Updraft: February 16, 2009 Archive

Commuters Delight

Posted at 7:15 AM on February 16, 2009 by Craig Edwards

If this was the growing season there would be a lot of coffee shop banter about the lack of moisture in southeast Minnesota. So far this month there has been only a trace of snow in the Twin Cities, St. Cloud, Rochester and LaCrosse. Just slightly more than an inch of snow has been measured at Duluth.

Nice update from National Weather Service on the seasonal snowfall

The mild air earlier this month melted most of the snow cover in southern Minnesota thanks in large part to the accompanying sunshine. With the jet stream continuing to be west to east today and Tuesday we will only experience small chances of rather light precipitation.

A shift to a more northerly jet stream drives colder air into the state on Wednesday night into Friday.

CE
naturesmessenger.com

Odds & ends

Posted at 2:55 PM on February 16, 2009 by Paul Huttner

NOAA January temps show a tale of two countries. Warm west and chilly east, including Minnesota. Combined U.S. temp average for January was 0.4 degrees above average.

Old Man Winter has taken some hits lately.

February has quietly slipped in mild and dry. We're more than half way home to March, and were running better than 5 degrees above average so far this month. We've had a whopping 1.5 inches of snow in the past month, and with 30.1" so far we're now running 8.2" below average at MSP for the season.

It's been a real winter on and east of the Mississippi. January ran well below average from Minnesota to Maine. International Falls has piled up 77.8" of snow. Cleveland 71.4", Madison, WI 58", Chicago 44". Grand Forks and Des Moines have more snow than the metro with 39".

Twin Cities snow stats

In California they're talking about the worst drought potential ever. Sierra snowpack is running 50% to 60% of average. Major reservoirs are only half full. The good news is they are getting pounded today by a major winter storm. This system is dumping 2 to 4 FEET of snow in the Sierra above 5,000 feet. As much as 6" of rain has been recorded in the Santa Cruz Mountains near San Francisco.

That same system will track south of our region this week. We'll be on the northern edge again here in the metro, but we may see significant snowfall in parts of Iowa and southern Wisconsin again.

Stay tuned.

PH