Frosty Windshield Patterns

Now that winter has finally decided to show up, it's also showing off! Check out these cool pictures I took of the frost that formed on my car windows. They're like tiny snowflakes superglued to the car. It's not only cool but beautiful. 

And here's one with a filter from Snapchat! 

Then the next morning, I had this kind of frost. Notice the difference in the shapes! These are more elongated! 

Sea Ice in Long Island Sound During the Coldest Month on Record!

Now that it's March, we can officially declare the month of February 2015 as the coldest month on record in Bridgeport, Connecticut with an average temperature of 19.9 degrees (F)!  Records go back to 1948. 

Climatologically, January is the coldest month of the year. So it is impressive to have the coldest month on record now be in February! 

The NWS reports the highest temperature recorded at Bridgeport in the month of February 2015 was 37 degrees and the lowest was -2 degrees. The month saw 21.5 inches of snow fall with an average snow depth of 11 inches throughout the month (that's a far cry from what Boston saw!) 

I've shared some of the pictures of a frozen Long Island Sound in this post and this post but here are some more photos I haven't shared yet! 

Below is a picture of the American flag at Anchor Beach in Milford, CT. Notice all the sea ice and slush floating in front and around the rock that sticks out into the water. 

Since the cold was so prolonged, every tide cycle added more ice to the rocks along the shore. 

Frozen steps to the beach! The bottom few steps of this staircase that have weathered both Irene and Sandy have accumulated ice during high tides during the month. 

Another stair case to the beach frozen from high water at high tide. Pretty impressive that not even the sun could melt this ice! 

These rocks along the beach have been incased in sea ice, formed at different levels depending on the height of the tide. The combination of ice, tide and rocks made for some very cool patterns. 

Connecticut Coast to See Coldest Month on Record in February 2015

We might not have the record snow of Boston (where season totals just topped 100 inches last night 2/24/15) but down here along the Connecticut coast we're on the brink of having not only the coldest February on record but also the coldest Month on Record!   

Bridgeport, Connecticut is the official coastal weather station for the area. It is located on the eastern edge of Fairfield County and is only a town over from my hometown. National Weather Service climate data for coastal Connecticut is taken at this station. 

One thing to note about this station, where sub-zero temps are actually very hard to attain, is that the weather station sticks out on a small piece of land that juts into Long Island Sound. This has a moderation effect on the stations records since its surrounded on three sides by the warmer waters in the winter and cooler waters in the summer. 

Although this winter, even the waters of Long Island Sound have gotten really cold! Check out these photos I took of sea ice in Long Island Sound. 

So with only a few days left in the month of February, will February 2015 go down as the coldest month on record (aka the coldest month in a hundred years!)? We'll find out in a few days! 

In the meantime, check out the graphic released by the National Weather Service below! 

Long Island Sound or the Arctic? Sea Ice Forming Along Coast

The arctic outbreak continues here in the Northeast, everyday inching closer to being the coldest month on record (that's the coldest month in about 100 years!) for the Connecticut coastline. This February 2015 Arctic Outbreak is certainly one to remember. Every day I go to the beach and the ice just gets thicker and thicker, something I have never personally seen.  Usually winters along the Connecticut coast are a battle zone for the rain/snow line, this year that battlefield is frozen over!  

Once again, here is the flag at Anchor Beach in Milford, Connecticut. Notice the thin layer of ice that surrounds the rock as well as the rest of the water within the photo. 

Here's another view of the flag, along with the frozen over Long Island Sound! Incredible! 

Looking out over Long Island Sound towards Long Island and ice covers the water out or at least 300 yards! 

Another picture looking towards the West Haven, CT coastline from Milford. Ice everywhere!  

Another view from Milford looking towards Long Island, over the extensive ice sheet forming on Long Island Sound. 

To go along with my photos of Long Island Sound Sea Ice, check out these MODIS Satellite images and check out the ice forming on Long Island Sound and up near Cape Cod. 

Now here's an impressive MODIS Satellite image! Delaware Bay is full of ice and so is the Chesapeake Bay! Anymore ice and it will look like the film "The Day After Tomorrow" 

Long Island Sound Freezing Up! Connecticut Frozen Shore!

I'm in complete geek out mode this morning as temperatures once again drop down to zero degrees. February has the potential to be the coldest February on record for many in the Northeast and it certainly is showing! The official temperature of Long Island Sound is 32 degrees and harbors are even colder. In fact it is so cold, ice has begun to form in the salty waters of Long Island Sound! 

