Super Cold Today! Post from FEBRUARY 18th

Well today was a cold one!  Which explains the gorgeous, clear blue skies today.  There was not a cloud in the sky!  Morning temperatures were barely tolerable with temps as low as -11F this a.m.  Temps rose to a whopping 2F this evening.  The wind chill predicted to be around -23F but this did not happen.  Winds:  SSE at only 1 mph.  So pretty still today which accounts for the wind chill not reaching the number predicted.  This evening temps will drop to -8F There was no precipitation today.  Tomorrow there should be a bit of a warming up  as temps may rise to the 20's!!!!!!  This also brings some snow, there is a 50% of snow which will make for some rough driving conditions.











As you see, even those poor people in Florida will be dealing with cold temperatures.  It might even get to almost freezing in the Jacksonville area.  A temp of 54F in Miami is really low. 



These "feels like" temps are really going to be nasty.  Daily record lows were set in the following cities: Chicago (minus 8 degrees), Louisville, Kentucky (minus 3 degrees), Paducah, Kentucky (minus 10 degrees), Lexington, Kentucky (minus 8 degrees), Bowling Green, Kentucky (minus 7 degrees), Greensboro, North Carolina (10 degrees), Nashville, Tennessee (5 degrees - tie), Cincinnati, Ohio (minus 6 degrees), Springfield, Missouri (minus 5 degrees), Asheville, North Carolina (3 degrees) and Lynchburg, Virginia (4 degrees).






Lake Erie almost frozen. 
Ice coverage on the Great Lakes reached 85.4 percent on Feb. 18, marking the second winter in a row that ice coverage has exceeded 80 percent. Of course, last year the Great Lakes went on to record their second highest total ice coverage in records dating to 1973.
As this graph from the Great Lakes Environmental Research Labratory shows, the last time ice coverage was over 80 percent in back-to-back years was in the 1970s. Specifically, it happened three years in a row from 1977-1979. The long-term average peak ice coverage since 1973 has been about 51 percent.

As thi
Ice coverage on the Great Lakes reached 85.4 percent on Feb. 18, marking the second winter in a row that ice coverage has exceeded 80 percent. Of course, last year the Great Lakes went on to record their second highest total ice coverage in records dating to 1973.
s graph from the Great Lakes Environmental Research Labratory shows, the last time ice coverage was over 80 percent in back-to-back years was in the 1970s. Specifically, it happened three years in a row from 1977-1979. The long-term average peak ice coverage since 1973 has been about 51 percent.

Mild winter day

Today is not as warm as it was yesterday but I guess we can't complain.  The temperature today reached 16F, and it is overcast today but still exceptionally bright outside.  It also feels like 16F  due to the fact that the wind is less than 1mph today.  There could be a few gusts as the wind may be variable today, the gusts could get up to 9.2 mph. 



We currently have a cold from moving in and it will be getting colder unfortunately.  There may be some light snow associated with this front.  The wind is not really too much of a factor right now.  T
There appears to be some stormy weather in the Southern part of the U.S. 


This station map signifies that some areas in Wisconsin are colder than we are in Eau Claire.  The front moving in will bring cold air with it. 


This map also shows the intense water vapor in the air in the south and the storms that are forming due to this.


This is just a cool way to look at it from a larger perspective.  There appear to be some storms off in the middle of the Atlantic as well.


The sea level pressure and precipitation forecast chart includes three parameters: sea level pressure (cyan lines), 1000-500 mb thickness (solid yellow to red lines; 5400 is orange, 5700 is red) and quantitative precipitation (color filled contours)





So I appears that it is going to get a bit chilly tonight.  Keep those gloves on!  It will only be in the low teens tomorrow if we are lucky with a low of -5.  There is a very small chance of snow, which would probably warm things up a bit.  There should be a little bit of sun shining through though!  So that is something to look forward to. 

Still way too cold!

So when I looked out my window this morning I saw a gorgeous sun rising over the hill.  It made me feel alive and awake.  Then when you step outside that all changes.  It was barely tolerable. 
The sky was blue and clear.  No clouds or precipitation. 
This means it is going to be very cold today due to lack of cloud coverage to insulate us a bit. 
The temperature does not in any way reflect how it feels out there.  This morning it was in the (-) Negative single digits but it surprisingly warmed up.  It is a little warmer today than yesterday, if you can believe that.  The temperature presently is 10.9F and the Feels like is 0F which I disagree with.    Not very windy today, winds from the SSW at 3.1 mph but a few gusts of 12.1.  Tonight it will fall back down to the negative digits at about -9.4F.  The forecast for today said it was going to be partly cloudy but I have not seen any clouds yet.  The pressure is 30.48. 
Tomorrow should  be much warmer and possibly up to 28F but it is predicted to snow a little but not much to worry about at less than an inch. 



