Meteorological Winter

Astronomical winter runs from the Winter solstice in around December 20^th to the Spring equinox in late March.   Meteorological winter (MW) is December through February referring to the coldest time of the year in the northern hemisphere.   I have heard the term MW before, but this winter it has stuck in my mind.

It has been a mild winter for us with barely a trace of snow in the lowlands and only a few freezing nights with the coldest weather staying just a few degrees below freezing at night and warming up over freezing during the day.   There has been a good deal of that “Seattle mist” where it is wet and gloomy like rain with hardly any measurable precipitation.   That is the stuff that gave Seattle its reputation for being rainy.   According to this currentresults.com page Seattle has the 6^th most days of rain and the 32^nd most rain of 51 of the largest cities in the US.

Based on my anecdotal observations, global warming is changing that with many fewer days of Seattle mist.

I am grateful for more sunshine, another hour of daylight in January and meteorological spring only a month away.