March 28, 2018

Sunny with Some Clouds

Current Conditions

Temperature: 53 °F
Dew Point: 27 °F
Winds: WSW 12 mph
Pressure: 1010.8 mb
Visibility: 10 miles

Today was the best day in terms of temperature this week. The high was 54 °F, close to the current temperature. Skies were clear until around 4:00 PM today when some wispy cirrus clouds rolled in. This morning the temperature was 24 °F with a dew point of 23 °F and 5 mile visibility. Eau Claire and surrounding counties were in a freezing fog advisory for the morning but the fog lifted by mid-morning as temperatures rose. This afternoon not much had changed but the winds picked us to 14 miles out of the south. Right now Eau Claire is caught between two frontal systems as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. Surface map of the United States. An occluded front lies to the southeast of Wisconsin and a cold front sits to the northwest.

The system to the north could be bringing some snow this weekend but we'll have to wait and see.
In the water vapor satellite (figure 2) one can also see the large amounts of moisture in the southeastern United States correlating to the occluded front dumping large amounts of precipitation in the region.

Figure 2. Water vapor satellite image of the United States. A large swath of moisture is covering the southeastern United States.

Previous Prediction

My prediction from yesterday was correct, the temperature rose due to the incoming low pressure system (and southerly winds) but the cloud cover was a bit less than yesterday.

Prediction

For tomorrow I predict cooler temperatures as a high pressure dome moves into the area. Skies will be partly cloudy much like they are now.