I braved the extreme cold this morning to take some photographs of the frozen shoreline. Below are the photos I took with my phone, I have even more on my DSLR camera. 

The first photo is of Anchor Beach in Milford, CT. Notice the accumulated ice on all the rocks and all the ice in the water! Some ice even looked like pancake ice! 

Here's one of those rocks covered in thick ice. Remember this is frozen salt water!! 

Milford Harbor is completely frozen over! But it sure looks pretty! 

Another view of the frozen harbor, the ice to the left is buckled due to flowing water from a small river that feeds into the harbor. 

The river that flows through downtown Milford and into the Harbor. 

Milford's famous Charles Island looks pretty cold from the shore of Gulf Beach! Look at all that ice around the shore! 

A beach day at Gulf Beach? Maybe not, those are large chunks of ice floating in slushy salt water along the beach! 

Finally, a satellite view of Long Island Sound this morning, February 20, 2015. If you look closely at the northern edge of Long Island Sound, you will see a thin line of white, that's all the ice on Long Island sound and some of it was captured on my camera this morning! 

Impressive Winter Scenes From Space! MODIS Satellite Images

The fun thing about getting pictures from space is getting to see the impacts of weather on a large scale. These high resolution images below were taken by the MODIS Satellite and it captures some pretty cool and cold phenomena happening in the northeast United States! 

This first image is of southern New England, specifically Long Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Cape Cod and of course Long Island Sound. It's been labeled with a few different cool features. This includes ice on Long Island Sound, an iced over Connecticut river, the scar from the Springfield, MA tornado and more ice in Buzzard's Bay on the South end of Cape Cod. 

And in case you didn't realize, the ground is covered in white due to snow cover! All of New England has had snow on the ground for weeks now! 

The next image is of Lake Ontario, with Canada to the north (top of the image) and upstate New York to the south (bottom of the image). When this image was taken on February 16, 2015 the lake was only partially frozen, which means it's still open to lake effect snows!

Here's another close up view of the Cape Cod area, which is covered in snow! Also check out the ice in the bays! Pretty impressive! 

The image below is of the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York. Notice, only two of the lakes are left unfrozen. Those lakes are  Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake, which are the two deepest lakes in the United States. Since they are a lot deeper than the other lakes, relatively warmer water is able to mix to the surface, keeping the surface from forming ice. 

Extreme Cold on the Way and Igloo Icons!

After an intense windstorm with some snow Valentine's night into Sunday the 15th (Blizzard warnings are up!) then the extreme cold makes a visit. Check out this hourly forecast from Weatherbug for my hometown of Milford, Connecticut. Milford is along Long Island Sound, which has a maritime influence on our climate. Milford rarely gets below zero but in this forecast we get down to -3 degrees! We also see windchill temps down to -24 degrees! 

Finally, something you don't normally see everyday, an igloo as a forecast icon for the weather! So cool and so cold! 

Sub-zero Temps! 1/4/14

Well according to weatherbug, we dropped below zero last night! Which doesn't happen often when you live near Long Island sound! 

Subzero cold forecasted for 1/3/14-1/4/14

Sub-zero temps predicted across all of CT tonight! Possibly coldest night in decades! Here's what NBC CT is predicting! 

Icy Long Island Sound 1/25/13

After a week of below freezing temps here along the CT shoreline, I braved the cold on Friday morning to venture down the beach and take some photos.  The reason why I wanted to get down to the beach was because the water was getting so cold, ice was forming in spots.  Now as most of you probably know, it's very hard for salt water to freeze, and Long Island Sound is salt water.  Although not too unusual it was fun to see the ice along the shoreline.  I took tons of pictures and even made a slideshow for the local weather site WxEdge.com, which I'm a contributor to.  The only part that wasn't fun was the near frostbite i received on my fingers!! It took about 20 mins to get my hands back to normal after only being outside for 15-20 mins at the most!

Here's my slideshow for WxEdge:  

Icy Shores of...Long Island Sound 

and here are two photos I took with my phone and filtered via Instagram: 

Coldest morning in years by Long Island Sound

Temps dipped down to 4 degrees this morning in downtown Milford, which is a town along the CT coast! Not the coldest morning ever but the coldest in a few years! Here's a screen cap of weather bug this morning!

Cold, Cold Morning!!!! 1/3/13

According to Weatherbug, it's only 11 degrees out!!! Not the coldest temps for the CT shoreline but pretty close!!

Winter at the beach! 1/2/13