Pattern Shift???

A strong low pressure system with a current 986mb is cutting through the Midwest. This will bring extremely warm temperatures across the Great Lakes region while heavy snow is expected in North Dakota, South Dakota, and parts of Minnesota. Warm front will continue to push north and by Friday Illinois could easily see temps in the 50s with even 60s across southern IL. By New Year's Day in the early morning hours a well defined cold front will come crashing into Central Plains and drop as far south as Texas.

As we look into the 1st part of 2011, it appears much of the U.S. will be rather quiet. No major systems appear likely through Jan 8th.

Snow totals

courtesy of the NWS in Romeoville

O'Hare: 5.1"

Midway: 3.3"

Overall.....the Chicagoland missed out on the heaviest snowfall as the intense snow bands developed further to the west. Nothwest IL and Central IL were more in the 6-8" range. Lake effect will continue across Michigan City and South Bend IN tonight. Our next chance of some light snow is this Thursday, but a more interesting setup is in line for Saturday. There could once again a chance of significant snowfall across IL and IN

1st measurable snow for Chicagoland

As the calendar struck Dec. 1st and meteorological winter commenced, our 1st flakes began to fall early this morning across northern IL, southern WI and northern IN. Midway has reported .01" of snow so far today. A few locations in Wisconsin have seen about a 1/2". This was the 2nd longest streak of not seeing any snowfall in Chicago history, which of course today, that streak ended.

Our 1st measurable snow of 1" or more is likely this Saturday as an Alberta clipper will make its way through the area. Heavier amount are expected over southern Wisconsin and Minneapolis. At this time, snow will develop after midnight Friday and continuing through Saturday morning.

Stay tuned.......

Winter arriving early on the west coast

Several areas across northern California are getting slammed by a storm on the west coast. Throughout the Apline and Squaw Valley regions, 1 to 2 feet of snow has already fallen! As one system arrived this past Friday night and left, another quickly followed and is dropping more snow for California. Only this time, Oregon and Washington will be feeling the affects of this storm starting tomorrow night for Portland and tonight for Seattle.

There are currently 13 states under some form of a winter weather advisory! Once this storm has concluded, I will make sure to post some incredible snow totals

Minnesota Snow Bomb...

This past weekend, Minnesota was slammed from an intense storm that dumped over 6 inches of snow for several areas around Minneapolis. This was the largest pre-Thanksgiving, as well as November snowfall for the Twin Cities since the "Halloween Blizzard" of October 31-Nov 2nd 1991. The official observed snow total out of Minneapolis was 8.0" There were also a few reports of cloud to ground lightning and thundersnow across the region.

The highest report was out of Hennepin county where 12.0" was recorded.

The lowest report was out of St. Cloud were 0.90" was recorded.

Minnesota/Wisconsin snow potential

Courtesy of NOAA Climate Prediction Center


For those wondering the difference between La Nina and El Nino, here is a illustration of the typical jet stream pattern and areas where precipitation usually falls.

The El Nino phenomenon started not that long ago back in 1997. The reason people also call it "the christ child," because it reaches full strength in December. It is the unusual warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean that typcially occurs every 3-6 years.

La Nina stands for "the little girl," because it normally isn't as strong as El Nino, though after the winter of 2009-2010 some people would beg to differ.
As we recap the events from yesterday across North Dakota:
Minot received 0.50" of snow last night.
Bismarck received 0.90" of snow

That fell well short of the expected 2-4", however, with the ground being warm it is still tough to put together a good forecast for snow amounts.

We now turn our attention to Minnesota. Friday night into Saturday morning, there is a chance for snow to accumulate, on the northwest side of Minneapolis. Rain and snow will move into the area by Friday evening and switch over to snow during the overnight hours. Main accumulations of 1-2" will fall on the grass.

Tune in tomorrow.

Snow getting closer to Illinois.....

As we get ready to reach the 70 degrees mark here in the Chicagoland area, out to our northwest, North Dakota is ready for some snow. Keep in mind, the average high temperature for Chicago is 50 degrees, so for today we are looking at 18-20 degrees above average! As we look at Minot getting ready to receive some accumulating snowfall, it is interesting to note that just 2 days ago on Nov 7th, they had a high temp of 67 degrees. There will of course be some inital melting with this due to the ground temperatures being warm, but I'm sure by Thursday morning when people wake up for work, they will see snow on the ground.

A look at the week...

