We woke up to the coldest morning of the season today as strong high pressure set the stage for a clear, frosty, winter-like morning across the area.  Under the cloud-free skies and with nearly calm winds, our temperatures took a nose dive overnight into our Tuesday morning as the vast majority of the local area found itself in the teens for the first time since the first week of March.  While it certainly was a little cooler than normal for today’s date, Rochester’s morning low of 17° certainly wasn’t anywhere near the record of -4° set in 1986, but it definitely was a reminder of what late fall can bring in this climate.  If you’re not quite ready for this type of temperatures scheme, there is good news for you, however.  Slightly milder, more seasonal weather is expected for the remainder of the week and likely next week as well, so 20s and 30s will be more common than teens. 

The coldest low temps of the season so far for just about everybody today.

Some more local morning temperatures.

Posted under Lows

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

A massive “dip,” or trough as we refer to it, in the jet stream is going to keep things cool and fall-like for the weekend, but this pattern is by no means permanent.  Basically, it’s going to be a cool, turbulent, and occasionally unsettled few days for us with subnormal temperatures through Sunday.  At the surface, we’ll first experience a little rain later tonight as a weak disturbance pushes through the Upper Mississippi Valley and then a cold front tomorrow night will bring a few more light showers starting in the evening and lingering behind the front through midday Saturday.  The front will unleash the coolest air of the season for us Saturday as highs in the mid 50s will be expected locally and strong northwest winds that will occasionally reach 40 miles per hour will make it feel cooler than that all day.  It’ll be a raw first day of fall to be sure.  Incidentally, the autumnal equinox takes place at 9:49 AM Saturday.  High pressure will settle in for Saturday night, calming the winds and clearing the skies, setting the stage for the coldest night of the season to date and a potential widespread frost/freeze event.  Temperatures by Sunday morning may dip into the low 30s in the majority of the area with some pockets of upper 20s possible.

The jet stream aloft is buckling southward in the Great Lakes region this weekend, making for a cooler than normal stretch of day for us.

The jet stream next week looks to flatten out a bit, allowing temperatures to warm up slightly in the longer term.

Posted under weather

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

What a gorgeous finale to the work week we have going for us today!  High pressure is bringing us a cloudless and mild late summer/early fall day today as temperatures are climbing into the mid and upper 70s across the region.  Things will get a bit warmer as we get into the heart of the weekend with the help of southwest winds that will be flowing into a storm system well to the north of the Canadian border will warm things into the upper 70s and low 80s for Saturday and Sunday.  The climate average temperatures for our area are 72 for highs and 51 for lows, so yes, things will continue to be slightly warmer than normal for this time of the year, a trend we’re accustomed to in an unusually warm year overall.  However, it does appear that there will be quite a cool down in the coming week to possibly “balance things out” and bring some measure of fall weather to the picture just in time for the run up to the autumnal equinox which takes place next Saturday.  It doesn’t always work like his, but more often than not, there is some kind of  balancing act in ou weather that swings temperatures back the other way when we’ve been on an unseasonable temperature trend.  The jet stream next week is expected to push way to he south in the eastern half of the country, including our local area, allowing a series of strong cold fronts to swing through the Upper Mississippi Valley, making for a slightly cooler than normal situation for possibly a couple of weeks or more as it appears right now. 

In the meantime, we do have a little taste of comfortable late summer weather in store for this weekend and below is tonight’s Friday night football forecast.

It looks like we'll enjoy a gorgeous evening for football across our area tonight.The jet stream (upper level atmospheric wind current) will push southward next week, possibly keeping things cooler than normal for us by several degrees.The latest outlook for next week from the Climate Prediction Center has our region likely on the cool side for temperatures.