In previous posts we have discussed the year in review.  Two main points or highlights come to mind.  The first one is the alarming 5th year in a row which we have seen below average precipitation.  Thankfully, a snowy December has slightly helped, but there is a lot more catching up to do.  It is safe to say we are in a serious drought stage.  A drought that even if conditions improve, it will take years to recover back to normal.  So lets hope for a wet 2008.  The other big yearly highlight would be the June 7th severe weather outbreak.  For me this came as a quick reminder of the extreme weather we experience here in the badger state.  I had only been with TV9 for a couple of weeks and I think by saying that day "broke me in" would be an understatement.  Our hearts still go out to the folks who were affected by the June 7th storms.  It was a day that many will remember for a long time, but it is also a day(or week) that meteorologist state-wide can be proud of.  The severe weather outbreak was forecasted several days in advance, and I think when that afternoon arrived, very few were caught off guard.  But I think there is always room for improvement and when speaking for all of us here in the Newsline 9 Weather Center, we will continue our dedication and strive for an even better awareness coming up in 2008.  Happy New Year!!

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

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We are on the verge of a new year and on the verge of the coldest weather we have experienced since early December. High temps will be in the low to mid 20s today with cloudy skies and a dusting of snow. A strong northwest wind will develop tomorrow and temps will drop into the low to mid teens. Winds will be a little below zero at times for the first day of the new year. Wednesday will again be cold but there will not be quite as much wind and the sun should make an appearance. Even though it will be cold on Wednesday, you might want to get outside and experience some of the sunshine because clouds will return late this week and the skies might remain cloudy for quite some time. The reason: a warm south wind will develop on Thursday and it will continue through the upcoming weekend. It will be warm enough to melt some of the snow and this will add some moisture to the air, creating areas of low clouds, fog, and drizzle. Temps will rise into the mid 20s on Thursday, reach the low 30s on Friday and then top out in the mid to upper 30s on Saturday and Sunday.

Not much chance of accumulating snow except in far northern Wisconsin tonight through Wednesday morning with some lake effect snow developing. A LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING is in effect for Iron and Ashland counties. Several inches of snow along with some blowing and drifting will affect these areas tonight through Wednesday morning. There could also be a couple inches in parts of Vilas county.

Year in Review

Temperature and precipitation in Wausau

Average high in 2007: 54.2   (normal: 53.6)

Average low: 35.1   (normal: 33.6)

Total precipitation: 28.47"   (normal: 33.36", 5th year in a row below normal)

Total snowfall: 54.40"   (normal: 58.60")

Highest temperature: 92 on July 8th

Lowest temperature: -19 on February 5th

As promised on Friday here is a detailed list of all the daily record that were broken (in Wausau)

Record High Temperatures:

• January 4th: 41
• March 25th: 74
• March 26th: 77
• June 15th: 90
• October 7th: 84

Record Low Temperatures – none

Record Cold High Temperatures:

• February 9th: -9
• April 6th: 27
• August 18th: 60
• August 19th: 58 (tie)
• August 20th: 62 (tie)
• September 10th: 54 (tie)

Record Warm Low Temperatures

• January 4th: 34
• September 6th: 70
• October 6th: 67
• October 7th: 64

Record Precipitation

• June 18th: 1.70"
• July 26th: 2.24"
• December 23rd: 1.00"

Record Snowfall

• February 25th: 7.2 inches
• December 23rd: 7.5 inches

More Year End Lists:

Finally a list of top science stories that includes the world’s first Quantum Computer, although the debate is still out as to whether it is a true quantum computer. Unfortunately you have to go all the way to page four, past all the climate hysteria, to find a couple of the big stories, including the quantum computer. For all of you tech fans, how about 2007: the year in robots. Which ones were hits? Which ones were the most interesting? Japan’s robot of the year is a robotic arm that can grab 120 pieces per minute off of a conveyor belt. An amazing feat, but kind-of boring.

