Updraft: April 14, 2009 Archive

Framing the forecast

Posted at 7:48 AM on April 14, 2009 by Craig Edwards

Is my opinion, your opinion of NICE weather ? As meteorologists we tend to wear our weather preference on our sleeve. I thought this morning was chilly when I looked at the thermometer and it read 29 and I saw frost on the roof tops and cars.

Venturing outdoors to explore nature, I put on a coat, hat and gloves. In a quarter mile walk through the neigborhood, I found I was the only one with a warm coat on! I saw many in short sleeves and a couple of school aged kids in shorts, one with flip-flops on her feet.

When we try to shape the forecast with modifiers we must avoid editorializing. It's a challenge, and has been for more than thirty-five years of my career.

One thing I have learned, that when you are in a dry spell don't say the threat of showers, even if it is for the weekend. Most folks would consider it a blessing to have Mother Nature shower us with moisture as we have an expanding area of drought in southeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

See Paul Huttner's previous blog.

CE

It's on

Posted at 4:07 PM on April 14, 2009 by Paul Huttner

Boater surveys the last ice on Lake Minnetonka near Big Island Monday evening.

It's official. Spring is here.

Want evidence? The ice went out on Lake Minnetonka according to The Freshwater Society at 6:42pm on Monday April 13th. That's dead bang on average.

Our 64 degree temperature is the warmest so far this month, and the second warmest this year. Our desert dry air mass features a dew point of 8 degrees this afternoon in the Twin Cities. That's drier than the Arizona desert where the dew point is 34 in Phoenix.

Since dry air cools and heats more easily look for wide diurnal temperature swings of nearly 30 degrees this week. We'll also warm the next few days, and a shot at 70 degrees is looking good for the Twin Cities for Thursday or Friday.

Enjoy springtime in Minnesota!

PH