March 1st marked the beginning
of Meteorological Spring, right?
And we all were hoping maybe
we'd move on to a warmer season.
Which means that
meteorological winter, at least the bulk
of the cold and snowy season,
the months of December, January,
February, that's now in the books.
And here's a little winter 202223
rap from all across the country.
And also of course right here in Idaho.
Inevitably, winter is always a wild
ride somewhere in the country.
And where on the map winter
weather is wreaking,
havoc can change from day-to-day.
This season, in some regions,
winter was really weird.
In the Northeast, it's been more like
the winter that just wasn't Boston, MA.
A wicked warm winter,
the 5th warmest winter on record
and 4th least snowy winter on
record through the end of February,
with less than a foot so far.
Compare that to a seasonal
average of 44 inches.
Many New England ski areas had
to limit operations and even.
Shut down not long after the
start of the New Year in New
York City's Central Park.
The first measurable snow of the
season didn't fall until February 1st,
which is the latest on record for them.
Total seasonal snowfall so far
stands at 1.3 inches,
compared to a seasonal average of 30 inches.
Pittsburgh,
PA saw more 70 degree days in
February than tenths of inches of snow,
so February 2023 now goes down as
the least snowy on record there,
with less than 1/4 of an inch
throughout the entire month.
Washington DC logged its warmest
winter on record with less than
1/2 an inch of snow for all of
winter so far and in long time
drought stricken California.
Several atmospheric river events aimed
the fire hose on the Golden State,
leading to historical flooding
and nearly 50 feet of mountain
snow in the Sierra Nevada range.
Just this past weekend,
snow accumulated in otherwise
sunny Southern California and
there's more wild weather for the
West Coast expected this week.
Back here at home,
you might be surprised to learn
that meteorological winter has
really been business as usual.
There were some ups and downs
and everything in between,
but it all averaged out
pretty close to normal.
There were some high impact weather days like
this super sweet snow day on December 12th.
Some fantastic days to enjoy the freshy,
freshy pow pow at area ski resorts.
Brundage for example has picked up
more than 220 inches this season,
bogus boasting over 200 inches and the
snowpack or snow water equivalent for the
region has stayed near or above average.
Focusing in on the big and little
Wood River Valley where snowpack is
currently around 120% of average,
it hasn't been this high at this point.
A year since 2019,
great news for the drier months ahead.
Before winter officially began,
the first alert weather team
shared our winter Outlook 202223,
explaining that this winter was
expected to be a La Nina three-peat,
or the 3rd consecutive year with cooler than
average water in the Equatorial Pacific.
There weren't many examples in the record
books of three La Nina Winters in a row,
so that was a bit of a wild
card for what we might expect.
Our forecast called for near average
or slightly above average snowfall,
and here's where the snow totals.
And at the end of meteorological winter?
For Boise,
nearly 20 inches of snow compared
to the average 16.3 inches,
and for McCall,
124 inches compared to the average
of 112 inches.
Pretty close to our first alert forecast
and not too far off from other examples
of a three-peat La Nina Winter.
Plus, we didn't have too many of
those socked in with fog temperature
inversion days as the weather
stayed pretty consistently active.
Now we can let all of those worries
about winter go because the bulk of the
cold and snowy season is behind us. We
didn't have any weather too wild
to handle here in southern Idaho.
Nothing like this, Mr. Edwards.
I don't know why every time I think of,
you know, harsh winter weather
always takes me back to little house.
However, it appears that even though
meteorological winter is over,
with February behind us, it is behind us.
Even though it still feels like maybe
February, March, winter weather,
it wants to stick around into spring.
We know that colder than average
temperatures are favored to continue
through the month of March,
and I hate to say it,
looking at the long range forecast
that may even continue into April,
possibly even may,
it's likely that it's not time
to put away the snow shovel.
Just yet.
We just used it today and we'll
probably need it later this week.
Maybe you remember that we saw snow
all the way into May last year.
But one thing we know for sure Doug,
as always,
we'll be ready for it all and the KTVB
first alert weather team will work
hard to always be your first alert
for the high impact weather days ahead.
And I do have a first alert weather
day in the seven day forecast
coming up this week and we'll get
those details in just a little bit.
It is good to see all that snowpack though.
Yes, we need the water.
That's the good news.
Yes, we do great job on the story.
We thank you.