Happy Groundhog Day!  In case you haven’t heard the news, Punxsatawney Phil, the nation’s Chief Groundhog proclaimed through his human translator this morning that we can expect an early spring because he failed to see his shadow.  Given the nasty weather most of us have had to deal with locally and even nastier stuff another 100 million people are dealing with to our south and now east, that’s good news and definitely sign of hope and optimism.  For now, we’ll set aside the National Climate Prediction Center’s forecast that calls for colder than normal temperatures for the rest of the winter through March and a pretty decent chance for above average precipitation at least for the next few weeks, as well as the fact that Phil is only reportedly accurate 39% of the time in his prognostications.  We’ll now just focus on enjoying some bright sunshine and getting a break from shoveling.  The winds have been diminishing all day today behind that departing storm system, so blowing snow isn’t as much a concern as those cold wind chills that will remai nwell below zero through today, tonight, and most likely all of tomorrow as well.  For now, we’re just happy to have a rare sunny day.  It’s been a while since we’ve seen this much sun, hasn’t it?  Those winds will drop off a bit more this afternoon, but not completely die away as another disturbance is expected to move in tomorrow, keeping winds kind of brisk ahead of its arrival tonight and tomorrow.  We won’t have any precipitation from this upcoming disturbance, but instead southwest winds will work to push in some warmth, so teens and eventually 20s will return to our area for the end of the week and the weekend. 

Here’s a look at some of the peak wind gusts recorded around our local area Tuesday through early Wednesday that were responsible for blowing our snow around and creating bitterly cold wind chills.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI
1048 AM CST WED FEB 2 2011

…HIGHEST WIND GUSTS REPORTED WITH THE FEB 1-2 2011 STORM…

STATION                                                                  COUNTY                         TIME         SPEED             GUST

PLATTEVILLE AWOS                                          GRANT                           953 PM      29 MPH       49 MPH
CHARLES CITY AWOS                                        FLOYD                            1135 PM   28 MPH        40 MPH
ROCHESTER ASOS                                                OLMSTED                      1054 PM   24 MPH        39 MPH
OELWEIN AWOS                                                   FAYETTE                       1215 AM   29 MPH        38 MPH
2 ESE CANTON RWIS                                          FILLMORE                       814 PM   26 MPH        37 MPH
2 SE EYOTA RWIS                                               OLMSTED                         1141 PM   26 MPH        37 MPH
4 E NORDNESS RWIS                                         WINNESHIEK                  345 PM    23 MPH        37 MPH
PRESTON AWOS                                                  FILLMORE                         919 PM   22 MPH         37 MPH
2 NNE TAMARACK RWIS                                TREMPEALEAU              326 PM   18 MPH          36 MPH
VIROQUA AWOS                                                VERNON                             435 PM    25 MPH         36 MPH
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN AWOS                            CRAWFORD                       335 PM   18 MPH           35 MPH
2 SSE KELLOGG RWIS                                      WABASHA                          804 PM      MPH              35 MPH
BOSCOBEL ASOS                                                 GRANT                               1153 PM   20 MPH          35 MPH
2 NE EAST DUBUQUE RWIS                          GRANT                                203 PM   16 MPH            33 MPH
1 SW MOUNT STERLING RWIS                    CRAWFORD                        223 PM   17 MPH           33 MPH
LA CROSSE ASOS                                               LA CROSSE                       1053 PM   18 MPH           33 MPH
1 W PLATTEVILLE CWOP                              GRANT                                  210 PM   22 MPH           33 MPH
1 W LA CROSSE CWOP                                     LA CROSSE                          337 PM   18 MPH           33 MPH
AUSTIN AWOS                                                   MOWER                                 835 PM   21 MPH           32 MPH
DODGE CENTER AWOS                                   DODGE                                   354 PM   22 MPH           32 MPH
2 N IONIA RWIS                                               CHICKASAW                     1045 PM   17 MPH           32 MPH
1 E MAUSTON RWIS                                        JUNEAU                               320 PM   15 MPH            31 MPH
DECORAH AWOS                                              WINNESHIEK                     1135 PM   16 MPH           31 MPH
1 WNW NECEDAH RAWS                               JUNEAU                                548 AM   16 MPH          30 MPH
1 ENE BOSCOBEL RAWS                                GRANT                                    303 PM   18 MPH           30 MPH
3 NE LUBLIN RAWS                                        TAYLOR                                 614 PM   15 MPH            30 MPH
4 NNW RIDGEVILLE RWIS                          MONROE                                324 PM   14 MPH            30 MPH
VOLK FIELD AWOS                                          JUNEAU                                112 AM   15 MPH            29 MPH
ST. ANSGAR CWOP                                          MITCHELL                            855 PM   17 MPH            28 MPH
SPARTA AWOS                                                  MONROE                                437 PM   18 MPH            28 MPH
MAUSTON CWOP                                             JUNEAU                                 402 PM    7 MPH             26 MPH
KENDALL CWOP                                               MONROE                               620 AM    8 MPH              26 MPH
MEDFORD AWOS                                              TAYLOR                              1055 AM   16 MPH            26 MPH
4 WSW RINGE CWOP                                      OLMSTED                              503 AM     9 MPH             26 MPH
1 NE BEAR VALLEY CWOP                          WABASHA                           1120 PM   23 MPH            25 MPH
1 WSW ONALASKA CWOP                            LA CROSSE                            239 AM    8 MPH             25 MPH
1 E BLK RVR FALLS RAWS                          JACKSON                                815 PM    7 MPH              24 MPH
2 N TOMAH RWIS                                          MONROE                                  522 PM    7 MPH              24 MPH
WINONA AWOS                                              WINONA                                 715 AM   16 MPH             23 MPH
3 SW BARRE MILLS CWOP                         LA CROSSE                             540 PM          MPH             22 MPH
3 N VIROQUA CWOP                                    VERNON                               1219 AM       8 MPH             21 MPH

