Starting to get a bit old with the gray skies, the chilly temperatures and the light rain in the region these last few days. Today is not going to be a nice day, and while the ponds and lakes are probably liking this rain, the drought has been over for awhile now and we’re just making more mud out there.
Temperatures have been well below average for highs at least. The steady overnight lows have allowed the average temperature for the day to remain at or even above average, which is a weird statistical anomaly.
The persistent rains though have contributed to a blah few days, and while tomorrow will be better and we’ll actually dry out this afternoon, Saturday doesn’t look too good either.
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Forecast
Today: Rain this morning ends in the early afternoon then cloudy. Highs in the lower 40s.
Tonight: Generally cloudy although there may be some breaks in the clouds every so often. Lows in the mid-30s
Tomorrow: Perhaps some breaks in the clouds with highs in the mid-40s
Saturday: Increasing rain chances as the morning moves along. Chilly with highs in the lower 40s
Sunday: Better finally with highs in the 40s to near 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 that. We’re paying the price for that great past weekend when temperatures surged into the 70s on Sunday.
March can be a fickle month around these parts.
There are more twists and turns ahead as well for the month, including a nice warmup for a couple of days next week and then another storm which may impact us on St. Patrick’s Day… with some model data suggesting the potential of snow.
We’ve seen long range data show snow and snowstorms off and on this winter, and we know how well that has played out, but there should be some sort of storm in about a week or so, so that will need to be watched for the big parade.
Meanwhile today’s rain is just soaking the soils even more. The drought is over. We’ll see if it comes back toward the 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 start watching the creeks and river levels again… so far mostly so good though.
The upper air system coming through isn’t particularly strong and it’s moving at a good clip so the rain with it will be moving away later this morning.
There are still though a lot of low-level clouds behind the system, so we’re fighting that too tonight and tomorrow.
There is actually some chilly air towards the north of the region, enough so that snow is going to be an issue, especially north of the I-80 corridor region. Over the next few days heavy snow will again hit areas that have seen repetitive heavy snows this winter up north of the region.
How much snow has fallen up there… via Iowa State
Look a those Minneapolis totals! 75″… almost three feet above average. Sioux Falls, SD with nearly 60″ …almost two feet above average. Finally Marquette, MI… over 185″ worth, a lot and more that two feet above average.
So the snow has been out there… just not here really.
Here is a better perspective…
Out west… here we go again. The region is just getting pounded with repetitive heavy snows, especially in the Sierras where some areas over well over 600″ of snow.
Some of the higher elevations out there will see another 10-15 FEET over the coming days… this though will be a bit different because the heaviest snows will be more geared to areas over 8000 feet up due to the nature of this atmospheric river coming into the state.
You could see the onslaught of the warmer moisture. The next chart shows the moisture anomalies slamming into CA. The more colors you see the more moisture there is in the atmosphere to ride up the mountains and turn into either heavy rains or heavy snows.
Because this moisture though is subtropical, it’s warmer. So that will increase the elevations of the snow levels. Below the snow, lots of rain on top of the snow that has fallen, leading to flooding concerns.
This is from a few days ago, so you get an idea what they’re up against.
So the snow crushing continues out there but for us…just blah rain.
Oh here is some late information just in: After three years (a rarity) La Nina, the cooling of the waters down towards the Equatorial Pacific Ocean, has been declared over.
There are stronger suggestions that we may trend towards El Nino conditions towards summer or fall… something to ponder. El Ninos are the opposite of La Ninas, and typically are connected to warmer overall temperatures.
More on that down the road.
The feature photo is from Peggy Jane Farmer
Joe
