Kudos to Justin for his awesome recaps of 2009 and the decade.  I find them fascinating to read especially since I moved away from the UP of Michigan in 2003 and came back just last year.  So most of the decade I have spent in various spots around the US.  It is amazing to see how diverse this area is weather wise and how we see everything ( well except for hurricanes of course).  I think everyone should read his past few posts, it gives you an idea of how extreme weather can be here in Wisconsin.  I read through Brains post last night too.  He mentions such a good point, how people get there weather is changing.  I was talking to someone the other day about the Internet and cell phones.  I think even in the last year smart phones were a new idea.  Now almost everyone has a smart phone! This decade has travelled more technically wise then I ever imagined.  I always think of this story when I think about how much everything changes.  We asked my great grandfather before he passed away “What was the best invention he saw during the 20th century.?”  He said the radio, it transformed how people could connect.  What would we say now, 10 years into the new millennium?  

Something I found interesting… we are seeing a blue moon tonight! This is the first time since 1990 that we will see a blue moon on New Years Eve and it won’t happen again till 2028! So if the skies clear enough get outside and check it out. What is a blue moon? Well it isn’t actually “blue”, it is when we see two full moons in one month. Check out this article from National Geographic.

Have a wonderful night and Happy New Year! See you in 2010!

One of my weather watchers wrote this to us tonight and I think it is a great analogy…. 

Remember to open up the front door and let the New Year in and then the back door to let the old year out.  May you all have a great 2010 with many adventures and happy endings.

Posted under Science, Travel, Weather History

Time for the top 5 weather events/trends/stories from the past 10 years. Click here for yesterday’s list of 10 through 6. The only one I have some second thoughts about is no official 100 degree temps in Wausau. It turns out that 100 degree temps are quite rare in Wausau. However, since there was a lot of focus on AGW (global warming) during the decade, I find it interesting that we didn’t hit 100 degrees. The decade was warmer than normal though, and we will see some of that in the final 5.

Also, thanks to Ray for digging up some additional information on the derecho event of June 11, 2001. Click here (pdf) to read more.

Before getting into the final five, I wanted to mention that there were numerous significant severe storms that occurred every year (except this year). Each one had significant effects in certain areas. Each one could probably be your number 1 weather event of the decade. If a high wind storm came by and blew down your barn or a tornado damaged your house, then your list would end with that storm. In the list I have compiled, I have tried to consider what storms and events had the most impact across most of the area, so that is why you might not find some individual severe storms on the list.

5. Warmest January on Record in 2002 and 2006 (officially in Wausau and unofficially for most of Northcentral Wisconsin). Over the last couple of days, I have mentioned how unique it is to break a monthly record. Breaking the same record twice in a decade is even more special. The mean temperature in January of 2002 was 25. Pretty amazing! Then in 2006 the mean temperature ended up a whopping 26.8! The coldest day in January 2006 was the 18th when the low temperature was 5 andthe high temperature was 17. Just think about that for a minute. January is known for being bitter cold at times, yet in 2006 the temperature never dropped below 5. There were only 2 days withlow temps in the single digits. The average high temperature was 32.1! Needless to say, it was not a good month for snow and winter enthusiasts.

4. Flash flood June 10-11, 2002. (Correction: While there was heavy rain on the 10th and 11th, the major flooding which caused road washouts and near dam failures occurred on June 21-22) The 3rd year of the decade made the list yesterday as the “year of tornadoes” and it makes it again today with the decade’s largest flooding event – in Northcentral Wisconsin. There was even worse and more historic flooding in southern Wisconsin during the last couple of years but this was mostly out of our viewing area. Our biggest flooding event started on the tenth ( see correction, statement above) with a record rainfall of 1.78 inches in Wausau on the 10th. Farther south in the area, particularly southern Wood and Portage counties and northern Juneau and Adams counties, several inches of rain fell andprompted officials to issues warnings about potential dam failures around the Town of Rome. If memory serves me correctly, there was at least 5 inches of rain and perhaps as much as 7 inches in these areas on the 10th of June. Then, during the early morning hours on the 11th another complex of thunderstorms formed and produced heavy rain in western Marathon county. In Wausau the official rain total was only 0.79 inches but (again if memory serves me correctly) radar estimates were as high as 10 inches in western Marathon county. This led to an evacuation in Stratford andmany roads with washouts, including highway 153.