As it appears in this map, we are experiencing a high pressure system and this is why it is so cold.  Not much precipitation happening in the mid-west. 



The white area on the map indicates Winter Weather Statement, this is not typical for the southern states at this time.  Usually you would see this closer to us in the Midwest.  The area in the eastern part of the United States that is white, it is usual for this area and there seems to always be some sort of winter weather trouble up there.  The small light blue area in California signifies High Wind Advisory.  The light green is a Special Weather Statement which is dedicated to that specific area that have not yet reached warning or advisory criteria, or for hazards that do not have specific advisory of their own. 




This Windchill map shows that almost the whole United States is having some colder weather than normal.  The red is the most surprising areas for this time of year. 

Super cold today!

Today was beautiful looking out a window.  Doesn't feel beautiful outside.  Very clear and blue which explains why it is so cold.  No cloud cover to blanket us with warmth.  The morning temperature was -11F, then it warmed up to a whopping 3F.  Today the wind was really calm with winds SSE at only 1 mph.  Calm winds probably kept the wind chill down, it was forecasted to be possibly -23F but did not reach that.  There was no precipitation today.  Which is not what I can say for tomorrow with there being a 50% chance of snow early in the morning and throughout the day.  The cold weather has made some record lows!!!!




 The temps are really cold today all the way down south.  With temps reaching almost freezing in Jacksonville, Florida.  Even Miami is cold, well absolutely freezing for them!  The gators need jackets. 


These "feels like" temperatures are hopefully going to pass tomorrow. 



This is the forecast temps for Friday. 


So it looks like we have some warmer weather coming but in turn we will get some snow. 

Another cold day but so much info to give you today

I have a lot of information to share today.  Today was not as bad as i thought it would be.  I woke up to take my kids to the bus stop and it was a 10F but felt much colder.  There was very little wind at 7am but around 9:00am. the wind starting kicking at a speed of 10mph from the west.  The sky was overcast and gloomy.
I have included some maps to illustrate this.

Add caption
As you see here in the image, the high pressure systems are where it is cold, right around Montana through North and South Dakota through Minnesota.  It is also very cold on the east coast as they are also preparing for some pretty bad snow storms again and the isobars being so close together in that region signify some pretty high winds along with the weather.  The one area right near Eau Claire, the occluded front which means the front is dying.  Hopefully that means it is getting warmer in this area.  This may be true due to the low pressure system near the same areas near the Wisconsin and Minnesota border.

This map shows the type of environment in which the area would normally be under.  The Maritime Polar areas are the ones that are located on the coast but far enough north that they are still cold.  These areas include, Very North California, Washington, Oregon and the west coat of Canada.  This type of environment also exists in the Northeastern areas, such as New York, Maine and the areas of Canada near this region.  This area is usually associated with extreme winter weather.  The area in between all of this in the mid continent that is not located near water is called Continental Polar, which is all of mid-Canada such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, parts of Ontario, Nunavut and Northwest Territories.   Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and North and South Dakota also have this weather.  Maritime Tropical is located in many of the areas of the southern and western United States, such as Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Western California.  There are many other areas in between in which are located there as well.  The last one I will discuss is the Continental Tropical in which the land is not located near water.  It has high temperatures but it is not located on the ocean such as the maritime tropical

.
 

In Baja California and surrounding area is pretty calm.  Further south in Mexico, the wind is coming from the east at about 9-14 mph  and a bit of overcast.  As you travel east in Mexico, it becomes more of clear skies.  The wind may be a little higher  near the Yucatan area.  As you travel to the southern United States the winds are calm over the Gulf of Mexico, then when you reach land in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, there is an overcast sky with little wind coming from the south, near Biloxi, Mississippi, the winds are a little faster at close to 15 mph. No precipitation.

http://weather.gov

wunderground.com

1. Type in our zipcode. What is the forecast for the day?’

Overcast and 12F (-11C)

Windspeed NW 6 mph

Barometer 29.97in (1017.0 mb)

Occasional flurries and mostly cloudy.  Wind chill values as low as -15F possible and Northwest winds could reach 10 mph.

