Due to the persistence of La Nina and a fluctuating stream of weather, the warm days of early May have given way to unusually cool and cloudy temperatures, prompting students to retrieve their winter apparel and abandon their sunny spots on the Green.
Though Dartmouth students may have complained about chilly weather during one of the coldest Green Key weekends in recent memory, New Englanders in fact experienced an extremely warm and humid May, with temperatures hovering at 18 degrees above normal for six days early in the month, according to Mike Haddad, chief meteorologist for WMUR-TV in Manchester.
Haddad added however, that temperatures have been struggling to reach even six degrees below normal this past week.
This oscillating pattern, he explained, can be attributed to an eastwardly moving jet stream which, combined with cool Atlantic temperatures generated by the weather phenomenon La Nina, have made for a decidedly unpredictable climate.
Haddad said this fluctuating weather will soon normalize as a new jetstream will likely cover the Northeast region within a week.
Explaining the current stubborn frigid temperatures which have caused windows all over campus to slam shut, he said "We're in what we call a 'general trough pattern.' It's a general cool and storms just tend to lock into it."
"When it looks like this, what you're guaranteed is below normal temperatures and more clouds, although there are some breaks like at the beginning of month when it was in the 80s and 90s," Haddad continued.
He said the fluctuations of last year's month of May weren't nearly as dramatic -- temperatures were never more than 12 degrees above normal.
Frosty students may be surprised, but the average temperature for this month has actually been a degree and a half above normal.
El Nino has also contributed to this year's fluctuations, Haddad said. He explained that this weather marvel -- not fully explained yet by scientists -- has caused cooler temperatures in the Pacific ocean which then cut into the warmer subtropical jetstream that has moved into the Northeast, contributing to irregularities.
The summer months will likely be warmer and less bipolar, Haddad said.
"I think it may build back to a more seasonal, normal pattern," he commented, a statement which promises that before long, Dartmouth students will be tossing frisbees on the Green once again -- minus the scarves and Gore-tex.
