Thursday and Friday's Observations

Ahh I woke up this morning and realized that I forgot to blog yesterday so here is the update. Yesterday's highs were close to 40 deg F. There were some cumulus humulis clouds scattering the sunny skies. There was a northwest wind blowing at around 6 mph. Overall it was a very nice day.

Now for today. I stepped outside today and noticed the cirrostratus clouds coving 100% of today's skies. I also notice the hoar frost on many branches. This was very cool looking becasue it was standing in ice crystal stick straight out from the surface it was on. Now for today's temperature it is currently 20.1 deg F with a windchill of 14.4 deg F. I still opted to take the bus this morning as the air still had that winter nip to it. The dew point is currently at 18.5 deg F. This puts the realative humidity at around 93% meaning that the air is almost fully saturated with moisture. This is most likely due to the warmer temperatures yesterday. The weather station reports that the eau claire area is misty. Further due to the saturation of the air.

The barometer is at 1018.7 mb. There is also a southeast wind blowing at 4mph. As we can see from the surface map from the Weather Channel there is a low pressure system moving in from the west and is currently associated with and occluded front. This means that niether the warm front nor the cold front is prevailing.

I forcast snow or rain showers in the late evening tonight or early morning tomorrow due to the occluded front moving in from the west.



Wednesday's Observation

It was snowing as expected this morning. Today's temperature is 34 deg F with a wind chill of 27 deg F. The dew point is at 28 deg F. The barometer is at 1016.9 mb. There is a wind from the North at 8 mph. The skies were 100% covered with nimbostratus clouds today dropping several inches of large sticky snow flakes (beter known to meterologists as sector plate ice crystals).  As we can see in the map from UNISYS weather the center of the low system has moved off to Northern Illinois indicated by the circularr motion of the wond directions.

This map from the Weather Channel confirms that the low pressure system has indeed moved off to the east.

I predict that the overcast skies and snowy weather should clear out of the area by tomorrow night.

Tuesday's Observations

Today's temperature is 33 deg F with a wind chill of 24 deg F. The dew point is 26 deg F creating a relative humidity of 75%. There is a wind coming from the east at 12 mph. The barometer is at 1022.9 mb. The skies are about 50% covered with altostratus clouds. This map from the UNISYS weather shows that the eye of this low pressure system continues to be stationary over central Iowa. The winds continue in a counterclockwise direction. I continue to forecast for snow and nimbostratus clouds to occur over night dropping several inches of snow throughout this slow moving system.



Monday's Observations

Today started off with some snow flurries. This was very disappointing as I am sick of the snow and wish for warm sunny days with green grasses. Anyways the temperature is 32.2 deg F with a windchill of 32 deg F. The dew point is at 25 deg F therefore there is a relative humidity of 75%. There are currently calm winds blowing at 5 mph from the Northeast in Eau Claire, WI. The skies are completely overcast with nimbostartus clouds. This map of surface station data from Unisys Weather shows how there is a distinct change in the wind direction, speed, and precipitiation moring in a clockwise direction with its center in central Iowa. This indicates a a distinct Low pressure system.

This can be confirmed by the second map from the Weather Channel. This confirms the low pressure system moving through the midwest.

I forcast more snow to come within the next day and colder temperatures to accompany the precipitation.

Sunday's Observation

So here is a weekend recap. Friday and Sunday were both nice with highs in the low 30s. Both days saw moderate winds around 5-10 mph and fairly clear skies.

Today the temperature is 22.4 def F with a wind chill of 16.2 deg F. The dew point is at 16.7 deg F creating a relative humidity of 72%. The barometer is at 1028.1 mb. The winds today are form the Northwest at around 10 mph. The skies are around 20% covered with a scattering of cirrostratus clouds This indicates that there is likely going to be precipitation in Eau Claire within 15-20 hours. This map from the Weather Channel confirms that there is in fact precipitation out to the west in Minnesota and Iowa. We are currently in the middle of a change from a high to low pressure system. I forecast that we will see some light snow going into the evening tonight; with temperatures in the low to mid 20s.