March 31, 2014

Tonight were almost directly in the center of a low pressure system with 996 mb pressure. Winds have picked up and are 13 mph out of the SE. Winds are still drawing air up from the gulf which has led to some warm temperature. Currently it's 53 F and mostly cloudy. This leads to more of the warm air being trapped on the surface because of the clouds. We also received some rain around 8 pm because dewpoint is 41 F. Further up the atmosphere were getting 2 layers of clouds as the dewpoint crosses with temperature. Air is becoming unstable with an LI of .6 and KI of 34. Most of the water vapor I talked about yesterday has shifted above the great lakes and has already passed by but were still going to have a chance of precipitation tomorrow as the low pressure churns it back down. Here's a look at current surface conditions that show some of these patterns I'm explaining.

March 30, 2014

Today has been partly cloudy with some cirrus, cumulocirrus, and stratus clouds in the sky. Temperature has been relatively warmer and right now it's 37 F. If you look at the winds you'll see were getting winds from the south with a source from the gulf. Were also getting a push of warm air from the low pressure systems warm front. As this low passes through tomorrow I would expect to see temperatures cool off as winds shift direction out of the east and another front moves in. Currently pressure is at 1012 mb, dew point is 38 F and winds are relatively calm.

March 27, 2014

Currently we have a low pressure system making its way by us. Warm air is coming up from the gulf and cold air is being brought down from the south. Winds are out of the North east at 6 mph and should start shifting to the west. This low has brought a lot of water vapor to the atmosphere as well. Dew point has reached temperature at about 700 ft according to the sound diagram so we have clouds forming at that level and they're precipitating. Temperature is 34 F and dewpoint is 32 F. Barometric pressure is 999 mb so we are still very much in this low, but as it passes by another system is moving in that's going to bring warm air this weekend.

March 26, 2014

It looks like well be experiencing snow around the Great Lakes region into the weekend as cold air continues to push southward from Canada. There won't be much accumulation because of the wet snow or rain/snow mix. However, enough may fall on the cold ground to create slippery roads which may be dangerous. Air is pushing up from the south and mixing with this cold air making for some of these snowy conditions. The speed of these winds are 13 mph and out of the SE with gusts upto 22 mph.

Barometric pressure is 1008 mb and with current surface conditions and contour lines pressure has a very high range around the midwest. A warm front is pushing up through Minnesota right now and it's currently snowing just above the state. The low that is apart of this warm front has a lot of water vapor in it based on the GOES satellite. Water vapor in the atmosphere is also very high over Minnesota and west of the state.

March 25, 2014

Yesterday we experienced an alberta clipper. Due to the sub polar jet we are going to have colder temperatures over the next few days. Snow storms are expected to hit the northeast as water vapor off the coast of South Carolina contribute to the low inland from it and head up the northern latitudes. Here in the midwest were also getting winds from the northwest around 10 mph that contribute to the cold weather. We might see a system currently over Oregon and Washington give us some precipitation later this week as the high pressure moves past us.

March 24, 2014

Today I could tell precipitation was on the way when I left for class at 12 because we had overcast darker skies. The high for today was at 31 F and winds are out of the west at 10 mph. I would expect winds to start shifting to a more northwestern wind as the pressure system shifts. Currently were in a high pressure trend at 1020 mb. I would expect this trend to stick around for a couple days since the next low pressure system moving in is stationary over the rockies right now. Other than that not much is going on in the U.S. besides a decent sized trough in the jet stream over the west coast that could make for some interesting storm development and wind patterns over there.

March 21, 2014

As I expected the jet stream has curved through the midwest allowing cold air to make its way down along with snow. Below I have a nice accuweather photo detailing the path of the jet stream and its relation to colder air. Despite having this cold front working its way down we are still getting a southerly wind at 9 mph which should start shifting later this weekend to a more north west wind. I say this because of the direction the cold front is pushing towards as you can see from the current surface map.

You can also see from this map that were still in a low pressure system which is partly why were getting 1-3 inches of snow here in Hayward right now. Temperature is 34 F and dew point is at 28 F. The Unisys sound diagram is reporting LI at 10 and KI at 2 which means air is still relatively stable. My forecast for the next few days would be to see colder temperatures and no precipitation because of the high pressure.

