This is the end

It seems like blogger crapped out on me toward the end here. They claim my last couple posts will be coming back though. Anyway we've had some clouds and rain recently. Clouds today with a northeast wind, thanks to a low pressure system off to our southwest. We reached the mid-50s, but that was all we could do. With cloud cover and rain tomorrow again, combined with the fact that we are sitting in a gigantic trough in the jet stream, we will struggle to hit 50. Thus ends the spring semester.

May 9

Empty garbage cans and recycling bins littered the roads, sidewalks and boulevards late this morning, put there by strong winds that accompanied some morning thunderstorms. My recycling bin made its way several yards to the north, which leads me to believe that, for a while at least, the wind was fairly strong (pushing 30 mph, I'd guess) out of the south. We reached about 65 and did have a little clearing late in the day. The jet stream is off to our north, with a trough to our west, which should bring in some warmer air. We also have low pressure and a couple fronts, a cold to our north and a warm to our south, that could result in some wind and possible storms tomorrow.

May 5

It got a little nicer than I thought it would today. I started my run in some light sprinkles, but toward the end, the sun actually started to come out and the stratocumulus clouds broke up into just some nice, fluffy cumulus. It seemed to cloud up again completely for a while before the sun returned in the afternoon. We made it into the upper-50s with a south-southwest wind. With high pressure moving past to our south, we should have fairly clear skies, warmer temperatures and a wind from the south tomorrow. Until the next front moves through late, giving us a chance for more rain.

May 4

Today wound up being quite nice, reaching into the low 60s and not much except for some cirrus clouds in the afternoon. I was pretty accurate with my forecast from yesterday, and it's nice to be back in the 60s, if only for a day. As I write this, pressure is 30.22 and dropping as low pressure approaches, along with a cold front and a bit of rain. After the front moves through, we will not see as warm of temperatures as today. I'm calling for mid-50s and rainy for tomorrow.

A May warmup

After two cold, cloudy days to open may, we warmed up a bit today. It was still pretty cold for my run this morning, with a fairly strong wind out of the east, but seeing the sun was nice. Eventually, we warmed to about 50, but it didn't feel quite that warm, with a 10mph wind out of the northeast. With high pressure off to our south, we should see southwesterly winds tomorrow with clear skies and a chance to warm up a bit more. We're still stuck in a trough in the jet stream, so it's too early to expect average.

Nice while it lasted

Today was nice, while I was inside mostly. It was pretty cold this morning, with frost on the ground while I was out for my run, but it started to feel nice by the end. It got all the way up into the mid 60s, with a fairly strong wind out of the south, which made my prediction pretty accurate. We have low pressure and a cold front moving in, so we will not get quite as warm tomorrow as we will cloud up and likely get some more rain. We could also see some strong winds from the east early in the day.

April 28

This stuff should start clearing out eventually, bringing some broken cumulus and stratocumulus clouds as the low continues to move east. I thought the clearing would happen sooner, so we didn't get the sun I thought might allow our afternoon to warm a bit. We topped out in the mid-40s with a wind from the west at about 10 mph. We'll likely warm quite a bit tomorrow, but we'll have some strong winds from the south as we'll be stuck between the high pressure dome to the south and another low to the northwest that's bringing with it a cold front and more rain.

Snow

We had some flurries as I was getting ready for my run this morning. Not much, but still. It was still cold when I was walking to class in the afternoon, and didn't get much warmer than the low 40s with winds out of the north-northeast. I thought warmer, but then I also thought this low might move along and allow us to clear up a bit. That was not the case. It's still lingering, which could give us the chance for showers into Thursday. We'll have winds out of the northwest as it moves away.

Not great baseball weather

I woke up to rain and strong winds out of the east and realized I can no longer see winds from the east and not think 'tis fit for neither man nor beast.' We've had light rain nearly all day and it didn't reach 50. I don't have very high hopes for tomorrow as this low pressure dome is fairly slow moving, and it looks like we could be in for more rain into the day. We are also stuck in a trough in the jet stream, which is keeping us cool. So I'd expect, if we don't get much sun, highs again in the upper-40s.