Posted under wind

Welcome to February! A massive snowstorm will just barely miss our area, but the farther south and east you head into Iowa and Wisconsin (and continuing south and east of there), you will run into blizzard conditions. Infact, Des Moines, Ames, Waterloo, Madison, and Milwaukee (and others south and east of there) are in blizzard warnings through Wednesday. We could see some blowing snow here at home with the high winds and fresh snowfall.

Speaking of which, here are reported snowfall totals to the NWS La Crosse, Chanhassen, and Des Moines from the recent snowfall:

Posted under snowfall amounts, winter, winter weather

1:20PM update: Our potent storm system is pushing through southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa this afternoon with quite a few instances of thundersnow across the area.  Essentially the same ingredients are required to create thundersnow as there are for thunderstorms in the spring and summer: warm, moist air and some instability as well as some lift in the atmosphere.  Just as in a thunderstorm, precipitation rates are higher in thundersnow, possibly 2 inches per hour.  Expect snow and thundersnow to continue through the middle and late afternoon hours as the main band of precipitation slides eastward.  Snowfall amounts may reach 4 or more inches in the Rochester and Winona areas from this line of activity even as the line moves along fairly quickly because of the intense snowfall rates.  Remember to also be on the lookout for blowing snow in the area as northerly winds gust beyond 25 miles per hour through the late afternoon and evening, possibly reducing visibilities to less than half a mile at times.  Meanwhile, higher snowfall amounts are expected to the north as 6 or more inches are still possible around Red Wing and Cannon Falls by this evening.  The bulk of our accumulating snow will occur during the daylight hours today with very light snow or flurries possible this evening.

Posted under Uncategorized

7:15 a.m. update: Blizzard Warnings are in effect for most of northern Iowa from this afternoon until 3 am Tuesday. A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect first, until early afternoon.

Winter Storm Warnings are in effect for most of northeastern Iowa, southeastern and south central Minnesota from 9 am to Midnight.

Winter Weather Advisories are in effect for all other counties in the viewing area until Midnight.

Wind Chill Advisories will also go into effect later tonight for the entire area.

Snow will spread into the area from west to east this morning; 2-4″ are likely. Conditions will turn sour this afternoon with winds gusting to 40 mph, creating white-out conditions in some areas, and wind chills will drop to -30 to -40. Definitely check road conditions before you have to head out anywhere this evening.

More to come…

Posted under KTTC, weather, winter weather