Snow / Winter Weather Advisories...

The National Weather Service has issued Winter Weather Advisories all across the mid-section of the country over the past 24 hours for not only the possibility of heavy snows, but freezing rain and sleet. Quite the ice storm is expected over parts of Nebraska and Iowa today. It's already on-going over portions of Nebraska:



We here in the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains are certainly not excluded from this latest batch of wintry weather...

The Grand Forks NWS office has a Snow Advisory in effect for us until 6:00am Sunday:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
430 AM CST SAT DEC 1 2007

...THE FIRST MAJOR SNOW EVENT OF THE SEASON IS EXPECTED TODAY AND TONIGHT...

.THE FIRST SIGNIFICANT SNOW EVENT OF THE WINTER SEASON IS EXPECTED FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA... NORTHWESTERN AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA TODAY AND TONIGHT. SNOW WILL QUICKLY SPREAD FROM SOUTH TO NORTH BY LATE THIS MORNING...AND BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES BY AFTERNOON. STORM TOTAL SNOW AMOUNTS WILL RANGE FROM 6 TO 9 INCHES IN THE WAHPETON... FERGUS FALLS... AND PARK RAPIDS AREAS TO 3 TO 6 INCHES IN THE GRAND FORKS...AND BAUDETTE AREAS. EXPECT REDUCED VISIBILITIES AND ICY... SNOW COVERED ROADS. THE SNOW WILL RESULT FROM AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE MOVING OUT OF THE ROCKIES INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE BY SUNDAY MORNING AS LOW PRESSURE MOVES INTO THE OHIO VALLEY.

...SNOW ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM CST SUNDAY...

SNOW WILL DEVELOP BY 9 AM IN GRAND FORKS... MAYVILLE... COOPERSTOWN... WARREN AND CROOKSTON. SNOW WILL BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES BY NOON... AND CONTINUE INTO SATURDAY NIGHT. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS FROM 4 TO 6 INCHES ARE EXPECTED BY LATE SATURDAY NIGHT. FALLING SNOW WILL REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO ONE QUARTER MILE AT TIMES THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THIS WILL MAKE FOR HAZARDOUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS ...SO CARRY YOUR WINTER SURVIVAL KIT.

I will continue to monitor the skies outside my window and will likely report back on my findings as the afternoon progresses. And, of course, may take some pictures as the snow starts to pile up.

Stay safe on the roads, folks! Wherever you may be...

Cold-ness!

As I expected, we officially reached the first sub-zero temperatures of the season last evening.

Here are the obs from Grand Forks Int'l...
(From 8:53pm CST Monday to 2:53pm Tuesday)

 Site      Time      Tmp Dpt %RH W/H Wdr Wsp Wgs Cld  MSLP 
-----------------------------------------------------------
 KGFK Nov 27 0253UTC   3  -4  72 -16  NW  17  25 OVC 1024.9
 KGFK Nov 27 0353UTC   1  -8  65 -18  NW  17     BKN 1026.3
 KGFK Nov 27 0417UTC  -0  -9  65 -18  NW  15     FEW       
 KGFK Nov 27 0453UTC  -1 -10  65 -18  NW  13     FEW 1027.3
 KGFK Nov 27 0521UTC  -2  -9  71 -17  NW  10     BKN       
 KGFK Nov 27 0553UTC  -3 -11  68 -22 WNW  14     BKN 1028.5
 KGFK Nov 27 0622UTC  -4 -11  71 -21  NW  12     SCT       
 KGFK Nov 27 0653UTC  -4 -12  68 -22  NW  13     CLR 1028.9
 KGFK Nov 27 0753UTC  -6 -13  71 -21  NW   9     CLR 1029.4
 KGFK Nov 27 0853UTC  -8 -14  74 -22 WNW   7     CLR 1030.4
 KGFK Nov 27 0953UTC -10 -16  74 -23 WNW   6     CLR 1031.0
 KGFK Nov 27 1053UTC -11 -16  78 -24 WNW   6     CLR 1031.9
 KGFK Nov 27 1153UTC -10 -16  74 -24   W   7     CLR 1032.6
 KGFK Nov 27 1253UTC -11 -17  74 -18 WNW   3     FEW 1032.0
 KGFK Nov 27 1353UTC -12 -18  74 -24 WSW   5     FEW 1032.6
 KGFK Nov 27 1453UTC  -7 -14  71 -14 WNW   3     BKN 1032.5
 KGFK Nov 27 1553UTC  -5 -12  71           0     BKN 1031.9
 KGFK Nov 27 1653UTC  -3 -11  68 -13   S   5     BKN 1031.8
 KGFK Nov 27 1753UTC  -2 -11  65 -17 SSE   9     OVC 1030.1
 KGFK Nov 27 1853UTC  -1  -9  68 -16 SSE  10     OVC 1029.9
 KGFK Nov 27 1953UTC  -0  -8  68 -12  SE   7     OVC 1028.2
 KGFK Nov 27 2053UTC   1  -7  68 -13  SE   9     OVC 1027.7

Also note these wind chills...! I am definitely NOT prepared for this.

Winter Weather Advisory

While it isn't the first winter weather advisory of the season, per se, it is the most significant. A weak clipper system will progress southeast over the region this evening and overnight, bringing some accumulating snows to the area. It shouldn't be much to cause any big issues, but slick spots on the roads will still likely be found out there, I'm sure.

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST TONIGHT...

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST TONIGHT.

.SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS NORTHERN PARTS OF THE REGION INTO MID EVENING WITH THE PASSAGE OF A STRONG COLD FRONT. 1 TO 2 INCHES OF SNOW ARE FORECAST TO ACCUMULATE ALONG AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM MADDOCK NORTH DAKOTA THROUGH HALSTAD MINNESOTA TO MAHNOMEN MINNESOTA.

WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME NORTH AND RAPIDLY INCREASE TO 20 TO 30 MPH WITH SOME HIGHER GUSTS INTO THE EVENING. COMBINED WITH THE NEW SNOW...VISIBILITIES WILL BE REDUCED ESPECIALLY IN OPEN COUNTRY CREATING HAZARDOUS TRAVEL.

In addition, much colder air will filter in behind the associated cold front tonight. I wouldn't be surprised to see our first sub-zero temperatures tonight. Ugh!

Thanksgiving snow...

It wasn't a major snowfall, but it was the first snow-storm of the season for some parts of the Midwest. Measurable snow fell for the first time over parts of Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and southern Wisconsin over the Thanksgiving holiday. Satellite pictures from Saturday clearly showed areas where the heaviest snows fell, particularly over parts of southern and eastern Nebraska, northwestern Kansas, Iowa and southern Wisconsin.

In the satellite loop below, obviously the areas of "white" that arent' moving are where the snow-cover is showing. You can even see snow cover melting over Iowa.

Possible snowfall?

Now this just sucks...

For those of you that don't typically look at numerical guidance, this is indicating areas of light snow across portions of North Dakota Saturday. Granted, it likely won't amount to anything (soil temperatures are still quite mild) but any snowfall is snowfall I'm not prepared for! I'd much rather skip over the next 5 months and go right into spring and early-summer. ;)