All last winter and even to start this winter, southern Wisconsin has seen the brunt of most snowstorms.  My how the tides have turned…here is the latest state snow depth map.

Southern Wisconsin’s snow depth is down to barely nothing but piles, while the depth in central Wisconsin tops a foot and a half in many spots.  While we continued to see snow, our friends in the southern half of the state picked up quite a bit of rainfall over the holiday week.  I kind of have to rub this in a bit with my dad in Racine…All I here is …" we have so much snow, you have nothing, you don’t have to shovel".  He even swore he saw penguins in the backyard.  Well, what are you going to do now Dad mow the lawn!!  OK fine…so it has been a snowy December for all.

A little more snow will arrive to start the new year.  An Alberta Clipper will bring around an inch of snow tomorrow for most, with 2 inches or more possible in the northwoods.  This weekend we are tracking would could be more accumulating snow Saturday night.  Dress warm, and try to get out and enjoy the winter weather.  There is great skiing and snowmobile conditions throughout the area.

I also would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year.  This has been my first full year living in Wausau.  I have been able to meet so many wonderful people, and couldn’t have asked for better co-workers and friends.  Let’s shoot for an even better 2009!

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

Posted under Uncategorized

Because of the dry and fluffy nature of the snow yesterday, it piled up more than expected. By the end of the day the official total in Wausau reached 7.3 inches! If you were reading the blog yesterday, you will immediately recognize that 7.3 inches is a record for December 30th. The old record was 5.9 inches set back in 1972. If you melt down the snow and measure the water content, it was 0.61 inches, which was also a record for December 30th. If you have been following along this week you know that we only needed 2.2 inches to break the old record monthly snowfall for December. Adding the 7.3 inches to our total brings it up to 36.9 inches. This smashes the old record of 31.7 inches set back in 1990. Amazingly this total also breaks the record for the snowiest month EVER RECORDED in Wausau! The old record was 36.2 inches set back in March of 1956. Most of my life I have heard stories about how cold and snowy it was "back in the old days", and it really was much colder and there were some very snowy winters from the late 1800s through the middle of the 1900s. We have experienced generally warmer conditions in the last 2 to 3 decades, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get cold and snow from time-to-time even record breaking snow. I lived through one of the coldest periods of weather in Wausau’s history in late January and early February of 1996. We had more than 5 days in a row when the temperature did not rise above zero. During that stretch we also recorded the coldest high temperature in Wausau. The mercury only reached -20! I was working on that day. It was amazing! Compare that to this year when the coldest temperature all year was -19 (and that was a low temperature, not the high temperature for the day). Now I can say I lived through the snowiest month ever recorded in Wausau’s history. It is interesting to note that the record was broken not by a couple of big storms but by a succession of small storms and a lot of dry fluffy snow.

Yesterday I mentioned that it was amazing that we had more than 90 inches of snow in 2008 yet no snowstorms that produced more than 6 inches on any one day. The most was 5.8 inches. Now we can say the heaviest snowstorm of 2008 was 7.3 inches. So how much precipitation was there in 2008? How about the average temperature? Here are the nearly final stats for 2008. I am assuming a low temperature today of -6 and a high temp of 9 along with no precipitation.

Average High: 51.6  (normal: 53.6)

Average Low: 31.8  (normal 33.6)

Average Overall Temp: 41.7  (normal: 43.6)

Total Precipitation: 27.63"  (normal: 33.36")

Total Snowfall: 97.7"  (normal: 58.6")

Highest Temp: 89 on August 18th

Lowest Temp: -19 on January 19th, January 20th, and February 21st

Unfortunately 2008 was the 6th year in a row with below normal precipitation. Severe drought developed in the late summer. We are overdue for a wet year. Maybe 2009 will be the one. This was the second time this decade that we did not officially hit 90 degrees. Looking back through the record books it seems this happens less than once a decade on average so to have 2 years without 90 degrees since 2000 is a little unusual. It was one of the coldest years in recent memory. Nearly 2 degrees below normal is quite significant.

