OK, it’s another cold night. After Friday morning’s round of -20s and -30s, this is a piece of cake now. Right? No! It’s still COLD!

So, I’m tired of over-using the word “cold.” Thus, I turned to the fine viewers via Twitter and Facebook tonight and asked them to come up with some good adjectives for “cold.” Here’s some of what I got:
“Tundra-ish”
“Walk-Like-A-Penguin-Weather”
“Glacial”
“Numbing”
“Delightful”
“Gelid”
“Popsicly”
“Nippy”
“Mind-Numbing”
“Eyelash-Frost-Inducing”
“Stinging”
“Polar”
“Frigid”
“Unfriendly”
“Teeth-Chattering”
“Refreshingly Brisk”
“Siberian”
“Is-It-Spring-Yet-Weather”

I could go on and on. Thanks to everyone for tapping into their imagination (and, in some cases, their feelings!) on this. My goal is to try to introduce more of these words when it gets cold (dang! I mean….”polar”.)

(P.S. On a serious note, tonight’s  lows will be in the -10 to -20 range, with some locations dropping a few degrees colder. Wind chills will hover in the -15 to -30 range. No Wind Chill Advisory, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be taking care of yourself outside if you’re going anywhere tonight or Sunday morning….)

Posted under just cool, winter, winter weather

Projected snow from Monday through Wednesday

Snow is still in the forecast for Monday into Wednesday. It will be a light but persistant event, so we’ll have accumulations little by little. Nothing too great at once, so you’ll be able to stay on top of it (still – be careful on the roads).  However, the story will be a little different west of I-35: a Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for Winnebago, Hancock, Wright, Kossuth, Emmet, Martin, and Faribault counties, including many many more south and west,  from Monday into Tuesday. There, 3-6″ if not more is expected by Wednesday.

Snow is expected to start during the morning hours, possibly even pre-dawn, west of I-35. East of I-35, the snow should be starting during the late morning, early afternoon. I have a hunch, however, that we won’t be seeing flakes flying until the mid afternoon in the Rochester area…we’re under the drying effect from a retreating area of high pressure to our east. In short, it takes time to get snow to reach the ground when there’s so much dry air, so there could very well be a delay until that the air is fully saturated and letting snow hit the ground!

All in all, 1-2″ is possible by tomorrow night, with some locally higher totals west of I-35. Same on Tuesday – another 1-2″ of snow expected, a bit more west of I-35. Snow will taper to flurries on Wednesday.

Now, on to the cold. Cold? Yup. Cold.

All together now: hahaha!

A major cold snap is still in the works for this upcoming weekend. Preceding that will be a hit of snow on Friday into Saturday, and then blustery winds as the cold front pushes through. My temps this upcoming weekend could be a little conservative. For example, take a look at this lovely model. You’ll have to click to enlarge it. By the way, this is the 06Z run of this GFS model, for those of you that want specifics. This is not saying it’s actually what the high and low will be this upcoming Sunday, it’s merely a suggestion based on how the forecast looks to be playing out.

Thus, this morning’s lows will be nothin’ compared to this weekend’s…if all holds true. Speaking of which, here’s a look at the reported lows from around our area this morning. Nothing record-breaking, just the snuggle-up-and-stay-in-bed chilly kind.

Posted under Lows, winter, winter weather

Hoarfrost in some trees outside the station in northwest Rochester.

Hoarfrost in the tree top. Sent in by Elizabeth Traff.

Closeup of hoarfrost sent in by Elizabeth Traff.

Posted under pictures

Darlene Thompson | Rochester | a peaceful sight after the recent winter storms

Below are the udpated snowfall amounts from the December 15-16 snowfall event. Talk about a wonky system…but like we expected…a sharp cut-off with snowfall totals, with some seeing zippo and some seeing way more.

The birds were loving it. We received numerous pics of beautiful birds against the white landscape in our email yesterday. Thanks to all who sent them in – we have more on our KTTC Facebook page.

Quiet weather today, tonight, and Saturday – highs in the teens, wind chills bringing it closer to sub-zero, more clouds than sun, and patchy flurries. It’s the snowglobe kind of snowflakes. *POSSIBLY* some more snow late Sunday into Monday, and next Thursday/Friday.

Also – so many records being approached/broken this month in Rochester! Here are a few of them:

- Greatest snow depth in Rochester since January 1982 (26″ on the ground as of this today…the record is 29″ from Jan 25, 1982!)

- 9th place for coldest first half of December (11.1° average temp. Normal is 19.9°, and the record is -0.2° in 1972!)

16 full days in to December and we're already nearing the #1 spot.

-2nd place for snowiest Decembers on record….and we have more snow in the forecast…yikes (or wahoo!)!

Okay, now onward to what you’ve been waiting for…the snowfall totals from the 15th-16th.

Posted under snowfall amounts, winter, winter weather

Updated snowfall totals as of 4:45 pm:

Earlier:

Strong wording from the NWS La Crosse about this storm. Will most likely go down as one of our biggest snowstorms of at least modern records.

“GREATLY CONCERNED WITH SERN MN BECAUSE OF THE HIGH SNOW AMOUNTS IN PLACE…AND THE STRONG WINDS EXPECTED. DRIFTS COULD BE 4-6 FEET IN THAT AREA BY 3 AM. THIS WILL BE A HIGH IMPACT EVENT FOR ANYONE TRAVELING…WITH EMERGENCY SERVICES PROBABLY STOPPED DURING THE
EVENING HOURS FROM THE HIGH WINDS AND BLOWING SNOW WITH WHITEOUT.”

Updated warnings for the area, as of 2:30pm Saturday"

The worst of this storm is just getting going…no joke. Wind gusts are starting to pick up and there is more heavy snow that will fall. Things will continue to worsen this afternoon and evening.

