April 9-16, 2018

From Warm to Cold

Current Conditions:

Temperature: 25 °F
Dew Point: 21 °F
Winds: N 9 mph
Pressure: 1013.9 mb
Visibility: 3 miles

Weather Recap April 9-15, 2018

Well, the weather certainly was a bit crazy over the course of my trip to AAG in New Orleans. On Sunday afternoon myself and five others traveled to a friend's parent's house to stay the night before leaving on Monday morning. By early evening it was snowing and it continued into Monday morning. Luckily, our flight left on time and we arrived in New Orleans mid-afternoon.  The temperature was in the mid-70s with light winds. Throughout the entire week excluding Friday and Saturday, the weather was fantastic with clear skies, temperatures in the 70s-80s, and light winds (figure 1).

Figure 1. Weather history for April 9-15, 2018.

The lows were in the 60s and the pressure gradually rose until the low pressure systems moved in on Friday. Until Friday, there was not a lot of exciting weather events with the consistent good weather, which was quite relaxing (figure 2).

Figure 2. Relaxing in Louie Armstrong Park in New Orleans, LA.

Friday, things changed a bit. In the southern US, a series of low pressure fronts brought severe weather that resulted in heavy rains, winds, and tornadoes. A video overview of this can be viewed at the link posted here. The sky became overcast by early afternoon and the temperature dropped considerably. In figure 1, one can see the dew point depression decrease Friday to Saturday. The humidity during this time was quite high. Our flight left early Saturday morning so luckily we were able to get out of New Orleans before the severe weather struck. However, that's where our luck ran out. At 5:30 AM on Saturday we found out out connecting flight to Minneapolis was cancelled due to the winter storm ravaging the area. So instead, the group decided to rent a car and drive from St. Louis to Minneapolis. Saturday was okay, we encountered some minor rain and sleet upon arriving in Madison where we crashed at another friend's parent's house. Sunday morning we had more snow and the roads were a bit more dicey. During this time the temperature was also cooler, which added to the bad road conditions. The temperature decrease can be attributed to the dipping of the jet stream shown in figure 3.

Figure 3. Jet stream on April 15, 2018.

We were able to get to Eau Claire and then to Minneapolis to pick up our cars. However, the storm picked up late Sunday and the roads were less than ideal (figure 4).

Figure 4. Road conditions on April 15, 2018 from Minneapolis to Eau Claire, WI.

It took a good extra hour to get back from the cities and by that time it was 6:30 PM. It was a very long day...

Winter Storm Evelyn

The winter storm that hit deserves a special mention as well. This storm was the result of a series of low pressure systems building over the Rockies. Moisture from the west coast and the Gulf gave the storm its fuel as it headed over the Midwest. This would be bad enough, but the storm was also moving at around 10 mph, very slow for a storm. This meant that the areas hit by the storm received higher than normal amounts of snow as it crawled across the region. In addition, the low pressure systems were caged in by two high pressure systems which sandwiched the storm and concentrated it even more than normal. This really was the 'perfect' spring snow storm with all the right elements in all the right places.

Fun fact: In my hometown of Shawano, WI, they received almost 40 inches of snow! Too bad I wasn't there to shovel for my Mom...

Current Weather

Today, the snow is still lingering, but not nearly as severe as yesterday. From the current surface analysis in figure 5, one can see the strongest part of the storm has passed east and northward.

Figure 5. Surface map of the United States on April 16, 2018.

There is still some lingering snow however and this will continue for the rest of the day for some parts of Wisconsin. The low pressure in the current conditions also indicates that the low pressure system is still in the area.

Prediction

Due to being gone for the past week, I do not have a previous prediction to comment on, but I will be making a prediction for tomorrow. Based on the prediction map in figure 6, I predict that skies will clear up tomorrow with a high pressure system moving into the area.

Figure 6. Predictive forecast map for April 17, 2018.

Although this would be a reason to celebrate, its a little early to be doing that. On Wednesday, the Eau Claire area could see up to 3 more inches of snow. At this point, I wonder if we'll ever see spring...