Enough looking back, what is coming in 2008? Here is a list, from Popular Science, of big things to look for in the coming year. You can also take a look at a picture gallery of things to look for in 2008.

Have a happy new year! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

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This weekend, I thought it would be interesting to have you as viewers and readers to pick our top weather events across central Wisconsin instead of us telling you what they were.  Even though I didn’t get a lot of responses, I was very excited and thankful for those that I did receive so thank you!!!  Here are your top picks:

Coming in third, our most recent snowstorm on December 22-23.  There were some record daily snowfalls across the area, including Wausau.  Wausau received 8.5" of snow which broke the previous record of 6.0" in 1933.

In second, the Drought of 2007.  We have been in a drought for the past several years and over the summer and early fall, drought conditions were moderate to severe, especially across the Northwoods!  With the recent snows and fall rains, conditions have greatly improved, but we will end the year with below average precipitation once again.

And the top weather event of 2007 that you picked was the June 7th Severe Weather Outbreak!  That was a difficult day for everyone in central Wisconsin.  In fact, we knew that the potential was there for severe weather a few days before and some schools even cancelled knowing that there was that potential for some significant severe weather!  Wisconsin Rapids had a near-record hailstorm with hail as big as 4-5" in diameter (softball size).  There was even a report of a 5.5" hailstone in Port Edwards which is the second largest hailstone in Wisconsin weather history (largest was 5.7" which fell in Wausau in May 1921).  The storm caused over $40 million of damage to thousands of homes and businesses across Wood County and some are still trying to rebuild and recover.  The second part of the storm was the tornadoes, two in particular that caused numerous damage.  One tornado touched down 10 miles east of Mosinee near Pike Lake and was rated an EF2.  Winds were estimated between 115-125 mph and the tornado caused over $300,000 in damage.  This tornado was approximately 250 yards and it traveled 7.3 miles.  A EF3 tornado then touched down near Mattoon in Shawano County and was on the ground for at least 40 miles making it the longest tornado track in the U.S. for 2007.  The tornado was over a half-mile wide at times and damaged 14,000 acres of trees and dozens of buildings were damaged or destroyed.  The most severe damage occurred just a few miles east of White Lake in Langlade County where nearly every building at the Bear Paw Outdoor Adventure Resort was either damaged or destroyed, but luckily no one was killed. 

It was quite the year for Wisconsin weather, remember the -40 degree wind chills in February?  How about the February blizzard across central and southern Wisconsin?  In Madison, there was even thundersnow and snowfall rates of 2+ inches an hour.  Also across southern Wisconsin, they had record rains and major flooding in August!  Thank you again for you input and have a safe and happy New Year!!!

Meteorologist Megan Syner

Posted under Science

This weekend was pretty dull when it comes to the weather.  We had a good deal of clouds with some peeks of sunshine and temperatures stayed close to the seasonal average.  No big weather systems are in store going into the work week, but there will be several small systems and a big shift in temperature trends from unseasonably cold in the early to middle part of the week to unseasonably mild by the end of the week!  A cold front passing by on Monday will give way to some snow showers and flurries, but not much more than that since there isn’t a lot of moisture associated with the front.  The one thing that this front will do is bring much colder air down from Canada.  Highs on Monday will be in the lower 20s, but then drop into the teens on Tuesday and Wednesday!  Winds will be gusty as well out of the north-northwest so with temps in the teens, the winds will make it feel like temperatures are in the single digits below zero!  There will also be some lake-effect snow in the far north.  That is why the National Weather Service issued a Lake-Effect Snow Watch for Ashland and Iron counties for Monday night into early Wednesday morning.  Parts of Ashland, Iron and even the snow belt of Vilas county may receive several inches of lake-effect snow during the Monday night through Tuesday time frame.