A little wet

I don't expect perfect conditions for my first race of the season, so I could have predicted this rain when I signed up for tomorrow's race in December. Three years ago it snowed eight inches for this race, but I think it was two weeks earlier, as well. We're getting light drizzle now, at about 6:30 p.m. Friday. It's been doing this for a while now. This system looks almost exactly like the one that came through, what was that, two weeks ago now? With a low pressure dome and a warm front preceding a cold front. The warm front isn't going to warm us up enough to cause anything severe though. And it's coming through overnight. Hopefully things have cleared up a bit by 8 a.m. race time. I'm sure it'll have warmed up into the 50s by the time I'm done, hopefully less than six hours later.

A little snow

I'm kind of hoping this was my last run on snow for a few months. There wasn't a whole lot of accumulation, but enough to cover the ground, even in the woods, in a few places. It was kind of pretty, with some heavy, wet snow covering pine tree branches and birds singing, if you're into that sort of thing. With a bit of sun in the afternoon, the snow didn't stick around long. Maybe it reached the mid-40s today. High pressure moving in tomorrow, so I'm calling for clear skies. If we have clear skies, it will be difficult for us to NOT reach into the mid-50s, at least.

I think this is three

On the weather folklore front, I thought there was one saying it snows twice on robins. So I figured we were done with snow. Not quite, it turns out. The worst of it is off to our south, and we are supposedly only going to get an inch or two out of this. The low isn't moving very quickly, so I don't imagine we'll get sunny and 70 tomorrow. More likely cloudy, still some rain/snow in the morning and highs around 40.

Say it ain't snow

Little league baseball season started yesterday. It was pushed back from its scheduled Saturday start by the possibility of snow. Yesterday was just cold. Today wasn't a whole lot warmer, topping out in the upper-40s. But a cold east wind didn't make it feel any warmer. We have a Colorado low moving in our direction, and with colder temperatures still dominating, we are likely going to see a fairly large amount of heavy, wet snow through Wednesday morning.

April 16

I didn't have to shovel, so that was nice. The little snow we had covering the grassy areas this morning melted off over the course of the day. Still, it only reached about 40 and we had a strong wind out of the northeast at about 10 mph. So my prediction for the day was right, despite my hopes that it would hit 65 and prove me wrong. We are in a deep trough in the jet stream, which will keep us cold for Sunday, but if we get a little sun it should warm into the mid to upper 40s.

Brrr

I had to scrape snow off my car when I left work for dinner. There is a little sticking to the grass at this point, but nothing I'll have to shovel yet. It may have gotten into the mid-40s today, but with the wind, it didn't feel even close to that. Had I not missed yesterday's post, I would have noted our position between a high pressure dome and a low pressure dome. The high was off to our northeast and the low to our southwest, giving us strong winds from the east. Winds will shift to the north and northwest tonight and into tomorrow as the low continues to pass. We'll stay cold tomorrow, but the snow should turn to rain, as it will get a ways above freezing, maybe into the low 40s.

April 13

We might have hit 60 today with winds out of the north. I'll give myself partial credit, as it was a bit colder than yesterday. It looks like there is a high pressure dome to the north of us keeping the precipitation associated with a cold front that moved through off to our south. That may change as the high pressure moves off to the east. The high pressure should give us winds from the north-northeast tomorrow, and we'll likely be a bit colder still with the jet stream off to the south and the cold front moving through.

April 12

Temperatures today were about 10 degrees above normal, reaching into the mid 60s. My last post was pretty accurate, with a fairly strong storm on Sunday afternoon, but nothing lasting or too severe. There is a cold front approaching, which could bring us a chance of rain tomorrow, and an approaching low pressure dome could bring us north winds and cooler temperatures later. These things don't appear to be moving quickly, so we may have another fairly warm day tomorrow, but that might be the end of the nice days for a while.

Storm's a comin'

Things could get interesting here in the next few hours. I've been at work tonight, and the scanner periodically goes off telling us the storm is in Rochester and is on its way. We had a warm front move through, but we didn't get the warmer temperatures I called for yesterday. However, we're looking at warmer temps tomorrow, but the warm front is being trailed by a cold front, so that could make for an interesting mix. Thunderstorms are likely tomorrow. Maybe there will be a bit of a break from what we get tonight.

