Updraft: November 30, 2010 Archive

Storm Backwash: Windy, colder, snow showers

Posted at 7:39 AM on November 30, 2010 by Paul Huttner (1 Comments)
Filed under: Climate change, Hurricanes, Snow, Winter storms

Update 7:42 am:

Next batch of snow showers rotating into metro now. Expect wind, cold and snow showers to continue this morning, and gradually taper this afternoon.

Still accumulating snow in Duluth and northeast Minnesota today. Expect another 1" to 3" in much of northen Minnesota today. Duluth has picked up 5.5" so far...still snowing heavily at times.

MNDOT traffic cam at I-94 & Co Road 81 in NW metro shows snow slicked highway Tuesday morning.

Snowfall totals range from 1" to 2" around most of the metro...with 4" on the high end in Cambridge in the far north.

I've recorded 1" of snow at the Huttner Weather Lab in Deephaven. More impressively...I picked up .61" of rain Monday!

Redwood Falls gets the coveted (cursed?) Golden Snow Shovel Award with 10"!

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
555 AM CST TUE NOV 30 2010

...INITIAL SNOWFALL REPORTS SINCE MONDAY NIGHT...

THE TOTALS BELOW ARE SEPARATED INTO SNOW...AND ICE AND SLEET
CATEGORIES...THEN BY AMOUNT...AND ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE
FINAL AMOUNT FOR EACH LOCATION.

SNOW REPORTS LISTED BY AMOUNT

INCHES LOCATION ST COUNTY TIME
------- --------------------- -- -------------- -------
10.00 REDWOOD FALLS MN REDWOOD 0145 AM
5.00 BROOTEN MN STEARNS 0200 AM
4.50 COMFREY MN BROWN 0808 PM
4.30 MURDOCK MN SWIFT 0530 PM
4.00 CAMBRIDGE MN ISANTI 0545 AM
4.00 MAYNARD MN CHIPPEWA 0837 PM
4.00 8 W CLARA CITY MN CHIPPEWA 0837 PM
3.50 ALBANY MN STEARNS 0439 AM
3.50 OSAKIS MN DOUGLAS 0822 PM
2.50 WINTHROP MN SIBLEY 0622 PM
2.00 LITCHFIELD MN MEEKER 0150 AM
2.00 MORRIS MN STEVENS 0837 PM
2.00 MORGAN MN REDWOOD 0525 PM
1.70 LONG PRAIRIE MN TODD 0613 PM
1.50 GLENWOOD MN POPE 0808 PM
1.50 GAYLORD MN SIBLEY 0650 PM
1.00 MADISON MN LAC QUI PARLE 0837 PM

Also Waconia 1.8" & Prior Lake 1.2"...

A rather disorganized low pressure system is still winding up early Tuesday, even though most of the moisture fell as rain in eastern Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The next phase of this storm system will be wind, cold, and wrap around snow showers. Expect occasional waves of snow through Tuesday morning as the cold backwash on the back side of the system kicks in.

Rain changed to snow at the Huttner Weather Lab near the east end of Lake Minnetonka at 11:20pm.

Expect some slick roadways, especially west and north of the greater Twin Cities Tuesday for AM rush.

Some areas (including parts of the metro) will still see 1" to 3" total snowfall accumulations with occasional snow showery bursts today.

Winds will increase from the west and northwest Tuesday, gusting to over 30 mph in much of Minnesota. This will cause some blowing snow in open areas that have seen accumulations. Wet spots will freeze as temperatures drop Tuesday.

Temperatures will drop through the 20s, and wind chills will dip to near zero in many locations as winter like weather regains a foothold.

Wind chills will dip below zero by Tuesday evening.

Because of the storms westerly track and abundant moisture, the system was still able to crank out some impressive rainfall amounts in the warm sector. There were also some decent snow totals in the colder air on the storm's west side.

Here are some rain and snow totals as of late Monday evening.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
914 PM CST MON NOV 29 2010

...INITIAL SNOWFALL REPORTS FROM MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...

THE TOTALS BELOW ARE SEPARATED INTO SNOW...AND ICE AND SLEET
CATEGORIES...THEN BY AMOUNT...AND ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE
FINAL AMOUNT FOR EACH LOCATION.

SNOW REPORTS LISTED BY AMOUNT

INCHES LOCATION ST COUNTY TIME
------ ----------------------- -- -------------- -------
4.50 COMFREY MN BROWN 0808 PM
4.30 MURDOCK MN SWIFT 0530 PM
4.00 MAYNARD MN CHIPPEWA 0837 PM
4.00 8 W CLARA CITY MN CHIPPEWA 0837 PM
3.50 OSAKIS MN DOUGLAS 0822 PM
2.50 WINTHROP MN SIBLEY 0622 PM
2.00 MORRIS MN STEVENS 0837 PM
2.00 REDWOOD FALLS MN REDWOOD 0645 PM
2.00 MORGAN MN REDWOOD 0525 PM
1.70 LONG PRAIRIE MN TODD 0613 PM
1.50 GLENWOOD MN POPE 0808 PM
1.50 GAYLORD MN SIBLEY 0650 PM
1.00 MADISON MN LAC QUI PARLE 0837 PM
0.50 HUTCHINSON MN MCLEOD 0653 PM

Some snow totals form Duluth NWS:

0838 PM DULUTH M1.7 INCH OFFICIAL NWS TOTAL SO FAR.

0846 PM 7 SSW AURORA E2.0 INCH TRAINED SPOTTER - HEAVY SNOW NOW.

0927 PM 1 NW VIRGINIA M5.0 INCH TRAINED SPOTTER

0946 PM 1 N COTTON E3.5 INCH TRAINED SPOTTER

1004 PM 5 N VIRGINIA M5.0 INCH TRAINED SPOTTER

Allow some extra time getting around Tuesday.

Odds & ends:

-Winter starts off with a bang in Duluth.

This month Duluth recorded the most consecutive days with snowfall in nerly 17 years! Details here.

-USA "lucks out" in busy 2010 hurricane season.

One of the busiest on record with 19 named storms and 12 hurricanes. The USA escaped without a major land falling hurricane this year...remarkable considering the sheer number of storms. Favorable short term weather patterns steered one storm after another out to the open Atlantic.

An atmospheic "force field" seemed to steer storms away from the USA in 2010.

Details from NOAA here.

-Lakes getting warmer?

In the first comprehensive global survey of temperature trends in major lakes, NASA researchers determined Earth's largest lakes have warmed during the past 25 years in response to climate change.

Researchers Philipp Schneider and Simon Hook of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., used satellite data to measure the surface temperatures of 167 large lakes worldwide.

They reported an average warming rate of 0.45 degrees Celsius (0.81 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade, with some lakes warming as much as 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade. The warming trend was global, and the greatest increases were in the mid- to high-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

Lake Tahoe. (Credit NASA/JPL)

The story from NASA's JPL here.

PH

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