I'm sure many of you have gotten that email forward that says that the last time Easter was this early was 1915 and the next time it'll fall on March 23 will be in 220 years. Regardless of when it is that it happens next or when it last was, you can easily imagine that there's always that chance that the latter part of March will still be cool with some snowflakes flying. That will be the case tomorrow.A weak disturbance will push across the Upper Midwest tonight. It already has been producing a bit of snow in Minnesota and Iowa, but the air in that area is pretty saturated. Out our direction, the dewpoint is still about ten degrees away from the temperature, so evaporation will be an issue. Once we can close that temperature-dewpoint gap, some light snow will become possible. I don't expect any accumulations other than a dusting at most, and the chance of seeing snow in one particular location is fairly low. So, I don't expect this Clipper to provide any reason to change your plans - it'll just add insult to injury of clouds, northwest winds, and highs in the upper 30s. The upcoming week is looking better, at least in the temperature department... highs getting back to more seasonable levels. That, along with the rain in the forecast, will get rid of the snow that hasn't already melted.
I also have to point out that today is the 150th birthday of Iowa State University, the school from which Adam Painter and I both received our meteorology degrees. In celebration, and as a jab at Eric who gave me a hard time at spotter training this morning for being an Iowa Stater... Go Cyclones!-Justin
6 comments:
I thought that was hilarious with eric doing that to you this morning. The spotter training thing this morning was awesome. I know quite a few people turned out for it. I just wish I didn't have this stubborn cough that kept me from enjoying some of it. It was great to meet you justin and to talk to eric in person again.
So how was that training? I have been to the one that Chicago NWS office puts on in Rockford in past years but I am going to one that the Milwaukee NWS office is putting on in WI this year.
If I had one suggestion it would be that I wish NWS (all offices) would provide more advanced level training classes.
I must point out that WREX was the only Rockford TV station that had meteorologists in attendance. ;)
There was a lot more general background information than what I've seen in other spotter training classes. They has a "Thunderstorms 101" session, one might call it, along with discussing flash flood hazards. They also went over the forecast products they issue and how to find them. Of course, they also talked about what to look for and what to report. :)
The Des Moines NWS office holds an advanced session in conjunction with the ISU meteorology dept. I wonder if NIU or College of DuPage has ever done something similar...
I think FermiLab does one every year:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=lot&storyid=13118&source=0
Unfortunately my j*b is sending me out of town that weekend.
Well, adam was the only one not there for that, but I agree, those spotter training classes are great. They basically covered what they did last year. I think jim allsopp did a great job of adding humor to some of the discussion, especially when someone asked if this snowy winter is a sign of what is too come this spring, and jim was like 'god i hope not'. That got a lot of laughs. They showed the early stages, mature stages and dying stages of a thunderstorm, along with scud clouds and radars from the labor day flood 2006 and the microburst that came thru july 5th, 2003. It was interesting.
I won't make the Fermilab one, either... but working on a Saturday is the norm for me. :)
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