58 F. high in St. Cloud Saturday.
64 F. average high on April 30.
68 F. high on April 30, 2015.
May 1, 1935: An unusually late snow and ice storm hits east central Minnesota. The heaviest ice accumulations are between St. Paul and Forest Lake and westward to Buffalo in Wright County, with accumulations of 1 to 1.5 inches on wires. The downtown Minneapolis weather bureau records 3 inches of snow.
Getting Better This Week - 80F Next Weekend?
"There’s no such thing as bad weather, just soft people" wrote Bill Bowerman. Over my 40 year career I can't help but notice that bad weather is more easily tolerated on a weekday. Weekends? Even when the forecast is right (and the weather is foul) we get blamed.
Does Frank Santaniello at 'CCO get dirty looks when he reports bad news? Does KARE's Eric Perkins get the stink-eye when the Twins lose? We don't make the weather. We're just dumb enough to try and predict it.
The last week has been cool and gray with a runny sky, but meteorological spring is 4F warmer than average, to date. Rainfall has been close to average. No mega-storms, slushy ordeals, river flooding or tornado watches (yet). It can always be worse.
After Saturday's rainy near-miss skies brighten today with a high near 60F. A clipper-like swipe of cool air sparks a shower Tuesday night but dry weather prevails into the weekend as temperatures mellow. Plan on a streak of 60s, but ECMWF guidance hints at 80F next weekend.
The first warm, muggy kiss of summer may leave you wanting to go jump in a lake within 6-7 days.
Go for it.
7 Things You Should Never Forget When Tornadoes Strike. Some useful advice and reminders at weather.com; here's an excerpt: "...Regardless of where you're hunkering down, it should be as far away from windows as possible. Even if a tornado doesn't hit, wind or hail could shatter windows, and if you're nearby, you could get hurt. You should make every attempt to get underground during a severe storm, either in a basement or storm shelter. If neither is possible, head to the innermost room or hallway on the lowest floor of your home. The goal is to put as many walls between yourself and the outside world. The image below, taken following the 2011 EF5 tornado in Joplin, Missouri, shows why this method could save your life. In many of those homes, the outer walls have been destroyed, but a few inner rooms are somewhat intact..." (Image credit: Office of Homeland Security).
Is Houston America's Flood Capital? The Weather Channel has the analysis.
IRI ENSO Forecast. Models show a rapid transition from El Nino warm phase to a (weak) La Nina cooling phase in the Pacific in the months to come. Here's an excerpt of an explanation at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society: "...The first plot (above) shows the ensemble mean predictions of each of the individual models, and also the average of the individual model predictions (the NMME). Here, the NMME average is not weighted by the number of ensemble members in the individual models. This plot is intended to provide some idea of the disagreement among the individual models. Corrections for systematic biases are not done. Predictions of ENSO are probabilistic. The ensemble mean prediction it is only a best single guess. On either side of that prediction, there is a substantial uncertainty distribution, or error tolerance..."
2016 Blizzard Was NYC's Biggest Snowstorm On Record, NOAA Report Finds.
Summer rainfall intensity rates are increasing - so are winter snowfall
amounts, especially along the East Coast. Here's more perspective on
the new record from NBC in New York: "...Snow
measurements are extremely difficult to take because precipitation is
inherently variable, a problem compounded by strong winds and compaction
during a long duration event," National Weather Service Director Louis
Uccellini, said in a statement. "Still, it's important that we
scrutinize questionable measurements and reject those that scientists
deem invalid to ensure the public's continued confidence in the U.S.
climate record." NOAA said the discrepancy in New York City stemmed from
a miscommunication between the weather service's New York forecast
office and the Central Park Conservancy, which correctly measured the
snowfall..."
Image credit of road conditions from January 28, 2016: Aeris Enterprise.
Nothing to Sneeze At: More CO2 = More Pollen. Here's an excerpt of a story at Climate Central: "...In a previous report, we illustrated how ragweed pollen production increases with CO2 levels. New research continues to shed light on the relationship between pollen and climate change. While ragweed studies give one example of how pollen is impacted by higher levels of CO2, other plants have also been subsequently examined. In this report, we highlight a new study that looks at Timothy Grass pollen, a major cause of allergies during the early summer. Researchers investigated the amount of pollen produced at CO2 concentrations of 400 ppm, which is near current levels, and 800 ppm, which we would pass before the end of the century if current emissions trends continue. Not surprisingly, the grass produced about twice as much pollen at 800 ppm..."
