Is the polar ice cap moving our way?

I heard yesterday two more scenarios can play out later this week. Supposedly they are expecting another snowfall of 18" the kicker is that it's supposed to warm up by Monday into the 50's, crap there is going to be some major melting and possible flooding here. Yikes!!

www.accuweather.com


Severe Weather Alerts - Buffalo, NY
Areal Flood Watch
Areal Flood Watch in effect from Sunday, 2:00 PM EDT until Wednesday, 8:00 AM EDT. Source: U.S. National Weather Service
...FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH
WEDNESDAY MORNING...

THE FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR

* A PORTION OF WESTERN NEW YORK...INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES...GENESEE...NORTHERN ERIE...SOUTHERN ERIE AND
WYOMING.

* FROM SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING.

* SNOW MELT FROM THE RECENT SIGNIFICANT LAKE EFFECT SNOW EVENTS
COMBINED WITH RAINFALL EARLY NEXT WEEK WILL BRING THE
POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT FLOODING.

* SMALLER STREAMS AND CREEKS WILL BE PRONE TO FLOODING FROM SNOW
MELT. THIS WILL INCLUDE THE CREEKS THAT FLOW THROUGH THE BUFFALO
METRO AREA...INCLUDING CAYUGA...BUFFALO...CAZENOVIA AN ELLICOTT
CREEKS. TOWNS THAT RECEIVED SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW WILL
ALSO HAVE POTENTIAL FOR URBAN FLOODING FROM THE SNOW MELT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A FLOOD WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING BASED ON
CURRENT FORECASTS. YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE
ALERT FOR POSSIBLE FLOOD WARNINGS. THOSE LIVING IN AREAS PRONE TO
FLOODING SHOULD BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD FLOODING
DEVELOP. STAY TUNED TO WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER RADIO AND TV
STATIONS FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES

And what is going to happen when that rain soaks into the 4+ feet of snow on top of all of those roofs?
Buffalo, western New York snow blast cause collapsing roofs

Roofs began to creak and collapse and homeowners toiled to clear waist-high drifts atop their houses Thursday as another storm brought the Buffalo area's three-day snowfall total to an epic two metres or more.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo begged drivers "pretty, pretty please" to stay off slippery, car-clogged roads in western New York while crews struggled to dig out. Some areas got close to a metre of new snow by Thursday afternoon.

Things could quickly get worse: Rain and high temperatures were in the forecast for the weekend, raising the spectre of flooding and an even heavier load on roofs, where the snow could absorb the downpours like a blanket.

Disaster Safety

ESTIMATE HOW MUCH THE SNOW ON YOUR ROOF WEIGHS USING THESE GUIDELINES FROM IBHS:

Fresh snow: 10-12 in. of new snow is equal to one in. of water, or about 5 lbs per square foot of roof space, so you could have up to 4 ft. of new snow before the roof will become stressed.

Packed snow: 3-5 in. of old snow is equal to one inch of water, or about 5 lbs per square foot of roof space, so anything more than 2 ft. of old snow could be too much for your roof to handle.

Total accumulated weight: two ft. of old snow and two ft. of new snow could weigh as much as 60 lbs per square foot of roof space, which is beyond the typical snow load capacity of most roofs.

Ice: one in. of ice equals one ft. of fresh snow.

I saw snow once,in a documentary about Polar Bears.

a reply to: Colbomoose

Can you please outline the good reason for such?

You've misquoted me.

there seems to be good reason to consider such.

I'm starting to wonder if we aren't heading back into the same meridional jet stream patterns that plagued us throughout most of the 70's.

When that happens, the weather patterns are all over the place:

- some areas will go through severe drought
- other areas will go through heavy rains and flooding
- other areas will go through drastic temp drops in the winter
- other areas will go through drastic temp increases in the summer
- some areas will get heavy snowfall in winter
- some areas will get next to nothing for snowfall in the winter

These weather patterns are highly unpredictable, with some areas suffering from blocked zones (stagnant jet stream flow), meaning that they will go through long bouts of drought/flooding, heat/cold, etc. What sort of weather patterns are happening in your area, depends on where you're living in the Northern Hemisphere and the extent of the wave pattern of the meridional jet stream.

To give you an idea of how wonky it can get:

Didn't scientist predict that eventually the polar icecap would sit on top of the US?

I remember there was something about that. It wasn't doom porn either.

a reply to: Kuroodo

It was in a film. 2012