This is a picture taken from a space - yesterday during the early evening hours when the clouds began to break up over St. Cloud. This "Clear slot" only lasted a little while, but it sure was nice to see the sun after such a cool and cloudy early part of the day. The two yellow circles describe two different things happening in the atmosphere in the wake to the exiting low pressure 'storm system' to the southeast. First - Closed Cellular Convection is keeping northern Minnesota locked under clouds and scattered rain showers, but to the southwest (in the second yellow circle), there is a little slot of drier air. The temperature of the air aloft is quite cool so when the sun has a chance to warm the atmosphere (more so in the late afternoon hours) the atmosphere becomes unstable and convective cells of isolated showers develop, which is displayed by the popcorn looking cumulus clouds (white specks within the 2nd yellow circle). Sometimes, if the air is unstable enough, isolated thunderstorms can develop with hail and gusty winds! I hope you enjoy the photo - Satellite pictures are probably one of my favorite things to look at, especially looping ones! (I know, it doesn't take much to excite this meteorologist - cheap date)


Weather Headlines

* Today: Breezy, cool and cloudy with scattered light or rain showers.
* Feels like temperatures in the 30's will be appropriate for heavier jackets/rain slickers.
* Breezy through Tuesday, but more sun and moderating temperatures!
* 60s likely by midweek, 70-ish by Thursday!
* Scattered showers/T-storms possible this weekend
* Severe Weather Awareness week is this week (April 20th-24th)!!
* Tornado Drill set this Thursday statewide at 1:45pm, with the exception of far NW MN because of flooding concerns


Todd's Forecast

Monday: Mostly cloudy, breezy and cool enough for 'heavier' jackets. Scattered light rain showers through early afternoon giving way to peeks of sunshine late. High: 51

Tuesday: Sunnier and milder, still breezy - Temperatures closer to average High: 56

Wednesday: More sunshine, Feeling much warmer with lighter winds High: 66

Thursday: Warmest day of the week, late May-ish weather! High: 72

Friday: Unsettled, still mild. Isolated showers/T-storm? High: 66

Saturday: Shower/afternoon storm. Temps backing off to near normal levels. High: 59

Sunday: Isolated showers/storms possible again by PM. High: 62


Weather Column

This week is Severe Weather Awareness week!

• Day 1: Thunderstorms, Hail, Straight-Line Winds, Lightning
• Day 2: Severe Weather Warnings
• Day 3: Floods, Flash Floods
• Day 4: Tornadoes
• Day 5: Heat

Here's a link to the Day 1 topic - Thunderstorms, Hail, Straight-Line Winds and Lightning:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mpx/?n=swawpns1

The 10 year average - Minnesota sees 272 severe weather reports (either high winds, hail or tornadoes)
In 2008 there were 43 tornadoes in Minnesota with the closets tornado to St. Cloud occurring in Sherburne County.

**The earliest verified tornado in Minnesota occurred on March 18, 1968, north of Truman, and the latest in any year on November 16, 1931, east of Maple Plain.
**Historically and statistically, June is the month of greatest frequency with July not far behind. May has the third greatest frequency, followed closely by August. Nearly 3/4 of all tornadoes in Minnesota have occurred during the three months of May (16%), June (34%), and July (26%)

(**Source: Minnesota Climatology Working Group)

Here's link to the rest of their write up on tornadoes (Very informative!):

http://climate.umn.edu/doc/historical/tornadic.htm


Looking ahead - Warmer weather is on the way for mid-week... I think you'll enjoy it! It is likely that we'll see temperatures warm back to late May-ish levels/70's. Our weather turns a little sour by the weekend with showers and thunderstorms as early as Friday? I'll keep watching the maps and keep you posted, in the meantime, poke around the weather page - enjoy your time here! We're constantly updating the weather forecasts with interesting weather facts and tidbits! I am confident you'll come back each day to check it out!

Have a good Monday!

-Todd Nelson (Filling in for Paul Douglas while he's in Las Vegas, working diligently on new things that will change the way you and I watch our TV's)