Weather Is Is (A Red Sky...)

Good Afternoon:

"Red sky at night, sailors' delight.

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning."

This early morning I saw a beautiful red-orange sky and immediately thought of the rhyme above.  Usually, we don't have a red sky ahead of our low pressure systems, as the moisture flow is usually quite small (there's no large ocean, but the continent of Africa immediately to our southwest).  However, this year seems to be a bit different -- perhaps the very strong El-Nino has perturbed the atmosphere -- and we're seeing moisture arriving all the way from the Atlantic Ocean.  I've even seen the possibility of some unusually cold air early in December in our long range ensembles.

I also saw a "Sun Dog" (sunlight refracting off ice particles) this afternoon, when I exited Rami-Levy.

Yes, I went to Rami-Levy -- sort of on a whim.  However, I found myself projecting into the future -- meaning that I was thinking that I would enjoy returning safely from my shopping outing.

Of course, we know that not everyone has and efforts are being made to improve safety.  It's obvious that Rami-Levy is a very well run store and that the Arab (Palestinians) who work there take pride in their work.  Yet, there is an obviously large part of the Palestinian population that wants nothing to do with us or the coexistence that exists at places like these. In fact, it should also be clear that the Palestinian government (leadership) does not want these opportunities for coexistence to continue as they themselves have instigated and encouraged the violence, as well as encouraging the European governments and others to boycott Israel businesses over the green-line (those that actually employ in good conditions thousands of Palestinians -- their own people!).  Speaking as a scientist, where "A" leads to "B", and "A + B" just might equal "C," it is time to get rid of these folks -- just like Mr. Arafat himself was marginalised.  After all you can't make peace with someone or someones whose idea of coexistence is like one hand clapping.

Getting back to our weather: one can see that we're setting up a moisture source out ahead of the approaching storm. As I mentioned, it looks like its source is the Atlantic Ocean.  The storm is causing very strong convection over southern Italy and the winds around this storm are bringing gusts even here.

Here's a very nice satellite picture from AccuWeather:
http://www.accuweather.com/en/middle-east/satellite

As this storm approaches on Sunday, rain will develop generally across the area and the global ensembles suggest that it should rain Monday and Tuesday, and that there is a 50% chance that it will get downright cold and continue raining into late next week.

So, for those who were threatening to pull out the spring clothes (i.e., some who even gave me a personal complaint), winter is coming, and I don't see any warm weather for at least the next two weeks.

It's December and the weather agrees.

Barry Lynn