Some events of the day!

Heavy snow and ice blasts areas from Ohio Valley to Mid-Atlantic, Cuts power to thousands in southeast. 

Man smashes through frozen river to save dog

Local Teenagers help homeless in Extreme Winter Conditions

Ice Advances to Carolinas

Jet Stream map shows today's high wind speed levels and jetstream directions.  Jet Streams are fast flowing, relatively narrow air currents found in the atmosphere around 10 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.  They form at the boundaries of adjacent air masses with significant differences in temperature, such as polar region and the warmer air to the south.  The jetstream is mainly found in the tropoause, at the transition between the troposphere (where temperature decreases with height) and the stratosphere (where temperature increases with height).
The jetstream is coming from the north around Canad and  the northwestern part of the country, it begins to descend  around Nebraska and head to the east coast.  The wind around the southern states is moving along faster than the area as the jetstream pushes through.  

This area is a little easier to describe considering that most of the area is overcast, there is little wind and most of the wind is coming from the southwest at about 9-14mph.  There are no clouds through most of central Illinois.  There is no precipitation in any of the area on the map.

The water vapor in this picture indicates what the forecast predicts with the continuous snowing and with all the intense amounts of precipitation that is happening in the eastern United States.  The whole east coast is covered with a great deal of water vapor which in turn will lead to precipitation.  Snow is going to cover the area due to the overwhelming amount of water vapor in the air in that part of the country.  With the analysis of the west coast, near the northern part of Mexico has very little water vapor.
http://www.goes.noaa.gov/GSSLOOPS/ecwv.html

Weather Underground




I like the maps on Weather Underground as they have the temperature charts which are bright and easy to read.

Elev 892 ft 44.77 °N, 91.49 °W | Updated 4 min ago

Mostly Cloudy

8.4 °F

Feels Like 8 °F

N

3.0

Wind from NE

Today is forecast to be MUCH COOLER than yesterday.

Today

High 7 | Low -4 °F

20% Chance of Precip.

Yesterday

High 17.5 | Low 7 °F

Precip. 0 in

Sun & Moon

7:03 am 5:37 pm

Waning Crescent, 2% visible

I really enjoy this site because it has 

everything you need to know for the day 

and more, it has pretty pictures and 

Icons too.  

Cold again today!

Finally I predicted the weather correctly. It was not as windy as I thought it would be. 
Today was partly cloudy, there were cirrus clouds in the distance but overall pretty sunny. Lack of cloud cover was probably a contributing factor to the cold. 

Morning (7:00a.m.) 7F
Afternoon (12noon)  10F
Nighttime (9:00 p.m.) 0F

Although there was a chance of snow today, we got lucky.
Winds are coming from the SW at 5 mph






Temperatures for tomorrow should increase to a high of 26F but winds should pick up as well, between 5-15 mph.  Should be mostly cloudy which will account for the temperature increase. 
Probably some scattered flurries but no real accumulation.  In to the evening, winds could reach 20 mph and have gusts of 25 mph so hang on to your hats!!  Unless they are Viking hats then let them fly!

Cold BRRRRR

Well it did not snow today.  I felt that it would and the weather forecasters thought so too.  There was a lot of sunshine today.  There were scattered cirrus clouds in the sky.  Later in the afternoon the temperature continually dropped.  This morning it was much warmer.  This morning it was 25F and it is now 12F.  It is now cloudy and overcast. 
Winds:  WNW at 13mph, there is still a 10% chance of snow.  I think it will be colder tomorrow but sunny.  It is going to be below 0 tonight, I really don't enjoy these temperatures especially with ice on the roads. 

View of the sunset from my front yard

SNOW, YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I predicted it would be a nasty, terrible day of snow and I was right.  I really did not enjoy brushing my car off and having to leave school early to get my son because the snow was hindering traffic.  Yuck!  It started to snow right when I thought it would too.  It was overcast and hazy all day.  Not the slightest bit of sunshine. 

Temperature: 27F for the high
It sure didn't feel like 27, I thought it was freezing. 
Windy between the buildings on campus. 
Wind:  SSE at 7 mph. 
This was a gross unpleasant day.  I am going to guess that tomorrow will also be gross and unpleasant.  I will not be outdoors any more than I have to.  Not excited for tomorrow at all. 

