Global Warming Takes its Toll
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Please be kind to your local forecasters. They'd very much like to definitively say it will snow Friday.
But Friday's forecast is as slippery as the bottom of Clark Griswold's sled in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
To get snow in our typically tropical clime the timing must be just right, with cold air arriving at the same time as atmospheric moisture. It seems plausible this will happen Friday afternoon.
The National Weather Service says much of the area could get from a trace to an inch of snow.
But Houston only sees snow, on average, about every four years. And never this early in the season: Friday's, if it comes, would be the earliest snowfall ever in Houston, beating the record tied last year by six days. So forecasters like Fred Schmude, of ImpactWeather, are wary.
“Most of our forecasting data is caught right in the middle, meaning any subtle change in the position of the upper level disturbance will have huge consequences on how much, if any, snow falls across the Greater Houston area,” he said.
Accuweather.com's Joe Bastardi said most Houstonians should expect to at least see snowflakes in the air. But weather, he admitted, is weather.
“What I get concerned about is that if the snow stops 10 miles northwest of Houston,” he said. “Then everyone thinks we're idiots.” |