What about the future? It looks like the off-and-on snow will continue as we head into the new year but right now it doesn’t look like any big storms. We could end up with an inch or so of snow tomorrow and maybe 2 to 3 inches on Saturday. As far as temps go, they will be up and down. High temps will be in the 5 to 15 range today, Friday, and Sunday, and near 20 on Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday. We could have a couple nights below zero (including tonight) but nothing bitter cold such as -15 or -20.

I was going to go through some of the big weather stories of the year, but alas I have run out of time. Besides, the biggest story of the year was AGW and who wants to hear more doom-and-gloom? Maybe I will cover some of the latest AGW headlines and update the "big list" on Friday (no entry tomorrow).

Have a Happy New Year! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Uncategorized

Well …all we needed was 2.2" of snow to break the monthly snow record for December in Wausau….we ended up with 7.1" and still lightly snowing.  This puts our month total at 36.7", shattering the old record of 31.7" set back in 1990.  We also broke the daily snowfall record for December 30th.  The old record was 5.9" set back in 1972.  I am also currently looking over our records to find out if this December will go down as possibly the snowiest month out of any month ever.  The highest monthly snow total I can find is 36.2" in March 1956…..we have that beat by a half of an inch.

Today’s heavy snow was brought by not your typical heavy snowstorm.  It’s track was characteristic of an Alberta Clipper, however the center of low pressure tracked further south across the plains.  This allowed the surface low to intensify.  The snow also lacked moisture content.  A very dry and fluffy snow adds up a lot quicker than a wet and heavy snow!!  Be safe on the roads.  With cold temperatures on Wednesday, most roads will likely remain snow covered.

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

Posted under Uncategorized

We are again monitoring the potential record breaking snowfall for today – record breaking in the fact the a meager 2.2 inches will put us over the top for the snowiest December on record in Wausau. Hmmm, the record daily snowfall for December 30th is only 5.9 inches (1972) – so we could be close to breaking that one before the day is out as well. At the time of this writing (9am) I measured 2.1 inches on the top of my car, so unofficially we have tied the record for snowfall in the month of December. The record is 31.7 inches set back in 1990. A WINTER STORM WARNING is in effect for Taylor, Clark, Marathon, Wood, Portage, Shawano, Waushara, and Waupaca counties until 6pm. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect for Jackson, Price, Iron, Ashland, Vilas, Oneida, Forest, Florence, Lincoln, Langlade, and Menominee counties until 6pm. I am expecting most areas to receive 3 to 5 inches of snow, with a few spots in Marathon, Taylor, and northern Clark possibly getting 6 or 7 inches. Snow amounts will be much less, and inch or 2, in the far north – north of highway 8, and in the far south – south of highway 10.

Two more storm systems could affect the area this week. One on New Years Day and one on Saturday could both produce a couple inches of snow, enough that you will probably have to get out the shovel again.

Speaking of snowfall records, if we don’t break today’s daily record snowfall it looks like we will go the entire year without breaking a daily record snowfall. It is a testament to the frequency of the snowstorms in 2008 that we had over 90 inches of snow yet not one big storm that broke a daily record. If you count total precipitation (melted snow plus rainfall, or just rain) then we ended up with 4 different daily records. Here are the days they occurred:

1. January 7th: 0.17" (tie)
2. February 17th: 0.45"
3. March 31st: 0.94"
4. April 18th: 1.25"

No surprise that all the precipitation records came early in the year. We started out with a precipitation surplus that lasted through June, the the bottom dropped out and we ended up with a severe drought from late July through most of September.

Even though we had a year with significantly colder than normal weather, we did not break many cold records. We tied one record low with -13 on March 8th. We also tied one record for coldest high temperature (-1 on December 22nd) and broke another (-7 on January 19th). Surprisingly we did have a handful of warm records. We tied a record high on November 4th with a temp of 70 and we broke a record high with a temp of 72 on November 3rd. We also had 3 records for warmest low temperature:

1. January 6th: 34
2. January 8th: 33
3. November 4th: 54

We did have a few warm records but 2008 was one of the few years in the record books without a 90 degree high temperature. The warmest of the year was 89 degrees. I’ll have average temps for the year and total precipitation figures coming up tomorrow.

