Clouds To The East/Clear To The West!
The N.O.A.A. prediction of no rain overnight was apparently incorrect. When I took Ike out for the last time last night it was still foggy and raining lightly, but it only accounted for another 0.14 inches of precipitation overnight. We are now up to 0.79 inches of rain and snowmelt for February. We have also had 63" of snow since the first of the year giving us a total of 116" of snow for the season. The sky is virtually clear to the west, while the last of the cumulus clouds are moving off to the east. It is windy, and that indicates that there is a change in the barometric pressure afoot. That should leave us with a pleasant day with slightly higher than normal temperatures, just not as warm as yesterday. As a result of yesterday's temperatures a large part of the snow on my carriage house and barn roofs has fallen to the ground, and that too is a good thing.
The N.W.S. is calling for our area of Maine to receive light scattered snow showers all day. I am not sure how that is supposed to happen with n clouds to our west. They also predict that the cloud cover will increase as the day wears on, but I am no so sure of that either (52%/65%/78%/74%). There are some snow squalls showing up on the NEXRAD regional composite radar, but they are well west and south of us in New York State. The Weather Underground model forecast maps indicate that there may be some weak disturbances moving through our area today, but they do not appear to be a cause for concern. I am not sure they will reach us, and if they do their impact will be minimal.
My Weather Stick is frowning just a little, and with 75% relative humidity that should be no surprise. All three of the electronic instruments predict or indicate the barometric pressure is rising. They do not agree about the weather we can expect today. The La Crosse Weather Station forecasts fair skies, the Min/Max Thermometer forecasts unsettled weather and the remote weather station forecasts foul weather. I think that they just have not caught up with the change in the barometric pressure that has already occurred. Therefore, we can probably expect a decent day with some wind (which we are already having) and slightly warmer than normal temperatures. For the last two years the temperature had trouble getting out of the single numbers, so this is a welcome change. On this date for the last two years we had no precipitation either. We did have low temperatures overnight just a bit below freezing 25.5°F, 26.0°F and 31.5°F.
Low Temperature (°F): 25.5
Current Temperature (°F): 31.8
Relative Humidity (%): 75%
Dew Point (°F): 24.8
Barometric Pressure (in Hg): 29.61
Heat Index (°F): N/A
Wind Direction: Southwest
Wind Speed: 8.5
Wind-Chill (°F): 20.4
Precipitation (Type): Rain
Amount (Inches): 0.14
Cloud Cover (AM): Partly Cloudy
Cloud Type: Cumulus
Weather Stick: Slightly Down
Comparative data for the overnight .
Temperature:39°F/34.8°F//34°F/36.1°F//30°F/33.6°F//27°F/30.2°F
Relative Humidity: 100%/91%//96%/91%/96%/87%//92%/76%
The N.W.S. had their act pretty much together overnight. The only forecast data point they had incorrect was at 04:00 hours for the relative humidity. Apparently when the wind kicked in and the clouds really began to move out it caused the relative humidity to remain higher than they forecast. That is purely speculation on my part.
Forecast data for today.
Temperature: 28°F/34°F/38°F/39°F.
Relative Humidity: 85%/61%/46%/40%
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