Updraft Category Archive: 2011 highlights

2011: Warmest end to the year on record?

Posted at 8:42 AM on December 27, 2011 by Paul Huttner
Filed under: 2011 highlights

52 degree record high on December 26th!

25 degrees - average high Monday at MSP

+27 degrees vs. average Monday!

50 degrees on Halloween 2011 (Monday was warmer than Halloween!)

Highs pushed into the 50s, and record territory Monday in Minnesota.

Was that a (weather) dream?

It was a surreal Christmas in Minnesota this year.

Two kids rode brand new shiny bikes by the Weather Lab on Christmas Day. Hundreds of walkers and joggers paddled by this past weekend. The foot traffic around the Weather Lab looked more like July when people stream to the beach down the street.

Warm sun, bare grass and dry streets. Was it a dream?

The record warm weather felt like a gift to some Minnesotans this year. To snow lovers, not so much.

December Reality Check:

Today's cold front feels more like the Decembers we used to know. Arctic air has nosed into northern Minnesota today, and temperatures are running a good 20 degrees colder in most areas.

Cold air pushes back into Minnesota today. Note the presensce of -20s air now pooling in north central Canada!

The brisk northwest wind will fade this afternoon, but it will feel like winter in Minnesota tonight with tmps in the single digits above zero in the north and teens to low 20s in southern Minnesota overnight.

Mild New Year's?

After a few days in the (still above average) 30s this week, it looks as though temps may briefly push 40 in southern Minnesota New Year's Eve. The warmth will be short lived this time, as a new cold front pushes in by the time we ring in 2012. It looks windy and colder on New Year's Day!

2011: Warmest finish on record?

+6.4 degrees vs. average at MSP in October (8th warmest on record)

+5.5 degrees vs. average at MSP in November (10th warmest on record)

+7.0 degrees vs. average at MSP in December (Weather Lab estimate) (10th warmest on record?)

I've crunched some (preliminary) numbers at the Weather Lab and it looks like this may go down as the warmest end of a year on record in the Twin Cities and much of Minnesota.

Since modern record started in 1871, we've never been able to string together 3 consecutive months this warm in the metro during the last quarter of the year.

The October-December quarter is running about +6.3 degrees vs. average!

Want to know what fall and early winter feels like on Memphis or Tulsa? This is it.

This has been a record end to another remarkable weather year in Minnesota!

PH

Top 5 Minnesota weather events of 2011

Posted at 5:33 PM on December 22, 2011 by Paul Huttner (1 Comments)
Filed under: 2011 highlights

It's been another amazing weather in Minnesota.

2011 picked up right where wild and wacky 2010 left off, and hit us with extreme cold in January (-46 at International Falls) and the massive Presidents' Day storm (13.8" at MSP) in February.

The character of 2011 started fast and furious but tended to mellow as summer unfolded. Snowy barrages gave way to a cool spring. Then came the May 22nd Minneapolis tornado, followed by intense jungle heat and humidity levels in July before things finally eased in the 2nd half of the year.

Here are Updraft's top 5 weather events of 2011 in Minnesota, followed by a list from Pete Boulay with he MN State Climatologists office in St. Paul.

(Note: I chose to include our winter 2010-11 snowfall in the top 5 events since most of it occurred in 2011.)

1) 4th snowiest winter on record at MSP Airport: 86.6"

Minnesotans will remember the winter of 2010-'11 for years to come.

The snow blitz began early (November 13, 2010) and lasted through March. The Dome caved, streets were choked down to one passable lane with 5 foot snow drifts on each side. It was a snow lover's dream and an urban car owner's nightmare.

The heavy snow load on rooftops caused massive ice dams and water damage to thousands of Minnesota homes, including the Huttner Weather Lab.

"Mt. Midway" on the Midway Stadium parking lot of the St. Paul Saints lasted until June.

The winter featured the 5th (17.1") and 15th (13.8") biggest snow storms on record in the metro.

When it was all over, 86.6" of snow came crashing down on the metro. It was the snowiest winter in 28 years!

2) May 22nd Minneapolis/Anoka Tornado:

The Minneapolis tornado was the 2nd tornado to hit Minneapolis in 3 years, and the biggest tornado within the city limits since June 14, 1981. It killed one and injured 48 people. It left a trail of damage, some of which remains unrepaired today.

3) All time Minnesota record humidity levels July 2011:

Want to know what it's like to live in the Amazon Jungle? Come to Minnesota last July.

A barbarically humid tropical air mass set up shop over Minnesota around July 19th. The steamy tropical air mass was aided and "modified" from below by saturated fields and possibly evapotranspiration from massive corn crops in Iowa and Minnesota.

The result was several all time state dew point records, including 88 degrees at Moorhead and 82 degrees in the Twin Cities.

4) Driest Autumn on record and rapid drought onset in fall:

Somebody flipped the weather switch to "off" in late summer of 2011.

A sudden change in the jet stream steered storms away from Minnesota, and dryness quickly turned into drought.

Rivers slowed to a trickle on the North Shore. Soils in southern Minnesota were like powder by November, a stark contrast to soggy soils a year ago.

