Big continent. Big weather differences. by Rob McElwee
In a continent the size of north America, the weather is always diverse. During the transition seasons of spring and autumn, some states tend to fluctuate rapidly between summer and winter rather than change more sedately:
For example; Wyoming has been covered in a foot of snow and not just in the mountains. Interstate 80 was closed along a 45 mile stretch because of a blizzard. It emanated from the Canadian Prairies, which extend as far north as the Arctic Circle and are then renamed, south of the border, as the Great Plains.
No barrier to a bit of late winter, this flat ground often has the most extreme cold of the winter and extreme warmth of the summer. It is also the place of battle between cold, dry arctic air and warm, moist Gulf of Mexico air whose resultant thunderstorms are probably the biggest in the world spawning destructive tornadoes. “The Wizard of Oz” was set in Kansas for that reason.
The current snow-storm is moving into Colorado and then out into the Plains. That will be a shock given that last week the temperatures were into the twenties C, (low seventies F). Whilst Plains folk are prepared for this type of fluctuation, the fate of those in the southern states is now more to do with irritating entomology than meteorology,
Recent heavy rain and humid warmth has encouraged mosquito swarms in southern Georgia and northern Florida. Insects just can’t resist
14 inches, (350mm), of rain in two days - a figure recorded around Pensacola. The swarms are expected to move further afield in the next few weeks, taking us up to the start of the hurricane season… At least the residents of Wyoming won’t have to prepare for that sort of storm.
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