{"id":270,"date":"2017-03-17T07:00:29","date_gmt":"2017-03-17T12:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ctenergyratings.com\/blog\/?p=270"},"modified":"2017-03-16T15:37:27","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T20:37:27","slug":"ct-spring-weather-forecast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ctenergyratings.com\/blog\/ct-spring-weather-forecast\/","title":{"rendered":"CT Spring Weather Forecast"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Spring’s coming!
How long will your blooms and heating bills last?<\/em><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you were hoping to avoid paying electric companies in Connecticut<\/a> for another heating bill this winter, I\u2019ve got bad news\u2026and some good news.<\/p>\n

All that really cold and snowy weather we just had? Well, expect below normal temperatures<\/a> to hang around for about two more weeks. Yes, just in time for the first day of Spring! That\u2019s because a couple of troughs are expected to form over the Arctic and extend all the way down to the northeast and also setting up cold weather<\/a> flowing across the Great Lakes, and the Ohio and upper Mississippi River valleys.<\/p>\n

But afterwards, it looks like it might become a different story. Here\u2019s what\u2019s happening:<\/p>\n

Remember the La Ni\u00f1a?<\/a> Well, it\u2019s gone. El Ni\u00f1os, La Ni\u00f1as, and Neutral ENSOs exert most of their influence in winter. Since the La Ni\u00f1a has faded to Neutral, that means that as the season transitions out of winter, there\u2019s not enough temperature difference in the ENSO region<\/a> to exert much influence over global wind patterns. This is allowing other weather-effecting cycles to exert more influence. As a result, weather models<\/a> indicate that the cold temperatures will likely retreat as the month ends and that milder air will make it\u2019s way eastwards. While a burst of cold weather isn\u2019t impossible, temperatures should rebound as above normal temperatures move into the northeast during the second week of April.<\/p>\n

Out in the Pacific, meanwhile, it\u2019s thought that sea surface temperatures could warm enough to begin building a weak El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> by the end of spring.It\u2019s thought that it might<\/em> intensify during the summer to effect this summer\u2019s Atlantic hurricane season and next winter\u2019s temperatures. But that\u2019s getting ahead of ourselves.<\/p>\n

Precipitation, meanwhile, is forecast for equal chances of below, normal, and above average precipitation.<\/p>\n

How Warm Will It Get?<\/h5>\n

NOAA is forecasting that \u201cprobabilities of above-normal temperatures<\/a> exceed 50%\u201d over much of the northeast. However, if we indulge AccuWeather\u2019s prognosticatory hubris<\/a>, they are predicting April and May temperatures in Hartford to be 3 to 5 degrees above normal. While that might not sound like a lot, that actually juggles the final freeze dates across New England by a factor of weeks. For example, Accuweather forecasts this year\u2019s final freeze in Hartford roughly April 1\u2014 though the historical averages<\/a> put that date between May 11 and 21.<\/p>\n

Electric companies in Connecticut<\/a> calculate their heating energy demand by figuring the heating degree days ( HDD). This is the number of degrees that a day’s average temperature is below 65\u00b0F, the temperature below which buildings need to be heated.<\/p>\n

If we look at the the average daytime highs for Hartford in April, we find the average seasonal high is in the 50s\/low 60s and the average number of HDD is 466<\/a>. When we look at the Accuweather forecasts for this coming April, their forecast highs are for the mid to upper 60s. Obviously, that\u2019s going to reduce some of the HDDs. In May, however, average HDD is only 202. That\u2019s because the historically average high temperature is in the upper 60s. Forecasts are up to the mid 70s. That\u2019s really going to slash the number of HDD.<\/p>\n

So, yes, it\u2019s likely to be quite a bit warmer than normal. Enough that your heating bills and \u2014 perhaps \u2014 all your spring flowers will all be over and done before mid-May. While you may not save as much money as last year, you\u2019ll probably save some money.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

With unseasonable warmth moving in this spring, and with the residential electricity retail prices hinting<\/em> at leveling, it\u2019s going to be the perfect time to do a Hartford electricity providers comparison<\/a> at Connecticut Energy Ratings, the best place to rate, review, and shop for new electricity plans in Connecticut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you were hoping to avoid paying electric companies in Connecticut for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mbp_gutenberg_autopost":false},"categories":[105,45,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}