Spring Fever Alert

Weather Headlines

* 58 degree high on Monday, April temperatures running 2.7 F below average so far.
* Latest sloppy southern storm passes well south of Minnesota, brushing us with patchy clouds.
* Rain ends as a little slushy snow west of Chicago.
* More sun today, low 60s should feel good.
* Shower risk increases Thursday (slight chance of thunder). Showery rains linger into Saturday and Sunday.
* Cooling off noticeably by Tuesday/Wednesday of next week as jacket weather returns to much of Minnesota. Flurries possible over the MN Arrowhead!


Paul's Column

Here I sit (at the Northwest/Delta gate at La Guardia airport in New York) giving thanks for a quiet spell of weather back home. The funny thing about New York - you can't really tell what the weather is doing until you're out IN IT! Staring out my window this morning I couldn't even see the sky, amidst the thicket of towering office buildings. I always feel claustrophobic in this town - I need my SPACE! That's why I love Minnesota, room to spread out, and you can almost see tomorrow's weather forming on the western horizon.

WeatherNation has been a focus for nearly a year now, ever since I got my walking papers from my dear pals at CBS. We have one HD studio in Excelsior, adding 2 more, on the verge of hiring our 7th meteorologist (bilingual meteorologist born in Panama with a meteorology degree from Florida State). I am thrilled with the team I've been able to put together, and we'll be trying some new ways to tell the weather story, taking advantage of video (Conservation Minnesota Weather Center), text, photos (check out "Paul's Links") and soon, social media, including Twitter. Weather should be interactive and dynamic, with lot's of opportunities for you (the weather enthusiast) to provide content, reports and commentary. We'll give you the big picture, try to explain what is going on, and why, but also serve up a library of constantly-updated graphics and forecasts for your part of Minnesota and western Wisconsin, along with special recreation reports from Thursday through Saturday (yes, I know how precious weekends are from now through early September).

Proving my insanity, I decided to make good on a vision (?) I've had for more than two years now. After watching 5 Cialis commercials in one football game I had enough. Something had to be done about the ad-spam we all sit through day after day. The technology exists to personalize advertisements for each person on the planet - why are we all seeing the same crap? Why do I have to sit through ads that are annoying, embarrassing, at times inappropriate and even disgusting?

For what it's worth I'm in New York, whipping up new business for my second company, Singular Logic. With a bright young man by the name of Todd Frostad (employee #1 at Digital River back in '96), and some very accomplished patent lawyers and computer programmers, we're developing technology and patents so that - someday soon - you won't have to watch another Cialis ad ever again (unless you need that stuff, and hey, who am I to judge?) No more shrill political ads, no more inappropriate ads when you're watching TV with the family. Our goal: let consumers choose the categories of ads they're willing to watch to keep content free, on-line and on-air. If I could only get ads for snowmobiles, laptops, weather gadgets, cell phones, favorite destination, cars, ski equipment - I'd pay a LOT more attention when the commercials came on. That's our technological goal: make the ads far more relevant and personalized. Make consumers almost LOOK FORWARD TO the commercial break, because there's a darn good chance they'll actually see a product or service that interests them. Everyone watches something different, because all of us have different likes, dislikes, hobbies and interests. No more on-size-fits-all in the advertising world. It's a B.H.A.G., a "big, hairy, audacious goal" (to quote author Jim Collins in his seminal book, "Good to Great") but we have the developers, engineers and partners to pull it off. Leave it to me to launch 2 companies in the worst downturn since the Depression, but I think the timing is right. Advertisers need new tools to reach the consumers they're trying to reach, and content aggregators/web sites are looking for effective ways to generate new revenue, squeeze more $$ from those ads, if we're going to continue having quality, updated content on-line. Consumers are in charge of the content they watch, why not give them some skin in the game with the commercials they have to wade through?

Sorry for the rant, I fear I'm a bit sleep-deprived, but at least the weather isn't keeping me up at night. Another big storm slid off to our south today, and a weak ridge of high pressure reestablishes itself over the Northern Plains Tuesday, promising more sun and a good chance of breaking 60. Some mid and upper 60s are possible later this week - 70 is not out of the question by Friday as winds increase from the south. With the warmth will come a growing shower risk Thursday, heavier rains possible Friday and Saturday. The upcoming weekend will not be as spectacular as last, but we may squeeze out a little clearing later in the day Sunday. Right now Sunday appears to be the better day for outdoor plans, especially after lunch, but don't count on anything as nice as last weekend, when the cities appeared to be posing for a postcard.

We warm up again behind the weekend storm, to near 60 next Monday before a vigorous cold front barrels south of the border the middle of next week. By next Tuesday & Wednesday highs may be stuck in the 40s north, struggling to near 50 in the metro, with a whiff of wind chill and a risk of snow flurries up over the Minnesota Arrowhead. Fear not: the sun is too high in the sky for any chill to stick around for long, so take deep breaths, try not to panic, but there is a good chance folks up in northern Minnesota haven't seen the last of the snow flurries just yet.

Strap yourself in for a wild temperature roller coaster ride over the next 10 days. A chance of 70 lukewarm degrees here by Thursday and Friday, then cold enough to see your breath by Wednesday of next week. Ah, spring in Minnesota, definitely not for the faint of heart!

Thanks for checking in - we hope you'll come back often for the forecast, and more.