N.O.A.A. forecast no precipitation overnight, but there was about a half inch of new snow on top of our vehicles this morning when I took Ike out for his morning constitutional. It was however quite cold, and he wasted no time in making himself ready to go back in the house. The wind, and there was wind, was not enough to change the apparent temperature (used to be wind chill or heat index), but it did not have to change 3°F on my account.
For today the N.W.S. forecasts no precipitation with a cloud cover that supports that (24%/31%/37%/54%), but is increasing in advance of tomorrow's event. Currently the NEXRAD composite regional radar does not show any storms, with the exception of some lake effect snow near the Great Lakes. The Weather Underground model forecast maps show no storms moving toward us during the day today. Tomorrow though seems to hold something very different in store for us. It appears at the moment that we will be shoveling out from under a significant amount of snow tomorrow and Monday. It may be necessary to blow this snow at least twice if not three times in order to stay ahead of it.
My Weather Stick is expressionless again as a result of the 60% relative humidity. I would bet that it is smiling now since the relative humidity has dropped to 55% in the last 2 hours. All three of my electronic instruments are calling for fair weather today with rising barometric pressure. In fact, the pressure is now up to 30.50 inches of Hg from 30.45 inches 2 hours ago. The low temperatures this morning were 2.1°F on the La Crosse Weather Station, 2.2°F on the Min/Max Thermometer and 11.7 in the barn with the critters. My sense is that we will remain cold today, not even breaking 20°F. The pressure will begin to fall soon, and we will have a whopper of a storm tomorrow based on all the data I have available to me.
Low Temperature (°F): 2.1
Current Temperature (°F): 3.3
Relative Humidity: 60%
Dew Point (°F): -7.4
Heat Index (°F): N/A
Barometric Pressure (in Hg): 30.45
Wind Direction: North
Wind Speed (mph): 3.1
Wind-Chill (°F): 3.3
Precipitation (Type): Snow
Amount (Inches): 0.50
Cloud Cover (AM): Partly Cloudy
Cloud Type: Cirrus
Weather Stick: Straight
Comparative data for the overnight.
Temperature:21°F/27.1°F//16°F/25.8°F//12°F/15.9°F//9°F/9.3°F
Relative Humidity: 77%/82%//77%/64%//73%/58%//69%/56%
The N.W.S forecasts for the temperature was within 5°F of the recorded temperatures at the last two forecast times overnight. Is there a pattern developing? I think the cloud cover remained heavier than they expected, holding more heat in than they predicted. I do not know what happened with the relative humidity, but they only forecast the first period correctly. It seems that they are back to their old ways with the relative humidity. Forecast data for today.
Temperature: 11°F/13°F/17°F/15°F.
Relative Humidity: 52%/48%/38%/42%

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