Updraft: January 8, 2009 Archive

Patience tested

Posted at 6:38 AM on January 8, 2009 by Craig Edwards

Graphical forecast of snow potential

If one of your New Year's resolutions was to display more patience, you will be tested on the Friday morning commute. Snow begins later tonight.

CE
naturesmessenger.com

International Falls on a Record Setting Pace for Snow

Posted at 8:26 AM on January 8, 2009 by Mark Seeley (2 Comments)

Portions of northern Minnesota are seeing their snowiest season since that of 1995-1996. This is certainly true for International Falls, where both the frequency of snowfall and the quantity of snowfall are making this a memorable winter. For comparison here is a listing of the number of days with snowfall observed and the total monthly quantity of snowfall from September 1 to January 7. The list compares the current snow season to that of 1995-1996 when International Falls set a seasonal snowfall record of 116 inches.
The frequency of days includes those when just a trace of snow was reported.

Current snow season (2008-2009): Sep had 0 days with snowfall and 0 total snowfall;Oct had 3 days with snowfall and 0.3 total inches; Nov had 21 days with snowfall and 10.9 total inches; Dec had 29 days with snowfall and 35.9 total inches; Jan 1-7 had 7 days with snowfall and 15.8 total inches. Sum total for period September 1 to January 7 is 60 days with snow and 62.9 inches.

Snow season (1995-1996): Sep had 2 days with snowfall and a trace total; Oct had 8 days with snowfall and 4.7 total inches; Nov had 25 days with snowfall and 16.5 total inches; Dec had 28 days with snowfall and 21.4 inches; Jan 1-7 had 4 days with snowfall and 0.9 total inches. Sum total for period September 1 to January 7 was 67 days with snowfall and 43.5 inches.

It will be interesting to see if this record-setting pace continues at both International Falls and elsewhere.

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Clipper parade

Posted at 4:22 PM on January 8, 2009 by Paul Huttner

Commuters at Highways 212 and 41 in the southwest metro enjoy dry pavement for now as more snow heads for Minnesota.

We're earning our keep in the Weather Lab this season.

Another in our parade of Alberta Clippers is heading for Minnesota. This one looks like another decent snow producer, with the heaviest snow band southwest of the metro.

Look for snow to break out tonight in the eastern Dakotas and southwest Minnesota. Snow should spread into the metro by around 6am.

Latest model trends have been trending south with this system. I expect another sharp cut-off in snowfall amounts on the systems northern edge. That could mean another wide range in snowfall amounts across the metro.

The best thinking right now is that the heaviest band of snow will fall along the Minnesota River Valley. A band of 3" to 6"+ could fall from Canby to Granite Falls, Redwood Falls, New Ulm, Mankato, and down toward Albert Lea and Rochester.

In the Twin Cities, it looks as if the far northeast metro may only see an inch or two. Amounts should generally increase as you move southwest. As a range it looks like most of the metro will see between 2" and 4" of accumulation by the time the snow ends Friday evening.

That should be enough to get the plow guy out to the Weather Lab driveway, again.

Twin Cities NWS storm page

It is really mild to the south of this system. I saw 70 in Hill City in northern Kansas today, and upper 60's in western Nebraska. It's nice to know it feels like spring on the mild side of this system!

PH