BleedGopher
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Go Gophers!!
Interesting. I wonder if it has a lot to do with tributaries too. Most of the Mississippi River area is in an "abnormally dry" status right now which isn't good of course but not super uncommon.The two big stories this week is the record cold, and the record low Mississippi River water levels. The cold blast this week is unusually cold for this time of the year, with record lows being set all over the country. NW IA saw temps in the single digits yesterday morning, shattering their old records.
Interesting. I wonder if it has a lot to do with tributaries too. Most of the Mississippi River area is in an "abnormally dry" status right now which isn't good of course but not super uncommon.
Current Map | U.S. Drought Monitor
droughtmonitor.unl.edu
Looks like another round of good rain for much of the central US at the end of the week.That is a big part of it. The Missouri, Arkansas, and Red Rivers are all major rivers that feed the Mississippi and currently flow through large areas of extreme to exceptional drought.
This is the time of the year that the rivers are typically the lowest, so that's part of it as well. The good news is it looks like the pattern starts to change on Sunday. We'll see how long that lasts.
Looks like another round of good rain for much of the central US at the end of the week.
Do you have a good go to place to find maps of past precipitation? I used to have one at the NWS website where you could select by day, week, month or even the past year and it would show the estimated precip across the US. I think you could even switch it to difference from normal. I can't seem to find it anymore.
Thanks, exactly what I'm looking for.We're finally seeing a more active pattern, which is typical for this time of the year, it just feels foreign because we have seen very few nice troughs in the west this year.
I like this site: https://hprcc.unl.edu/maps.php?map=ACISClimateMaps
If you're looking for some more localized precip estimates from the last day or two or even up to the last week, you can find them here: https://www.pivotalweather.com/maps.php?ds=stageiv&p=stageiv_qpe_168h_p&r=us_nc&pwplus=1
Thanks, exactly what I'm looking for.
My wife makes fun of me for being a weather nerd (a very amateur one at that). I have no background in anything related to weather, just something I've always been interested in. I especially like the lead up to winter storms.
I get a chuckle out of people complaining when they forecast 4-6" and then they only get 3". Like really? You know how hard it is to forecast snowfall totals?I used to be so terrified of tornadoes that I ended up becoming fascinated by them at a young age. I love winter storms too. They are my favorite to forecast because they are so challenging. I still don't sleep much whenever one hits because I get too excited.
Since we're going to see a triple dip La Nina, which is pretty rare, there's not a lot of data to go off of. The last two were snowier winters in the Upper Midwest, especially the last one in 00-01 with 76" of snow at MSP, and 100" where I was living in eastern SD. 75-76 saw around 55" at MSP. The only other one was 56-57 which was a little drier, with only 39" at MSP.
The most interesting thing to me is that the last two started early, with a lot of snow in Nov and Dec. We also had drier, warmer falls, until the switch flipped in Nov.
Overall I think we'll see below average temperatures with above average snowfall. I think we'll know where we are heading by the end of November though. If the pattern changes to more active in Nov and looks to continue into Dec, I think we'll see a lot of snow. If it says dry into Dec, I think we'll stay dry throughout the winter. We really need to start transitioning back to more neutral or El Nino conditions so that we can begin to chip away at the drought.
Blizzard warning in the Dakotas. I'm guessing that will get extended into NW MN. A foot+ and 40+mph gusts possible in some areas.Here we go! This is for this Thursday evening. MSP likely misses any heavy snow this time, but a lot of rain/storms followed by prolonged, well below average temperatures.
View attachment 21648
All you have to do is that arrow pointing up at the bottom right of the tweet, then click on "copy link to tweet", then past it in a message.I don't know how to imbed a tweet on here - but saw a guy tweeting from Bismark, ND this morning. Blizzard warnings out. the guy - who is apparently some kind of a weather blogger or storm chaser - said Bismark could get up to 18 inches of snow and high winds.
he showed some video and it was already looking nasty at about 9:00 this morning.
the guy's twitter is @aaronjayjack if you want to check it out.
The Buffalo area could get several feet of lake effect snow late this week and into the weekend. The Bills are home Sunday at noon against Cleveland. Could be an interesting game.
Just once I want to experience something like that in person.Weather is cyclical
Weather question for you @GopherWeatherGuy - how do they actually measure the inches of snow that falls when there's also a lot of blowing wind? Measure it along a snow fence and it'll be really deep - measure it in the middle of an open field where the wind is blowing and it'll be much less. Even in my driveway there's a big variation in the depth of snow that happens from a storm.
Probably a little overdone but still fun to look at. Certainly looks like 3+ inches per hour likely somewhere.
Weather question for you @GopherWeatherGuy - how do they actually measure the inches of snow that falls when there's also a lot of blowing wind? Measure it along a snow fence and it'll be really deep - measure it in the middle of an open field where the wind is blowing and it'll be much less. Even in my driveway there's a big variation in the depth of snow that happens from a storm.
Basic info below. Essentially do multiple measurements in different areas and then do an average. I'm not sure if the National Weather Service has a better way but this is how it's recommended for volunteers.Weather question for you @GopherWeatherGuy - how do they actually measure the inches of snow that falls when there's also a lot of blowing wind? Measure it along a snow fence and it'll be really deep - measure it in the middle of an open field where the wind is blowing and it'll be much less. Even in my driveway there's a big variation in the depth of snow that happens from a storm.