It’s been quite a while since we’ve dealt with the brutally cold conditions that are now plaguing the region and it looks like we’ll have this frigid stuff in the area for the remainder of the week, so we’ll have to brace ourselves and do our best to survive.  A strong, arctic cold front is on its way from the northwest today and is expected to bring a light dusting of snow to the local area early in the evening and then usher in some unbelievably cold air for the next couple of days.  The coldest night of the season is ahead of us tonight as low temperatures will be close to minus 10 and gusty northwest winds behind that front will make it feel like it’s as cold as minus 30 at times after midnight tonight through the middle of the morning tomorrow.  A Wind Chill Advisory has been posted for much of the area because of the potential for frost bite in this situation especially for those exposed to the elements for longer periods of time.  Be sure to wear layers, cover up the head and hands with hats and gloves and keep the pets inside as much as possible during this brutal cold snap.

Wind chills will be as cold as -30 early Thursday morning and will only climb above -20 around the midday hours. High temperatures tomorrow will be around zero.

Another storm system will move in for Friday and because of the rather cold temperatures we’ll be experiencing, we’ll have a steeper ratio of moisture to snowfall meaning fluffier snow will fall and it will add up a little more quickly.  Totals will be higher as a result.  Right now, it appears that we’ll be shoveling up to 6 or 7 inches of fresh snowfall by Friday evening with this next storm system moves out.  Temperatures will moderate a little over the weekend with lower 30s possible by Sunday.

Posted under Cold

A cold front is sweeping through the region today, stirring up some pretty strong northwest winds and spreading a little light snow across the Upper Mississippi Valley as cold air pours in behind it.  Winter weather headlines have been issued by the National Weather Service because of this cold front and the storm system to our east hat will plant itself in the western part of the Great Lakes in the next day or so, producing some accumulating snow for many of us.  Look for a light dusting for this afternoon with less than an inch or so of accumulation through the early evening, but a little more will develop tonight as the storm system to the east begins to get its act together a little more.  Expect an inch or so of accumulation overnight and then periods of light snow through tomorrow with strong winds blowing it around through the day, reducing visibility.  Rochester will receive an inc, perhaps two in the way of snowfall while areas to the west around Albert Lea and Mason City will see less than an inch of accumulation.  To the east, higher amounts will be expected with Winona looking at possibly three or so inches of accumulation and parts of Wisconsin on the east side of the Mississippi expecting four inches or so.  Winter Weather Advisories have been posted for late today, tonight, and much of tomorrow for areas from Rochester to the east as travel conditions may be difficult at times because of the wintry conditions.  If you’re heading to Chicago tomorrow, expect delays as heavier snow will fall through the day and up to six inches of total accumulation is expected.  Here’s a look at local snowfall forecast totals between tonight and tomorrow evening when the snow will taper off locally.

Snowfall forecast through Thursday evening. Blowing snow will create limited visibility and slick spots on local roads and highways through early Friday.

Posted under winter weather

The past couple of days have been just ideal for the holiday weekend in terms of travel conditions and warmth as skies have been fairly bright and dry and our temperatures have been unusually warm for late November.  We’re going to enjoy one more day of incredible warmth before typical November returns for the foreseeable future.  A storm system to our west is approaching the area today, producing some thicker clouds and gusty south winds for us.  Even with a little less sunshine than the past couple of days, our afternoon highs are expected to reach well into the 50s thanks to that nice shot of warm air.   Here’s a look at some of the local high temperatures from Thanksgiving, a day that featured some record warmth and our first 60 degree highs in two weeks.

Rochester set a record high on Thursday with 60° reported at the airport. It surpassed the former record of 56° set in 1990.

The warm spell will end tonight as that storm system drags a cold front through the Upper Mississippi Valley, allowing much colder air in from Canada.  We’ll have overnight lows in the lower 40s and then we’ll start the day Saturday with rain and temperatures in the lower 40s with steadily falling temperatures through the day, eventually reaching the mid 30s by day’s end.  Strong, gusty west winds will occasionally reach 35 miles per hour tomorrow, making it feel even colder.  As we move into the mid and late afternoonh tomorrow, snow will develop with some grassy accumulations possible by tomorrow night before ending early Sunday.  Totals will be rather light, however with generally less than an inch expected across the viewing area.  Colder, more seasonable weather is expected through the next week with another chance for light snow showers or flurries late Wednesday and blustery, cold winds just about each day.

Snowfall totals Saturday evening and night will be on the light side, but there will definitely be enough to remind us that we're getting close to December.

