Re: The Snow Pile !
True Chinooks don't blow into the Maritimes
But they are not the same as Chinooks, says expert
Charles Perry
Weather Published Monday February 18th, 2008
Southeastern New Brunswick residents find themselves locked into a full-throttle winter this year.
There has been no shortage of snow, ice, freezing rain and, of course, the old Canadian winter standard -- below-freezing temperatures, often heightened by cold Arctic air fanned by brisk northeastern winds.
What New Brunswickers need is an occasional Chinook to warm up the air for awhile. These mild breaks are certainly welcomed by our Alberta cousins, especially coming in the height of the frigid winter season.
However, there is a misconception among many Atlantic Canadians that we do get Chinooks here over the winter, albeit in a little different form. Several people will refer to January thaws and other brief warm periods over the winter as "Maritime Chinooks."
Claude Côté of Fredericton, a meteorologist for Environment Canada, said the idea that the two are somehow related is common in the Maritimes. But that is simply not the case.
Although both are welcome breaks over the long, cold winter months, they are not connected in any way, said Côté.
When New Brunswickers get mild conditions during the winter, explained the Environment Canada spokesman, it is because a low-pressure system, originating in the southern United States, is moving north along the Atlantic shoreline.
"Because of the gulf stream and the warm southerly winds accompanying the system, mild air is being brought into the area," said Côté. He said this will result in a January thaw or other spells of unseasonably warm weather for the area.
For example, a week-long thaw this winter in the second week of January brought balmy weather conditions to the Maritimes. Metro Moncton enjoyed double-digit highs, which reached the 13C (55F) on a couple of days.
Côté said a Chinook is a whole different phenomenon. He said the warm Chinook winds are caused by moist weather patterns originating off the Pacific coast, cooling as they climb the western slope of the Rockies and then rapidly warming as they drop down the eastern side of the mountains.
He said they can produce a dramatic increase in temperatures in a very short period and quickly melt large masses of snow. They are sometimes referred to as "snow eaters," but are more commonly characterized as Chinooks, named after the Chinook native Americans in the lower Columbia River west of the Rockies.
Chinooks are found around the world, but they require high mountain ranges to form, thereby eliminating them ever occurring in Atlantic Canada.
"But any reprieve of warm weather we can get during the winter is appreciated -- whether it is caused by a Chinook or not," one Moncton resident noted recently.
n Charles Perry's weather appears daily in the Times & Transcript.
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