Another nice day

Today warmed up and cleared out after a bit of a cloudy, cool start, which I didn't see coming. It did turn into the kind of day I forecast, again reaching the 60s. We have a low pressure done and a warm front approaching, so tomorrow should turn out to be a bit cloudy and windy, but warmer. Maybe a bit of rain will help with some Tower Ridge snow removal, as well.

Nice

We hit 60 today. I actually went out without a coat on for longer than it takes to take out the garbage. I was pretty accurate as far as my forecast for today, but I didn't think it would be this warm. We are starting to get a bit cloudy, but no precipitation today. Maybe this weekend.
With any luck, these temperatures will do a bit more melting in the woods. Trails at Tower Ridge are still snow covered from the grooming for the skiers, while Lowes Creek single track is closed until it dries out. I'm usually out at Tower this time of year because the sandy soil drains better than Lowes. Now we just need to get down to the soil.
As for tomorrow, I'll say temps will be about the same. A low pressure system may be close enough to give us a stronger south-southeast wind in advance of the weekend's rain.

April 6

I'm back at work today after a couple days off. It seems I tend to forget to post when I'm not sitting at a computer all day. Sorry about that. Anyway ...
Today was beautiful. Sunny all day with highs in the 50s. Not much for winds even. There is a weak area of high pressure moving over us, which will give us a south east wind tomorrow. Highs should be similar to today. We may pick up some clouds in the afternoon as a cold front approaches.

Opening Day

It didn't get as cold overnight as it has the past few nights, so that was nice. However, I was surprised to wake to overcast skies. I predicted clouds wouldn't roll in until later. While it did clear up a bit in the afternoon, and make it's way into the upper-40s, precipitation is still on the way. The easiest way for me to tell that it will be snow in amounts that will need to be shoveled is because I have a couple days off coming up. So I'll savor my few hours after work without shoveling in preparation for hours in the morning spent shoveling. I've said it before, and I'll say it again ... Stupid Groundhogs. And Brewers.

Baseball season?

Tomorrow's opening day of the 2011 baseball season. The Brewers open on the road in Cincinnati, where they were snowed on during workouts today. The Twins opened their new open-air stadium (no roof) last year, but they don't play a home game for about a week, fortunately for them. Though, at this rate, when they do, they'll still have to contend with highs in the 40s.
I failed to post yesterday (as far as I remember. Work's crazy), but I didn't miss much. My forecast was right on, which hasn't been hard, and I would have predicted more of the same, and I would have been right. It was cold running this morning, but not quite as cold as yesterday. Things haven't changed in a while, with high pressure dominating. This cold front might get here later tomorrow, so perhaps it'll cloud up and then retain some heat overnight Thursday into Friday. As long as it doesn't snow.

More of the same

Sunny and nice, if a bit cool, again. I called it, but that hasn't been too difficult lately. Not much for wind, clouds, anything interesting. High pressure dominates, but the jet stream to the south is keeping us chilly, with highs in the low 40s. I'm going to keep this simple: Same thing tomorrow. Maybe a bit warmer. Things might change toward the end of the week as a cold front approaches.

Back at it

Well, I needed a break, and got just about as much of a break as the weather is willing to give a person. Since our snowstorm (from which I've finally, after days of scraping, cleared my driveway) we've been stuck in a nice, sunny but cool pattern. With a high pressure dome to our north and the jet stream well off to our south we've been getting a steady dose of cold weather. The sun has been nice, and it's got to be only a matter of time before it warms up, right? Anyway, it doesn't look like a whole lot is going to change for tomorrow. Mid-30s and sun.