3. EF3 tornado and large hail June 7th, 2007. This one is probably fresh on everyone’s mind since it occurred just 2.5 years ago but if you need to review take a look at this report from the NWS of Green Bay. This was perhaps the largest tornado in the state of Wisconsin during the last 10 years. The Stoughton Tornado of August 18th 2005 was rated an F3. It was more “picturesque” andcreated more damage to man-made structures, but it was not on the ground as long as the June 7th tornado. Also, the June 7th tornado might have been rated higher than EF3 except for the fact that it did not hit many man-made structures. You might remember that the Bear Paw resort was completely destroyed. Other than that, only 14,000 acres of trees bit the dust. Just in case you don’t think this tornado or this day belongs this high on the list, take a look at the view from space the next day. When a tornado track can be seen from space, that is pretty dramatic. I happened to go fishing in southern Langlade county later that summer andcame across the swath of trees knocked down by the tornado. It is the most amazing weather damage I have seen. It looked as if a giant had mowed a half mile wide path for 40 miles through the woods. As if the tornado was not dramatic enough, The second largest hailstone ever recorded in Wisconsin fell in Port Edwards on that day. It was 5.5 inches in diameter. People in southern Wood county remember that day well as baseball and softball sized hail fell in Wisconsin Rapids wreaking all sorts of damage.

2. Record warmth in February and March of 2000. The number 2 weather event occurred at the very beginning of the warmer than normal decade in Northcentral Wisconsin. This might seem out of place because it is not as memorable as the flooding, the hail, or the tornado, but just because it is not as memorable does not mean it was not extreme or dramatic. For those who remember (and who don’t like winter so much), you probably wish it happened every year. An extreme warm spell hit the area in late February of that year and continued in early March. Not only was it an abrupt end to winter, we had the highest number of consecutive record highs since 1936. From February 22nd through March 8th there were 12 record highs either broken or tied. There were 6 consecutive record highs from March 3rd to March 8th. The record high of 76 on March 7th was the earliest 70 degree reading in Wausau’s history. Prior to March of 2000, the earliest 70 degree reading was a record of 73 on the 19th of 1921. Not only that, the very next day, the high temperature was a record 72! Not only that, we also recorded the warmest February temperature EVER…TWICE!! The record high of 59 on the 26th of February and 59 again on the 29th beat the old record of 58 set on the 21st of 1930. The only other streak of record warm weather that can compare to this event was in July of 1936 when we had record high temperatures on 9 consecutive days (8 now that the record on the 15th of July was eclipsed in 2006).

drumroll please…………..

1. 7 consecutive years of drought. If you follow the blog you probably could have guessed this as my number one weather story of the past 10 years. It was the most widespread and persistent weather trend of the last 10 years and also had the biggest total financial, psychological, and social impact. We didn’t experience official drought conditions continuously for 7 years, but moderate to severe drought did occur at different periods in each year from 2003 through 2009. The drought conditions (when they did form) were most prevalent in the northern half of the area – from Marathon county on north – during the growing season. Growing season after growing season, farmers were on edge waiting for rain that sometimes did not come in time to save the crops. Year after year, reservoirs in northern Wisconsin were drawn down an in some cases went completely dry. The 7 consecutive years of drier than normal weather has taken its toll on natural lakes as well. I noticed many lakes in the northwoods down at least 2 to 3 feet this summer. Precipitation has been below normal in Wausau each year for the last 7 years. If you include the 4.82 inch deficit in 2009, we have missed out on nearly 40 inches of rain since 2003.

Drought Continues in the Northwoods

A little anecdotal story from yours truly: Around the year 2000 I went trout fishing on a little stream in northern Lincoln county. I caught a couple trout. It was a nice stream about the size of the little Rib River at the time. I went back around 2005 and found only a trickle….literally, just a trickle.

And this story continues into the new decade. The latest U.S. Drought monitor indicates a moderate to severe drought persisting in the Northwoods. Also, other than lake effect snow, it doesn’t look like any significant precipitation is headed for Northcentral Wisconsin for the next couple of weeks. Get ready for a cold and dry start to 2010.

Have a happy new year! Meteorologist Justin Loew

Posted under Winter Weather

In previous blogs, Justin has done such a great job giving us the top weather events over the last year and the last decade.  For me what sticks out were the June 7th, 2007 tornadoes and some of the dry spells we’ve had, including this last September.  I remember June 7th, 2007 like it was yesterday.  I had been with TV9 for only a week or so and let’s just say I wish mother nature would’ve let me settle in a little bit more.  Wow, what an exciting day though, and most of us were very fortunate that day.  To have an EF3 tornado on the ground for over 30 miles and not go through a town was pretty remarkable.  We had quite the severe weather set up that day.  All the pieces were in place and it It was almost certain that very rough weather was going to go down.  We knew days in advance that we could have this kind of day on our hands.  Forecasting severe weather is making huge strides.  