Other News:

How about the top discoveries on Mars in 2008.? There was a lot of great exploration and discovery on the red planet in 2008 and I expect there will be plenty in 2009, especially if the amazing Mars rovers continue doing their thing.

How about weather stories? Here is a look at natural disasters and their impact in 2008. Of course, AGW (global warming) is blamed for exacerbating weather related losses. It is always blamed for every disaster nowadays. The main reason we see more insured losses (the article is using information from reinsurers) in recent years is that more people with more valuable assets are living in more dangerous areas. Very little of the financial disasters have to do with AGW.

Incredibly the arctic ice melt made the list of top 5 incredible science discoveries of 2005., According to Livescience.com. Insert blank stare here. I am not sure what is so incredible about ice melting. I am not sure this is a "discovery" either. I have no clue how this made it on the list, except that it seems there is an unwritten rule that every article about the environment has to mention AGW in some way. What is even more amazing is that they missed the real story. This year was not the record for the lowest amount of ice coverage in the arctic. It was only the 2nd lowest. We began the year with all kinds of hysterical predictions that the arctic ice was going to melt EVEN MORE this year, that we would most certainly break the record again, that we were near a dangerous tipping point, that the ice could disappear completely almost any day now. Instead we had more ice remain in the arctic this year than last year – defying almost every prediction. That is the incredible part of the story that everyone is missing (intentionally or not). Will the arctic ice increase again next year? I don’t know. If it does, it will be very interesting to see the scientific and media coverage.

Have a nice Tuesday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Uncategorized

Hi everyone, I am back from a very nice week with my family in Racine.  I hope everyone had a terrific holiday.  Although it was nice to get away, my mind is always on the weather and boy did I see a variety when I was away.  When I first arrived in Racine last Tuesday morning there had to have been over a foot and a half of snow piled up.  It snowed that morning, adding a couple more inches.  There was a little bit more snow the next day on Christmas Eve.  By Christmas, temperatures started to warm, and we experienced a round of ice Christmas Night.  Temperatures continued to warm and we were then greeting with a lot of rain and fog Friday night and into Saturday.  Temperatures on Saturday reached the middle 50′s.  By Sunday, snow piles from a week ago had been replaced by ponding water everywhere….what a mess!!.   

The fog was the biggest issue.  Fog typically forms when the air is saturated( the temperature falls to the dewpoint) and we have calm winds.  And when you combine melting snow to this equation, dense fog is highly possible.  When the snow melts, it releases moisture into what is already a saturated air mass.

For us in the near future we can expect yet more snow followed by cold.  An area of low pressure will drop out of the northern rockies tonight, and will set up a swath of snow across the state tomorrow.  I am calling for 2 to 5 inches of accumulation by tomorrow evening.  As mentioned in previous posts, this would be enough to set a record snowfall in Wausau for the month of December.

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

Posted under Uncategorized

29.6 inches! That is how much snow has been officially reported thus far in Wausau during December of 2008. The record snowfall for the month of December is 31.7 inches set back in 1990. Cities all over the southern half of the state, including Green Bay and Madison are smashing all kinds of December snowfall records. Will we break the record in Wausau? There is a chance. The chance will come tomorrow. A storm system moving into the Pacific northwest today will cross Wisconsin tomorrow. Right now I am forecasting 3 to 5 inches of snow on Tuesday. All we need is 2.2 inches to break the record. I’ll be a little upset if we only end up with 2.0 inches on Tuesday. It is not that I want to spend more time shoveling or see more tough driving conditions on the roadways, but what the heck, if we have come this far, we might as well get the record. That way we will have something to tell our grandkids.

