Our weather may not be feeling particularly fall-like right now with afternoon high temperatures consistently in the 70s this week, but despite that we’re seeing more and more of those bright and beautiful fall colors and we’re approaching the annual Harvest Moon this weekend.  Of course just about every month features a full moon (they occur every 29.5 days) but this is probably the most famous of the monthly “named” moons.  The second most famous being the “Hunter’s Moon” which comes next month.  Th Harvest Moon will rise in the east Saturday evening at 6:24 and it officially becomes a full moon at 10:22.  The weather for viewing this will be spectacular wth clear skies expected and evening temperatures in the 60s to low 70s, cooling quickly to the 50s by midnight.  High temperatures, incidentally, will be in the upper 70s tomorrow and then mid 70s Sunday, so if yu’re making outdoor plans ahead of the evening celestial show, you’ve got an ideal day for just about anything tomorrow.

The Harvest Moon gets its name from midwestern folklore where the farmers would harvest the fiels under the bright moon and have longer nights with bright moonlight in the surrounding days as well.

 For more information here’s a link: Harvest Moon.

Posted under fall

Fall is officially less than a week away coming in this upcoming Saturday, but a large storm system will supply us with some much cooler air helping it feel like fall a little earlier. Temperatures have been above average over the past couple of days, but some BIG changes are coming.  These were some of our highs Sunday afternoon.  If you are a fan of the August-like temperatures we have been having, take a good look at the temperature map below because we won’t see these for a while and maybe not until next year.

High Temperatures Sunday (9/16)

This huge dip in the Jetstream will be responsible for pulling in some fall-like Canadian air in for the upcoming week, especially Monday and Tuesday.

As of 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, a surface cold front was sweeping across the Northern Plains and entering the Upper Midwest.  Notice how much temperatures have changed from where they were on Saturday at this same time.  In some places in North Dakota and Montana, the temperatures have dropped 20-30 degrees.  By the time Monday rolls around, we will see a similar drop in temperatures as the cold front crosses.

24 Hour Temperature Change Across The Upper Midwest

As skies clear late Monday Night, temperatures will drop like a rock into the mid 30s as cool air continues to rush in to the area.  If the winds can die a bit, some places may see some patchy frost Tuesday AM

Posted under just cool, weather

Even though it really hasn’t been feeling like fall for the past several days, the brightly colored foliage around the area continues to remind us that it’s still October and as we all know, this wonderfully colorful time of the year won’t last forever.  According to the Minnesota DNR, we’ve reached the peak for fall colors in southeastern Minnesota, although it appears that many trees are well past that stage already.  With the arrival of more fall-like weather tomorrow behind a cold front, we’ll be dealing with some fairly gusty winds that may defoliate some of those brightly colors trees.  In fact, we’ll be facing a series of cold fronts in the coming days as we tumble back into fall mode weatherwise, some of which will produce fairly blustery conditions, possibly dropping a lot of those leaves.  The bottom line here is, if you’re enjoying the fall colors, make sure you get your fill in the next couple of days as the scene may be changing quite a bit within the next week.  We certainly know the weather will be changing!  After today’s highs in the 70s, we’ll have more October-like 60s for highs through the end of the week and the weekend with even cooler days down the road next week.

The latest fall foliage summary map from the Minnesota state DNR. Most of our area is considered to be at the peak for fall colors this week.

Posted under fall

As our weather remains quiet and pleasant right now, we can focus our attention on the bright colors of the early fall season.  While we still have at least a week or so before most of our local area enjoys the peak foliage colors, there are a few spots locally that are beginning to look extra bright and beautiful.  Here’s a look at the latest fall foliage report for our area.  If you’re thinking about taking a drive or hike this weekend to take in the pretty colors, you may need to bring jacket along as temperatures will be a bit cooler, but you’ll be able to leave the rain gear at home.  In fact, the longer range outlook is indicating that all of next week and the following weekend look to feature more of this dry weather with comfortable early fall temperatures in store for us.

The latest Minnesota DNR foliage map. Between 10% and 50% of the foliage in our corner of the state has changed so far.

Posted under minnesota

Parts of Minnesota are already at 25-50% of peak, including a chunk of southeast Minnesota. Check these pages out for reports in…

Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa

Also, we’ll be featuring Fall Photos again on the KTTC NewsCenter, so please submit your pictures to weather@kttc.com

Posted under Viewer Pics

The overall weather pattern isn’t changing much for us in the next week.  We’re under northwest flow aloft, which means the jetstream, in general, is flowing from northwest to southeast across southern Canada and the northern U.S.  This will mean a steady parade of cold fronts ‘clippers’ that will deliver occasional light snow. 

The next good chance for snow is Friday night into Saturday morning, and amounts are looking to be around 1″, 2″ tops.  This will be followed by another shot of light snow late Sunday into Monday morning.  Winter is definitely in full gear. 

A few notes…

-Did you happen to see the conjunction of Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon this past Monday?  Check out this collection of pictures at spaceweather.com.

-For us meteo-heads, autumn is over and winter is underway…it just makes more sense to us to break the seasons into 3 month increments.    Check out the Autumn 2008 climate summary from the NWS La Crosse.

Posted under Astronomy, KTTC, weather

Get ready for tomorrow morning – low 20s, maybe even some upper teens out there. Then we’re in the clear (literally) for the rest of the week. Nice, pleasant, dry weather – even a 60° reading for Thursday looks possible.

We still have a couple of fall photos trickling into the weather office. Thanks to Chad for sending this in. It was taken at Izaak Walton Wetlands in Rochester about a week and a half ago.

Stay warm!

Posted under KTTC, weather

Featured on the NewsCenter at 6pm:

Check out this burning bush! Now that’s bright.

William captured this on the farm this foggy, still, frosty morning (actually quite beautiful, except for real our planting season is now over).

Featured on the NewsCenter at 10pm:

Sheri took this of the bluff that overlooks the Upper Iowa River. Pick the color and you’ll probably find it there!

Posted under KTTC, weather

Featured on the NewsCenter Today:

Gerry took this picture of his driveway. He says this year the trees look the brightest they have in their 14 years of life!

Marilyn caught this picture of the bluffs on fire (not literally) near Lake Winona.

Featured on the NewsCenter at Noon:

A bright burning bush. Always fantastic!

Golden trees line the road for a perfect country drive.

Get out this weekend and enjoy the peak colors! Highs in the 60s with plenty of sunshine, at most some scattered clouds. Friday will be gray and rather bleak and chilly; we’ll take it in exchange for an incredibly gorgeous weekend. Enjoy!

Posted under KTTC, weather

Featured on the NewsCenter at Noon:

Jerry took this near Highway 52 in Oronoco. Notice not just the trees changing colors, but the grasses, too!

Arlouene snapped this on Thursday morning in Preston – look closely – you can see the frost!

Featured on the NewsCenter Today:

This is a picture of the hill near the home of Sammie from Stockton. Imagine coming home to these colors everyday! Sammie says a lot of the leaves are falling off now, but are still very vibrant.

Posted under KTTC, weather