February 23, 2018

Snow!

Current Conditions

Temperature: 28 °F
Dew Point: 22 °F
Winds: WSW 9 mph
Pressure: 1024.0 mb
Visibility: 6 miles

This morning there was at least 3 inches of wet, heavy snow on the ground! It was a beautiful site to see. The temperature this morning was 28 °F with a dew point of 27 °F. This equates to a 2 degree dew point depression. This small of a dew point depression indicates the air has a high moisture content for its temperature. The sky was overcast with fog and a light drizzle until around 10:00 AM. At noon the temperature was almost the same at 29 °F and winds were W at 13 mph with overcast skies. There were no other major events during the day and even now the temperature hasn't changed much. The winds however are now turning south which should be bringing some interesting weather up to Wisconsin and Minnesota (figure 1). 

Figure 1. Surface map of the United States.

 As mentioned yesterday, a bomb cyclone is heading to Wisconsin and Minnesota that is originating in the Missouri region. With winds coming out of the south, this low pressure system will be sent straight to the area tomorrow. Figure 2 shows the weather advisory map from the national weather service. Notice that Eau Claire, WI is sitting right on the boundary of the winter weather advisory. This means that we may or may not get hit with major snow fall.

Figure 2. Weather advisory map of the national weather service.

 The precipitation can also be viewed on the water vapor satellite in figure 3. 

Figure 3. Water vapor satellite image.

 From this image it is easy to see where the moisture is and its path heading northeast towards Wisconsin. 

My prediction from yesterday hit the nail on the head. Snow fell overnight and today was overcast with temperatures similar to yesterday. 

Tomorrow I predict that there will be snow in the afternoon and temperatures a tad warmer than today. This is because with snow events the temperature generally increases.