March 20, 2014

Right now in Hayward it's 15 F with scattered clouds. Winds are calm out of the west and barometric pressure is 1016 mb. Most weather forecasters are talking about the return of the cold air this weekend. We have a system building up in the north and that's going to make its way down by the end of the weekend. I would expect to see another trough in the jet stream that will make this weather possible.

March 18, 2014

Today in Hayward, Wisconsin we started getting snow around 3 am this morning. We have a span of storm clouds that is coming across the upper portions of Wisconsin and lower parts of Minnesota. Wind direction has shifted to a more calm easterly wind. Pressure is currently 1010.2 mb which is leaning towards the low side. This could be why we are getting atmospheric lifting and precipitating clouds. What amazes me is how localized the storm is. If you would drive 2 hours down to Eau-Claire you would see the sun and much nicer weather. Here is a picture of the current surface map that will show you this thin stretch of clouds.

March 17, 2014

Today we have an overcast sky, and snow falling throughout most of the day. Right now it's 24 F and dewpoint is 17 F. We have an occluded front just west of us in Minnesota that's part of the reason were getting this snow. Warm and cold air is mixing and winds are out of the southeast at 14 mph. Humidity is also very high at 75% while barometric pressure is 1006.3 mb. This kind of pressure is relatively between a usual high and low so were in a transitioning period. Another big low pressure system is following behind the current one in Minnesota and it appears to be much larger. This is why I would expect pressure to continue falling because the low west of us will press east. The system is also dealing with a lot of water vapor so I would expect precipitation the next couple of days.

March 14, 2014

Hello again blogger! I've been really busy with tests the past two days. Since I last posted the air has gotten increasingly less stable. It is now down to an LI of 8.1 which is still stable but quite a difference from 20. Today was mostly cloudy with a low around 17 F. Winds are out of the northwest at 10 - 15 mph with gusts as high as 25 mph. Despite almost overcast skies water vapor is actually pretty dry according to the GOES satellite.

Were in a low pressure system that is centered just northwest of the great lakes which is why winds are circulating counterclockwise down towards us. The low is pushing colder air down through the midwest while warm air is being pushed up on the other side of the low. The center is making some precipitating clouds, but it doesn't look like they'l be reaching us based on the wind. We also have a warm front pushing towards us and just east of the rockies.

March 11, 2014

Tonight we have a big cold front moving in that's going to bring some colder air and higher pressure. The low pressure system I was following yesterday veered south because of this high pressure wind from the north.  Skies are now clear and we don't have that blanket of clouds trapping in heat. Surprisingly it's still 39 F, but dew point has dropped to 22 F and humidity is 49%. Air is still becoming increasingly unstable, but now I would expect this trend to shift with the high pressure system moving in. Just south of us in Illinois they are getting some rain and snow as the low pressure passes through. I would say we still have a chance for precipitation tomorrow because the low pressure system is churning counter-clockwise and pushing warm air up. With this cold air colliding with the warm air pushing up there is a good chance we could see some precipitation. Here is a picture of what I'm talking about.

March 10, 2014

The Minneapolis, MN sound diagram shows the LI continuing to drop into less stable air. It is currently at 15 and the trend seems to be downward. Right now it's 41 F with winds out of the west but very calm. Winds will start shifting to be from the north as another low pressure system approaches from the west. The GOES satellite is showing a lot of cloud coverage over most of the midwest as well as water vapor especially in the Dakotas. Below is an infrared image of this coverage I'm talking about, and why it will be mostly cloudy into tomorrow with a west northwest wind direction. There is a good chance we will see some precipitation tomorrow with the low pressure and increasingly unstable air. Dew point is at 33 F and with a high of 36 F tomorrow we could see lifting air condense and precipitate depending on how dense it gets.

March 9, 2014

Tonight's low will be around 30 F which is amazing! We're starting to get a lot more water vapor in the atmosphere especially in South Dakota. Wind is blowing out of the west so we have a good chance for rain/snow as the wind blows this vapor in. Air pressure has gone down quite a bit as well as the LI. Dew point has risen to 32 F and temperature is currently 39 F. All of these patterns are telling me we're going to have a good chance of precipitation by tomorrow. Here is a picture of the water vapor map I was talking about.

