"Omega Block" Offers Promises Of Vermont Sun, But Bad Storms California, Atlantic Canada

Schematic of an "omega block" weather pattern, similar 
to what we are in now. Black line would be roughly the
center of the jet stream. This means storms near the
West Coast and off the East Coast, while sunshine
breaks out in parts of the U.S, possibly here
here in Vermont for a welcome change. 

We in Vermont slogged through another day Friday with the ever-present thick overcast, fog, drizzle, wet, inconsequential snow flurries and just general ick. 

Friday was the 11th day in a row that most of us in Vermont saw absolutely no sun. Today, the sun did come out, for at least part of the day in part of the Green Mountain State. So I guess that's an improvement

But pretty much all winter, it's been overcast and foggy. I can't remember the last time we had two sunny days in a row.    

We finally have a chance -  chance, mind you - of actually seeing some fairly decent sun for more than a day  thanks to a weather pattern known as an Omega block.

It's called that because the jet stream maps under this pattern look like the Greek letter Omega. In this case, it features a big bulge northward in the jet stream over southern Canada and the northern United States.

To the east and west of this bulge are deep dips in the jet stream representing nasty storminess off the east coast of North America and along the West Coast .

Storm tracks are being pushed southward under the high pressure in southern Canada and the northern United States.

One such storm hit California Thursday, dumping heavy rains and causing flooding in cities like Long Beach and other southern California cities.  That storm is scheduled to pass through Florida Monday, and become a nasty gale far off the East Coast. 

The next California storm, began hitting California Saturday night and will continue today. This one promises to be even worse. This one could be deadly and disastrous, with severe flooding, mudslides and lots of wind damage. 

Given the dense population this storm is hitting, it will probably be another $1 billion plus disasters. I'll have more on this storm in upcoming posts.  

In a hopeful sign for Sunday, large parts of the sky over
St. Albans, Vermont were clear at sunset Saturday.
This could herald a long awaited somewhat sunny 
period after an incredible stretch of overcast weather. 

Meanwhile, the middle old the northward bulge that makes up the center of the omega block   is producing near record high temperatures in parts of the upper Midwest and south-central Canada. The light winds associated with this also helped produce another big dense fog attack, this time in the central and northern Plains on Saturday. 

For us, we are on the front side of that big northward jet stream bulge in that Omega pattern. 

 Near record warmth will stay confined well to our west, near the Great Lakes and south-central Canada. Northerly winds will keep Vermont's temperatures for the next few days close to normal.

Ho-hum.

The beautiful thing is, the high pressure accompanying this omega block weather pattern might just be enough to finally scour out that low overcast and fog that have kept us without sunshine for nearly two weeks.

Some low clouds will probably sneak in from time to time.  Also, perhaps some other clouds might swirl in every once in awhile from those storms far off the East Coast.  Still, starting Sunday, we have our best chance at seeing some blue skies and sun in quite awhile. These breaks of sunshine, if we're lucky, could last into at least part of Thursday. 

The omega pattern should begin to shift and start to break down towards Friday.  That giant California storm will head our way, but it will weaken tremendously. As it stands now, it looks like that storm will just bring us a return to overcast skies and a chance of some light rain or snow.