Why You Should Take Elon Musk's 2018 Mars Shot Seriously. A lot of people have lost a lot of money underestimating Elon Musk. Here's a clip from a story at TIME: "....That’s the problem when a government agency is in charge of your space program. You can go only as far as the people in Congress and the person in the Oval Office let you go—which hasn’t been very far since the last Apollo astronaut left the moon. For that reason and more, you should pay attention to the April 27 announcement from Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, that he intends to launch his first unmanned Mars mission in just two years and will beat NASA’s goal of putting astronauts on the surface in the 2030s by up to a decade..."
Photo credit: Space X.
Lutsen Still Open for Skiing! If you need one more snowy fix you're in luck. Here's an excerpt from Bring Me The News: "A brief surge of warm weather in March pretty much ended the ski and snowboard season in Minnesota. Of the 17 hills on the Minnesota Ski Areas Association report,
almost all reported closing dates that month. But one is still chugging
along, and will actually be open this weekend. Lutsen Mountains will
have one chairlift operating, with eight to ten runs available for use,
it announced in a news release Thursday..." (Photo credit: Lutsen).
TODAY: More sun, stiff breeze. Winds: NE 10-20. High: near 60
SUNDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear and cool. Low: 44
MONDAY: Plenty of sun, less wind. Winds: NW 7-12. High: 67
TUESDAY: Lukewarm sun, late PM shower? Winds: NW 15-25. Wake-up: 50. High: near 70
WEDNESDAY: Intervals of sun, cooler breeze. Winds: N 10-20. Wake-up: 43. High: 62
THURSDAY: Blue sky, just about perfect. Winds: N 7-12. Wake-up: 41. High: 66
FRIDAY: Sunny skies, trending milder. Winds: NW 7-12. Wake-up: 44. High: 72
SATURDAY: Warm sun, a taste of June. Winds: SW 7-12. Wake-up: 52. High: near 80
MONDAY: Plenty of sun, less wind. Winds: NW 7-12. High: 67
TUESDAY: Lukewarm sun, late PM shower? Winds: NW 15-25. Wake-up: 50. High: near 70
WEDNESDAY: Intervals of sun, cooler breeze. Winds: N 10-20. Wake-up: 43. High: 62
THURSDAY: Blue sky, just about perfect. Winds: N 7-12. Wake-up: 41. High: 66
FRIDAY: Sunny skies, trending milder. Winds: NW 7-12. Wake-up: 44. High: 72
SATURDAY: Warm sun, a taste of June. Winds: SW 7-12. Wake-up: 52. High: near 80
Climate Stories...
Subtly but steadily, Republican attitudes on climate change have been changing. That evolution was confirmed this week by a Yale University/George Mason University poll
that found that 56 percent of Republicans nationwide believe that the
climate is warming (although many still dispute the idea that human
activity is the cause). Five years ago that figure was less than 40
percent.
These
Republican voters disagree with the party’s likely presidential
nominee, Donald Trump, who has dismissed the threat of climate change.
Subtly but steadily, Republican attitudes on climate change have been changing. That evolution was confirmed this week by a Yale University/George Mason University poll
that found that 56 percent of Republicans nationwide believe that the
climate is warming (although many still dispute the idea that human
activity is the cause). Five years ago that figure was less than 40
percent.
These
Republican voters disagree with the party’s likely presidential
nominee, Donald Trump, who has dismissed the threat of climate change.
10) President Obama has put climate change at the top of his agenda.
9) The Pope has framed climate change as a moral issue.
8) China has become highly motivated and engaged, and naysayers can no longer claim that we shouldn’t do anything because China is not..."
Climate Change to Widen Range of Disease-Carrying Mosquitoes. Here's the intro of a summary at Carbon Brief: "Infectious
diseases, such as dengue and the Zika virus, could spread to new parts
of the world as mosquitoes expand their habitats in a warmer, wetter
world, a new study suggests. By
2061-80, an additional half a billion people could be at risk from
diseases carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the study says – and
could even rise to more than five billion under a scenario of high
population growth. There are roughly 3,500 species of mosquito buzzing about on the Earth. One of the most common is the Aedes aegypti..."
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