March 18

Today is cooler than yesterday by a fair bit. It's currently 38 and 40 is going to be a real accomplishment at this point. I was right on my prediction from a couple days ago about the fog yesterday, but I didn't expect today to be this much cooler. There is high pressure settling over us, so tomorrow is going to be nice and clear and probably a little warmer. Get outside tomorrow night and take a look at the moon. It's supposed to look 18 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than normal:

March 16

With temperatures yesterday warm enough to do quite a bit of melting, plus a bit of rain in the afternoon, then a cold night, we started off this morning with some fog. It did get a bit warmer today, a bit warmer than 50, so I'll take credit for getting that right. After we got rid of the fog, much of the day was mostly clear, with maybe 20 percent cirrus cloud cover, and a light south wind. There is a low pressure front heading toward us, bringing the possibility of some rain tomorrow, and if it cools down a bit over night, I'm predicting more fog as well.

March 15

Well, I was totally off. The rain came briefly at about 5 p.m. as a cold front moved through. It was pushing 50 today, but didn't quite get there. We have a high pressure dome to the south of us, so hopefully some southerly winds overnight will drive temperatures up above that 50-degree mark tomorrow

March 14

Today was a nice, sunny day, despite being a bit cool. It hit 42 on my thermometer at home, when I checked between class and work at about 2:30, so that's what I'm going with as the high. There's not much happening out there now, at 11:30 p.m., with skies still clear and a light wind out of the south. Hopefully the south wind will help warm things up a bit more tomorrow, however, there is a cold front approaching that could bring us some rain in the afternoon. Maybe even a mix, since it looks to me like it might not get here until late.

Blustry

We had strong winds move in by the time I left work last night. Rain was blowing almost sideways from west to east while I was sitting at the stoplight at Clairemont and Rudolph Road at midnight. By the time I got up and went for my run, the wind had died down, but it was still fairly strong at about 10 mph from the north. It was also colder today, topping out in the upper-20s to low-30s. It should be a bit warmer tomorrow as the cold front moves away, but with a high pressure dome to our north, we could see winds from the northeast keeping things cool.

March 10

The temperature today reached about 40, clearing most of the remaining ice off my driveway through no effort of my own. I was fairly accurate on my prediction, as with the sun it warmed up more than most news outlets were forecasting. We have a low pressure dome approaching, so winds should turn to from the southeast and pick up a bit. It should be a nice day tomorrow, but maybe turn a bit blustery overnight into Saturday.

A bit more snow

Well, we did get some snow, but not nearly what was called for. I think we are at about 2 inches at about 7 p.m. This is right in line with what I predicted. Most of what did fall in our area has melted. I may have to do a bit of shoveling when I get home from work, just in an effort to avoid it icing up later. Temperatures hovered in the mid 30s, so sidewalks were sloppy. For tomorrow, it looks like a big high pressure dome is settling in over the midsection of the country. I'm calling for clear skies and temperatures pretty similar to a little warmer than today with the sun. But we are still stuck in a trough in the jet stream, so no mid-50s yet.

March 8

Hot one today. It reached about 40 with winds out of the south at 5-10 mph. No snow so far, but apparently it's coming. As of yesterday, the storm's track had meteorologists predicting that we would be in the 1-3 inch band of snow. Now it's looking more like 3-6 through tomorrow night. I'm calling for more on the low end of that. We may get three, but, to me, it looks like it's taking the moisture associated with the storm a long time to track to the north. I'm leaning toward the higher end of that range ending up to our south.

March 7

We had a bit of snow this morning, but it warmed nicely throughout the day, and I got away with doing very little shoveling. Just a bit in some shaded areas. We got into the low-to-mid 30s, and now in the evening are getting a little bit of drizzle.
We have a low pressure dome tracking along the jet stream, apparently bringing some snow to our area beginning tomorrow night.We are in an area where it looks like anywhere from 3-10 inches are a possibility. It looks to me like it is going to stay a bit to the south of us. We'll be in the low end of that range. I hope.

Friday, March 4

The mid-30s were nice, melting most of the remaining snow off my driveway. Winds have been out of the north and the sky has remained overcast all day. There is a high pressure dome sitting to the north-northwest of us in Canada and the jet stream has dipped to our south, leaving us in a trough, so that should cool things off tomorrow.