Posted under weather

We’re quickly getting used to cooler, more October-like weather right now thanks to a change in our weather pattern that has moved the 70° and 80° warmth out and is allowing some Canadian air into the region.  It looks like we’ll need to keep our jackets handy this weekend and for all of next week as temperatures will not only be seasonably cool, but there may be a couple of days where it’ll actually feel a bit more like November.  Wind gusts today will continue to occasionally reach 35 miles per hour until around sunset when those winds will diminish slightly.  Both Saturday and Sunday will be on the gusty side, but probably not as breezy as our Friday with highs near 60° and west winds occasionally reaching 25 miles per hour.  There will also be a chance for a couple of brief showers or sprinkles late Saturday evening through sunrise Sunday, otherwise things will be bright, sunny, and seasonable over the next few days.  The middle of next week will feature a cool down where temperatures will possibly be around 10 degrees cooler than average for three or four days. 

For those heading out to watch some local high school football games tonight, here’s the forecast:

The NW winds will slowly subside through the course of the game between 7 and 10pm and those brisk winds will keep wind chills in the lower and middle 40s. It will definitely be jacket, gloves, stadium blanket, and hot chocolate weather!

Another thing to expect in the next week will be the release of the official Winter Forecast for the Nation from NOAA.  That will be at 10am next Thursday.  I’m sure we’ll all be keenly interested in what the longer range models and NWS forecasters are predicting for our weather in what is expected to be a La Nina phase in our weather pattern.  The forecast that will be released will be effective December 2011 to February 2012.  Stay tuned!

Posted under weather

Happy Labor Day!  Well, we’re looking at a mild, but potentially stormy unofficial end to summer today as a storm system from the west brings some thunderstorm chances to the Upper Mississippi Valley, especially late in the afternoon and evening.  The biggest threats from today’s storms will be strong winds in excess of 60 mph and possibly a tornado or two as the winds will be intensifying and eventually shifting with the arrival of that storm system.  The Storm Prediction Center has placed us in the Slight Risk for severe weather in its Day One Outlook effective today and tonight. 

We've been placed in the Slight Risk category for severe weather today by the Storm Prediction Center. The greatest threats will be strong winds and isolated tornadoes later today and this evening.

The best chances for widespread thunderstorms will be after 4:00 today through about 10:00 this evening.  Even outside of those thunderstorms there will be strong, gusty winds as the pressure gradient increases ahead of that storm system.  Southeast winds will gust to 30 mph this afternoon and eventually begin to gust to 40 mph overnight after our evening round of strong thunderstorms.  Wind Advisories have already been posted for much of our area effective tonight through all of tomorrow as gusts will be even stronger tomorrow in the wake of that departing storm system…possibly topping out at 50 mph from the west as cooler, more fall-like air pours into the region.  Highs tomorrow will be in the lower 60s with a chance for some light showers or sprinkles in the morning and midday hours.

Posted under Uncategorized

For Rochester, MN with thanks to the NWS La Crosse

Because we like to keep cleaner records, our meteorological winter begins December 1st and ends the last day of February. It’s nice to say that winter’s over…now if only the weather would catch up with that, eh?

This past meteorological winter of ’08-’09 in Rochester was colder and snowier than normal. It sure seemed cold (because it was), but you may (or may not) be surprised that our average temperature this winter was not even close to being as cold as other winters in Rochester, e.g. 1978-79, ’77-’78, ’35-’36 just to name a few. This past winter was the 24th coldest winter on record and the coldest since 2000-’01.

The statistic that surprised me the most was of this being the 3rd snowiest winter in Rochester’s recorded weather history. Our snowfall records in Rochester date back to 1893. Most of this winter’s snowfall came in the month of December when we recorded a whopping 28.6″ of snow…17″ above the climatological average snowfall for the month. January received 9.8″ of snow (2.1″ below January’s average), and February, 8″, which is pretty much right on the nose for February’s average.

For the record, March is the 3rd snowiest month in Rochester, but we can typically count on spring weather kicking in by the last week of March. Bring it on, I say.

Posted under climate, Rochester, winter weather

As our latest snow producing storm system pulls away, we’re facing another blast of arctic air today.  Even with abundant sunshine around the area, we likely won’t see much of a warmup as cold air will be pouring in from the north on some brisk winds.  The National Weather Service has issued a Wind Chill Warning for much of the area effective immediately while a portion of southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa will have to wait until noon for their Wind Chill Warning to take effect.  The bottom line here is things will be dangerously cold today and tonight because of the nasty combination of blustery winds and some very cold arctic air.  Temperatures today will hold steady or fall off a bit by the afternoon hours, remaining slightly below zero in most spots while it will feel like -35 at times with the wind chills factored in.  It will get even worse tonight for us as winds will continue to be a bit brisk with good radiational cooling with clear skies under an approaching high pressure system from the north.  Those elements will set the stage for the coldest temperatures and the most miserable wind chills we will have seen locally in almost a decade as low temperatures will be around -25 by Thursday morning and wind chills will possibly reach -50 at times!  The important thing to remember here is to stay inside as much as possible and keep kids and pets indoors as it will be dangerously cold tonight and for the next couple of days.  With temperatures like this ahead of us, it would pay to have an engine block heater as many people in the northland and Canada use to make it possible for their cars to start in the morning during the winter months.  High temperatures tomorrow will be near -7 with sunny skies all day followed by another cold night when temperatures will again be near the -20 mark.  Warmer air will return Friday as temperatures will be around 5 degrees above zero in the afternoon.  We’ll have to wait until Saturday or Sunday before we see anything close to our average January high temperatures which would be around 20 degrees.

