64 F. average high on May 1.
69 F. high on May 1, 2015.
May 2, 2013: A historic snowstorm dumps up to 18 inches of snow in southeast Minnesota and west central Wisconsin. Blooming Prairie receives 18 inches from this storm, and Eau Claire gets 9.3 inches.
The Weather Maps Are Looking Springy Again
"In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours" said Mark Twain.
That number may be low. The transition from winter to summer is an tawdry affair. Warm air can't push the last vestiges of Canadian chill out of the way; cold air has to retreat on its own - which just takes time.
Inevitable heat and humidity comes in waves, like increasingly towering breakers at the beach. One such prod of lukewarm air arrives later this week, with highs above 70F Thursday into Saturday as humidity levels rise; a chance of 80 degrees Friday afternoon. I don't see any imminent outbreaks of severe weather, but a few heavier showers & T-storms may flare up Saturday, again next week as we slide back into a wetter pattern.
A brief hiccup of cool air may spark a shower late Tuesday but this week looks dry for spring planting and cleaning up the yard. Next week may be a bit sloppy. My gut: May will be wetter - and a couple degrees warmer than average.
Yesterday I overheard people chatting up the weather. "Still cool, but at least the sun is out" said one. "Makes a huge difference with one's outlook on life."
Yep.
Warmest Day: Friday.
Another good excuse to take a comp day on Friday as temperatures surge
well into the 70s to near 80F, probably the warmest day of the week. The
mercury may brush 70F tomorrow before cooling off slightly on
Wednesday. Model ensemble: NOAA and Aeris Enterprise.
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..."
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.
TODAY: Perfectly sunny - light winds. Winds: N 3-8. High: 66
MONDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear skies. Low: 46
TUESDAY: Sunny start, late PM T-shower possible. Winds: W 10-20. High: 71
WEDNESDAY: Partly sunny, cooler breeze. Winds: N 10-20. Wake-up: 47. High: 61
THURSDAY: Winds ease, a milder day with a stray shower up north? Winds: SW 10-15. Wake-up: 44. High: 70
FRIDAY: Best day in sight, feels like June. Winds: S 10-15. Wake-up: 53. High: 77
SATURDAY: Sticky. Few showers & T-storms. Winds: SW/NW 10-15.Wake-up: 58. High: 75
SUNDAY: Sunnier, drier day of the weekend. Winds: NE 10-15. Wake-up: 43. High: 68
Climate Stories...
This Is The Only Way to Fight Global Climate Change. Fortune has the Op-Ed; here's an excerpt: "...Fourth, start rapidly ramping up investments in the energy infrastructure of the future. It’s poor planning to build more oil and gas pipelines when we clearly can’t be relying on them in 10, 20, or 30 years. Renewable energy infrastructure should be the sole focus for U.S., China, and India going forward and nations should support each other’s efforts, rather than undermining them within the WTO. The price point is behind us on this. There’s no good argument anymore for weak investments or laissez-faire strategies. This is where the economic growth opportunity is and it comes with an immediate health and climate co-benefit..."
Photo credit above: Carlos Barria — Reuters.
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..."
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