Cold again

Today got off to a chilly start and never really recovered, so, unfortunately I was right about that. It had already dipped to about 5 degrees by the time I left work last night, and by the time I woke up this morning it was 3-below. It had warmed to 2 by the time I decided I needed to get my run in at about 9. It did eventually get into the mid-teens. It's been pretty clear for much of the day, and the wind has been relatively calm. Because of this, tonight is going to get cold again. With the jet stream off to the north of us and a high pressure dome a bit off to the east, winds should shift around to from the south, helping temperatures recover a bit tomorrow. However, a cold front is moving through and going to bring a little snow.

March 1

We have a pleasant opening day of March. In like a lamb. I'm sure that doesn't bode well for the end of the month. Just like how the groundhog knocked one out of the park in February.
We're approaching 40. Winds have picked up since this morning. Before I went for my run, my flag wasn't even moving. Now winds are out of the west-southwest at 10-15 mph. They'll be shifting around to the north-northwest as a cold front passes over us, causing temperatures tomorrow.
There was an interesting article on the Weather Channel website about severe weather in March. The article can be found here:

Not impressed by 20 degrees

It was still a bit cool today, though better than it has been. We have a high pressure dome sitting off to our southwest right now, so light winds, about 5 mph, from the south-southwest. It reached the mid 20s and is currently about 16 degrees at 7 p.m. It's not supposed to get a whole lot colder than that tonight, and hopefully the south winds and the jet stream above or slightly north of us allows us to have a nice, warm day tomorrow. But it looks like a cold front is expected to move through tomorrow afternoon, so the warmth will be short-lived.

Warmer

Spent some time shoveling the driveway this morning. We wound up with about an inch on the south side of town. Winds were light from the south, and temperatures were in the mid 20s at the time. The sky was overcast for much of the day. Had the sun come out, it likely would have warmed up even more. There's some snow and whatnot to the south of Madison, but with our winds out of the south, I'm hoping Monday shapes up to be a nice, warm one. Above freezing would be optimistic. But I might as well be optimistic, since I have the day off.

A bit more snow

Cold and snow today. We picked up maybe an inch of light, fluffy stuff. I don't know if we even reached double-digit temperatures today. It wasn't terribly pleasant out there. At least the wind was nearly nonexistent. I'm getting done with work now at nearly midnight and it's frigid. About 5-below right now. It's not supposed to get too much colder. It looks like the jet stream is supposed to flatten out tomorrow, and we won't be in quite so deep a trough. Supposedly a little warmer too.

Cooler

Holy cow, it's cooling off quickly. It was never real warm, but when I left work to take a dinner break at about 7 p.m., it was downright cold. Couldn't have been much above 10 at that point. I don't think it ever got much warmer than 20 though.
The day started off cloudy with some early snow showers. We didn't get much more than a trace, but my driveway did have a layer of white, much of which apparently sublimated over the course of the day.
With a high pressure system sitting over us and a west-northwest wind, tomorrow is going to be cold. It sounds like we may get a bit more snow as well.
On a side note, my home weather station doesn't have humidity, which may explain why I've never checked what the indoor relative humidity is. I've got wind direction, though.

Feb. 24

Today was pretty nice. The sun was starting to peak out a bit when I was out for my run this morning. It got up to freezing, and with some help from the sun, I had a little bit more melting on the roof. I'm curious after class to check on the relative humidity inside the house, so I'm going to do that after work.
The wind has been out of the northwest for much of the day. With the jet stream still well south of us and a wind blowing colder air in from the north, I'm calling for cooler temperatures tomorrow.

Feb. 23

Today was about average for late February. It got to a bit above freezing. That softened up the mound at the end of my driveway, which I decided to remove this afternoon since, if extended forecasts are to be believed, I don't think is going to melt on its own for a while. Winds were fairly light out of the west-southwest, and skies were overcast except for a little clearing in the afternoon.
According to this Weather Channel graphic, we've got a cold front moving through, so lower temperatures for the next couple days:

Late snow

My shoulders are a bit sore after two days of snow left me shoveling a couple times. I did try to use the argument that I should wait until the wind changed from the northeast, but I had to work Sunday night, so shoveling had to be done. We wound up with about 10 inches from the storm. The snow finally ended sometime Monday night, just a few flurries after my final bout of shoveling.
Today, however, was fairly nice. The high reached into the middle 20s, skies were mostly sunny, and winds for much of the day were light.
It looks like a cold front is making its way toward us, but some of the maps I've seen show it to the west of Minnesota at 5 a.m. tomorrow, so I'm going to say it'll be nice at least early.

