Updraft: November 16, 2009 Archive

Forecast: Frosty start, fine finish

Posted at 8:39 AM on November 16, 2009 by Paul Huttner

Heavy frost greets commuters on I-94 near Highway 101 Monday morning.

Welcome back to reality.

Our frosty morning low of 26 degrees in the Twin Cities is only two degrees warmer than average. It also ties the coldest temperature recorded this fall at Twin Cities Airport. The outlying suburbs were significantly colder. It was a chilly 19 in Cambridge and Faribault this morning.

Sprawling high pressure is centered over Minnesota today. This will provide another day of bright (and rare) November sunshine and light winds. Our dry air mass heats and cools easily. All day sunshine should help us make a run at 50 today in the metro. The high will hold strong through Tuesday, making for frosty nights and sunny milder days. Temperatures will run about 10 to 12 degrees above average with highs near 50. Our average high this week is 38 degrees.

Twin Cities NWS graphical forecast temps today.

Midwest Snow:

A small but potent snow storm is winding up south of Minnesota today. Heavy snow is falling in north central Kansas and southeast Nebraska. Three to more than 6 inches will fall in the area.

Kansas City NWS weather story highlights heavy snow areas today.

Denver is digging out from 10" to over a foot of snow today from the same storm. High pressure anchored over the Upper Midwest should keep the system south of Minnesota until Wednesday. We could see a few scattered rain or snow showers later Wednesday or Thursday as the system grazes our region.

USA: Warm November

The first half of November is in the books, and we've seen near record warmth in the Twin Cities. So far we are running 9 degrees above average in the Twin Cities for November. Those numbers will drop a bit as colder air moves in the next two weeks.

The warm weather has dominated much of central the U.S. this month. It's been close to average on the West Coast, and just slightly above average on the East Coast. Here are some numbers.

November average temperatures:

-Seattle & Los Angeles: -0.6 degrees
-Tucson, AZ: +8.3 degrees
-Dallas: +6.2 degrees
-Kansas City: +9.9 degrees
-Twin Cities: +9.0 degrees
-Chicago: +5.5 degrees
-Atlanta: +0.8 degrees
-Cleveland: +3.5 degrees
-Washington, D.C. +1.8 degrees
-New York City: +1.7 degrees
-Boston: +1.9 degrees

Venezuela: Latest weather modification attempts:

We've talked about recent weather modification attempts in Beijing and Moscow. Now they're trying to ease drought by seeding the clouds in Venezuela. Reuters has the story.

Enjoy the sun today!

PH

Sky show: Leonids peak tonight

Posted at 3:56 PM on November 16, 2009 by Paul Huttner (1 Comments)

Sky map shows pre dawn sky near Leonid peak.
(Credit: NASA & Spaceweather.com)

It's a good night for clear skies in Minnesota.

Our clear crisp November sky will provide a perfect viewing opportunity for the annual Leonid meteor shower tonight. The Leonids are usually one of our best meteor showers of the year. Chilly high pressure with temperatures around freezing will make for a chilly but good opportunity to see the "shooting stars" overnight.

Meteor rates are forecast to be between 20 and 30 per hour over most of North America. It looks like the peak rates could come in Asia, where as many as 200 to 300 meteors per hour could dazzle sky watchers.

Leonids occur each year in November when the earth passes through debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Every 33 years the comet visits the inner solar system and leaves a stream of dusty debris in its wake. Whenever we hit one, meteors appear to fly out of the constellation Leo.

The new moon this year will make for excellent dark sky viewing conditions. You may see meteors any time tonight, but the peak hour for viewing in the Midwest should center on 3am.

Enjoy the show!

PH

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