Captain's Log 17 Feb 2020 Monday (President's Day)

Happy Monday and President's Day. :)

A recap of last week (9-15 February) around the world shows the cold spots up in Alaska, Northern Canada, the Middle East and extreme Northeast Siberia. CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW.



Valentine's Day weekend (14-15) brought the 2nd coldest temperatures of the Winter so far to the U.S. with the holiday period the 3rd coldest in 35 years! It was also quite dry with little snowfall which tends to benefit categories like hand and body lotion.



Recall our Power of 1 Degree technology quantifies how every one degree of temperature change influences seasonal sales. In the case of hand and body lotion that's about 2% lift in sales per degree colder. With the holiday trending 7.1F colder than last year, that's a 14.2%% increase in sales just due to weather.



Another category doing well this year is cough cold and FLU medicines. After the Christmas spike in Type B FLU we're now getting a second surge of Type A FLU with 48 states still reporting wide spread FLU. This should start to diminish with warmer temperatures.



Snowfall categories not fairing as well with U.S. Winter snowfall (1 Dec - 17 Feb) down 17% below average and 14% less than last year.



Snow Cover this morning is also below average and the 5th least in 17 years with 33% of the country with some snow on the ground.



This week (17-23 February) shows a continuation of cold periods quickly followed by warm ups, so the pattern remains fast across the U.S. For the U.S. overall, the week looks to trend +4.5F warmer than last year with near average temperatures (14th coldest of the past 35 years). Precipitation is driest in 4 years and 15th driest of the past 35 years with below average rainfall. Snowfall is also on the lite side trending 75% less than last year's very snow conditions with much below average snowfall this week.



Next week (24 Feb - 1 Mar) More of the same with national temperatures trending +7.3F warmer than last year, 8th warmest in 35 years. Rainfall picks up a bit with the wettest conditions in 2 years and likely a severe weather outbreak in the Southeast. Snowfall likely to tick up 8% over last year with a system in the Midwest.



They say you never want to meet your super hero live...but the little Angelina Kirk wasn't disappointed! She loved meeting BLIPPI this past weekend, see the video for her happy dance and singing. :)





Have a great week and don't forget to follow us on social media for frequent updates: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and Linkedin

- Captain Kirk out