The shift to milder weather will begin on Thursday and may continue through the second week of January.  There is still a lot of uncertainty as to how warm temperatures will get because there will be a couple factors that will limit the increase.  One of the main factors is our snowpack and a secondary factor is expected cloud cover.  I’ll start with the snowpack first.  Temperatures at the end of next and next weekend may get into the lower 30s.  That will cause our snowpack to melt.  The melting snow will cause extra moisture to stay close to the surface bringing the air and dew point temperatures close together which allows for fog to form.  This actually happened a couple weeks ago before our Christmas snowstorm!  The fog would keep temperatures cooler than if the sun were shining because the clouds and fog block the sun’s heat from reaching the surface.  We would also have occasional drizzle/freezing drizzle and flurries in this case.  There will be a couple weather systems passing by so this could cause winds to mix the air enough for fog not to form and we would see a mix of rain and/or snow in this second case.  The third case is that there will overall be too many clouds, either from fog or passing weather systems that temperatures may not get too far above freezing.  I think the first case is a probable scenario, but I still think there will be enough warm air advection and breezy conditions for temperatures to get into the lower 30s later this week and weekend.  The "January Thaw" may even continue through the second week of January so try to get those winter activities in now!  That is all for tonight, I hope you all have a safe and healthy New Year!!!

Meteorologist Megan Syner

Posted under Science

Every year we talk about what the top weather events of the year were, but I wanted to put a little twist on it.  Instead of us telling you what the top weather events of the year were, I want to know what weather event or events significantly affected you and/or your hometown over the past year.  It can be anything from a tornado to flooding rains to lake-effect snow, anything that had a significant impact on you or your hometown.  I’ll give you an example since I’ve been here for a year.  A weather event that impacted me personally in a big way was the tornado/severe weather outbreak on June 7th because it was my first real taste of  severe weather on that scale as a meteorologist and I saw first hand how it affected people and the power that these storms have.  E-mail us with your top weather event at weather@waow.com and be sure to include the name/type of event, and the date of the event.  If you want to tell how it affected you or your town, feel free, but I will not show that information on the air.  I will tally up the events based on how many people voted for that event so the more people that vote for a specific event, the higher the event will be on the list.  I will not be able to show everyone’s on the air, but I will do the best I can to get all of the events you chose here on the blog!  I’ll have the results Sunday night on Newsline 9 at 10pm so get right to it and e-mail us your top weather event or events!!!  I’m really excited to see what everyone chooses!

Meteorologist Megan Syner

Posted under Science

In general snow totals this evening ranged from 1 to 4 inches across the area.  We did however receive a 5 inch total out of Almond.  The heaviest of totals remained to south, as the area of low pressure tracked across northern Illinois and into Michigan.  Heavy snow warnings are now in place for lower Michigan, where they could see up to 8 inches as the pressure center intensifies.  Here is a preliminary list of  snow totals across the area.

Almond:    5.0"

Polonia:    4.0"

Plover:     4.0"

Arkdale:    3.5"

Wautoma: 3.5"

Elcho:       2.4"

Wausau:   2.0"

Lake Tomahawk:  1.8"

Conover: 1.5"

Whittlesey: 1.5"

Eagle River:  1.0"

If you have any snow totals from your household…please share in by writing a comment.

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

Posted under Uncategorized

It still looks as if an inch or two of snow is likely for much of northcentral Wisconsin today but it will be a little heavier south and east of Marathon county and thus a SNOW ADVISORY has been issued for Juneau and Adams counties effective until 6pm and for Portage, Waushara, Waupaca, and Shawano counties effective until 9pm. 2 to 5 inches of accumulation is possible in the advisory area So cities such as Shawano, Waupaca, Wautoma, Tigerton, Iola, Almond, Rome, Pine River, and Adams will be under the gun for heavier snow. Driving home from work this afternoon could be a bit tricky. The snow will taper off to flurries late this evening.

