We’re in for quite a roller coaster ride in our local weather over the next few days as unseasonably warm air and then an arctic blast will make their way into our weather picture.  Strangely enough, we start things off with a very quiet, typical mid January day today with a slight breeze, some sunshine, and high temperatures in the 20s.  After this, however, it’ll be far from typical January weather for a couple of days as a storm system north of us kicks up some strong southwest winds during the day and with abundant sunshine, works to pull in some really mild air.  High temperatures Friday will be in the low to mid 40s which will be closer to a record high than the seasonably cold 20s that would be closer to average.  There will be some snow showers or flurries early in the days as the warm front moves through and then again Saturday as a potent cold front approaches from the northwest behind that storm system.   Saturday will be windy and warmer than normal to start before the arctic air blows in during the afternoon and evening.  Temperatures will drop like a rock in the evening Saturday and then not recorver much Sunday with more snow showers possible.  The coldest air from northern Canada will linger through Monday and Tuesday before warmer, more seasonable weather returns for the middle of the upcoming week.

Temperatures will begin their climb early Friday and then drop off dramatically late Saturday.

Posted under Cold, weather

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

After a messy and treacherous morning commute today that featured freezing drizzle, freezing rain, and a bit of sleet, we’re dealing with a little light snow across most of the area for the mid portion of our “Finally Friday,” but accumulations have been minimal in most spots.  Totals have been generally less than an inch and little more is expected in the early part of the afternoon as the storm system pulls away and our light snow will taper off fairly quickly.

Here’s a look at some local snowfall totals from this morning’s event:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI
1109 AM CST FRI DEC 30 2011

...UPDATED SNOWFALL TOTALS ACROSS THE AREA...

LOCATION                   SNOWFALL    TIME     LAT/LON

IOWA

...ALLAMAKEE COUNTY...
WAUKON 8NW                 1.0         1029 AM  43.34N 91.60W

...FLOYD COUNTY...
CHARLES CITY                T          1029 AM  43.06N 92.69W

...HOWARD COUNTY...
ELMA                       0.4         0700 AM  43.24N 92.44W

MINNESOTA

...FILLMORE COUNTY...
PRESTON                    0.2         0700 AM  43.67N 92.07W

...MOWER COUNTY...
AUSTIN                      T          0700 AM  43.67N 92.95W

...WABASHA COUNTY...
THEILMAN                    T          0700 AM  44.28N 92.19W

...WINONA COUNTY...
ST CHARLES 5N              0.7         1052 AM  44.04N 92.07W
ALTURA 5W                   T          0700 AM  44.06N 92.04W

WISCONSIN

...CLARK COUNTY...
OWEN                        T          0700 AM  44.98N 90.55W

...LA CROSSE COUNTY...
HOLMEN 2NW                 0.5         1009 AM  43.98N 91.29W
HOLMEN 2S                  0.2         1009 AM  43.95N 91.26W
LA CROSSE 4NNW             0.1         0700 AM  43.87N 91.27W
LA CROSSE ASOS             0.0         0700 AM  43.88N 91.26W
LA CROSSE WEATHER          0.0         0700 AM  43.82N 91.19W
HOLMEN 2S                  0.0         0700 AM  43.93N 91.25W

...MONROE COUNTY...
SPARTA                      T          0700 AM  43.94N 90.82W

...VERNON COUNTY...
ONTARIO 3E                  T          0700 AM  43.72N 90.60W

The next round of precipitation in the area will be later tomorrow and tomorrow night as a potent cold front swings into the region.   We’ll have a little light rain late in the afternoon and evening with a transition to light snow around midnight and then less than an inch of snow will fall overnight into Sunday morning.  Winds will be rather strong Sunday behind that cold front, occasionally gusting to 50 miles per hour, blowing snow around and creating some rather unpleasant wind chill values.  Temperatures will be in the 20s through the day Sunday with wind chills around 10.

Posted under Snow Totals

We knew the balmy 50s and 60s wouldn’t last forever, and today a strong cold front is sliding through the region allowing some more typical November-like weather into the area.  In the short term today, we’ll deal with some gusty winds and a slight drop in temperatures, but nothing too devastating.  The really cold stuff will arrive later tonight when overnight temperatures will take a nosedive and fall into the lower 20s.  Besides the arctic-like chill tonight, we’ll have to deal with some pretty brisk, uncomfortable winds that will occasionally reach above 20 miles per hour, keeping wind chills in the upper single digits and teens.  It won’t be quite as windy tomorrow, but we’ll still be able to describe the day as blustery and raw as west winds will gust to 25 miles per hour while highs will only climb into the upper 30s.  The cold spell will linger through Thursday before milder air tries to work its way in for Friday with highs in the 40s again showing up in the forecast to round out the work week.  In the meantime, the jet stream will buckle southward, allowing this cold air to infiltrate the Upper Midwest behind today’s cold front. 

The current jet stream is beginning to draw some slightly cooler air in from the northwest of the continent. Today's cold front is being pushed through the Upper Midwest on those upper level winds signifying the beginnign of a pattern change.

The jet stream for tomorrow through Thursday will be forced way to the south, allowing some of the coldest air of the season into the Upper Midwest. This will only be a temporary pattern shift as there will be a slight warm up over the early part of the weekend.

