Record Cold

Well, I'll do a follow up on Blizzard Alvin in a later post... But, to quickly report; we have now officially hit record low temperatures on two consecutive nights here in Grand Forks, ND.

The Grand Forks NWS office issued a Record Report earlier this morning:

RECORD EVENT REPORT   
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA/GRAND FORKS   
118 AM CST SAT JAN 2 2010  
   
..RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE SET AT GFK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT  
  
AT MARK ANDREWS GRAND FORKS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT A RECORD LOW   
TEMPERATURE OF 33 DEGREES BELOW ZERO WAS SET FOR JAN 1. THIS   
ESTABLISHES A NEW RECORD MINIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR THIS LOCATION FOR   
NEW YEAR'S DAY. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 30 DEGREES BELOW ZERO...SET   
IN 1974.  
  
THE JANUARY 2 RECORD OF 27 DEGREES BELOW ZERO HAS ALSO BEEN BROKEN.   
THIS RECORD WAS ATTAINED IN 1991. SO FAR THE LOW TEMPERATURE   
RECORDED FOR JANUARY 2 WAS 34 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. AN UPDATED RECORD   
EVENT WILL BEEN SENT OUT LATER THIS MORNING ONCE THE MINIMUM HAS   
BEEN ESTABLISHED FOR THE DAY.

Wind Chill Advisories continue through noon today (Saturday) for the possibility of Wind Chills to drop to -25 to -40° F.

Record snows...

And now you all see what kind of life a storm chaser leads during the winter months. I haven't really had much to write about in the last month or so. Some chasers get pumped at winter storms. I do not. Especially, those that affect me. They only reinforce what I already know. That my car doesn't handle the ice and snow at all. ;)

Anyhow, we were affected by a couple of major winter storms here in the Northern Plains the past 30 days and as such, the NWS has officially announced that December 2008 went down in the record books as the snowiest December on record. Both in Grand Forks and Fargo:

RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA/GRAND FORKS
712 PM CST THU JAN 1 2009

...RECORD MONTHLY SNOWFALL AT GRAND FORKS UNIV. (NWS) SITE FOR
DECEMBER 2008...

30.1 INCHES OF SNOWFALL OCCURRED IN DECEMBER 2008 AND THIS IS THE
HIGHEST EVER MONTHLY SNOWFALL FOR DECEMBER.  THE ALL TIME MONTHLY
SNOWFALL FOR ANY MONTH IS 31.5 INCHES SET IN JANUARY 1989.

...RECORD MONTHLY SNOWFALL AT FARGO/MOORHEAD FOR DECEMBER 2008 AND
FOR ALL-TIME...

OFFICIALLY 33.5 INCHES OF SNOW FELL IN FARGO/MOORHEAD FOR DECEMBER
2008.  THIS WAS THE HIGHEST TOTAL FOR DECEMBER 2008 AND FOR ANY
MONTH.  THE PREVIOUS RECORD FOR HIGHEST MONTHLY SNOWFALL FOR ANY
MONTH WAS 31.5 INCHES IN JANUARY 1989.

Northwest flow early in the month brought several Alberta Clippers to the state, while a pattern shift brought a more westerly flow near mid-month. This brought Ali, the first full-blown blizzard in many years, to Eastern North Dakota. And since, we're back into the northwesterly flow and thusly have experienced clipper after clipper pretty much every other day for the last week and a half. No significant snowfalls really, but each has dropped between 2 to 4 inches. So, yes, we have well over a foot of snowpack out there and that doesn't do anything to help our temperatures.

Yet, today... More impending doom:



We have bright sunshine out there right now, but these clouds heading our way will be bringing more snowfall, potentially 6+ inches, to the area. The NWS Advisories map to the right will show you the winter weather advisories that are in affect across the area.

A great way to start the 2009 year... more snow! :(

Happy New Years, everyone. Hope you all had a great holiday season.

Blizzard Status...

The Threat Assessments Chart is quit colorful still tonight. Blizzard Warnings continue across much of the Northern Rockies and Plains through tomorrow morning in some areas, through tomorrow night around these parts.


While the snow hasn't starting falling very heavily here in Grand Forks, the winds have continued to increase throughout the afternoon and are quite gusty out there. The existing snow-cover we had isn't budging much. Apparently, it had crusted over just enough not to cause any problems.

I've been in all day keeping warm and working on the Webcam Network some. I've added several new cameras to southwestern Montana, a couple in Missoula and several others in and around Jackson, WY. I didn't get as many added as I wanted to today, but I kept getting distracted by the weather and the IU/KY basketball game on CBS this afternoon.

It's nice, as well, to see the WeatherCam Network get some love today. I really want the Meteorologists of the world to be able to use this thing as a real tool. For the time and effort I put into networking all these cameras (as accurately as I can!), I really want people to appreciate it.

I can see the armchair chaser really wanting these, as well. I know I always do, when I can't be where the storms are!

Blizzard Watch

The first full-blown blizzard I've experienced in quite some time may come barreling through the Northern Plains this weekend. The models have been fairly consistent with pushing an intense surface low up from the southwest and progressing an upper-wave eastward from the Pacific Northwest. As these phase together Saturday over the region, we'll likely see heavy snows and strong winds.

The NWS has issued Blizzard Watches from Montana to South Dakota to Minnesota already.

I'm not particularly one of them winter-storm chasers (yes, they do exist), and even if I were, I wouldn't have to go anywhere. We will likely experience the worst of it here in Grand Forks, late Saturday and into early Sunday.

It's the perfect weekend to be off shift. No, you'll find me hibernating in the apartment, working on the Webcam Network all weekend.