This map is from this morning as we take a look at what is going on across the country. A low pressure system arrived on the west coast Sunday morning bringing rain showers, and several inches of snow above 6000ft in eastern Oregon, Nevada, and Montana. Currently winter storm warnings have been issued for places in western Montana. Up to a foot of snow is expected.

As we progress this week, strong southerly winds will help lead to a lot of warm air advection across the upper midwest. Temperatures in many locations will see highs in the 60s.

Michigan snow

This picture below is taken near Stevensville, Michigan which is located along the coast. Snow bands did develop in northern Indiana and far southeastern Michigan yesterday evening. Around 10am this morning the switch over back to rain began to occur. However, this narrow band will continue throughout the day and into the overnight hours once again. Accumulations will be minimal with the majority occurring on grass. This is another sign of winter peeking its head around the corner.

Courtesy of weatherunderground

Snow showers by this weekend????

As we get ready to move our clocks back an hour (don't forget this weekend!) and plunge into the winter season in a few weeks, I wanted to mention the average start dates for snowfall in Chicago.

Average date for a trace of snow: Oct. 30th
Average date for Measurable (0.1") snow: Nov 16th
Average date for 1.0" or more of snow: Dec 2nd

A weak cold front is pushing into the Upper Great Lakes this morning and with it bringing some light rain showers across the region. As this system quickly pushes through by tomorrow, and the winds respond by turning northwest, there is a chance late Friday night that northern Indiana could see a few lake effect snow showers mixed in with light rain. Temperatures overnight Friday into Saturday will be hovering the 32 degree mark. Not expecting ANY accumulation, just a cold rain that really hurts when being outside.

Recap of yesterday's storm

Courtesy of intellicast

According the the National Weather Service out of Romeoville, IL there were 3 confirmed tornado reports yesterday. An EF-2 occurred near Peotone, an EF-1 in Elburn, and an EF-0 inbetween Malden and Kouts.

In North Dakota, up to 8 inches fell near Williston. As of this morning Bismarck recorded 2.1" and Minot 4.0". These totals will likely be a tad higher because of the continuing snowfall going on today.

Here closer towards home, the weather service posted some peak wind gusts that were recorded yesterday.

Waukegan, IL: 62 mph (highest)

Rockford, IL: 52 mph

Valparaiso, IN: 52 mph

Midway Airport: 54 mph

O'Hare Airport: 51 mph

DuPage Airport: 50 mph

Aurora, IL: 50 mph

Wheeling, IL: 49 mph

Historic Storm

As winter approaches, we typically begin to see strong low pressure systems come crashing into the Continental U.S. This year, however, looks to be historic. This could end up being the lowest mb pressure recorded in decades for a synoptic scale system. Extremely intense winds are currently occurring across the Upper Midwest, as well as Blizzard condtions for North Dakota. Areas in North Dakota could see as much as 6 inches of snow tonight into tomorrow. Severe thunderstorms moved across Iowa, Illinois and Indiana late Monday night/early Tuesday morning. Wind gusts could reach 60 mph today across WI, IL, and IN. Expect much colder temperatures across the Upper Midwest. Lows around 20 degrees are likely for North Dakota Wednesday night, while 40 degree temperatures can be found across IL during the day Thursday.

Make sure to check back tomorrow as I will post which areas received the highest wind gusts.

Just around the corner.......

As the winter of 2010-2011 quickly approaches, it is time to take a look at what to expect this coming season. Long range computer models continue to vary from one another, but with a moderate to strong La Nina expected to take place during the winter, above average precipitation is probable for the Great Lakes, and the Northwest U.S. Across the Southern U.S., a warmer and drier winter season is in store. Considering El Nino dumped heavy amounts of rain and snow in this region last year, with a La Nina pattern, the exact opposite is what normally

takes place.
While the Eastern Seaboard saw record setting snow last year, this season will certainly be different. I still see above average precipitation for areas like Baltimore, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, and Hartford to name a few. While I could go on and on about different regions, I figured this illustration will help summarize what I mean.

For those of you who have signed up for my weather service this winter, I will be sending you a more personalized winter outlook for your specific area within the next two weeks.

Winter Season 2010-2011

Thank you for visiting the Cherry Logistics Marketing weather blog. I am the chief meteorologist Eric Szos, and I'll be providing forecasts,reports, and other interesting weather facts throughout the winter season. Some early 2010-2011 winter weather predictions are starting to come out. Over the next month I will be working on my winter summary which will be then posted right here on this page.

Stay tuned!

Wecome To The Cherry Logistics Weather Blog

Check back often for our blogs about upcoming weather. Learn more about our prfessional weather service at http://www.cherrylogisticsmarketing.com