Observations for Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

Today was yet another cold and cloudy spring day in Eau Claire.  In fact, it really didn't seem like spring at all.  The temperature at the time of my observations was 36 degrees, but with northwest winds at 7 MPH made it feel more like 30 degrees.  In the morning when I woke up, it was drizzling outside, and it really stayed that way for most of the day.  In fact, at one point, I believe it even snowed a bit.  If we take a look at the map below, we can see that the storm that is currently out east is on it's last leg, based on the fact that we can see an occluded front right above Michigan.  Within the next few days, I would expect a high pressure system to move closer to our area, but then I would suspect a low pressure system from the northwest to move in bringing more crappy weather on possibly Sunday or Monday.

Observations for Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Today has been quite dreary to say the least.  The temperature at the time of my observations was a lowly 38 degrees, with little to no winds.  We're fortunate to have the calm winds, as if they were any stronger, it would have felt much cooler outside.  The current pressure is about 1029.54, which is low, but relatively stable.  We've experienced steady rainfall all day, which is partly the reason why I stated that it has been so dreary.  If we take a look at the map below, we can see the current conditions for the upper Mississippi River Valley, which basically shows that we're having quite irregular and cold temperatures for this time of year.

Picture is courtesy of the NOAA.

Observations for Friday, April 22nd and Monday, April 25th

Temperatures from Friday of last week to Monday of this week dropped drastically over the weekend, and the difference was highly noticeable.  On Friday at 3 pm, the temperature was hardly stellar, at around 43 degrees.  Winds were blowing from the east at 15 MPH, which made it feel like it was more like 35 degrees outside.  At that time, it was overcast, which was pretty much the theme throughout the weekend.  Monday, however, was a stark difference.  The rain over the weekend help to usher in a different front, at at 3 pm on Monday, the temperature was a very comfortable 66 degrees.  Winds at the time were blowing from the northeast at 12 MPH, and skies were gorgeous and clear.  The gorgeous weather from Monday has not lasted, unfortunately, and on Tuesday we've experienced quite a bit of rain and much cooler weather.

Observations for Thursday, April 21st, 2011

Today was a pretty mild day outside, with no real significant weather events to talk about.  It was fairly sunny throughout the morning, but it became overcast around noon and stayed that way for most of the rest of the day. On my way to class today, I noticed that there were cirrostratus clouds in the sky, and you could sort of see the ring around the sun that would likely signal some inclement weather on the way.  As we speak, winds are blowing from the southeast at 10 MPH and the temperature is pretty mild at 46 degrees.  In the next few days, as stated earlier, I would think we might see some rain, followed by nicer, warm weather.  A Colorado low is forming currently, which will probably work it's way towards us.

Observations for Tuesday, April 19th and Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

Throughout the course of yesterday and today, we've experienced cooler temperatures, overcast skies, and light snow.  I was predicting quite a bit more of precipitation than what we actually got, but I'm not complaining one bit, as most of the snow melted after a few hours of staying on the ground.  At 3 pm on Tuesday, the temperature was about 41 degrees and winds were blowing from the east at 13 MPH.  The east wind signaled inclement weather to come, and like I said earlier, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  Light snow persisted throughout the night, and collected on the ground through this morning.  Today at 3 pm, the temperature was 42 degrees, with winds blowing from the west at 11 MPH.  Skies again at this time were overcast, but the changed wind direction helped to show that our snowy weather was likely on its way out.  For the next few days, we'll probably see a slow warm-up with a day or two of precipitation.

Observations for Monday, April 18th, 2011

Today was a pretty mild day out, with clear skies for most of the day, but strong winds.  When clouds did loom overhead, they seemed to be various types of cumulus clouds.  At the time of my observations, it was 39 degrees outside, with winds blowing from the east/northeast at about 6 MPH.  At this point, one should already point out that whenever winds are coming from the east, it usually signals inclement weather.  This is exactly what I believe will take place within the next day or so.  We'll probably get some snow, and it could be significant amounts.  This is also due to a Colorado low that's moving into the area.

Observations for Thursday, April 14th, 2011 and Friday, April 15th, 2011

Strong winds have pretty much been the theme of the last four days or so, with some gusts reaching over 30 MPH.  On Thursday, the temperature was 44 degrees at 3 pm with variable winds at about 5 MPH, but that speed was not consistent throughout the day, as speeds were easily over 21 MPH earlier in the day.  It's probably important to note that winds were mostly coming from the north/northwest for most of the day.  With the high winds, it really felt about 10 degrees colder on average than the actual temperatures.  On Friday, it was a bit warmer at 3 pm, with temperatures at about 46 degrees, but even stronger winds blowing from the northeast at a whopping 23 MPH.  These extremely strong winds made it feel even colder than the day before, unfortunately.  There was a mix of clouds throughout both days, and we did experience a bit of light snow on Friday afternoon, though it didn't accumulate to much of anything.  The strong winds seem to have continued through the weekend, though it doesn't seem like it's gotten too much colder out.  I would expect a slow warming trend to start within the next week to quell all of the strong winds.