March 8, 2014

Today was a very nice warmer day in Eau-Claire. Were in a nice high pressure system that's keeping most of the wind localized. Colder air isn't being blown down and now they're just coming from the west at 5 miles per hour with gusts at 9.8 miles per hour. By tonight I would suspect them to become more southerly because the high pressure should move south as the low pressure system below it pushes on towards the southern United States. Because of the high pressure we have very little clouds, I would say one tenth of the sky is covered so we have scattered clouds.

There isn't much water vapor in the atmosphere according to the GOES satellite. This is probably due to how stable the air is with an LI of 24.5. Temperature is also way above dew point at 32 F and 16 F respectively.

March 6, 2014

Knowing what we know about clouds after today's lecture I would like to describe the cloud types I saw in the sky walking to class just now. We only had about 1/10 of the sky covered with clouds so coverage is considered scattered. The clouds that were in the sky were wispy and cirrus-like, but they also had some lumpiness to them. Because of this I would consider them cirrocumulus. We also had some cirrostratus in other parts of the sky. Because of this most of the clouds must have consisted of ice crystals or cooled water vapor.

Besides clouds we have wind blowing right now out of the south at 5 miles per hour with gusts up to 10 miles per hour. Pressure is still fairly high, but we have a steep pressure gradient from here to just west of the Dakotas as a low pressure system makes it's way in. The bottom end of this low pressure is a warm front that will be swirling counter clockwise up towards us which is where the forecast for a warm up probably came from. Here is a picture of what I'm talking about.



The jet stream is making a steep trough south of the great lakes all the way to the gulf which is keeping most of the colder air north of us from making its way down. The low pressure system working its way in is bringing a lot of water vapor according to the GOES satellite imagery and caused some scary avalanche warnings over the Sierra and Cascade mountains because of heavy snow building over the less dense snow they've been receiving. Here's a good picture from accuweather.com describing the mountain avalanche factors that are going on right now.

March 5, 2014

We have a high pressure system above the great lakes that's making wind blow out of the south east at 3 mph. We are mostly in this high pressure system as well because the isobars are very widespread for the first two and they start getting very thin as we move towards the western United States as you can see from this surface map. Wind is still very stable with an LI of 22 and KI of 3. It's definitely looking like we won't see precipitation for a few more days with an air parcel like this. Temperature is 10 F and dew point is 0 F which adds to there being no precipitation.

March 4, 2014

Tonight we have winds coming from the north, but they are very calm. We have a large high pressure system above us that's pushing down this air. Temperature is 14.2 F while dew point is at 6 F. We have quite a bit of water vapor above Minnesota and Wisconsin, and the lower portions of these states are getting some snow. The center of the low pressure system I've been tracking is in northern Kansas on some occluded fronts that are making for some interesting weather in the Rockies. The Minneapolis sound diagram is showing an LI of 26 and a KI of 1 which is very stable which is why we won't be receiving much if any precipitation. Here is the sound diagram for this Tuesday.

March 3, 2014

This afternoon we had some snow showers that lasted for a few hours. We didn't get much out of it, but I would contribute it to the irregular wind direction and air temperatures. Right now we have a high pressure system just below Michigan that is churning air up towards us from the south east. This is going to cause above normal temperatures for the next week. Dew point is also very close to air temperature which are 2 F and 9 F respectively. This helped increase the condensation level and the formation of clouds in our atmosphere this afternoon which lead to some snowfall.

March 2, 2014

Today's Sunday weather isn't very exciting. The cold front is pushing its way south, and areas around Tennessee are getting everything from snow to heavy rain. This is because of the mixing of different air parcels in the atmosphere. Here in Eau-Claire it's -8 F with winds out of the west  at 3 miles per hour. Were in a high pressure system and have had clear skies for most of the day. We have some low pressure systems caught in the Rocky Mountains right now that are pushing their way towards us on an occluded front. We should see the effects of this later this week with precipitation and cloud cover as it warms up.

March 1, 2014

Today marks the first day of the meteorlogical spring, but it sure doesn't feel like it as much of northern Wisconsin is under wind chill advisories. This is because winds are coming out of the north bringing colder air. Temperature is 14 F and dew point is 7 F. Skies are overcast and humidity is 70%. This was interesting because we have a stream of water vapor stretching from Texas to the great lakes. This was really interesting because it looks like it's being carried north from the equator which makes sense because more evaporation is occuring. Here is the geostationary satellite showing the effect i'm talking about.