Not too bad today!

I predicted that it would be sunny, so I guess I was wrong again.  It wasn't that bad for a day in winter though.
The sky was mostly covered in clouds and overcast.  The clouds almost looked like they were holding some precipitation.  They did seem to get less gloomy throughout the day.

Temp High of 30 and low of 16  but it got to 34 at my home!!!
The winds are at 13mph and coming from the north east.
I think tomorrow that the temps will be the same as today but we will get a little sunshine throughout the day.  Maybe one day I can predict a temperature correctly!

What a beautiful day!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super sunny today as I predicted.  It did get warm enough for a little snow melting.  What a wonderful day!  There were only a few clouds again today but then the clouds began to cover and get a little warmer. 

Morning temp: 17F
Afternoon temp:  32F

No precipitation which was nice. 
Winds:  3 mph from the East

This was a wonderful day compared to how it has been.  Little wind made for a nice day as well. 
I predict that it will be close to the same tomorrow.  I sure hope so.  I would love to see more sun!!!

Yesterday was awesome!

I loved this day!  It started out gloomy and cold and then, out of no where around noon, it was sunny and dramatically warmer.  Snow started melting and the sun was shining. 

Morning temp: 8F
Afternoon temp:  30 F

There were very few scattered clouds in the morning and the clouds stayed the same as it got warmer.  It was beautiful.

Tomorrow I hope predict it will be warm and sunny again.  I hope more snow melts but I think that is asking for too much. 

Brrrr but Sunny!

This morning was chilly but not too windy.  It was quite clear and I knew it would be sunny all day.

Morning temp: 7F
Afternoon temp:  13F
Evening temp:  9F

There was very little cloud coverage.  There were a few cirrus clouds in the distance. 

Wind is from the SSW at 2.7 m.p.h

I think it will be warmer tomorrow.  There will be no precipitation just as today. 
It is a pretty uneventful day today weather wise. 

 

Back to the Sunshine!

This morning I was thrilled to see that there was no more snowfall.  There were very few clouds but there was a haze and overcast. As I drove to school, I saw the gorgeous sun!  I see now at 1:32 p.m. that the sun is still with us. 

Current temperature:  17.2 F
High of 13 F
Low of -11 F

Today is much cooler than yesterday.  There is a 0% chance of snow today which is always good.

Winds are from the NW at 3 m.p.h.

Humidity 49%

Tomorrow I predict the weather will be close to the same.  I believe the temperature will stay about the same but with a slight increase and there will be no snow.  The sun will chose to shine down on us again around 12 noon.

Tuesday- Please don't snow- But i know you will!

I predicted it would snow today and it did.  I hate snow and I was not happy. I was happy that it only snowed for a few hours.  The Weather Channel said that would be the case and I guess just this time they were right. 
When I woke up, it was quite and not snowing.  I thought it would start to snow by around 2 and sadly that was when it started. 

The temperature was 6F when I noticed that it was snowing.  The winds began to pick up as well.  The sky was gray and dreary. 

These are the pictures of my slippery drive home.

Sun-Day Monday!!!!

This morning it was a bit chilly, I woke up and thought it was going to be a gloomy day.  By the time I got ready for the day, it was nice and sunny.  I saw very few clouds in the sky and they were all far away.  It was 3F though. 
Later in the day around 1:00 p.m. I noticed that the gorgeous sun had been covered by a gray haze.  It was again overcast and the sun w as hidden.  The winds were coming from the south west at about 8mph near my home on the hill. 
There was no precipitation even though I heard many times that it would snow today. 
I think that tomorrow it will snow in the afternoon because the weather around Eau Claire, usually doesn't do what it is predicted to do. I think it will only be a few inches though. 
Hopefully even though it will probably snow, I am predicting some sun as well. 

Super Bowl Sunday Weather!!!

This morning I woke up to do some errands.  I saw that it was a little gloomy and there was a little bit on snow on the ground.  When I went outside, the wind was absolutely crazy.  I thought I was in the Wizard of Oz! It was hard to get my door shut.  The temperature  was 11F.  It did get up to 19F today! Over the course of the day, it was still really cold and windy but it did not snow.  I think tomorrow will be about the same.  As I am typing this, it is 1F but it seems much colder.  I let my dogs out and they didn't want to be out there. I think there will be a little sun tomorrow.  Since the Seahawks lost, I think it will be much colder at school just due to attitudes.