Winter Prolonged In Alaska; Australia's Cold And Snow; Chile's Weather Agency Got It Dead Wrong As South America Freezes; + Illogic

Global snow mass is above average, aided by 1) a pick-up in the Northern Hemisphere, 2) the historic accumulations in South America, and 3) a spike in Australia/NZ.

Winter Prolonged In Alaska

A dipping jet stream has prolonged winter across the likes of Unalaska and the Aleutian region.

According to Rick Thoman, climate specialist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks:

"Over the last six weeks, say, the Aleutians have been on the north side of the prevailing storm track, and so on the cold side of the storms. If the jet stream was say 500 miles farther north, it would still be stormy, but it wouldn’t be nearly as cold."

It's been a harsh spring for the region, for Alaska in general, following what was a historically cold and snowy winter.

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On May 8 even, the Anchorage International Airport received about an inch of snow. And as explained by Thoman, "there’s only been two other occurrences since the mid 1950s when there’s been more snow than that [this late in the year]."

These latest accumulations have edged the city to within an inch of its all-time snowfall record (of 134.5 inches).

“Me, I’m laughing: Anchorage received another 0.7” of snow, so we have 133.5” this winter. The current record is 134.5″, set in 2011-2012. I may be done with winter, but at this point in time we need another 1.25” to set a new record. Let’s do this!” — Raised in Alaska on X

Thoman, a staunch AGW Party supporter, has been confused by the "yo-yo weather," saying it hasn't been a typical El Niño setup. "A week or two of cold weather, a week or two of mild stormy weather ... that is not characteristic of El Niño winters at all for Alaska. El Niño winters tend to get stuck in the same pattern usually, especially for mainland Alaska — on the warm side."

Alaskan alarmists have had a hard time of it of late. After the 107.9 inches of snow that hit Anchorage last year, this is only the second time that the city has endured consecutive years with more than 100 inches (since the winters of 1954-55 & 1955-56).

These past two snowy season of course contradict official USDA forecasts: "The snowfall season is expected to decrease across Alaska, with snowpack decreasing by 20–90% in Southern and Western Alaska due to increasing temperatures."

Australia Shivers

Much of eastern Australia is shivering as a cold polar air mass continues to hold above the coast.