Plenty of sun

It's a nice, clear day, which made for a pleasant run in the woods, where I was out of the wind. The wind has been out of the west-northwest at about 20-25 mph all day. That makes it feel a bit cooler, but still nice for February. It sounds like we have at least one more somewhat nice day in store for tomorrow, then this happens:

Foggy

Today started out foggy and remained that way for much of the day. I was expecting the sun to burn off the fog earlier, but it didn't start to clear up until the afternoon. It did get into the upper 40s, but that didn't feel quite as warm due to all the moisture in the air. It looks like we have a low pressure dome moving over us, which is bringing in high winds from the south. With the winds out of the south and the jet stream moving to the north of us, I would expect it to cool down tomorrow.

B-E-A-Utiful

Plenty of sun and highs in the mid 40s today. Wind has been out of the south-southeast at about 10 mph. It doesn't look like a whole lot is going to change for tomorrow.

February 15

Another nice day. We reached the mid to upper 30s and had a bit of sun today with a fairly steady south-southeast wind at 10-15 mph. Tomorrow looks to be similar to today, as the jet stream is going to remain north of us, allowing the wind from the south to push in some warm air.

Valentine's Day

Two warm days in a row. Sunday's run was in shorts. I saw a guy skiing in short sleeves. Winter in Wisconsin. As soon as it gets a bit above freezing, everyone, myself included, treats it like July. I made a trip to Minneapolis last night for a movie and as we were leaving the show, the wind was gusting up to 30 mph or more. Apparently a low pressure dome was passing to the north.
Today's temperatures reached the upper 30s, a bit warmer than was forecast, and we had a 10 mph wind out of the west most of the day. That wind has shifted to come from the south now, which should keep temperatures in the 20s overnight. If we get a little sun again, I'd assume tomorrow will be as nice as today was.

Freezing

Accuweather graphic.

Pretty exciting, reaching the freezing point. Today saw some flurries, enough to make me think about doing some shoveling tomorrow, and a fairly strong wind out of the south-southwest. With the wind out of the south, I'm going to say tomorrow will be even warmer than today. As for later in the week, Accuweather.com gives us this graphic:
Here's to hoping the jet stream moves north and west of us.

A bit warmer

Finally, it warmed up a bit. It took a while. This morning started out a bit cold, but by 11 a.m., or so, it at least wasn't bitingly cold anymore. It reached a bit into the 20s, which felt warmer after days of single digit and negative temperatures. Winds have been out of the west at 10 mph. Much of the afternoon was overcast and we are getting a little snow now, so that cloud cover will likely trap in some of the heat we built up over the course of the day, keeping temperatures well above zero overnight. A little warmer again tomorrow.

That'll be just about enough of this

Pretty similar to yesterday. Nice bluebird skies, if viewed from inside. Outside, brutally cold again. A pretty strong west wind made it feel well below zero. I'm calling for more cold tomorrow. Stupid groundhogs.

Cold

Today was frigid, with highs in the single digits and wind chills well below zero. The wind was out of the southwest at 10-15 mph for much of the day. The temperatures tonight are going to dip below zero thanks to clear skies.
It's not looking much better for tomorrow. This high pressure dome off to our west seems to have not moved in forever.

Weather Channel graphic

Cold, Again

It's cooling off out there. With the day off, but class in the middle of the day, I had two runs planned today. The first one, at 10 a.m., was pleasant enough. It was chilly, but the wind wasn't awful in the woods. By the time my second run rolled around at 3 p.m., the wind out of the northwest had picked up and made it feel quite a bit cooler, especially when it was aimed directly at my face. I noticed the temperature hadn't dropped too much, from about 16 early, to 14 when I was done with the later run, but the wind chill made the last run feel like it wasn't much above 0. It was also quite cloudy all day, with just a bit of sun peaking through.
My guess is that tomorrow is going to be colder than today. These winds out of the north have been blowing this cold air in quite frequently recently. Blame Canada.