One of the biggest changes for us through the decade has nothing to do with how we forecast the weather but how we deliver the weather to you.  Especially just in this last year, the way people want their media is changing.  We still of course have your traditional newscasts, but to no surprise the website has become more important then ever.  We are increasing our web and mobile web content daily to keep up with the demand.  Just a few years ago Station Management didn’t care about blogs, twitter, facebook, text alerts…but now this is all they talk about.  The web is how many people(especially young adults) are receiving all of there information.  It’s sad but I don’t really know anyone my age that receives the newpaper, and fewer and fewer people are solely depending on the evening television news.  We now have to bring these people in by maximizing the potential of various web outlets.  People want to be updated more than ever and we have the ability to do so.  You no longer have to wait until 5 or 6 pm to get today’s news or forecast.  It’s being updated througout the day for you via the web and mobile web.  This transition will only speed up with each generation, and we’re ready for it here at Newsline 9.  

I am off for the rest of the year and wanted to wish everyone a wonderful end to 2009 and an even better start to 2010!!!

Happy New Year. 

Meteorologist Brian NIznansky

Posted under Uncategorized

The forecast looks about the same as yesterday: an inch of snow this afternoon and evening, colder and breezy weather for tomorrow and the first few days of the new year, and a couple inches of lake effect snow in the far north each day from Thursday through next Monday or maybe even Tuesday.

So now it is on to the much heralded and much anticipated top ten weather events, trends, and stories of the last 10 years. Ok, maybe it is not all that exciting for non-weather buffs, but this is the weather blog – so hooray! Thanks to Ray who mentioned a couple of big storms for consideration on the list. The June 11th derecho in 2001 made the wikipedia list of derecho events around the worldand it gets honorable mention in my list of top weather events of the last decade. Perhpas one reason why I did not rank it higher is because I was in California at the time so I don’t have a good grasp on how widespread it was. Neither does wikipedia apparently, as there is not an official article about the storm. If anyone has a good recollection of the storm or some pictures, you should consider creating a wikipedia article about the storm. The other event mentioned by Ray – the large hail in 2007 – did make the list, but not today’s list which is honorable mentions and numbers 10 through 6. The top 5 will come tomorrow. As always, feel free to comment or add suggestions.

Honorable mention: June 11, 2001 Derecho. These widespread long-lived damaging wind events occur a couple times a decade in our area and this one had winds of 60 to 75 mph and created wind damage in Wood, Portage, Waupaca, Adams, Juneau, and Waushara counties.

Honorable Mention: No official 100 degree temperature in Wausau. Considering all the talk about AGW (global warming) one might expect to see more 100 degree readings. The last time we had 100 in Wausau was July 13th, 1995. This item is not any higher because after looking at the record book, it appears that “official” 100 temps are pretty rare. All of our 100 degree (or greater) record high temps come from the decade of the 1930s. So perhaps hitting 100 degrees would have been a top ten event. Anyway, it didn’t happen in the last 10 years.

Honorable mention: December 8th/9th blizzard in 2009. This was the only widespread blizzard event of the last 10 years that prompted and official Blizzard Warning from the National Weather Service.

Honorable mention: November 2001, warmest on record. According to records I have available, this was the warmest November on record. The mean temperature was 42.0. The average high temperature was 50.4. The previous record, according to our book, was a mean of 38.0 back in 1975, so the record was smashed by 4 degrees!

10. Record Dry September 2009. This was the number 1 weather event of the past year and makes it on the list of top ten from the decade. Records have been kept for more than 110 years in Wausau so any monthly record should get consideration. For more information see yesterday’s blog post.

9. Hot summer weather in 2005 (and 2006). We might not have hit 100 degrees but we hit 90 often during these two summers. In July of 2005 we had 8 days in a row with 90 degree or greater high temps. In total, we had thirteen 90 degree days during that summer. The following summer (2006) we had twelve 90 degree days including 5 new record highs! This type of heat is pretty extreme for Wisconsin.

