Sunday and Monday Observations

Yeserday presented quite the array of weather. It began with Thunderstorms overnight on Saturday followed by overcast stratus cloud Sunday Morning, followed by partly cloudy/ slightly sunny midday. Then the winds picked up and the clouds turned darker and looked more like cumulonimbus clouds. Severe Weatehr Sirens sounded at around 4:30pm. Then the darker clouds drifted off around 6pm. However at  around 8pm they were back and the wind was blowing at around 15 mph. The temperature dropped throughout the day starting at around 55 deg F.

Today's temperature is 60.6 deg F with a wind chill of 54.9 deg F. Teh dew point is 28.2 deg F creating a relative humidity of 29%. The wind is blowing at around 10 mph from the northwest. The barometer is at 1010.0 mb. The sky is about 10% covered with a few cirrocumulus clouds. The map below fromt he Weather Channel shows that there are no new front moving into the region therefore I predict warmer temperatures adn clear skies for tomorrow.

Saturday Oberservations

Today the temperature is 55 deg F with a wind chill of 53.6 deg F. The dew point is at 47.7 deg F creating a relative humidity of  76%. The skies have been 100% covered by nimbostratus clouds all day. There was some light rain this afternoon but it has currently stopped. There is a wind from the east blowing at around 5 mph. The barometer is 1005.6 mb which is lower than recent days. The surface station map from Unisys shows that we are in near the center of a low pressure system. There is a cold front moving in from the west which is pushing the warm moist air upward and going to cause thunderstorms to occur. This can be seen in the Weather channel map also below.

I predict cooler temperatures with the approaching cold front and thunderstorms overnight and into the early morning.

Thursday and Friday Observations

Yesterday (Thursday) was my 22nd Birthday! Woot! The weather was awesoem so I wore a dress. The temperature was 58.5 deg F with a windchill of 54.5 deg F. The dewpoint was 25.3 deg F creating a relative humidty of 28%. The wind was fromt he Southeast at 3 mph. The sky was only 25% covered with some high cirrus clouds. The jet stream was mostly normal with zonal pattern.

Today temperature is currently 42.3 deg F with a windchill of 39.6 deg F. The dew point is 34.3 deg F creating a relative humidity of 73%. The wind is from the Northeast at 5mph. The barometer is at 1016.9 mb which has been slowly rising over the past couple of days. The skies are 40% covered with some cirrostratus clouds. The surface station map from Unisys shows that we are very close to the center of the higher pressure system due to the clockwise motion of the wind directions centered over central Minnesota.

Additonally the map below from the Weather Channel shows that there is a warm front approaching fromt eh southwest. This will help continue our warmer weather trends.

I predict temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s today and tomorrow as we continue our warming trend, with partly cloudy to clear skies.

Wednesday's Observation

I saw beautiful cumulus humulus clouds covering 25-50% of the sky. The wind was from the north at 3 mph. The temperature was 49.5 deg F the windchill is 48.2 deg F. The dewpoint is at 28.4 deg F creating a relative humidity of 44%. the barometer is at 1012.6 mb (which is higher than it was yesterday). The jet stream image from Intellicast shows that there is no longer a trough in the jet stream across the midwest therefore there is no longer polar air spilling into the area and thus the temperatures are beginning to get warmer.

There is a high pressure system moving in from the west.

I predict more warm weather tomorrow with some clear skies.

Tuesday's Observations

Today I noticed cumulus humulus clouds covering around 75% of the sky. The wind is currently form the southeast at 5 mph. The temperature at the Phillips Hall metstation reads 50.2 deg F with a windchill of 48.6 deg F. The dew point is at 25 deg F creating a low relative humidity of 37%. The barometer is at 1003.2 mb it has been slowly dropping over the past couple of days. There is currently a low pressure system moving in from the west. There is a strong squall line along the southeastern U.S.

As you can see in the ACCU weather map above the low pressure system is off to the west this morning and the remnants of the mid-latitude cyclone from last week off along the east coast.

I forecast increasingly warm temperatures and maybe a chance of rain tomorrow depending on the path of the low pressure system center.

Update Post and Monday's Observations

So I've been gone for awhile. However, here is an update on my weather experiences. Last Wednesday was clear skies. then Thursday I presented the weather briefing for class. I worked on it in the morning when the skies were 100% covered with altostratus clouds. The wind was from the southeast. Temperatures were in the low 40s. However by the time I was to present the winds were from the northeast and the sky saw a mix of cumulus humulus, cumulus mediocris, and cirrostratus clouds covering about 50% of the sky. The weather indicated the approach of a mid-latitude cyclone. I predicted rain/snow overnight.

Friday morning I woke up to wet snow mix. I had to drive through snow and radiation fog as I drove to the cities. Around 10 am the fog disappeared completely. Later that day as I drove towards Fargo, ND I saw a beautiful cumulonimbus cloud to the northeast. you could see where it leveled off at the tropopause in the atmosphere. There were also winds coming from the north to northeast. Overall the weekend remained fair weather for me in Fargo, ND with clear skies.

This morning I saw a west wind blowing at around 15 mph. The sky was 85% covered with altostratus clouds. Then later today I noticed that the clouds had changed to cumulus humulus clouds. The temperature is 36 deg F with a windchill of 31 deg F. The dewpoint is 19 deg F creating a relative humidity of 50%. The barometer is at 1006 mb. The winds are now only at 5 mph and is coming from the northwest. I predict that there is a chance of rain tomorrow due to the change in the obvious changes in the weather.

Tuesday's Observations

Ahhh I forgot to blog again yesterday. Taking a week off has made me forgetful. Ok so yesterday's skies were completely clear making the day colder without insulation. High temperatures in the low 30's. I noticed that there was a slight breeze blowing at 4 mph from the northeast.

This morning I noticed that the sky was 50% covered with cirrostratus clouds. The flag again told me that there was little to no wind. However the air outside is still bitterly cold today. The temperature outside is 19.8 deg F with a windchill of 19.4 deg F. The dew point is at 10.8 deg F which means that there is a relative humidity of 68%. The barometer reading is at 1029.1 mb. The surface weaather map from the Weather Channel shows that we are currently in a high pressure system.

This can be reaffirmed by the surface station map from Unisys below.

You can see that there are winds from the south east on the right of us and winds from the northwest on the left of us with wind from the northeast below us. This is a clear clockwise pattern that is associated with a high pressure system.

This map from Intellicast shows that the jet stream is drawing its cooler air from the Pacific Maritime Polar air mass. This creates cooler upper air in the atmosphere over the U.S.

I forecast that today and tomorrow will see partially cloudy days with a cold evening tonight.