With the gray skies, cool temperatures and light rain in the region over the last few days, I was getting a little old. It’s not going to be a nice day today and while the ponds and lakes probably like that rain, the drought has been over for a while now and we’re just making more mud out there.
Temperatures were well below average, at least for high altitudes. The consistent overnight lows have allowed the average temperature for the day to remain at or even above average, which is a weird statistical anomaly.
However, the continued rains have made for a couple of days and while tomorrow will be better and we do dry out this afternoon, things aren’t looking too good on Saturday either.
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forecast
Today: Rain this morning ends early afternoon then cloudy. Highs in the low 40s.
Tonight: Generally cloudy, although there may be some occasional downpours. Low point mid 30s
Morning: Maybe some breaks in the clouds with altitudes in the mid-40s
Saturday: Increasing chance of rain later in the morning. Cool with highs in the low 40’s
Sunday: Better finally with highs in the 40s to close to 50
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discussion
Blah would probably be the best way to describe today’s weather… and yesterday’s and the day before. We are paying the price for a great past weekend as temperatures soared into the 70s on Sunday.
March can be a volatile month in this area.
More twists and turns lie ahead this month including a nice warm up for a few days next week and then another storm that could hit us on St. Patrick’s Day… with some model data pointing to snow potential.
We’ve seen long-haul data showing snow and blizzards on and off this winter and we know how well that has worked, but there should be some sort of storm in about a week or so, so watch out for the big parade.
Meanwhile, today’s rain is only soaking the soil more. The drought is over. We’ll see if it comes back around summer but the latest drought monitor reports are looking good locally. It’s not so good in the western plains.
Should we get heavy spring rains in the region, we’ll have to watch the streams and river gauges again… but so far mostly so good.
The upper air system that comes through isn’t particularly strong and is moving at a good pace so the rain will come off with it later in the morning.
However, there are still a lot of low clouds behind the system, so we’re fighting with that tonight and tomorrow as well.
There is actually some chilly air in the north of the region, enough that snow will be a problem, especially north of the I-80 corridor region. Over the next few days, heavy snowfall will again hit areas that experienced repeated heavy snowfalls this winter in the north of the region.
How much snow has fallen up there… over the state of Iowa
Check out these Minneapolis totals! 75″… almost a meter above average. Sioux Falls, SD at nearly 60″…nearly two feet above average. Finally, Marquette, MI…worth over 185″, a lot and over two feet above average.
So the snow was out there… just not really here.
Here’s a better perspective…
Out west… here we go again. Repeatedly heavy snow is hitting the region right now, particularly in the Sierras, where some areas have snow well in excess of 600″.
Some of the higher elevations out there will see another 10-15 FEET in the coming days… however this will be a little different as the heaviest snow will tend to be more targeted to areas above 8000 feet due to the nature of this atmospheric flow in the state.
You could see the rush of warmer humidity. The next chart shows the moisture anomalies hitting CA. The more colors you see, the more moisture there is in the atmosphere to drive up the mountains and turn into either heavy rain or heavy snow.
However, since this humidity is subtropical, it is warmer. So this will increase the heights of the snow depths. Under the snow, a lot of rain on the fallen snow, causing flooding problems.
That’s from a few days ago so you can get an idea of what you’re dealing with.
So the snow-crushing continues out there, but for us… just blah rain.
Oh, here’s some late information, just got in: After three years (a rarity), La Nina, the cooling of the waters down to the equatorial Pacific, has been declared complete.
There is stronger evidence that we could be trending towards summer or fall towards El Nino conditions… something to think about. El Ninos are the opposite of La Ninas and are typically associated with warmer overall temperatures.
More on that on the road.
The main photo is by Peggy Jane Farmer
yeah
