Thursday's Observation

Hey all! So there will most likely be more updates coming by the beginning of next week I hope to have added some data to the analysis page by Monday.

Anyways for today's depressing weather... Today I awoke to some large wet snowfall. Throguhout the day the snow stopped however the cold wet feeling remained. As for the temperature... it is currently 42.3 deg F with a windchill of 38.7 deg F. The dew point is at 37 deg F creating a relative humidity of 82% (hence the precipitation).  The winds earlier were from the Northwest but are now from the southwest at 8mph meaning that a high pressure dome is beginning to move into the region. The barometer is a 1012.0 which has been slowly rising throughout the day (also suggesting the higher pressure). The skies have been 100% covered with either nimbostratus or stratus clouds all day. This map below from Intellicast shows that there has been a slight trough in the jet stream causing some polar air to move into the region.

This map from the Weather Channel confirms the high pressure dome moving in.

Most people are predicting clear blue skies and some warming temperatures provided by the clockwise rotation of the high pressure dome. However as I see the small trough in the jet stream and I see the cold low pressure system over the northern rockies. I predict that here in the upper midwest we will see yet another mid latitiude cyclone bringing cold wet weather by Saturday morning.



Wednesday's Observations

So today is another cold spring day. As I was walking to school today it snowed for about 1 min. Today's temperature is 39 deg F with a windchill of 34 deg F. The dew point is 32 deg F creating a relative humidity of 76%. The barometer is at 1000.6 mb which is a little higher than yesterday. Teh wind is from the norht at 7 mph. The skies are 100% covered with stratus clouds.This suggests precipitation to continue. This map from the Weather Channel show that the mid latitude cyclone (with the occluded front) is dying out as it finishes moving across Michigan. this means that the high pressure dome is moving into the area form the west.



Graduation and this blog

I have recently been asked on weather I will continue this blog after my graduation in May. I've come to find out that many of you who read my blog from other countries would like to like to continue to hear about the weather in the Midwest. With that I am announcing that I will be doing a trial run of continuing this blog throughout the summer. I am enjoying the bloggin that I am currently doing and I would like to continue. The only catch is that I will be changing locations at the beginning of June. I will be reporting from Fargo, North Dakota. this city has most recently been voted "The Toughest Weather City in the U.S.". So I believe that this will bring some interesting new events to blog about :)

Updates!

Hello Everyone! I just wanted to let oyu know that I've been working on alot of updates lately so be sure to check it out. I have a few more pictures to add to the photos page and I hope to add some more explainations and examples in the data analysis page. So be sure to check out the new info!

Tuesday's Observations

Rain Rain go away! Oh well at least it held off and gave us a beautiful and sunny weekend! Obviously it is raining this morning here in Eau Claire. The temperature is currently 43.5 deg F with a windchill of 39 deg F. The dew point is 40.8 deg F creating a relative humidity in the air of 90%. This amount of moisture in the air explains why we currently have precipiation falling. The winds are from the northwest at 10mph. The barometer is at 997.8 mb which is much lower than the previous days. This indicates that we are in the middle of a low pressure system. The skies are 100% covered with nimbostratus clouds with a light to moderate drizzle of rain. This surface map from Unisys shows the perfect counter clockwise rotation of the low pressure system (the center is over the MN, IA, WI corners).

This map from the Weatehr channel shows the low pressure system and rainy weather that we are seeing in the midwest as well as the High pressure dome currently on the west coast. I predict that this High pressure dome will slowly make its way to the midwest providing some warmer weather by Thursday.

Friday's Observations and Recap

Ok so after I wrote about the Colorado Low on Tuesday my predictions came true. It started snowing around 4pm on Tuesday afternoon and continued to lightly snow through Wednesday morning. Although Eau Claire did not receive substantial amounts of snow accumulation on the ground the southwestern portion Wisconsin received over 6 inches of snow. To prove it my family received a picture form my cousin of her daughter (who's school had a snow day on Wednesday). The little girl made snow bunnies for Easter and put out a sign for the bunnies to say "Why now?"

Yesterday's skies began clear and eventually clouded over with stratus clouds. The temperature was moderate in the mid 40s. It began to sprinkle rain at around 6:30 pm.

Today the temperature is 40.5 deg F with a wind chill of 34.3 deg F. The dew point is at 39.4 deg F creating a relative humidity of 96%. That about of moisture in the air would explain the wet ground outside. The barometer is at  1006.0 mb. The wind is from the East at around 16 mph. The skies are 100% covered with nimbostratus clouds producing some scattered rain showers. This map form the Weather Channel shows a low pressure system and and occluded front moving across the Midwest. This indicates that the cold and wet weather that system that has been plaguing the Midwest this week is dying out and will lead to some drier days and hopefully a bit more sun as the high pressure system behind it moves into the Midwest.

Tuesday's Observations

Seriously Mother Nature!?! It is April 19th and you think it is funny to be sending the upper Midwest some more SNOW! I do not find it funny at all.

Sorry guys I just had to get it out of my system. Yes there is really supposed to be more snow here in mid April. And yes I believe that I am officially giving up on Summer ever coming to the upper midwest. Unless Mother Nature decides to ever become my friend again I believe I will bundle up and sulk with my cup of hot chocolate while simply looking at a picture of green grass and sunny skies.

Today we are seeing what is known as a Colorado Low move across the country and into our neck of the woods. A Colorado low happens as a result of a cool low pressure system the begins to form on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains. This low pressure system is almost always associated with producing series of storms across the plains states and dropping large amounts of snow on the upper midwestern states. Which is going to be the case for us this time.

Today's temperature is 36.7 deg F with a wind chill of 28.4 deg F (no wonder I had to bundle up in my winter coat and gloves this morning). The windchill is 20.7 creating a relative humidity of 52%. There is an 8mph wind from the East. The barometer is at 1016.3 and is expected to decrease throughout the day. The skies are currently 100% covered with stratus clouds which leads to a forecast of precipitation within 15 hours. This map below from the Weather Channel shows the low pressure system moving across Nebraska and Oklahoma with the dry line stretching from the Midwest to Texas. In front (east) of this dry line is where storm systems are likely to develop.

So all in all I advise people to not put away their winter gear just yet and prepare to see some snow today. And I would like to leave you with a short converstaion as was heard in our class last week.

Teacher: "So what is the saying? 'When the winds are from the East.....' "

Student: "Shit gets real!"

(The correct response was 'it is fit for neither man nor beast' but I liked the other response better because thanks to mother nature. Today in Eau Claire, WI shit will get real!)