Paul Douglas St. Cloud Times Forecast: Numbing Sunshine

Todd's SCTIMES Outlook for St. Cloud and all of Central Minnesota

TUESDAY: A very cold start with sub-zero wind chills. Cold sunshine continues and turning breezy in the afternoon. High: 18. Winds: SW 10-20mph. AM Wind Chills: -10 to 5

TUESDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy and cold, but not as cold. Low: 9 Winds: turning W 5-10mph

WEDNESDAY: Another fast moving clipper rolls through. Light snow chance in the afternoon, then turning colder! High: 26. Winds: WNW 5-10mph

THURSDAY: Bundle up, another cold day with partial sunshine. Low: 10. High:20. Wind: WNW 5-15mph

FRIDAY: Another cold start, even colder than earlier in the week. Sub-zero wind chill potential to start the day and chilly into the afternoon with more clouds. Low: 2. High: 16. Winds: WSW 5-15mph

SATURDAY: Slightly warmer as a clipper nears from the northwest. More sun. Low: 6. High: 28. Winds: SW 10-15mph

SUNDAY: Clouds thicken with light snow potential through the afternoon. Low: 16. High. 30. Winds: Turning N 10-15mph.

MONDAY: Lingering low clouds with some light snow potential. Low: 15. High: 29. Winds: N 5-15mph

A little more than 2 weeks from now, we'll be talking about the official start to Winter. The sun's most direct rays will shine over the Tropic of Capricorn on December 21st, signifying the start to Winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the star to Summer in the Southern Hemisphere. With that said, it will sure feel like winter around here this week, today being one of those days. Single digit above and below temperatures this morning will make it some of the coldest air we've seen in nearly 6 months.
Chunks of cold air are being funneled south of the border by a larger low pressure system setting up near the Hudson Bay. This fairly large and stagnant low pressure center is known as a Polar Vortex. Up until now, we haven't seen much of this feature this season. What this means for us, is a steady stream of Arctic blobs hurling our way through the middle of December. I don't see any extended periods of cold air, but they will be frequent enough to get your attention.
Preceding each cold blast, flurries will be possible, just like yesterday. Our next best chance of flurries rolls in Wednesday night, meaning the end of the week will be cold!

Heavy Flooding Rainfall

Another slow moving front brought heavy rainfall to parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley, the Tennessee River Valley and the Ohio River Valley over the last couple of days. The extensive rainfall was good enough to create more flooding and was also good enough to send a few locations into the wettest year on record category. The image below shows the observed rainfall through a good chunk of Monday.

It’s official! Louisville KY has a new annual precipitation record. As of 10:26 am EST today – December 4, 2011, the total for 2011 is 64.68″ – surpassing the old record of 64.20″ in 2004. The graph below does not include Monday's precipitation, but gives you a good indication of what those folks are dealing with this year!

Here Are Some Other Numbers From Kentucky

Flooding Picture From Kentucky

Thanks to Brent Elkins from Dexter, KY for this picture

This is along highway 1346 at Dexter, Ky. west end of the state, after near 5" of rain in just over 24 hours.

Nome Man Gets Stuck In Snowdrift For 3 Days, Survives On Frozen Beer

Read the full story HERE

"ANCHORAGE - Clifton Vial, 52, climbed into the cab of his Toyota Tacoma on Monday night in Nome to see how far a road winding to the north would take him.
More than 40 miles out of town, at about 9:30 that night, he found out. As Pink Floyd's "Echoes" played on the stereo and the temperature dipped well below zero in the darkness, Vial's pickup plunged into a snowdrift."

Speaking Of Snow... It Showed Up In Some Rare Places Today

The images below are from the National Weather Service out of Lubbock, TX and Fort Worth, TX. It sure looked wintry out there today.

This picture was taken from the NWS in Lubbock, where roads were very icy and several accidents were being reported.

This Picture Was Taken From Jacksboro, TX which is Northwest of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area

Snowfall Reports From Texas

The biggest snowfall report I saw was from Friona, TX with 4"

School Closings - Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Durango, Farmington and Roswell

Texas wasn't the only spot that got snow... New Mexico got some pretty good snow. In fact, it was enough snow to cancel school in many spots.

Read the Full Storm HERE:
"140 schools have either closed or delayed due to the snowstorm. Altogether including government agencies, religious centers and all others, the total closure amount is 255 different entities."

California Recovering From Winds, New Gusts On Way

Read the Full Story HERE:

Picture below courtesy: David Zentz AP

"Theresa Reyes, left, Antjuan Roy and his mother, Diane Johnson, stand near Roy's destroyed car in Temple City, Calif., on Saturday. Weary Southern Californians struggling with the cleanup from last week's violent windstorm braced for yet another round of windy weather."

"Thousands of Southern Californians who have gone without power for five days are being told it’s almost over, though a new round of high wind warnings have been issued for some areas hard hit by last week’s ferocious windstorm."

Getting Into The Holiday Spirit

Have you heard of "Bentlyville"? It's an amazing display of holiday lights in Duluth, MN that is worth seeing if you have the chance to. Check out this short film... it'll make you want to see it in person.

See the Full Video HERE:

Feeling Like Winter This Week

This will be our first real test of the wintry cold this season. Take a look at the blob of cold air that is sitting over the region on Tuesday. This will help drag temps down into the single digits above and below zero during the morning hours with sub-zero wind chill values and daytime highs struggling to get to 20F