Greetings and Welcome to the CALM BEFORE THE STORM!

As of Noon Tuesday, we’re naming the storm – since we’ve already had one significant storm back in December (Albert), we now to the letter “B” and in keeping with tradition (alternating gender doing down the alphabet), this storm will be “Barbara.” This season, the theme is “notable scientists” and the list was a collaborative effort between WFSB and the CT Science Center.

A WINTER STORM WARNING is in effect for the four southern counties while A WINTER STORM WATCH is in effect for the northern four counties of the state. When it comes to a timeline, for most of the state, the alerts go into effect late tonight and continue through Wednesday night.

The last storm missed Connecticut, but this one won’t. Instead, the storm will take a more northerly track and Connecticut should receive quite an impact. Because the path forecast path is shifting a bit farther to the north, the winter storm watch has been expanded northward through central MA. There's no doubt this is going to be an intense ocean storm, and the track is becoming a bit more certain. Thus, we could have anywhere from 8 to possibly 15 inches of snow in parts of the state!

The snow could begin during tomorrow morning's commute. It will likely become steadier between 9 a.m. and noon. During the afternoon tomorrow, we can expect periods of moderate to heavy snow right into tomorrow evening. The snow will probably end before dawn Thursday. Although things could start to get slick during the commute tomorrow morning, the Wednesday evening and Thursday morning commute will be most affected by the storm.

Winds could be a problem too, especially where the snow is wetter. That is most likely to happen near the shoreline. The combination of gusty winds and wet snow could cause scattered power outages. Winds could gust to 40+ mph.

Looking beyond the storm, we should see a lengthy spell of dry weather from Thursday through Sunday. However, it will remain windy and cold. The next chance for snow probably won’t come until late Monday.

Have a nice day!

Meteorologist Mark Dixon

We hope you saw the unveiling of the Early Warning Weather Team's winter storm names for the 2009-2010 Winter Season! It's been a tradition here at Channel 3 to name winter storms since 1971! For more information visit the weather section of wfsb.com. -------------------------------------------
Winter Storms 2009-2010
Winter Storm Albert: December 19-20, 2009
In some regards, Albert was backward in the sense that the heaviest snow (around 2 ft) fell in the southeast corner of the state, and as little as .5" fell in the northwest corner town of Winchester! Some notable snow totals include 26" in Baltic, 24" in Norwich and Occum, 23" in Essex and Putnam, 20" in Clinton, 19" in Willimantic, 18" in Groton, 17" in Colchester, 16" in Deep River, 12" in Wilton, 11" in New Haven, 6" in Union, 5" in Thomaston, and only 1" in Norfolk and North Canaan. There was a sharp drop off in the snow from southeast to northwest.
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Connecticut's Past Weather By The Numbers Month By Month

January 2010
January 2010 went into the record books as a milder and drier than normal month. The average temperature at Bradley International Airport was 27.5 degrees, which is 1.8 degrees above normal. If you look at it in terms of heating your home, your heating demand should have been about 5.2% less than normal. That gives you a slight savings when compared to a normal or average January. Total precipitation for the month (including the water equivalent of snow and ice) was 2.66", which is 1.18" less than normal. Snowfall was only 6.4", which is 7.9" less than normal.

Looking Back on 2009
The average temperature from January 1, 2009 until December 31, 2009 was 49.8 degrees. This was .4 degrees below the 30 year normal of 50.2 degrees, the coldest since 2004. It was also a very wet year, especially during the late spring and early summer months. BDL measured precipitation of .01 inches or more on 135 days! Bradley International Airport picked up 48.29 inches of precipitation, a departure of 2.13 inches above normal. Snowfall in 2009 came in at 37.6 inches which is about 8.4 inches below normal. The 30 year normal snowfall is around 46 inches. The highest temperature of the year was 94 degrees on both April 28th and August 17th. The lowest temperature was -3 degrees on January 16th and 17th.

December 2009
We had a December to remember here in Connecticut. Winter Storm Albert, our first named snowstorm of the year, brought anywhere from .5" in the Northwest corner to 26" in Baltic! At Bradley International Airport, December was a cold, wet, and snowy month. The average temperature was 30.3 degrees, which is 0.5 degrees colder than normal. Total precipitation (including rain and the water equivalent of snow and ice) was 5.50", which is 1.90" above normal. 12.8" of snow was measured at the airport, which is 4.4" above normal.

November 2009
November went into the record books as a dry month. Total rainfall for the month will be 2.27" at Bradley International Airport. Normal rainfall for November is 4.06". That means we'll end up with a deficit of 1.79". What's even more remarkable is how mild this month has been. The average temperature will come in at 46.4 degrees. The normal November temperature is 41.8 degrees. That means this month will be 4.6 degrees warmer than normal, which makes it the 6th warmest November on record! The warmest November on record was in 1975 when the average temperature was 48.2 degrees.

