Sunday, January 29, 2012

Coldest Day In Sight, But 10s & 20s... Come On

Todd's Conservation Minnesota Outlook for the Twin Cities and all of Minnesota:

SUNDAY: Coldest day of the weekend. Partly sunny with increasing clouds by afternoon and flurries possible overnight. High: 22. Winds: WNW 5-10mph turning south late.

SUNDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with a few light snow showers. Low: 20. Winds: S 5-10mph

MONDAY: Lingering flurries possible early, then partly sunny and a little warmer. High: 38.

TUESDAY: Mild with a little light rain and snow possible later. Low: 26. High: 38.

WEDNESDAY: AM flurry or two. More PM sun and mild for the first day of February. Low: 26. High: 37.

THURSDAY: Clouds thicken, a few flurries late. Low: 23. High: 34

FRIDAY: Sub-freezing daytime highs, for a change. Low: 20 High: 29

SATURDAY:  Near average temps with bright sun. Low: 17. High: 29

     Sure, today is going to be the coldest day in sight, but come on... we can handle 20s. We here are a hardy bunch, in fact, I heard reports of some brave souls dawning shorts when the mercury hit 40 last week. It has been a strange winter, no doubt.
     Meteorologically speaking, we are nearly two-thirds of the way done with the coldest three month on average for the Northern Hemisphere, how about that! December ended up being the 10th warmest December in recorded history and January is following suit. There are only a few days left in the month and we're already in the top ten warmest January's on record. I think we'll be able to retain that mark as temperatures into the early part of next week are expected to flirt with 40 once again.
    If you're wondering where the cold is, check Alaska where they are boasting one of the coldest January's in recorded history. Fairbanks woke up to -50F on Saturday and that made the 14th day this month that temps have bottomed out to -40 or colder. As a general rule of thumb, when Alaska is cold, we are warm and the forecast for Alaska remains cold into the first week of February, so you know what that means for us! 

Bold From The Blue Spices Up Perth Fireworks - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corp.)
"Nature and technology combine to create a spectacular light show over the Perth skyline during the Australia Day fireworks on January 26, 2012."

Unusual Ice-Free Great Lakes
"High resolution satellite imagery taken Friday showing the incredible lack of ice on the Great Lakes this winter. The ice that is out there around the Straits is very thin as well. Note the lack of ice on Whitefish Bay as well, and the breaking up of ice on Green Bay from the recent warmup."


Update on the Alaskan Cold
The information below comes from the National Weather Service in Fairbanks, AK:
"PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 318 AM AKST SAT JAN 28 2012 …14 DAYS WITH DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE -40 OR COLDER SO FAR THIS MONTH… …JANUARY 2012 WILL BE THE COLDEST JANUARY IN THE LAST 40 YEARS… TODAY…JANUARY 28TH…MARKS THE 14TH DAY THIS MONTH THAT THE TEMPERATURE AT THE FAIRBANKS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT HAS BOTTOMED OUT AT -40 DEGREES OR COLDER. THE RECORD NUMBER OF DAYS WITH -40 OR COLDER IN JANUARY WAS 21 WHICH OCCURRED IN 1906 AND AGAIN IN 1971. 1934 IS THIRD PLACE WITH 20 DAYS. THE YEARS 1947 AND 1969 TIED FOR FOURTH WITH 16 DAYS EACH. OTHER MEMORABLE YEARS SINCE 1971 INCLUDE…1973 WITH 15 DAYS… 1989 WITH 14 DAYS…1997 AND 2009 WITH 11 DAYS EACH…AND 1975 WITH 10 DAYS. THIS JANUARY WILL BE THE COLDEST JANUARY SINCE 1971 AS BASED ON WEATHER OBSERVATIONS AT THE FAIRBANKS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. THE AVERAGE DAILY TEMPERATURES FOR JANUARY 1ST THROUGH THE 27TH… 2012 HAS BEEN 25.0 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. TWO YEARS OUT OF THE PAST 40 YEARS WERE VERY CLOSE TO THIS AVERAGE. THE YEAR 1972 HAD AN AVERAGE OF -21.5 DEGREES FOR THE FIRST 27 DAYS AND 2006 HAD AN AVERAGE OF -21.1. GOING BACK ONE MORE YEAR TO 1971 SHOWS A LOWER AVERAGE FOR JANUARY 1ST THROUGH 27TH…WITH -29.8. ONLY 8 YEARS ON RECORD SHOW AVERAGE TEMPERATURES COLDER IN THE FIRST 27 DAYS OF JANUARY…THAN THE CURRENT YEAR OF 2012. THESE YEARS WERE 1906 WITH -40.8…1934 WITH -36.6…1971 WITH -29.8… 1969 WITH -29.7…1966 WITH -27.4…1909 WITH -25.5…1951 WITH -25.4…AND 1943 WITH -25.1. WELL BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST FOR FAIRBANKS THROUGH JANUARY 31ST…SO THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR JANUARY 2012 MAY END UP BEING 7TH OR 8TH PLACE FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY SINCE JANUARY OBSERVATIONS STARTED IN 1906. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR A DAY IS FOUND BY AVERAGING THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES FOR THE DAY. $$"
Saturday Morning Lows
 