It was the driest meteorological fall (September 1 to November 30) on record (since 1871) in the metro with a scant 1.36" of rainfall at MSP.

rank year total
1 2011 1.36 inches
2 1889 1.54
3 1952 1.71
4 1976 2.07
5 1936 2.10
6 1953 2.24
7 1892 2.33
8 1967 2.45
9 1912 2.90
10 1974 2.93

wettest meteorological autumn was 15.75 inches in 1881

The drought means that we'll need ample rainfall in the spring to get soils recharged and get the growing season underway. This story may linger into 2012, with the potential for an epic grassfire season and spring drought.

5) Unusually warm 2nd half of 2011:

2011 was a Jekyll & Hyde temperature year. The first 5 months started cool, each one featuring below average temps.

In June the trend reversed and warm weather held for the rest of 2011.

The past 7 months have been above average at MSP Airport and in most of Minnesota. 4 of the past 6 months have featured temps that were among the "top 10 warmest on record for that month.

June +1.1
July +5.6 (6th warmest on record)
August +2.4
September +0.9
October +6.4 (8th warmest)
November +5.6 (11th warmest)
December +5.0(?) (10th warmest?)

I can't remember the last year we had 4 "top 10" warmest months on record in one year.

The warmth continues through December and has resulted in the first "Brown Christmas" in 5 years in the Twin Cities!

Here are the top 5 weather events and details of 2011 from the State Climatology Office.

Top Five Weather Events of 2011 in Minnesota

"Here are candidates for the top five weather events of 2011 from the Minnesota State Climatology Office.

Similar to 2006 when most places south of Highway 2 from Grand Forks to Duluth had little or no snow on the ground. In 2011 the snow-free area looks to be even more extensive with northwestern Minnesota also most likely not having any snow on the ground on Christmas Day."

Let's see what kind of weather 2012 deals Minnesota.

PH

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USA 2011: Land of weather extremes

Posted at 3:20 PM on December 21, 2011 by Paul Huttner (1 Comments)
Filed under: 2011 highlights

11 "Billion Dollar Weather Disasters" in the USA in 2011

It's that time of year when lists start to fly brimming with highlights from 2011.

2011 has been a year of weather extremes in the USA. From incredible tornado "super outbreaks" to the most devastating drought in Texas' history, this has been a wild year.

We'll talk more about some of Minnesota's top weather events of 2011 in the coming days, but here is the list of "billion dollar weather disasters" in 2011 from NOAA.

The infamous "Groundhog Day Blizzard" dumps feet of snow in Chicago in February 2011.

This animation shows GOES-East satellite infrared water vapor imagery from January 29 -February 1, 2011. The GOES satellites provide visible and infrared imagery of the U.S. every 15 minutes. The blue colored areas show the most intense, moist areas of the atmosphere that are responsible for these major precipitation events. Also included, at the end, is the snow precipitation amounts from Jan 31 - Feb 1, 2011.

Tornado devestation in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Major Tornado Outbreak Impacts Southeast U.S. - April 26, 2011

Tornado "footprint" tears through Tuscaloosa.

Torndic supercells over Joplin, Missouri

NWS radar loop as tornadoes tear through Joplin

July Heat Wave Sweeps Across the U.S.

A shroud of high pressure takes a foot-hold over the U.S. from the Plains to the Northeast, with temperatures well into the 90's and 100's for half of the country. This animation shows the predicted daily high temperatures from NOAA's high resolution North American Model (NAM) from July 13-21, 2011.

Extreme Weather 2011Mississippi River flooding

Spring-Summer, 2011

Persistent rainfall (nearly 300 percent normal precipitation amounts in the Ohio Valley) combined with melting snowpack caused historical flooding along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Estimated economic losses range from $3-4 billion. The high flood risk along the Mississippi River was highlighted in the National Weather Service's annual spring flood outlook, and the agency closely coordinated with local, state and federal agencies before and during the flooding, so that emergency officials could make important decisions to best protect life and limit property damage.

Hurricane Irene

August 20-29, 2011

Irene first struck the U.S. as a Category 1 hurricane in eastern North Carolina, then moved northward along the Mid-Atlantic Coast. Wind damage in coastal North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland was moderate, with considerable damage resulting from falling trees and power lines. Irene made its final landfall as a tropical storm in the New York City area and dropped torrential rainfall in the Northeast that caused widespread flooding. More than 7 million homes and businesses lost power during the storm, and Irene caused at least 45 deaths and more than $7.3 billion in damages.

Irene was the first hurricane to hit the U.S. since Ike in September 2008 and was the most significant tropical system to make a direct landfall in the Northeast since Hurricane Bob in 1991.

PH

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USA 2011: Land of weather extremes

Posted at 9:31 AM on December 21, 2011 by Paul Huttner
Filed under: 2011 highlights

11 "Billion Dollar Weather Disasters" in the USA in 2011

It's that time of year when lists start to fly brimming with highlights from 2011.

2011 has been a year of weather extremes in the USA. From incredible tornado "super outbreaks" to the most devastating drought in Texas' history, this has been a wild year.

We'll talk more about some of Minnesota's top weather events of 2011 in the coming days, but here is the list of "billion dollar weather disasters" in 2011 from NOAA.

Having some techinal issues with graphics today.

PH