Day Before Super Bowl

It was cloudy all day again, and again it was warm. Or at least warm compared to earlier this week. It felt pleasant in the woods for a long run. Highs must have been in the upper 20s. A few degrees shy of shorts weather.There was little to no wind, and I confirmed this when I returned home to find my flag not moving.
Due to the lack of wind and cloud cover, I'm projecting it will remain warm tonight and into tomorrow. Go Pack.

A Little Warmer

Today warmed up fairly quickly. It was in the low single digits when I went out for my run, with wind chills well below zero. The wind doesn't feel terrible in the woods, but cold is still cold. When I finished, the temperature had increased by about 10 degrees, but with a 10-15 mph wind out of the west, it still felt plenty cold.
Cloud cover varied throughout the day. It was sunny early, but clouds moved in later. It cleared up for a time again, but as I was on my way back to work after diner at about 7 p.m., it looked like clouds had rolled in again.
With clouds tonight to keep in whatever heat we have, and a wind out of the west-southwest, I would predict tomorrow to be warmer than today.

Groundhog Day

The good news is: According to Punxsutawney Phil and Wisconsin's own Sun Prairie Jimmy, spring's coming early. However, today was brutal. I went out for a ski at Tower Ridge early, and it didn't take long for me to consider it a mistake. At 9 a.m. it was barely above zero with a 10 mph wind out of the northwest that was biting when you were going into it. It was nice and sunny, but that didn't do much to warm things up. To make matters worse, the snow was so cold, I was getting no glide. Eventually, I got so frustrated I decided to just do some hills, since I don't expect to glide when I'm going up anyway.
By the time I walked to class in the afternoon, it had maybe warmed slightly, but the wind chill had to have remained below zero. The wind had switched around to the west and seemed to have picked up speed a bit, maybe gusting to 15 or so.
As for tomorrow, I'll call it sunny if for no other reason than the big storm to our south has moved farther east. And it has to be warmer than this, right. I mean, we are in for an early spring according to several rodents.

Day 2

Finally, a little sun. It's been a while. It was mostly sunny this morning. Now, at about 1:30 p.m., it's become a bit hazy, but you can still see the sun. As I was shoveling this morning, there was a fairly strong wind out of the north at maybe 10-15 mph. It was a little cooler than yesterday, in the low teens in the morning and now in the mid teens.
During a break from shoveling, I got to talking to my neighbor. In addition to telling me that I needed a snowblower, he also mentioned this winter reminded him a bit of the winter of 1974. That doesn't mean a lot to me, but apparently what he meant was that we were getting these fairly frequent, small snowfalls, similar to the winter 37 years ago. Having much less history to base my comparisons, I would have to say this reminds me of the winter last year. I swear we got frequent, small snowfalls then too.
Again with the wind out of the north, I'll go ahead and say that tomorrow will be cooler than today. Soon, I hope to have more information on which to base my prognostication.

A Case of the Mondays

January is leaving us with a couple final inches of snow. Flurries started a bit before I left work a little before midnight, and they still, as of 7:30 p.m., haven't stopped. Nothing heavy, just steady. I have about two inches on the driveway, which will likely wait until tomorrow.
For most of the day, wind was light and out of the east. It wasn't blowing hard, but it was enough to drift over the Fenceline Trail at Lowes Creek. The trail is exposed to the east where the park borders the Eau Claire County Expo Center, and the snow was light enough it didn't take much to blow it around a bit. There were a couple spots along this quarter-mile of exposed trail where I was in snow over my ankles.
The temperature wasn't awful, reaching into the upper teens. But it's still not running shorts' weather.
After getting home from my run, I noticed the wind changed directions and picked up some speed, coming from the north at maybe 10-15 mph, judging by my flag. Based on the change of wind direction, I would project tomorrow to be colder, as the wind from the north will blow in cold air from Canada. Or something.