An Even Hardier Bunch In Alaska
The picture below is from a good friend of mine John Thain, who lives in Fairbanks Alaska right now. He is an outdoors-man through and through and Alaska is his kind of speed. The cold air doesn't phase him, in fact, he was out and about checking out the northern lights!
Google Celebrates World's Largest Snowflake
"Google is at it again, creating yet another of its whimsical doodles. This time, the search giant’s Google Doodle on its main search page revels in the glories of midwinter, celebrating the 125th anniversary of the discovery of the world’s largest snowflake. How large was it? How’s 15 inches (38 centimeters) grab you? Imagine the looks on the faces of those who saw this enormous ice crystal the size of a pizza falling from the sky in Fort Keogh, Montana in 1887."


Good Morning From Miami
Thanks to my good friend, Bay Scroggins, for the picture below. Even with mostly cloudy skies on Saturday, the temperature reached 82F! Ahh, I could use a nice 82F day right about now.

Boston, MA Extreme Snow Drought
The EagleTribune.com has some great stats on Boston, MA and their snow drought, take a look below.
"Total snowfall as of yesterday: 7.6 inches for the Boston area. Average total snowfall (30 years) as of Jan. 25: 20.8 inches. Total snowfall by Jan. 25, 2011: 50.4 inches. Annual average total snowfall for the last 30 years: 41.8 inches Total snowfall for the winter of 2010-2011: 81 inches. Latest snowfall: May 8-9, 1977. Boston received a half inch of snow. Worcester received about a foot. Since 1892 there have been 10 years with less than 20 inches of total snowfall. Least total snowfall: 9 inches for the winter of 1936-1937. Second most least: 10.3 inches for the winter of 1972-1973. Third least: 12.7 inches for the winter of 1979-1980. Haverhill spent about $2.2 million on snow plowing and associated operations last winter. The city has spent approximately $275,000 this year, Haverhill's public works Director Michael Stankovich said."

Temperature Forecast
Take a look at the week ahead temperature forecast. After today, temperatures return to well above average levels. 40F may not be out of the question a couple of times! The image below shows the temperature trend through the next several days, the peaks indicate high temperatures. The orange horizontal line shows the 40F temperature line and the blue horizontal line shows the near normal temperature line for the end of January/start of February. Note how we stay above average after Sunday and get near 40F a few days. I think with forecast high temperatures as warm as they'll be, we'll get into the top 10 warmest January's on record!

Thanks for checking in and have a great rest of your weekend and great week ahead!
Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @TNelsonWNTV 
  -Meteorologist Todd Nelson-

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