Corrected for avg temperature of 22.8 degrees vs. 22.7 degrees and from 7th place to tied for 6th warmest January on record in Rochester, MN.

Our unbelievable mild weather spell continues today as we cruise into the month of February with temperatures that are more reminiscent of March than something we might feel in mid winter.  Of course this isn’t the first stretch of unseasonably warm weather we’ve experienced this winter as both December and January have already featured some incredible warmth.  Looking at the month we just finished, January, we can see that with the exception of just a few days in two cold snaps, temperatures in Rochester weren’t very January-like.  It was supposed to be the coldest month of the year and instead it was mostly unwinter-like with an average high near the freezing mark.  The mean temperature for January in Rochester was 22.8°, making it the 6th warmest January in history.  The warmest, interestingly enough, was just six years ago when we had a mean temperature of 28° in January of 2006.  Here’s a look at some of the more specific statistics:

Temperatures were well above normal for January while overall precipitation and snowfall were a little lower than average.

Posted under climate

We’re off to a very mild start to the week with high temperatures in the 40s in the forecast for both today and tomorrow locally while our skies look to remain fairly dry and even sunny at times.  To winter weather enthusiasts, this is just a case of “what else is new?  More bad news.”  To those who want to spend a little more time outside or have to work outside this is good news and it looks like this quiet, mild pattern will linger through Thursday at least and possibly a bit further down the road thanks to a mild jet stream pattern.  Right now the northern branch of the jet stream is to our north keeping the really cold, more seasonable arctic air bottled up in northern Canada and the southern branch is where more of the “active weather” resides and that is closer to the Gulf Coast.  We’re in the middle getting the odd weak storm system here and there, as we did over the weekend, but not getting huge amounts of snow and not experiencing a typical end to the month of January for our regional standards.

Our current upper air pattern, or jet stream, will keep our weather dry and mild to start the week.

The jet stream this weekend looks a little more active for the Midwest, possibly meaning a storm system will affect our area. Temperatures will be slightly cooler, but close to the freezing mark, meaning precipitation types may be snow or a wintry mixture in the upcoming event.

That mild, split flow jet stream pattern will continue through most of this week with just a minor change coming up over the weekend.  We’ll have to keep a close eye on a potential winter storm that may develop to our south, possibly spreading some precipitation to toward our area by Friday.  So much is up in the air right now that to give too many details would be ridiculous because we’d have to retract our statements and change the whole story every day this week until we got closer to the weekend and things looked clearer.  Right now is looks like we’ll be facing mainly a light snow/wintry mixture scenario for Friday and then a heavier, icier or rainier day on Saturday, and then a slight amount of snow on Sunday with that storm system.  We’ve had indications that it’ll stay south of us, so it may be a non factor or it may shift a bit, changing the timing of the precipitation or even the precipitation types altogether.  The bottom line is: stay tuned and expect maybe a little wintry, messy weather for Friday through Sunday.  In the meantime, temperatures will remain unseasonably mild for the next several days and while we will experience a cooling trend beyond Tuesday, we’ll be much warmer than normal through at least Sunday as highs will be in the 30s which is warmer than the usual teens or 20s that we’d typically experience this time of the year.

Posted under winter weather

A weak storm system from the west is spreading clouds and light snow across the local area today. This will be a lighter snow event for us than the past two to affect the region last Friday and Monday of this week as only about an inch of accumulation is expected for the most part. The evening commute may be a little tricky because of the potential for a few extra slick spots on the street and highways from the afternoon to early evening snow, but as long as everyone takes their time and expects a slight delay, it shouldn’t be cataclysmic. The heaviest amounts in the region look to accumulate north of Rochester toward the Twin Cities and even north of there as two inches will be possible for some locations in northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin.

Snowfall will occur through the afternoon with a sharp drop off in intensity after sunset. Amounts will be light, with the highest totals to the north.

Behind this storm system we’ll have gusty, colder weather with some sunshine tomorrow and then a chance for a few light snow showers tomorrow night.  Accumulations tomorrow night will be light with less than half an inch expected.  We’ll have chilly sunshine and highs in the teens on Sunday with snow showers and little if any accumulation Monday.  A bigger storm system Tuesday into early Wednesday will bring a mixture of rain and snow and then some light accumulations of snow to the area.  Snow showers and flurries will be possible Thursday and Friday, so it’ll be an active pattern, but generally speaking, only light snow is expected in the next week while high temperatures look to remain quite mild in the longer term as highs will be in the lower and mid 30s from Monday through next Friday.