We should have a break in the action for Saturday before another chance of snow moves in for Sunday and Monday. I don’t expect much accumulation on Sunday, only a dusting, but Monday we could be dealing with a couple inches once again. Back to Sunday for a moment, it looks like pretty good weather for the Packer game. It will be on the cool side, but nothing like last weekend at Soldier field. The game time temp should be around 24 with a south wind around 10 mph and a few flurries in the air. There shouldn’t be too much trouble driving too or from the game.

Monday afternoon a strong northwest wind will develop and eventually bring in a blast of arctic air to ring in the new year. High temps on Tuesday and Wednesday will only be in the lower teens with wind chills below zero at times. Don’t get too depressed about the colder weather though – it still looks like a dramatic warm-up for late next week and into next weekend. High temps should bounce back-up into the 30s to near 40. Unfortunately, it will be warm enough to melt some of our beautiful snowcover.

Year End Review:

As promised, today we will look at the monthly precipitation totals from 2007. Eight months out of the year had below normal precipitation, 1 month was very near normal (July), and 3 months had above normal precipitation.The worst part about the precipitation was that the three above normal months (March, October, and December) occurred outside of the growing season. That means the below normal months occurred during the growing season for the most part. For the 5th year in a row, most of Northcentral Wisconsin suffered moderate to severe drought during at least part of the growing season, and for the 5th year in a row the total precipitation for the year in Wausau was below normal. The 2007 total (so far) is 28.29 inches. Normal is 33.36 inches so it was about 5 inches below normal. Snowfall is also below normal for 2007 (so far). The total for the year is 52.5 inches. Normal snowfall for Wausau is 58.6 inches. With an additional couple inches today and another couple inches on Monday, we could end up very near normal. Here are the month-by-month totals:

January: 0.47" (8.2" snow)   Normal: 1.09" (13.7")

February: 0.80" (11.2" snow)   Normal: 0.90" (8.7")

March: 2.38" (10.0" snow)   Normal: 1.92" (10.7")

April: 1.44" (4.6" snow)   Normal: 2.84" (3.8")

May: 2.10" (0.0" snow)   Normal: 3.54" (0.10")

June: 3.20"   Normal: 4.18"

July: 4.07"   Normal: 4.12"

August: 4.38"   Normal: 4.53"

September: 2.70" (0.0" snow)   Normal: 4.08" (Trace)

October: 4.63" (0.0" snow)   Normal: 2.63" (1.0")

November: 0.06" (0.90" snow)   Normal: 2.20" (7.1")

December (so far): 2.06" (17.6" snow)   Normal: 1.33" (13.5")

As far as daily record go, there were:

-5 record high temps

-zero record low temps

-6 record cold high temperatures

-4 record warm low temperatures

-3 record daily precipitation events

-2 record daily snowfall amounts.

As far as the actual numbers go, I will get into more detail on Monday.

Other Year End Reviews:

Yet another review of the top technology stories of the year. You can also watch the top 5 science and technology videos of the year here.

Energy News:

Everyone is talking about alternative energy and fuel efficiency, but will the new fuel efficiency standards (CAFE) kill the classic American muscle car? This article says no. It might be a little tougher for Detroit to produce muscle cars, but there should still be some available for purchase over the next decade. Of course, Tesla Motors is busy redefining what it means to be a muscle car. Their sports car is all electric. There is also the X1 prototype which is more of a racing car. I would gladly drive one of those instead of busting my wallet buying gas for a traditional muscle car.

