Cool Sunday for the Northeast with a freeze possible in the Upper Ohio
Valley Monday morning…

…Much above average high temperatures continue for much of the central
and western U.S…

…Frontal system brings precipitation chances inland from the West Coast
to the Northern Rockies/Plains…

cone graphic

Our Report on the JAMSTEC Three-Season Weather Forecast – October 21, 2023

By Sig Silber October 21, 2023weatherNo Comments

The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, or JAMSTEC, is a Japanese national research institute for marine-earth science and technology

From the JAMSTEC Discussion:

As predicted, the recent observation confirms further development of the El Niño. The SINTEX-F ensemble mean predicts that the El Niño will reach its peak in the boreal winter and persist at least until the next boreal spring. However, there is a large uncertainty in the predicted amplitude.

Although it is a World forecast, it includes a forecast for North America since North America is part of the World. The JAMSTEC discussion does not address it but the maps show the U.S. being an area that has a lot of area that is not warmer than Climatology which I interpret as a fairly cold winter but surprisingly dry in the Southwest.

First, we take a look at the forecasted sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA). JAMSTEC starts by forecasting the SSTA and Nino 3.4 Index on the first day of the month and from there it usually takes their models about two weeks to produce their seasonal forecast. I received it from JAMSTEC on October 20, 2023 which is when NOAA issued their Seasonal Update. The JAMSTEC model runs are based on conditions as of October 1, 2023. The NOAA Seasonal Outlook was based on conditions closer to the time when it is issued.

We do not have a three-season forecast from JAMSTEC this month. We have three forecasts but the first covers NDJ and the second covers DJF so they are just a month apart. This is because JAMSTEC prefers to work with the Meteorological Seasons so we have Winter and Spring and the first map which is one month of Autumn with two months of winter so they are very similar.

One might question their winter forecast for the Southwest but it is somewhat consistent with the below.

This shows their forecast of sea surface temperature anomalies at three points in time. Red is warm and is associated with El Nino. You can see the El Nino tongue of warm water extending from Peru to the west in all three time periods. It seems to be stronger in the 1st and 2nd time periods which overlap a lot. The warmest water shifts was bit west in the third period exhibiting some Modoki characteristics.

JAMSTEC (and also NOAA) are showing very warm oceans. I have written about that before. It raises questions about the reliability of our current approach to thinking about the ENSO Cycle. This is covered in another article that can be accessed HERE. But JAMSTEC is showing a relatively normal ocean off the coast of much of the U.S. which probably explains their strange forecast.

JAMSTEC uses the same definition of Normal (climatology as NOAA). They do a better job at characterizing La Ninas and El Ninos than NOAA. JAMSTEC provides me with a lot of other information that I do not include in my articles to keep them to a manageable size for readers.

Short Term and Intermediate-Term Weather Outlooks for the U.S. and a Six-Day Forecast for the World: posted October 21, 2023

By Sig Silber October 21, 2023weatherNo Comments

Here is what we are paying attention to in the next 48 to 72 hours. The article also includes weather maps for longer-term outlooks and a six-day World weather outlook.

We start with the U.S. Information. You can update this section here but these are 48 to 72-hour forecasts so if I have not been able to update this area twice daily, what is shown is still valid and the images in the body of the article update automatically but sometimes they are a bit slow to update.

Short Range Forecast Discussion
WS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
Sat Oct 21 2023
Valid 12Z Sat Oct 21 2023 – 12Z Mon Oct 23 2023

…Showers and storms expected from the Great Lakes into the Northeast
Saturday, with some locally heavy rainfall possible in New England…

…Much above average temperatures continue this weekend for portions of
the central and western U.S…

…Increasing precipitation chances from the Pacific Northwest to the
Northern Rockies Sunday…

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NOAA Updates its Seasonal Outlook October 19, 2023 – Reduction in Drought

By Sig Silber October 20, 2023weatherNo Comments

On the third Thursday of the month right on schedule NOAA issued their updated Seasonal Outlook which I describe as their Four-Season Outlook because it extends a bit more than one year into the future. The information released also included the Mid-Month Outlook for the following month plus the weather and drought outlook for the next three months. I present the information issued by NOAA and try to add context to it. It is quite a challenge for NOAA to address the subsequent month, the subsequent three-month period as well as the twelve successive three-month periods for a year or a bit more.

First, Let’s Take a Look at the (mid-month) Outlook for November. It will be updated on the last day of October.

Then I present a graphic that shows both the preliminary Outlook for November and the three-month outlook for NDJ 2023-2024. So you get the full picture in one graphic. For some, that may be all they are interested in. Others will be interested in the longer-term predictions and also the rationale supporting the predictions which is mostly provided by the NOAA discussion.

The top row is what is now called the Mid-Month Outlook for next month which will be updated at the end of this month. There is a temperature map and a precipitation map. The second row is a three-month outlook that includes next month. I think the outlook maps are self-explanatory. What is important to remember is that they show deviations from the current definition of normal which is the period 1991 through 2020. So this is not a forecast of the absolute value of temperature or precipitation but the change from what is defined as normal or to use the technical term “climatology”.

Notice that the outlook for next month and the three-month outlooks are somewhat different with respect to temperature and also to some extent precipitation. This tells us that December and January will be different than November to some extent.

The full NOAA Seasonal Outlook extends through November/December/January of 2025. All of these maps are in the body of the article. Large maps are there for November and the three-month period Nov/Dec/Jan. Small maps are provided beyond that through January of 2025 with a link to get larger versions of these maps.

NOAA provides an excellent discussion to support the maps.[Author’s Note: many other meteorological agencies see this El Nino being stronger than NOAA does so there is more than usual uncertainty relating to the more distant months.]

Short Term and Intermediate-Term Weather Outlooks for the U.S. and a Six-Day Forecast for the World: posted October 20, 2023

By Sig Silber October 20, 2023weatherNo Comments

Here is what we are paying attention to in the next 48 to 72 hours. The article also includes weather maps for longer-term outlooks and a six-day World weather outlook.

We start with the U.S. Information. You can update this section here but these are 48 to 72-hour forecasts so if I have not been able to update this area twice daily, what is shown is still valid and the images in the body of the article update automatically but sometimes they are a bit slow to update.

Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
Fri Oct 20 2023
Valid 12Z Fri Oct 20 2023 – 12Z Sun Oct 22 2023

…Storm system to bring showers and thunderstorms to the East into the
weekend…

…Much above average, record-tying/breaking warmth for much of the
central-western U.S…

cone graphic