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.