Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Current Conditions:
Temperature: 11°F
Feels Like: -2°F
Wind: Northwest @ 10 mph
Humidity: 56%
Pressure: 1025.2 mb é

A very chilly, unseasonably low day for the Chippewa Valley. An Alberta Clipper moved through yesterday, applying a light blanketing of snow, followed by a substantial drop in temperature. With highs projected in the upper teens, this is a rather chilly day in the region. A large high pressure dome is moving through the area, leading to these clear skies, chilly temperatures, and northwest winds, as we are in the northeast region of the system. The winds are quite sustained and with the current system and falling air masses the wind is carry dryer air, leading to a more chilling, crisp wind. At the east edge of this high pressure system, over the eastern Great Lakes, there is a low pressure system developing. This low pressure system is expected to converge with another low pressure system pushing up from the southern states on the east coast. If conditions hold, this is expected to produce a decent sized blizzard in the northeast, heading into Thursday. Over the next few days we can expect a rise in temperatures, with a return to seasonal norms this weekend, as some temperatures are projected to get into the upper 40's.

As described, there is a large high pressure dome over much of the center of the country. The low pressure troughs located off the coast of Georgia, the upper atmosphere trough spanning Virginia to Georgia, and the developing low pressure system off the eastern edge of the high pressure dome are expected to converge and lead to the development of a large midlatitude cyclone and blizzard conditions as we head into Thursday.

Through today, cold temperatures are going to remain, however as the week progresses, those warmer temperatures are going to win out and will begin to move into the area. This will most likely be due to a flattening of the subpolar jet.

Moving into the end of the week, there is projected to be a substantial amount of precipitation over much of the East Coast, New England, Deep South, and Northwest. Temperatures are projected to warm in the Midwest to seasonably appropriate temperatures.

There is a large dip in the subpolar jet currently, leading to a polar high pressure system in the area. This is driving our current temperatures, wind speeds, and conditions.

The current surface map shows light winds out of the northwest in our area. The is due to a high pressure dome that is centered to the southwest corner of the map. Conditions are overcast to the east, but clear over the Minnesota-Wisconsin-Iowa region.

This sounding from Minneapolis, Minnesota shows stable LI and KI values and no other significant activity.