It’s been a very warm start to 2015 for the Western US with 8 states recording their warmest opening to any 6 months in history.

As previously stated, this can be blamed on one major factor. The ABNORMALLY warm water extending from the equator (& beyond) up to shores of Alaska.

Because of that warm water, especially down towards the tropics, there is shifts going on within the entire Pacific atmosphere with the strengthening of the subtropical jet and large scale lowering of upper heights. This is bringing unusual SUMMER STORMS to a region which should be dry and hot and has been dry and warm for much of the last 4 years.

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The reason why California is seeing troughs and not ridges is because of the heat being released into the atmosphere over the eastern equatorial Pacific. This process should gain more ground as we push into the cooler fall season.

However, we’re seeing spring or fall-like storms pushing through California at a time when it shouldn’t be happening, blame or thank El Nino and what came as a bit of a surprise to me yesterday was the reports, pictures and video of the SNOW falling on Tioga and Sonora Passes at the entrance to Yosemite National Park. According to the NWS Reno, there’s no stats to tell exactly how rare this July snow is but meteorologist Jason Handman states that folks in the area haven’t seen anything like this in 20+ years. Another person tells me he’s lived in the Sierra 22 years and hard to recall quite this much snow in July.

Hail, flooding rain, wind, snow, lightning was all present within the skies of California yesterday.

Check out this interesting contrast snapshot between San Diego and Tioga Pass yesterday.

Stunning ‘winter-like’ scene from just off Tioga Pass. Courtesy of Bartshe Miller.

Here are more images of yesterday’s snow over Tioga and Sonora Passes. Courtesy of Caltrans District 9.

 

I must show you this that Dr Michael Ventrice of WSI Energy tweeted yesterday… Check out the vortices spinning on the western edge of the trough and upper low crossing California.

Afterall this is a heck of a trough for mid summer.

and that’s a heck of a strong subtropical jet crossing Socal. 80kts ABOVE normal!

Notice the EPS control 5-day mean 500mb height anomaly shows the ridge over the central US with a trough down both the West and East Coast.

This is how June wound up for Southern California.

The CFSv2 shows the wetter trend for California as we head into winter.

No video today but hope to have one tomorrow.

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Tags: california july snow, july snow, sierra snow