Strong March Sun

We officially hit the 40° mark today... Not only did it feel wonderful, it's making a great dent on the snow-cover. Late last week, I reported the first sighting of grass in nearly 4 months and we now have very large areas of brown grass around the area.

That strong March sun is working it's magic, for sure.

Here are the official numbers from GFK this afternoon:

 Site      Time      Tmp Dpt %RH W/H Wdr Wsp 
---------------------------------------------
 KGFK Mar 18 1753UTC  40  30  67  33  NW  12 
 KGFK Mar 18 1853UTC  43  28  55     NNW  10 
 KGFK Mar 18 1953UTC  43  30  60     NNW  12 
 KGFK Mar 18 2053UTC  43  28  55      NW  10 
 KGFK Mar 18 2153UTC  43  25  49      NW  12 
 KGFK Mar 18 2253UTC  43  27  53      NW   7 
 KGFK Mar 18 2353UTC  40  26  57  36  NW   6 

major winter storm

Another major winter storm is continuing over the Ohio Valley late tonight... As you can see to the right, the Columbus, Ohio area is simply getting dumped on at the present time. Areas of southern Indiana and portions of central Ohio, stretching into northeastern Ohio and northwestern PA are going to receive a hefty accumulation out of this system. It wouldn't surprise me to see a few spots with well over a foot of snow, especially over central and northeastern Ohio through late tonight.

Lots of Gulf and Atlantic moisture wrapping into this system currently with southerly winds aloft acting as a potent conveyor belt. Add to that plenty of cold air and you're bound to see lots of snow. High pressure over the western Great Lakes is contributing to problems as well, providing a tight gradient and thusly blizzard conditions over parts of southeastern Indiana and western Ohio.

It isn't particularly rare to see major winter storms during the early part of March in this part of the country but it isn't exactly common either. Hopefully, not for just those people in the Ohio Valley, but us at work, this will be the last major winter storm there for the rest of the winter.

Spring is technically only a couple of weeks away, right?

2008 Northern Plains Convective Workshop

For those of you that may be looking for information on the upcoming 2008 Nrn Plains Convective Workshop, I have some news to pass along.

I found out today on the dates, at least. The Bismarck WFO will be hosting the Workshop this year on April 8th and 9th. This falls on a Tuesday and Wednesday.

I don't have any specifics as far as locations, agendas, or anything else at this point, but I will certainly update you as I get more information.

You know spring is just around the corner, when you start planning for the Convective Workshop. I'm anxious for it... It's a great workshop and it's been better and better each year. I'm very curious what type of presentations we'll see.

Stay tuned for more updates...

Record cold...

As most of you know, it has been quite cold up here in the Northern Plains over the past month. Last week, was particularly cold with several areas over North Dakota and Minnesota reaching record lows. Wednesday morning several locations bottomed out in the -30 to -35 degree range, setting all-time record lows for the date. The Grand Forks Int'l Airport (KGFK), reached a record low of -33° F, while Hector (in Fargo) recorded it's own record of -31° F.

Here's hoping for the rebounding temperatures yesterday and today continue over the next week. It's not looking good. We'll probably drop back into the teens and 20's this week for highs, but at least the sub-zero high temperatures are gone for the time being.

Early-Season Oubreak

As you can see, yesterday saw one of the largest severe weather outbreaks we have seen in some time. Over 50 reported tornadoes traversed through the Lower and Mid-Mississippi Valley yesterday and into last evening. And while this number will likely dwindle some as analysis may indicate redundant tornado tracks, I am sure it will still rank very high as one of the largest outbreaks ever for this early in the year. It, unfortunately, will rank as one of the deadliest 24-hour outbreaks this country has experienced in history. With over 50 fatalities confirmed thus far (26 alone, in Tennessee), it now exceeds the outbreak in Oklahoma of May 3rd, 1999.

The time of year and the late hour that many of these tornadoes hit are both contributing factors to the number of fatalities. But, also because these tornadoes hit largely populated areas. Tornadoes affected many large cities, including areas around Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, as well as Fairview, Arkansas. Jackson, TN also was hit particularly hard, especially around Union University on the northwest side of the city. It is amazing no lives were lost here, as there were numerous students in dormitories at the time.

For more news coverage on the outbreak and updates on the situation at Union University, follow the links below:

http://www.wmctv.com/
http://www.jacksonsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Also, Red Cross Chapters across West-Tennessee can be found here:

http://www.redcross.org/where/chapts.asp#TN

My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those that have been affected by this terrible outbreak.