Posted under winter weather

After a day of freezing drizzle, we had to deal with some pretty messy road conditions on Monday morning thanks to the addition of some light to moderate snowfall across the area.  Totals were generally in a one to three inch range with a few outliers:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI
416 PM CST MON JAN 23 2012

…RECENT REPORTED SNOWFALL TOTALS…

LOCATION       SNOWFALL   TIME    LAT/LON

NORTHEAST IOWA

…MITCHELL COUNTY…
RICEVILLE                     1.8         0244 PM  43.36N 92.55W

SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA

…DODGE COUNTY…
MANTORVILLE                   3.0         1130 AM 44.07N 92.76W

…FILLMORE COUNTY…
PETERSON 1S                   2.0         1010 AM 43.78N 91.83W

…WABASHA COUNTY…
OAK CENTER                    3.5         1146 AM 44.35N 92.4W
WABASHA 5S                    2.7         1133 AM 44.32N 92.05W

…WINONA COUNTY…
WINONA                        2.6         0245 PM 44.05N 91.66W

SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL WISCONSIN

…CLARK COUNTY…
WITHEE                        2.0         1128 AM 44.96N 90.6W
LONGWOOD                      1.0         1128 AM 44.89N 90.6W

…JACKSON COUNTY…
BLACK RIVER FALLS             2.5         1107 AM 44.30N 90.85W
MERRILLAN                     2.0         1108 AM 44.45N 90.84W

…JUNEAU COUNTY…
NEW LISBON 2N                 1.3         1120 AM 43.90N 90.17W
NECEDAH 3SE                   1.0         1109 AM 43.98N 90.04W
MAUSTON WRJC RADIO            1.0         1113 AM 43.82N 90.07W

…MONROE COUNTY…
SPARTA 2S                     2.5         1058 AM 43.88N 90.82W
WARRENS 5WSW                  2.0         1102 AM 44.11N 90.59W

…TAYLOR COUNTY…
WESTBORO 4E                   2.6         1105 AM 45.35N 90.26W
PERKINSTOWN 5E                1.5         1106 AM 45.20N 90.51W
JUMP RIVER 1N                 1.2         1117 AM 45.37N 90.8W

…TREMPEALEAU COUNTY…
OSSEO                         1.7         1135 AM 44.58N 91.22W
ARCADIA                       1.3         1133 AM 44.25N 91.49W
INDEPENDENCE 3NE              1.0         0244 PM 44.39N 91.39W

…VERNON COUNTY…
STODDARD 5NNE                 2.8         1136 AM 43.72N 91.17W

Rochester picked up 2.6 inches of snow officially, while we measured 3.0 inches her at KTTC. That brings our total to 7.4 inches for January and 16.0 inches for the winter which is still a foot of snow below average for the season.
We’ll have just a couple of rounds of light snow or flurries in the coming days, but little or no accumulation is expected at least for another week. Unfortunately, one of those chances is tonight as a weak disturbance brings some clouds and light snow showers to the region for the overnight period, likely interfering with our chances of seeing what looks to be an impressive aurora show (northern lights.) Keep your fingers crossed, perhaps there will be a few breaks in the clouds!

Posted under snowfall amounts

An incredibly mild air mass combined with a lack of snow cover are setting the stage for yet another round of record afternoon high temperatures across the region today.  We tied the record high in Rochester at 46° on Monday and came close to setting records in a number of other locations around the area and today it appears we’ll be setting a whole slew of records area-wide.  Here’s a look at some of the records we’re watching for today.  Enjoy the warmth today and be prepared to dig out the thick winter gear for tomorrow and the rest of the week as a potent cold front is on the way, likely reaching us tomorrow.  That will bring an end to this amazing stretch of spring-like warmth as January-like weather will return.

A look at some of the record high temperatures that may fall today. Highs will be in the lower and mid 50s across the entire area which is 30 degrees warmer than normal for early January.

Posted under climate

We started the month of January on a rather wintry note with seasonably cold temperatures and strong, blustery winds for the first three days, but now we’re facing a warm spell in the coming days that will mean a bit of a departure from January-like weather for our area.  We’ll have highs in the 30s today and then 40s for Thursday and Friday which will be 20 degrees warmer than average for this time of the year and approaching record territory.  In fact, we’ll almost be forgetting what type of weather we should normally be experiencing this time of the year as abnormally mild weather will be the rule for quite some time.  Here’s a look at the climate averages for this week compared with what we normally see for the end of the month.

January 4th:                                             January 31st:

High: 24                                                      High: 25

Low: 8                                                          Low: 8

Sunrise: 7:44 AM                                    Sunrise: 7:29 AM

Sunset: 4:45 PM                                       Sunset: 5:18 PM

*We’ll gain 48 minutes of daylight at the end of the month compared to today.

*Snowfall: 12.0″  (The old average was 11.9″ before climate statistics were recalculated last summer.)

*The average high for the month is now 23.9, but before the recalculation of the climate averages last summer, it was only 19.9!)

Posted under climate

Snow will wind down this evening (if it hasn’t already). Infact, the Winter Weather Advisory has already been canceled for much of the area, with the exception of the counties in Iowa around the I-35 corridor. That will stay in effect (at least for now) until 6PM.

Flurries will be possible overnight, and colder air will push in for Tuesday. Highs tomorrow will likely come shortly after midnight, with temperatures falling into the low single digits by the mid to late afternoon.

Here are the reported snowfall totals to the National Weather Service:

Posted under snowfall amounts, winter, winter weather