Updraft: December 9, 2009 Archive

Winter storm pulls away. Cold next

Posted at 12:16 PM on December 9, 2009 by Paul Huttner (3 Comments)

Twin Cities NWS "Weather Story" highlights conditions today.

The major winter storm is pulling away from Minnesota. There will be some improvement this afternoon.

The storm has dumped as much as 16" of snow in parts of Iowa and Wisconsin, and there are numerous reports of 3 to 5 foot drifts in Iowa.

Blizzard conditions with wind gusts to 49 mph and visibilities under ¼ mile raged in southwest Minnesota this morning at Jackson along I-90. Winds are gusting to over 40 mph in many locations in southern Minnesota this afternoon.

In Minnesota snowfall ranges from as little as 1.7" in St. Cloud to 7" at Twin Cities Airport to as high as 15" in Winona.

Here are some snowfall reports from in and near the Twin Cities this morning:

-Chanhassen: 4.7"
-Twin Cities Airport 7"
-Oakdale 9"
-Eau Claire 11"

As Strong as the Edmund Fitzgerald Storm:

The central pressure of this storm over Milwaukee at 7am was 978 millibars. That's lower than the November 1975 Edmund Fitzgerald storm at its height which was 980 millibars.

La Crosse has reported 15.5" of snow through 6:30am. That is the 6th highest total on record for any storm in La Crosse so far. This is also a top 5 snowfall for the Twin Cities for early December.

Snowfall has tapered in the Twin Cities from west to east. Expect conditions to gradually improve by later this afternoon.

-Twin Cities NWS snow totals
-La Crosse NWS snow totals
-Des Moines NWS snow totals

PH

(3 Comments)

Blizzard 2009: Biggest snowstorm in nearly 3 years

Posted at 4:41 PM on December 9, 2009 by Paul Huttner (13 Comments)

NWS snowfall map shows incredible snowfall totals of over 15" in southeast Minnesota.

We're on the board with our first big snowstorm of the season. And it's a whopper.

This week's storm is making some history. Consider this:

-This was the most snowfall from a single storm at Twin Cities Airport since February 28-March 2, 2007, when 12.3" of snow was recorded.

-The 7.4" total at MSP ties as the second highest total for an early December storm on record.

-Snowfall reports as high as 16" to 17" were recorded in southeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

-Similar totals of 16" were recorded in Iowa.

-The sheer size and coverage of this storm was amazing. It produced winds over 100 mph and incredible snowfall totals of over 40" in the mountain of California and 30" in Flagstaff, Arizona.

-The intense storms central pressure dropped to 974 millibars (28.76") in Michigan at 2pm this afternoon. That's lower than the infamous Edmund Fitzgerald storm of November 1975 which reached 980 millibars at its height. It's also equivalent to the central pressure of a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

Records and comparisons will still flow in over the next few days. At this point it's already clear that this storm was a history making storm for the Upper Midwest and the United States.

PH

(13 Comments)