Meteorologist Justin Loew

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Friday may feature some light snow for portions of the viewing area, especially south and east of Marathon County.  A wave of low pressure will exit the central Plains on Friday and move into the Great Lakes region.  Our area will stay on the back side of this system with snow a good possibility on Friday.  This storm is a quick moving storm and it will affect our area from Friday morning through Friday evening and then be out of here by Friday night.  As for snow amounts, it does look like the potential is there for some light accumulations across area as I mentioned earlier, mainly south and east of Wausau.   For central Wisconsin, including Marathon, Lincoln, Wood and Portage counties, anywhere from 1-3 inches can be expected.  South and east including Shawano, Waupaca, Waushara, Adams counties can expect 2-4 inches and then 3-6 inches along the Lake Michigan coast towards Fond Du Lac and Milwaukee.  A dusting to an inch of snow can be expected in the Northwoods.  Your morning commute should be okay with some clouds and maybe a few flurries, but the evening commute could be a little rough so plan ahead for that, especially in the area where 2-4 inches of snow can be expected! 

This weekend will feature some breaks of sun and then some snow showers in-between, but nothing too eventful until Sunday night into Monday.  That is when a fairly decent cold front will push through the area and give us a push of chilly arctic air.  Highs to start off the New Year will only in the teens.  If you aren’t a fan of the cold, then you are in luck because the chilly air will only linger for about 2 days and then we’ll rebound into the opposite direction with temperatures by the end of week well into the 30s and maybe even pushing 40 degrees!  We may be looking at a January thaw for the first and/or second week of the month, but we’ll wait and see how that pans out!  That is all for now, have a wonderful evening!

Meteorologist Megan Syner

Posted under Science

Before I get into the year end review of  the weather in Wausau, let’s take a look at some recent viewer photographs:

Picture taken byy Rick Rossier. The heavt snow last Sunday bent the tree limbs all the way down to the ground. Rick says the limbs are usually higher than the shed in the photograph.

Picture sent in by the Stouffers. A nice sunset highlighting heavy snow on the tree.

A squirrell eating corn. Picture taken by Larry Seliger. He put out some corn so the animals would have something "easier" to eat after the heavy snow.

A sign of the season. Picture sent in by Mark Harrestein.

The snow you see in the pictures is of course just the beginning of the winter season here in Northcentral Wisconsin and it looks like we will add a little to it over the next few days – if not on Friday, then on Sunday and Monday. Yesterday we were talking about a Winter Storm Watch for the southeastern part of the area. The National Weather Service has now dropped that Watch, but some accumulation is still possible on Friday. Right now it looks like areas to the south and east of Wausau will have a shot at an inch or two, while the northwoods will end up with just a dusting. The real trouble spot in the state will be in the far south around Madison and Milwauke. That is where there could be 3 to 6 inches of snow during the day on Friday. So if you have any travel plans, be mindful that there could be airport delays in Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago, and even Detroit.

There will be a little break in the action on Saturday and then another stormm system will affect the upper Midwest on Sunday and Monday. This next storm has the potential to produce another couple inches accumulation. The main thing you will notice though is the colder air moving in after the storm departs. On News Years Day and Wednesday of next week, high temps will only be in the low to mid teens. Don’t get too depressed about the cold weather though because it should not last too long. By late next week high temps should be back up into the 300s to near 40.

Year End Review:

We have discussed the extreme weather events during 2007 in the state of Wisconsin, now let us dig a little deeper into the numbers. Today we will look at how each month’s statistics (Wausau) compared to normal. Tomorrow I will list all of the new records that were set, and a look at the yearly precipitation.

January: Avg. high/low= 26.5/12.3   Normal=22.4/3.6   Difference= +4.1/+8.7

February: Avg high/low=18.7/3.7   Normal=28.7/9.3   Difference= -10.0/-5.6

March: Avg. high/low=43.9/24.5   Normal=39.8/20.5   Difference= +4.1/+4.0

April: Avg. high/low=53.9/32.9   Normal=54.8/33.2   Difference= -0.90/-0.30

May: Avg. high/low=71.4/46.9   Normal=68.5/45.1   Difference= +2.9/+1.8

June: Avg. high/low=79.3/54.5   Normal=76.7/54.2   Difference= +2.6/+0.30

July: Avg. high/low=81.7/58.9   Normal=80.8/59.3   Difference= +0.90/-0.40

August: Avg. high/low=78.1/59.3   Normal=78.3/57.4   Difference= -0.20/+1.9

September: Avg. high/low=71.6/51.1   Normal=78.3/57.4   Difference= +2.6/+2.9

October: Avg. high/low=61.3/43.2   Normal=56.7/37.3   Difference= +4.6/+5.9

November: Avg. high/low=39.3/24.0   Normal=40.1/24.6   Difference= -0.80/-0.60

December (so far): Avg. high/low=25.1/9.6   Normal=26.8/10.6   Difference= -1.7/-1.0