Speaking of snow, we have had plenty during 2008. Last winter the snow total in Wausau was 78 inches. If we are talking about 2008 exclusively (from January to December) our snow total has been 90.4 inches. Tomorrow’s snow could bring that total up to around 95 inches. This is pretty amazing considering that we only had one 6 inch snowfall the entire year. That occurred on January 16th and 17th when we had exactly 6.0 inches. There was another snowstorm in February that was close, when we had 8.4 inches, but I think there was a break in the action and it was actually 2 storms – one with 5.5 inches and the other with 2.9 inches. In any case, with over 90 inches of snow in the year, most people would have figured we experienced a couple snowstorms with over a foot. All the big storms stayed in southern Wisconsin. In Wausau we had many small storms. Here is an interesting fact. Even though we had over 90 inches of snow in 2008, our total precipitation (melted snow plus rainfall) was more than 6 inches below normal. It was our 6th year in a row with below normal precipitation and significant drought in parts of the area. I’ll have more details on the official numbers for the year coming up over the next couple of days so stay tuned.

What about after Tuesday? The last day of the year will be below normal. Go figure. At least it will be sunny on Wednesday with highs in the low to mid teens. To ring in the new year it looks like another chance of snow on Thursday. Go figure. Right now it doesn’t look like too much, but even an inch or two will make the roads a bit slippery. Some of the light snow could last into Friday. The 3rd storm system of the week could be moving through Northcentral Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon and evening and again looks like a fairly light snow producer – maybe a couple inches.

Other Year In Review Stories:

How about the year in Spaceflight and the top ten spaceflight stories of the year. 2008 was a great year for spaceflight. The ISS celebrated 10 years in space and an expansion. China, Europe, India, and Japan sent more probes to the moon and elsewhere. Most importantly, private space companies made big progress. As long as the economy does not completely crash, private spaceflight should have another positive year in 2009. Human spaceflight through NASA was busy in 2008 but faces an uncertain future with the expected retirement of the Shuttle and less money from the federal government.

Check out the most extreme science discoveries/stories of 2008. A nice compilation of the biggest, smallest, longest, etc…

Have a good Monday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Uncategorized

We finally saw the sunshine today!! After the last couple gloomy days it was very enjoyable to remember that the sun does come out.  Overnight we picked up more snowfall, here in Wausau we picked up 2 inches.  This means that the total so far for the month is at 29.4 inches.  The record for the month of December according to WAOW records is 31.7.  All we need is 2.3 inches to break the record!!

Looking ahead we should get another storm system in here Tuesday which could bring us this amount of snow.  It will be a very exciting week to see if we can beat the record set back in 1990.

Overnight we could see light snow mainly in the Ashland, Iron area.  The chance for snow will continues through early tomorrow with a bit more cloud cover in the north. 

In Hawaii….

This past Friday night Oahu lost power. It was the first time all of Oahu had lost power since Oct. 15, 2006, when a 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook the Hawaiian Islands, this one was do to a thunderstorm that rolled through.  You can check out the story here. 

I will heading out of town for the next few days.  As I look back on my time spent here so far, what a winter so far it has been!  Alot of snow in December and alot of very cold temperatures.  It will be interesting to see what 2009 has to offer. 

Have a great holiday week and Happy New Year!!

Posted under Uncategorized

Snow is beginning to just make it into the southwest corner of Wisconsin.  It will continue to push to the northeast and move over our area approaching midnight and through the early morning hours.  Accumulations should be from 1 inch to 4 inches.  The heaviest in the Northeast corner of the state.  Overall today we lucked out with the awful weather.  Yes it was very cloudy gloomy and foggy but it was pouring buckets to our friends to the East and South.  They are dealing with real problems because of the melting and heavy rains, it is causing flooding.   

Temperatures are beginning to drop below freezing for all the area and this will cause black ice to form as we saw alot of melting through the day with temperatures that warmed into the mid 40′s.  In fact we were just a couple of degrees shy of a record high.  Hard to believe we were so close when just yesterday we broke a record in the snow category.  One thing is for certain…it has been an active December and a very rough travel Holiday season.

