It is still looking a little too warm for the opening weekend of the gun deer hunting season, although we have dealt with warmer conditions in the recent past. I think it was near the beginning of this decade that we had high temps in the low 60s on opening day. This year will not be that warm but it will be the warmest in several years. I have upped my forecast for Saturday to 49 (in Wausau) an some spots could top 50. The only cold weather will be Saturday morning around daybreak when temps could drop into the 20s in the northwoods. On Sunday morning much of the area will be at 32 or a little above. More clouds will move in for Sunday and there is a 30% chance of drizzle or light showers during the afternoon. High temps on Sunday should reach the mid 40s. As far as the wind goes, it will be nearly calm Saturday morning then a light southeast wind will develop during the afternoon. The south to southeast wind will pick up to about 10 mph on Sunday.

The most interesting weather could develop early next week. We could have our first significant snow of November. Right now I am forecasting a chance of rain on Monday and a chance of snow on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, our long term computer models are divergent. One of them shows the active weather completely missing the area. So it is wait and see. Stay tuned for updates here in the blog and on Newsline 9.

We discussed the Leonid meteor shower earlier this week and it did not turn out very spectacular here in Wisconsin but in Utah they had quite a show – not from the Leonid meteor but from a stray large meteor. Experts estimate the meteor that burned up in the atmosphere was about as large as an oven and moving at 80,000 mph. When it burned up/exploded in the sky over Utah it was bright enough to turn night into day. You can see video of the event here. These events happen more often than people know because they often times occur during the day when they cannot be seen as easily or they happen over the oceans or in remote areas where no one is there to observe. Thankfully, larger asteroids have not yet hit the earth. Astronomers are busy cataloging large near earth objects – ones that could impact the earth – in order to identify anything dangerous and plan for a way to protect the earth.

Have a good Thursday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Space, Winter Weather