First Thunder!

No, it certainly wasn't this morning (when, we're reporting snow, temperatures at 28, and wind chills at 13!), we did officially report our first thunderstorm of the season on Monday, April 21:

 Site      Time      Tmp Dpt %RH W/H Wdr Wsp Wgs Vis  Wx
--------------------------------------------------------
 KGFK Apr 21 1532UTC  37  34  89  28 WNW  16     7.00 TSRA  
 KGFK Apr 21 1547UTC  37  34  89  28   W  14     2.00 TSRA BR 
 KGFK Apr 21 1553UTC  37  34  89  27 WNW  17     3.00 TSRA BR 
 KGFK Apr 21 1612UTC  37  34  89  29   W  13     6.00 -TSRA BR

A radar grab from around 10:20am showed the line of storms pushing up from the southwest. Also note those temperatures at GFK (Grand Forks International) and at RDR (the Grand Forks Air Force Base). Probably, a contributer to why we saw pea-sized hail from these things here in the city. Freezing levels were obviously very low.

Not only did we see our first lightning flash, albeit only a couple CC flashes, but we heard our first rumble of thunder and observed our first hail, as well.

I wouldn't mind seeing more of that. Just as soon as we get rid of this snow, damnit! Looks like we have about an inch, maybe out there this morning. It's hard to tell with the wind blowing it around.

Time for me to get home... More later!

Spring is officially here!

Yes, the previous entry was verified. It turned out the NAM/GFS blended solution was much closer than the GEM 2m temperatures. Tuesday resulted in an official high of 70° F out at the airport. That makes the first 70° day of 2008.

Since Tuesday, we've been somewhat cooler, but we're still holding in the 60's. The past several days have been very nice, with hardly a cloud in the sky and high temperatures in the mid 60's. Today, I wasn't expecting as warm of temperatures with the clouds moving in this morning. It was 48° around 1:00pm, but we still managed a high of 61 today out at GFK, with the clearing skies later this afternoon.

We still could have been out there shooting some hoops. I canceled the outing because I was to meet a few co-workers at 2:00pm, and temps were just near 50° and we had a fairly stiff south-southeasterly wind at 15-18 mph. A little breezy for basketball.

I'm hoping in the next week or two, that we bust through that 70 degree plateau. Maybe even get some thunderstorms up in here. Ahh, what I wouldn't do to hear some thunder!

Warming Up!

The models over the past week had been hinting at a day or two in the 60's to 70's yesterday and today. While yesterday we didn't exactly hit the 60° mark, the airport recorded a high of 59° while here in town at the NWS office, 52° was recorded.

Today could be a different story. The NAM/GFS/GEM consensus has us, at least, hitting 70 degrees, with the GEM warmest, having us into the upper 70's.

Output from the NAM and GEM, respectively, follows - indicating their respective maximum 2m Temperature forecasts for this afternoon:

Northern Plains Convective Workshop

Just to remind everyone...

I will be out of town beginning this afternoon. I will be in Bismarck attending the Northern Plains Convective Workshop through Wednesday afternoon.

I should be back in town Wednesday evening.

Should you need to contact me, I will be observing presentations through much of Tuesday, but should be available later in the evening. Presentations will resume Wednesday morning, with the workshop slated to end around 2:00pm. I'll have my cell phone and most likely, it will be on, so if you feel the need to call and I miss it - be patient. I'll return your call when I can.

For some of you, I'll see you there. Otherwise, have a great week, folks!

Mild temperatures

Temperatures have been on a serious rebound the last couple of days. Yesterday, we reached the 50° mark for the first time and today, we have topped out at 53.

Here are some numbers from yesterday and today:

 Site      Time      Tmp Dpt %RH W/H Wdr Wsp Wgs
------------------------------------------------
 KGFK Apr 02 1853UTC  47  32  56     SSW  13    
 KGFK Apr 02 1953UTC  48  30  49      SW  12    
 KGFK Apr 02 2053UTC  51  25  36     WSW  13  21
 KGFK Apr 02 2153UTC  50  22  33       W  13  22
 KGFK Apr 02 2253UTC  50  22  33       W   9    
 KGFK Apr 02 2353UTC  48  21  34     WSW   7    

 KGFK Apr 03 1653UTC  50  21  32       W  12    
 KGFK Apr 03 1753UTC  51  20  29     WNW  12    
 KGFK Apr 03 1853UTC  52  21  29       W  14  22
 KGFK Apr 03 1953UTC  53  21  28     WNW  14  23
 KGFK Apr 03 2053UTC  53  22  30       W  14    
 KGFK Apr 03 2153UTC  53  22  30     WNW   9    
 KGFK Apr 03 2253UTC  53  22  30      NW  10    
 KGFK Apr 03 2353UTC  51  22  32     NNW   3    

It was quite nice to climb into the car this afternoon and feel the warmth from that April sun.