1. Weather Discussion 1/15/2013

2. Ship Tracks!

5. “These are "Type 1" shiptracks which form in (or persist into) a collapsed boundary layer, a PBL highly scavenged of aerosols and very shallow, which contains very "milky" cloud. The greatly increased aerosol loading (from perhaps 10 /cm3 in the background to more like 200 /cm3 or more in the shiptrack) invigorates the PBL by suppressing drizzle, which locally deepens it and produces a stratocumulus cloud. “ Professor Rob Wood

6. Cold Wave Hits the SW!

7. Cold Hits Phoenix

8. Panic Hits LA!

16. Impressive Predictability

20. Cold Wave Due to Global Warming
Cold Wave Due to Global Warming? A quote from an unnamed climate scientist at NCAR
“In other words, the extreme cold is actually related to the same phenomenon that leads to extreme heat …A buckled jet stream, and cold weather in the Southwest, happens just about every winter, although not usually to this extent, XXX said. However, more "extreme blocking," along with unusual heat waves and cold snaps, are more likely to be seen as a result of climate change.”

21. West Pac Storm

25. Ryan Maue Comments
From my database of NCEP CFSR cyclone tracks, this storm's relative low-latitude and 49 mb/24 hr maximum deepening rate puts it on the top of the list of most rapid deepening North Pacific extratropical cyclones since  
Using a reference latitude of 45° for the "bomb calculation" and a storm average latitude of 34.5°N during the period of most rapid deepening, 49 mb / 24 hr equates to 2.55 bergeron.  The minimum pressure is forecast to slowly deepen another several millibars to about 932 mb according to the 15/00z GFS forecast. 
I used the full-resolution (T574) surface pressure grids from NCEP GFS for the data points:  
1000 mb ... (13/12z)
 994 mb  ... (13/18z)
 989 mb  ... (14/00z)
 978 mb  ... (14/06z)
 960 mb  ... (14/12z)
 946 mb  ... (14/18z) 
 940 mb  ... (15/00z)
Runners-up for other most rapid deepeners (date of minimum pressure)
2.33 ber:  Dec 21, 1995  (950 mb)
2.27 ber:  Mar 14, 1991  (952 mb)
2.25 ber:  Feb 28, 1987  (958 mb)
2.23 ber:  Feb 25, 1992  (961 mb)
2.18 ber:  Jan 15, 2011  (944 mb)

26. Predictability

27. 7 Day Forecast!

29. Huge Waves
Wavewatch III forecasts