Posted under Cold

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

We’ve added some thin clouds to the weather picture while some stronger winds are making things a little challenging for us today, but the warm weather theme we’ve been enjoying all week continues for our Friday.  A Wind Advisory is in effect for the western portion of our local area until 10:00 tonight as south winds will be gusting to 40mph at times.  High profile vehicles will have the toughest time with these winds as will anybody who has to secure their patio furniture.  The winds are also increasing the fire danger across the our entire area as vegetation continues to dry out, so a little rain would be appreciated.  The storm system to our west that is generating these winds will in fact bring some sprinkles or light showers to the area starting with areas west of Interstate 35 today and then the rest of the area tomorrow and Sunday, but keep in mind it’ll be sparse, light activity and there will be some bright spells of sunshine, so the entire weekend will by no means be a washout.  Friday night football games may also be affected by the gusty winds as teams kicking with the wind to their backs will have a nice little advantage in some cases as south winds will still be in a 20 to 30 mile per hour range during the early evening hours. 

It'll be one of the warmest, windiest football games of the season tonight.

Saturday will be the final local Honor Flight for our World War II veterans who will be traveling to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.  Here’s the forecast for their visit in our nation’s capital:

What a pleasant day to visit the World War II Memorial!

Posted under weather

With very few exceptions, the weather for the fishing opener over the past several years has been blustery and wet across the state of Minnesota and this time around it looks like we’ll be having more of the same.  Cool air has invaded from the north over the past 24 hours and looks to be sticking around for the weekend while some energy aloft in the atmosphere will keep the threat of rain around for many of us at least to start the weekend.  After a breezy and cool day that will feature occasional showers or sprinkles, we’ll have a wetter, drearier day tomorrow as light rain will settle in for most of our Saturday, keeping things cool and wet while gusty north winds will make it feel even cooler than the lower 50s we’ll experience for afternoon highs.  If you’re fishing tomorrow, you’ll have to be prepared to deal with some choppy waves, persistent light rain, and subnormal temperatures.  If you’rte lucky enough to heading up north, say to Bemidji or Hibbing, look for some late day clearing and highs in the upper 50s thanks to some afternoon sunshine.  The Governor, in the meantime, will have to keep the rain gear handy as Pokegama Lake, which is near Pine City, will be shrouded in murky cloud cover all day with north winds around 15 miles per hour and high temperatures around 52°.  Hopefully, the fishing will be good to make up for the weather!  Sunday looks brighter for just about the entire state with sunshine prevailing and temperatures warming to the upper 50s and lower 60s while north winds will remain pretty gusty.

It's going to be a cool and breezy fishing opener Saturday with subnormal temperatures just about everywhere in the region.

Posted under weather

After a fairly long stretch of spring-like days, we’ve fallen back to more winter-like weather for our Friday with typical February temperatures and wind chills in our area.  The cold front that swept through the region yesterday afternoon scoured out our clouds and fog, but in its wake we have some raw and gusty west winds pulling in this more seasonable air mass today.  With bright blue skies overhead, we’ll likely manage to climb back into the 30s for highs today, but that’s a far cry from the 40s and 50s we enjoyed on Thursday, especially when you factor in those wind chills.  Because of those brisk winds, it’ll feel like the teens and 20s and sometimes even worse when those 30 or 40 mile per hour gusts kick in.  Look for those winds to remain rather blustery through late afternoon when the cold front moves farther away to the east and we lose some of our daytime heating. 

Local high temperatures Thursday afternoon were around 20 to 30 degrees warmer than normal for this time of the year. Areas to the south and west enjoyed the most sun and had the least snow cover, allowing them to see the warmest readings.

Temperatures have fallen off quite a bit today from even the morning readings Thursday that were running mainly in the 40 to 45 degree range. Most spots are 15 to 20 degrees colder this morning than Thursday morning.

We’ll stick with the cooler, more seasonable temperatures for the weekend with dry weather Friday and Saturday before a potent storm system from the west spreads a wintry mixture across the area late Saturday evening, possibly beginning a stretch of 36 hours or so of messy weather in our region.  There will be a chance for freezing rain, sleet, and snow Saturday night with snow and a little freezing rain possible Sunday.  At this time, we’re still trying to determine how warm temperatures will be aloft so we know what type of precipitation types will be occurring and also monitoring the track of the storm, so it’s a little early to say how much snow and ice we’ll be getting from this upcoming storm.  Stay tuned!

Posted under winter weather

Even though a cold front has passed through the region today, we’re still feeling fairly mild today with high temperatures on their way to the middle and possibly upper 50s in some cases.  However, behind that front winds are beginning to get a little gusty this afternoon as stronger winds aloft are allowed to mix down to the surface thanks to our sunny conditions.  Gusts will mainly reach the 30 to 35 mile per hour range, but locations to the west in our local area will have the potential for stronger gusts to 40 or even 45 miles per hour through early evening.  Those gusts will subside quite a bit with the loss of daytime heating, but will remain fairly breezy through the overnight period tonight.  The National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory for areas along and west of Interstate 35 for both the Iowa and Minnesota portions of our area until 7:00 PM.

Strong northwest winds will occasionally gust to 40 or even 45 miles per hour through this afternoon in the advisory area.

Posted under wind

Now that the storm system that brought us some incredibly strong winds for the past couple of days is moving away to the northeast, we can look back, tally up the numbers and compare this two day event to other wind storms in our local history.  First of all, remember that for statistical purposes, we take the average wind speeds from the entire day to rank and compare this wind event to others.  Rochester experienced a peak wind gust of 58 miles per hour yesterday and averaged a blustery 31.1 miles per hour in the 24 hour period.  Here’s a look at the overall ranking of wind events in rochester history:

The windiest days in Rochester history dating back to 1948 when this statistic started being recorded. October 27 was the windiest day in almost 30 years.

Normally events like this last a day or so, but because this one went on for two full days, you can imagine it had to rank highly in the two day category.  In fact, the October 26-27 wind storm was the windiest two day period on record with an average wind speed of 29.8 miles per hour, easily surpassing the 22.6 mile per hour winds of the October 9-10, 1993 wind storm.

Posted under wind