All of our counties are under a Blizzard Warning through Sunday morning.

Latest snowfall reports as of 2:30 pm:

Posted under winter, winter weather

The Abominable Snowman wishes you a happy snow season.

This will serve as a head’s up for Thursday and this weekend. We could have some light snow/freezing drizzle/sleet on Thursday with a weak system moving through. Still plenty of time to hammer out the details on that. It’s not looking to be an impressive system at all, and the track is uncertain. Still, it may cause some travel issues.

Saturday’s storm is up in the air. This afternoon I was giddy because it looked great for snowfall for us. The latest 00z GFS model takes it way south, but we could still get some snow/blowing snow/and way colder air out of it. Still way far out to solidify anything.

So the abominable snowman urges you to stay tuned…and not panic.

Posted under winter, winter weather

Freezing Rain Advisory Monday 6 AM - 3 PM

We narrowly missed Saturday’s freezing rain/ice event – it hit the Twin Cities area and made travel nearly impossible – but I don’t think we’ll be so lucky this time around.

A Freezing Rain Advisory will be in effect from Monday 6 AM – 3 PM for much of our area.  Same scenario as mentioned yesterday – warmer air aloft in the precipitation making areas allows the precip to fall as liquid. Upon hitting a sub-freezing surface, however, it freezes on contact. We saw this with light rain and drizzle last night in the Twin Cities, and the best chances for it here will be Monday after sunrise into the early afternoon. This could allow for a glazing/icing on roads, sidewalks, bridges, etc.

By the way…the forecast gets Monday afternoon with what could be some colder air mixing in, allowing sleet and or snow to fall. Accumulations would be minor, but remember that snow on ice = more trouble.

If you don’t know, there were hundreds of car accidents in the Twin Cities overnight from this. Don’t be caught off guard on Monday. If you’re traveling, play it smart.

Posted under winter, winter weather

By the way….just how powerful this storm is…

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO/ROMEOVILLE IL
1030 AM CDT MON OCT 25 2010

*  AVERAGE AMONG SEVERAL CURRENT FORECAST MODELS

10:00pm update:

Tornado Watch from 10pm Mon-6am Tues

Tornado Watch in effect now until 6 am for our northeastern Iowa counties, into southwest Wisconsin.

I can’t believe I’m typing this, but this is just how powerful this storm system is, guys. Strong storms can’t be ruled out over the rest of the area, but by far, the severe storms – the ones that may be capable of producing tornadoes – should be confined to the tornado watch area.

Why? Add a “bombing” (met. talk for rapidly deepening storm system) low, strong moisture transport, and a ton of strong spin in the atmosphere, and you have the ingredients for wonky end-of-October severe weather.

Stay tuned….

High Wind Warning Tuesday 7 am to Wednesday 7 pm

4:00pm update: High Wind Warning has been issued for our entire viewing area from 7 am Tuesday – 7 pm Wednesday. Winds will increase tonight and will be sustained 25-40mph+, with gusts to 55-60mph+. That will be enough to make getting around difficult and could cause some damage to trees, powerlines, anything loose outside.

Earlier:
We’ve been telling you for a few days now about a large, intense storm system that is going to be pushing through the Upper Midwest in the next day or so, producing some rain and nasty winds for our area, and that still certainly looks to be the case.  However, there are other parts of the region that will potentially have a much worse situation than we will as

Strong winds and light snow will possibly create blizzard conditions for portions of North Dakota and northern Minnesota. This storm system will push through the region between tonight and Wednesday.

snow…yes snow will likely enter the picture and blizzard conditions will be a real possibility.  The latest forecast data suggests that northern North Dakota and far northern Minnesota will be on the north side of the storm system and will experience a change from rain to snow Tuesday night into Wednesday morning with two to four inches of accumulation during the day Wednesday into Wednesday evening before the storm system moves away to the northeast, putting an end to the precipitation from this event.  Of course, when you add in the 45 to 55 mile per hour gusts that will accompany this snow on Wednesday, there will likely be some nasty blowing snow and blizzard conditions.  If you have travel plans to that portion of the region, make sure to keep up to date on the forecast picture in the next day or two and possibly push your travel plans to Thursday when the weather will be much quieter.

Our local weather will be a bit wet today with a few scattered showers possible during the day, especially late in the afternoon.  There will be more widespread thundershowers in the area this evening and overnight tonight with an inch or more of rainfall possible as that storm system and its associated cold front push through the Upper Mississippi Valley.  The winds we’ve been talking about will pick up quite a bit overnight and very early tomorrow morning, gusting to 40 miles per hour initially with gusts to 50 miles per hour in the afternoon while the rain gradually tapers off.  Wednesdya will feature a few sparse light rain showers with strong southwest winds that will reach 50 ot even 60 miles per hour at times while high temperatures will be only in the middle 40s.  A High Wind Watch is in effect from tomorrow morning through Wednesday evening because of the dangers to property and high profile vehicles from those intense winds.

Posted under winter weather

Steve Richards, Rochester

The next cold front will glide through the region tonight, and for us that means a nice reinforcing shot of cold air for the next couple of days. Lows the next couple of nights will hover below zero, and with winds, we’ll be looking at wind chills around -15 to -25°.

The good news is that it’ll be quiet the next several days. Quiet, and cold. Cue the groundhog.

Or the icicles.

Posted under winter weather

I forgot to add this yesterday. Brothers Jack and Max Burns from Wabasha put the Christmas Storm’s sloppy snow to good use. Their snowman creation measures over 11 feet high, 14 feet wide, and 8 feet deep. They constructed it using only hands and shovels.

Jack and Max are no strangers to the snowman scene. Last year they made a huge sculpture as well!

All snowmen/women beware…our highs mid-week may make way for some melting…

Posted under KTTC