October 2009
October went into the record books as a cool, wet month. The average temperature at Bradley International Airport was 50.4 degrees, which is 1.5 degrees cooler than normal. We had 4.86" of rain, which is 0.92" above normal. There was also a trace of snow.

September 2009
September went into the record books as a cool, dry month. The average temperature at Bradley International Airport was 62.1 degrees, which is below normal (the 30 year average) by 1.1 degrees. Plus, we only had 1.78" of rain at the airport. A normal September sees 4.13". Thus, we had a deficit for the month of 2.35".

August 2009
The month of August has gone into the record books as a drier than normal month. Total rainfall was 2.85" at Bradley International Airport, compared to the normal August rainfall of 3.98" (thus, we have a deficit of 1.13" for the month). When it comes to 2009, we're still ahead of normal by nearly 3.5".

August was also warmer than normal with an average temperature of 73.2 degrees. A normal August has an average temperature of 71.6 degrees. Thus, this month was 1.6 degrees warmer than normal thanks in large part to a 7 day heat wave (from the 15th through the 21st) and a total of 9 days with a high temperature of at least 90 degrees. The hottest temperature of the month was 94 degrees on the 17th. August stood out like a sore thumb when compared to June and July, which were 2 very wet months without any 90 degree heat.

July 2009
July was even more extreme. It was the 2nd wettest July on record with a total of 11.17" of rain, plus it was 3.5 degrees cooler than normal! That means the meteorological summer, which consists of June, July, and August, was overall much wetter and much cooler than normal.

June 2009
June was wetter than normal by 2.42" with a total of 6.27" and it was cooler than normal by 2.2 degrees.

May 2009
May 2009 was a cooler than normal and drier than normal month. The average temperature at Bradley International was 59.0 degrees, which was 0.9 degrees below normal. The highest temperature was 89 degrees on the 21st and 22nd. The lowest temperature was a record 34 degrees on the 19th. Total rainfall was 3.43”, which was 0.96” below normal. Although May was a dry month, there were 15 days with overcast skies and 20 days with at least some measurable rainfall.

April 2009
April 2009 went into the record books as a mild and drier than normal month. The average temperature at Bradley International Airport was 50.9 degrees, which is exactly 2.0 degrees above normal. The monthly rainfall total was 3.37”, which is 0.49” below normal.

March 2009
March 2009 was not a bad month at all. It was dry with only 2.59” of precipitation at Bradley International Airport. That includes rain plus the water equivalent of any snow and ice. Normal March precipitation is 3.88”, which means we have a deficit for the month of 1.29”. Snowfall was exactly normal with a total of 8.0” and all of it fell on March 1st and 2nd during Winter Storm Demi. The average temperature was 37.6 degrees, which is cooler than normal by only 0.4 degrees. The normal March average temperature is exactly 38.0 degrees.

February 2009
February 2009 was a dry month and it was milder than normal. Total precipitation was only 1.30”. This includes the water equivalent of any snow and ice. Normal precipitation for February is 2.96”. Thus, there was a deficit of 1.66”. Snowfall didn’t amount to much either. 3.9” of snow fell at Bradley International Airport, which was 6.8” below normal. The average temperature was 30.3 degrees, which was 1.5 degrees above normal.

January 2009
January 2009 was a very interesting month. First of all, it went into the record books as a cold month with an average temperature of about 21.3 degrees at Bradley International. That is 4.4 degrees colder than normal! The mercury dipped below zero 4 times this month with the coldest reading of -3 on the 16th and 17th. The mildest temperature was 42 degrees on the 23rd. It seemed like January was a stormy month, but it was actually drier than normal month. How about that! Total precipitation (including snow and ice melted down) was 2.90”, which is 0.94” below normal. Total monthly snowfall was 12.9”, which is 1.4” below normal.

2008
2008 was an amazing year in Northern Connecticut since it was the wettest year on record and records date back more that 100 years! Total precipitation at Bradley International Airport was 65.43”. That includes rain plus the water equivalent of any snow and ice. Normal precipitation for a year is 46.16”. Thus, 2008 was wetter than normal by 19.27”! The previous record was 64.55” in 1972. Other years that had more than 60” of precipitation were 1955 with 62.94”, 1938 with 61.63”, and 1920 with 60.96”.

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FYI…Since 1950 there have been nine years that have had two tornadoes, and now eight years (including '09) with three tornadoes, and four years with four tornadoes. It may be hard to believe but we have had one year (2002) with five tornadoes and in 1973 we had an amazing 8 tornadoes in our state!

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The following is a list of the names of the full moon throughout the year: “Wolf” moon in January, “Snow” moon in February, “Worm” moon in March, “Pink” moon in April, “Flower” moon in May, “Strawberry” moon in June, “Buck” moon in July, “Sturgeon” moon in August, “Corn” moon in September, “Harvest” moon in October, “Beaver” moon in November, “Cold” moon in December.