Observations for Monday, February 7th, 2011

This morning I left my house in Green Bay to come back to Eau Claire at 5:45 a.m., and at that point I already knew that it was going to be a pretty cloudy day with likely precipitation.  This was because of the fact that winds are blowing from the northwest, and a low pressure system/cold front is moving into the area (see graphic below).  As I neared Eau Claire, I hit quite the patch of snow, and visibility was quite low at the time.  The day went on, and the snow cleared up, and at the time of my observations at about 5 p.m., it was about 11 degrees out with winds still blowing from the northwest at 10 mph.  In the next few days, I would predict temperatures to grow colder, then steadily rise due to the low pressure system, but we may see a bit of precipitation mixed in there as well.  

Here's a map from weather.com depicting the current weather conditions in the U.S.:

Observations for Friday, February 4th, 2011

Today was certainly a lot warmer than what it has been within the last four days.  When I went out to do my observations, it was about fifteen degrees, with winds blowing from the southwest.  The warmer weather is likely due to the fact that winds are blowing from the south, and moderately clear skies are due to the high pressure system that is still slightly lingering.  I would predict some more cloud cover within the next few days, as it looks like a low pressure system is moving in.  I might say that we might get a bit of precipitation as well.

Observations for Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

Today was another cold day here in Eau Claire.  Temperatures at the time of my observations were around 16 degrees, but it really felt like it was 0 degrees outside.  Today in class, we talked about how the high pressure air mass is basically right on Eau Claire, which would explain why there are still almost no clouds and sunny skies.  Winds are still blowing from the southwest like yesterday, however, which probably means that temperatures within the next few days will start to warm up.

Observations for Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

Today was an extremely bright day, with very little cloud cover throughout the day.  This is likely because of the fact that a high pressure system has moved into our region of the midwest, which typically makes for less cloud cover.  It was also extremely cold out today, a frigid 2 degrees at the time of my observations.  Winds have switched directions from the previous few days, and are now blowing from the southwest.  I would likely predict that since winds are now coming from the south, we will likely see a temperature increase within the next few days, but the high pressure system will probably stick around, causing clear skies for the time being.

Observations for Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Well, if you got a chance to take a walk outside today, you'd certainly be able to tell that it's quite cold out there.  I just got in from doing my observations, and temperatures seem to continue to be dropping.  During the day, the sky seemed to be covered almost completely with clouds, but this seems to have reduced significantly, and it's quite clear out now.  Today in class, we began discussing cloud cover and pressure systems, and we learned that when a high pressure system moves in (which it currently is), there is less cloud cover, which leads to colder air.  The temperature outside is at 15 degrees with winds blowing from the northeast at about twelve miles an hour.  As I stated earlier, since a high pressure system will be moving in within the next couple of days, I expect temperatures to drop significantly.  There's a pretty nasty snowstorm hitting the lower parts of Wisconsin and the midwest, and I've been trying to keep track of that as much as I can, seeing as I have family living in the Green Bay area.

Below is a map of the current weather system moving through the midwest that helps to illustrate the low pressure system bringing in the huge midwest storm that cities like Chicago and Milwaukee are experience right now.