As far as snowfall is concerned, here at KTTC I measured 1.0″ of fresh snow from Tuesday night’s storm.

Here are some more of the local snowfall amounts:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI
800 AM CST WED JAN 14 2009

…RECENT REPORTED SNOWFALL TOTALS…

LOCATION       SNOWFALL   TIME    LAT/LON

IOWA

…ALLAMAKEE COUNTY…
WAUKON                        2.0         0655 AM 43.27N 91.48W
WAUKON 8NW                    1.5         0725 AM 43.34N 91.6W
LANSING 4SE                   1.2         0717 AM 43.34N 91.19W

…CHICKASAW COUNTY…
NEW HAMPTON                   4.0         0734 AM 43.06N 92.32W

…CLAYTON COUNTY…
EDGEWOOD                      4.0         0536 AM 42.64N 91.4W
VOLGA                         3.2         0654 AM 42.80N 91.54W
ELKADER 6SSW                  3.1         0738 AM 42.81N 91.43W
MONONA                        2.2         0537 AM 43.05N 91.39W

…FAYETTE COUNTY…
FAYETTE                       5.4         0741 AM 42.84N 91.8W
WEST UNION                    5.0         0514 AM 42.96N 91.81W
OELWEIN 1WNW                  4.8         0639 AM 42.68N 91.93W
WAUCOMA 3SE                   2.5         0726 AM 43.02N 91.98W

…FLOYD COUNTY…
CHARLES CITY                  3.0         0512 AM 43.07N 92.69W

…HOWARD COUNTY…
CRESCO                        2.5         0516 AM 43.38N 92.12W
CRESCO 1NE                    2.3         0732 AM 43.38N 92.11W

…MITCHELL COUNTY…
ST ANSGAR                     3.6         0653 AM 43.38N 92.92W

…WINNESHIEK COUNTY…
DECORAH                       2.0         0517 AM 43.31N 91.79W

MINNESOTA

…FILLMORE COUNTY…
LANESBORO                     0.7         0723 AM 43.72N 91.97W

…HOUSTON COUNTY…
LA CRESCENT 1N                1.0         0758 AM 43.83N 91.31W
RENO 3SW                      0.9         0655 AM 43.53N 91.33W

…MOWER COUNTY…
AUSTIN                        1.8         0757 AM 43.67N 92.98W
GRAND MEADOW                  1.2         0652 AM 43.71N 92.57W

…WABASHA COUNTY…
ZUMBRO FALLS                  0.7         0651 AM 44.29N 92.43W
ELGIN 2SSW                    0.7         0651 AM 44.11N 92.26W
WABASHA                       0.6         0654 AM 44.37N 92.04W

…WINONA COUNTY…
WINONA                        1.0         0654 AM 44.05N 91.66W
WINONA 4SW                    1.0         0740 AM 44.02N 91.69W

WISCONSIN

…ADAMS COUNTY…
FRIENDSHIP                    0.5         0722 AM 43.97N 89.82W

…CLARK COUNTY…
NEILLSVILLE                   0.1         0652 AM 44.56N 90.59W

…CRAWFORD COUNTY…
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN              1.8         0653 AM 43.04N 91.15W

…JACKSON COUNTY…
HATFIELD                      T           0755 AM 44.42N 90.73W

…LA CROSSE COUNTY…
HOLMEN 2S                     1.2         0650 AM 43.95N 91.26W
LA CROSSE NWS                 1.2         0553 AM 43.28N 91.19W
HOLMEN                        0.9         0759 AM 43.96N 91.26W

…MONROE COUNTY…
WARRENS 5WSW                  0.9         0653 AM 44.11N 90.59W
FOUR CORNERS                  0.5         0723 AM 44.08N 90.91W

…RICHLAND COUNTY…
RICHLAND CENTER               0.9         0727 AM 43.34N 90.39W

…TREMPEALEAU COUNTY…
OSSEO                         0.3         0716 AM 44.58N 91.21W

…VERNON COUNTY…
WESTBY 3ENE                   0.7         0756 AM 43.66N 90.82W

Posted under Uncategorized, weather, winter weather