Giving thanks for an Omega Block

Some days I'm more of a therapist than a scientist or would-be meteorologist. People were actually THANKING ME for the weather today. "The sun feels great. Thanks Paul!" I just shrug, smile and thank them for thanking me. At this point I'm thanking God for a nice, quiet stretch of weather; every (dry) day that passes means people living along the Red River stand a better chance of getting through the next couple of weeks without disaster. A lack of rain (or 60s) means snow over northern Minnesota and North Dakota can melt slowly, gradually, not overpowering the levees protecting Fargo and Moorhead.

I tend to get blamed for bad weather, so I'll take the good while I can. I'm confident that Minnesotans will continue to wave at me (with all their fingers!) through at least Saturday as a bubble of high pressure hangs on, keeping a fetch of cool, dry air pumping southward out of Canada, keeping the storm track suppressed a few hundred miles to our south. The jet stream vaguely resembles the Greek letter "omega", thus the term Omega Block. Storms, temporarily stalled on either coast, a big, sprawling ridge of high pressure bulging across the high Plains, storms being forced to detour well south of the Gopher State. A holding pattern like this tends to last for a week to 10 days, and I do expect the pattern to break down by the middle or end of next week with moisture spurting northward, fueling a few showers, even some steady rain, by next Thursday and Friday.

Here's the good news: the weather will cooperate with outdoor plans for much of the next week with only a few light showers, sprinkles and "spritzes" (more than a sprinkle, not quite a shower, enough to turn your windshield wiper onto intermittent) limping into western Minnesota Easter Sunday afternoon and lingering Monday. I'll be amazed if most back yard and farms see anything more than a trace to (at most) .05" of rain over the next 6 days. No snow, no ice, nothing severe - this is about as quiet and reasonable as the weather ever gets in mid April.

I'm temporarily unplugging the Doppler radar. It's just picking up bugs, birds and basketball players at this point - may as well save some electricity while we're at it. Hope you can break free of your cubicle and sneak outside tomorrow. Make sure you spend some quality time outside on Saturday. It may just restore your faith in a Minnesota spring!