Looking ahead… tomorrow we should clear out after the storm passes and get some sunshine.  A clipper system will push through Monday and could bring snow mainly to in the northwest corner of Wisconsin.  The next big storm for all of us comes on Tuesday.  Again we need 4 inches to break that snow record for the month of December.  Depending on what we see tonight we will be very close! It will surely be something exciting to watch over the next couple days.  The rest of the week we seem to get a small break from the snow and actually drastically cold temperatures.  The coldest night should be New Years Eve with temperates falling to the single digits. 

Have a great night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Uncategorized

As Justin commented on earlier we have had a crazy month so far as records go with snowfall. 

Today we tied a record for the most snowfall on Dec 26th.  We received 4 inches here which was the same that we received on this date back in 1941.  This brings the total so far this month to 27.4.  However not included in this number is how much snow we received before midnight because that data has not yet been released.  To beak the snowfall record for Wausau we need to beat 31.7.  So we are less than four inches away from that goal.  We have chances for snow tomorrow night, Sunday morning, Monday and Tuesday.  This being said it will be a close one to see if we can break it!!

Talk about warmth! Temperatures surged today into the upper 30′s.  The same will be on store for tomorrow.  The big story overnight will be the fog.  Because of the dense fog a Dense Fog Advisory is in effect for most of the area.  Visibilities will drop to a quarter of a mile so use caution when traveling.

A cold front will push through tomorrow that will help to bring colder air to our area dropping temperatures late Saturday.  Along with the front a low pressure will slide to the Northeast.  The exact track plays a big factor in how much precip we will see for the area.   Right now we do have a Winter Storm Watch in effect for central and northern counties for tomorrow night through Sunday.  Some models bring just a trace to two inches while others pack on another 2-5 for counties under the watch. Another factor will be the change over from rain to snow.  The timing will play into how much accumulations we will see.  This is something I am keeping an eye on and will continue over the next 24 hours.  One thing is for certain, with all the traveling this weekend allow extra time if you have to travel.  Here is two maps of the 36 hr which would be valid Saturday evening.  These depict two different models and how different they are in their precip. The same differences are seen on the 48hr maps.

Hope everyone had a great holiday! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Uncategorized

People in southern and eastern Wisconsin thought last year was one for the ages. Many, daily, monthly, and seasonal snowfall records were broken. Well, Old Man Winter is not done with them yet. Madison Wisconsin has just set a record for December snowfall., 36.1 inches as of Christmas Eve.

According to this article, Green Bay was also on pace to set a record for snowfall in December (written on the 24th). According to the NWS Green Bay climate chart today, they have now broken the all-time record in Green Bay with a total of 37.2 inches – so far.

So you might be wondering if we are set to break a record here in Wausau. According to our records here at Channel 9, the December snowfall record in Wausau is 31.7 inches set back in 1990. So far this month…well, I am not 100% certain how much snow has fallen because the official snowfall report for downtown Wausau did not come in yet this morning. In may estimation there was 4 to 5 inches. Even if it was on the low end of the scale (4 inches) we would be sitting at 27.3 inches for the month. There is another chance of heavy snow (3 to 6 inches) Saturday night and on Tuesday of next week (inch or so) so we could end up breaking the record. Interestingly, back in 2006 we set the record for the most liquid equivalent precipitation in the month of December (3.28 inches), however most of that fell as rain. We did not break the snowfall record that year.

Even though the snowy pattern will continue the cold will not. Today signals a break in the cold weather and it could last for the next 7 to 10 days.  High temps should reach the 30s today and on Saturday. It will turn cooler on Sunday and most of next week but high temps should still reach the 20s and low temps should stay above zero.

Now that we are past Christmas it is time to start talking about "the year that was 2008". I’ll cover a lot of the weather details next week. Just as a teaser I will let you know that temps and precipitation will be below normal for 2008. For today, I will just go with a couple of fun reviews. How about the top astronomical discoveries of 2008. The top internet stories of 2008. The top 10 technology breakthroughs of 2008 according to Wired.com. And lastly, the top 10 gadgets of 2008.

Have a nice Friday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Uncategorized