Wyoming meteorologist Don Day isn’t your average weatherman.
He’s not the fat guy who stands in front of the blue weather screen and blurts out the high temperatures for 15 locations across the state and then goes to five minutes worth of commercials before giving the forecast for the next 24 hours (which, incidentally, anyone could get in 10 seconds by checking their phone).
Day actually knows what he’s doing.
So anyone who listens to his forecasts or his podcasts actually can learn something by tuning in.
Today’s podcast is a good example.
Day explained that when the stratosphere is warm, the weather is cold in Wyoming and when the stratosphere is cold, the weather in Wyoming is warm.
Why?
“When the stratosphere warms up, the colder air that’s at the North Pole wants to push further south into the mid latitudes,” Day said.
When the stratosphere gets colder, the colder air stays close to the North Pole and it continues to be warm where we are, he explained.
What does that mean for us?
It means that the warmer weather most of Wyoming has been experiencing over the first 10 days of October is probably over. And if the modeling is correct, Day says, it could be over for good.
By the way, the stratosphere, as Day explained this morning, is not just a hotel in Las Vegas, but the layer of the atmosphere between 60,000 and 150,000 feet.
Day also explained how his weather maps work. For example, as we get closer and closer to winter, something known as the “Hudson Bay Vortex” gets created.
“Notice the green and blue colors here which represent some really cold air getting better consolidated,” he explained.
“It’s a vortex of cold air that builds over the higher latitudes and really is a big producer of cold air masses during the winter season. Notice how it’s growing, getting better established,” he said.
For those interested in the “whys” of weather, Day’s daily forecasts are must-listen events.