So in Wausau, we ended up with 6 above normal months, 2 below normal months, and 4 that were very near normal. The average high/low for the year (so far) is 54.2/35.1. Normal for Wausau is 53.6/33.6 for a difference of +0.60/+1.5. The most interesting aspect of the monthly temperatures is that February was colder than January. Not only was it colder, it was about 9 degrees colder than January! It was nearly the coldest February on record. Normally January is the coldest month of the year. In 2007 it was February – by a large margin.

More Top Ten/Other 2007 Lists:

I have had a couple top science and technology breakthrough lists already, but in my opinion, they left something to be desired. Here is a list that is more representative of the most significant science breakthroughs – click here. This list is better but it is still missing the first demonstration of a quantum computer by Dwave. Perhaps too many scientists remain skeptical as to whether or not Dwave has demonstrated "true" quantum computation. Since Dwave plans to make a 1,000 qbit computer in 2008, it should finally settle the issue.

Here is a pretty good list of the top space discoveries. I thought one of the bigger discoveries was that of extra-solar planets.

How about the top energy stories of the year – one of my current favorite subjects. I have more hope for solar energy and electric cars than for the bio-fuel option. Bio-fuels (including corn-ethanol) could be quite useful as a transition fuel or a stop-gap measure, but eventually it makes more sense to switch over to all electric cars. It is so much more efficient. That’s why I didn’t get too excited about this story – describing a new fueling technique for future hydrogen cars. Generating electricity in order to synthesize hydrogen in order to run our vehicles is not as efficient as just putting electricity into the cars. I say this even though I (and a friend) currently have a fuel cell patent under review by the USPTO. Of course, there are a lot of other uses for fuel cells besides cars.

Here is a fun/wierd alternative energy story: a boat powered by biodiesel created in part from human fat. The human fat part of the was just a publicity stunt to promote an around-the-world trip in a boat powered by alternative fuels. The actual mileage they get from the fat-biodiesel will be quite small.

Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Uncategorized

Thursday will feature a break from the snow with more clouds than sunshine and seasonably mild temperatures with highs in the upper 20s to around 30 degrees.  A Winter Storm Watch remains in effect for Wood, Portage, Shawano, Waupaca, Waushara, Juneau and Adams counties effective on Friday.  The reason is due to a wave of low pressure exiting the eastern  Rockies and moving up through the state of Indiana/Illinois.  The track of this low is still very uncertain at this point, but based on its current track, our viewing area may be in store for a couple inches, but it doesn’t look to be anything too significant at this point.  Another more probable track is that the low will stay farther south and east towards Indiana/Ohio and that would leave us with a few flurries if we are lucky!  Nevertheless, we’ll be keeping a close eye on this storm!  It looks like we will continue to see snow opportunities through the weekend, but only a few snow showers or flurries are expected.

An arctic blast from Canada will arrive just in time for the New Year with high temperatures projected to only be in the teens!  The good news is that it will be a quick blast and by the end of next week, we’ll have temperatures climbing back into the upper 20s and around 30 degrees.  There are even hints of the opposite trend going into the second week of January with well above average temperatures which could melt our wonderful snow pack.  Snow conditions have been really good this season and hopefully, seasonal temperatures will continue through next month so we can continue our favorite winter sports!  That is all for tonight, have a great night!

Meteorologist Megan Syner

Posted under Uncategorized