Observations for Tuesday, April 12th and Wednesday, April 13th

I had predicted that yesterday and today were going to be quite a bit cooler than the weekend, and though they were cooler than Sunday, they were by no means as cool as I thought they would be (no pun intended...).  At 4 pm on Tuesday, the temperature was a comfortable 66 degrees with a fairly strong wind coming from the southwest at 12 MPH.  At that time, there really weren't any clouds outside.  At the same time today, the temperature was cooler at 57 degrees with lighter winds coming from the northwest at 4 MPH.  It was pretty overcast today, with mostly cumulostratus clouds hanging in the sky.  We did also experience a bit of precipitation today, but nothing to really fret about.  In the image below, we can see a few low pressure domes out west, which should move their way towards the midwest in the next few days, possibly bringing showers.

Observations for Monday, April 11th, 2011

Today was the first day of the turnaround of weather from the weekend.  With the huge storms this weekend due to clashing warm and cold fronts, I figured that it would most certainly be cooler today, and I was pretty much right.  It was, however, a bit warmer and nicer than I had initially expected.  At 11:30 pm, the temperature was still 43 degrees, with a dew point of 33 degrees and calm winds.  It is also very clear out at the time.  If we look at the US current conditions map, you can see that it's actually pretty calm all across the country, aside from the leftover of storms towards the east.  In the coming days, I would predict that we will continue to experience mild weather with increasing temperatures.

Observations for Thursday, April 7th and Friday, April 8th (With some observations of Sunday's "mega storm")

The conditions on Thursday and Friday were much of the same, with really fair temperatures prevailing and increasing wind speeds throughout each day.  On Thursday at 3:00 pm, the temperature was a comfortable 62 degrees with a dew point temperature of 25 degrees, giving us a relative humidity of 24%.  Winds were growing to their strongest at that part of the day, with speeds of 10 MPH from the south/southeast.  Skies were very clear and present all day.  Friday, as stated earlier, was much of the same.  Skies were clear for most of the day, and at 3:00 pm, the temperature was 62 degrees with winds coming from the east/southeast at 9 MPH.  These really pleasant temperatures were really only a precurser to what was to come during the weekend.  On Saturday night and throughout the day on Sunday, a massive spring storm developed over the midwest that was to produce large amounts of hail, rain, and pretty much everything else imaginable.  Though the storm passed through Eau Claire with little damaged, the same cannot be said for other cities in eastern Wisconsin.  The supercell storm will continue to get stronger as it heads east.

Observations for Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

In Joe Hupy terms, today met the threshold for "nice," with temperatures at the time of my observations a balmy 52 degrees with calm winds.  It was really gorgeous out all day, and only a few clouds hung in the sky.  The dewpoint was 27 degrees.  It looks like I was right in predicting the increasing temperatures throughout the week, and I would expect it to continue.  A recent development that I've been watching is the water level of the Chippewa river.  It seems to be getting pretty high, and the NOAA does a great job of explaining it on their website (link in links tab).

Observations for Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day out, but a bit windy.  At the time of my observations at 9:00, the temperature was still 46 degrees, and the wind had died down.  The dew point was 26 degrees, giving us a relative humidity of about 46%.  There really weren't too many clouds in the sky today, but when there was, they were mostly cirrus clouds or humulocumulus clouds.  The warmer weather is likely due to the fact that the wind speeds have changed direction and are now coming from the south at 6 MPH.  This warm trend will likely continue throughout the next week or so.

Observations for Monday, April 4th, 2011

It was quite hard to get out of bed this morning, as it was incredibly gloomy outside so the sun could not wake me up like most mornings.  Needless to say, it felt like quite the lazy morning.  At the time of this observation, the actual temperature was about 43 degrees with very strong winds blowing from the NNW at 22 MPH sometimes gusting to 31 MPH.  Due to the strong winds, it really didn't feel like it was 43 degrees outside, and it felt more like 30 degrees.  It's also been drizzling here and there, further adding to the cold feeling outside.  If we take a look at today's weather map, we can see that there is a low pressure system almost directly to our northeast, which is likely leading to our gloomy weather.  There's also an extremely strong cold front crossing over the midwest to the northeastern states, with strong storms right ahead of it.  This is interesting to note, because the jet stream is quite similar to the trend on the current weather map.  I would expect it to get very sunny out within the next few days, and warmer temperatures will follow.

Observations for Friday, April 1st, 2011

Friday was yet another day where we experienced more wet snow falling from the sky, which obviously made things quite sloppy outside.  At 4 pm, the temperature was 37 degrees, with winds blowing from the WNW at 11 MPH.  The northwest winds helped bring in the precipitation, and they also helped to bring in really cold winds for most of the day.  It looks like we might experience some off and on precipitation for the next few days, which is unfortunate.  On a side note, check out some of the new photos I took over spring break that are posted under the photos section!