8. Lack of record low temps during the winter (in Wausau) and the flip side – numerous record high temps. In contrast to number 9 (and the propensity for record highs for most of the decade) the low end of the record book saw little action during the winter season. We had quite a few record cold high temps but not many record lows – especially during the winter. If you consider December, January, and February as the official winter season, then the decade had ZERO record lows during the winter seasons. Record lows outside of winter were a little more common but still were much less frequent than record highs. Here is the list of dates with new record highs: May 30th 2001, June 25th 2004, August 21st 2004, September 15th 2007, October 12th 2006, November 9th 2003. Here are dates that tied the record low temp: March 8th 2008, March 9th 2003, May 18th 2002, May 20th 2002, October 15th 2006. People tend to complain about cold weather in Wisconsin, just count your lucky stars we haven’t broken more record lows during the past few winters.

7. Year of tornadoes – 2002. I do not have the exact number of tornadoes that occurred in the viewing area in 2002 but it was well above normal. In Marathon county alone there were 5 different occasions when tornado warnings were issued. F1 tornadoes struck Kronenwetter and Brokaw at different times during the summer. This was also the year of the F2 tornado in Ladysmith on Labor Day. Severe weather in general was quite prevalent. It was one of the busiest severe weather seasons in recent memory.

6. Record December precipitation in 2006 and 2008. This item ranks high on the list once again because monthly records are pretty special and we set 2 different all time December precipitation records. In 2006 a total of 3.28 inches of precipitation was recorded in Wausau (which included 10.8 inches of snow). This broke the old December record of 3.03 inches set back in 1971. Then in 2008 (just last winter) a record 37.6 inches of snow was recorded (in Wausau). This smashed the old record of 31.7 inches set back in 1990, and snow-lovers all over the area rejoiced.

Stay tuned for the top 5 tomorrow.

Have a nice Wednesday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Weather History

First a look at the forecast. It still looks cold for the last day of the year and the first few days of 2010. This is a little unusual for an El Nino winter but still not terribly cold for Wisconsin. Low temps could go a few degrees below zero on Saturday and Sunday morning. The most significant snowfall will be lake effect snow each day from Thursday through Monday in the favored areas of northern Wisconsin – generally north of highway 70. There could be a couple inches each day, with even more in the UP of Michigan. The heaviest snow in central Wisconsin will occur Wednesday afternoon and evening when there could be an inch or so. High temps will only be in the single digits to around 10 degrees from Friday through Sunday.

Year-End Recap:

Click here to review numbers 10 through 6 which were detailed in yesterday’s blog entry. Ray mentioned that yo-yo temps should be in the list in 2009 and they do appear in some of the items from yesterday and today. This was particularly true in the 2nd half of the year. July was very cool and dry, August was wet (6.21″ rain), September was warm and very dry, October was cool and wet, and November was warm and relatively dry.

5. December 8th/9th Blizzard. This was the biggest snowstorm of the year and it was the first time I remember a blizzard warning being issued for Marathon county (at least as far back as 1995). The blizzard warning covered most of the area and snow totals ranged from about 10 inches in Wausau to 14 to 17 inches in the southeastern part of the area. Two record snowfalls were recorded in Wausau, 4.5 inches on the 8th and 5.5 inches on the 9th.

4. Summer drought. For the 7th year in a row, Wausau and most of northcentral Wisconsin will end up with below normal precipitation for the year. The drought really got going during the last 12 days of June and continued through July. Many area crops were saved (just barely) by above normal rainfall in August. In September the drought returned and was particularly severe in the northwestern third of the state.

3. Lack of severe weather. Temps were below normal for most of the summer and precipitation was also below normal. Cool and dry conditions usually not conducive to severe weather such as tornadoes and thunderstorms. There were only a handful of severe thunderstorm warnings in the area and most of those were due to marginally severe hail. The worst severe weather damage of the year occurred in Rib Mountain on August 3rd. A microburst downed trees over a couple block area and damaged houses. Since the damage occurred in the middle of the night and in such a small area, it was not detected by radar or reported to the NWS so no severe thunderstorm warning was issued on that particular day.

2. Very cool and dry July. It did not feel like summer during what is normally the warmest month of the year. The average high temperature in Wausau during the month was only 75.3. Normally it should be 80.8. The warmest temperature of the month was 85 and the thermometer hit 80 only 5 times. High were in the 60s on 5 different occasions. The high of 62 on July 17th broke the record for coldest high temperature on that date. It was the 4thcoldest July on record as well as the 3rd driest. As mentioned above, a severe drought developed during the month as Wausau only received 1.19 inches of rain.

1. Record dry September. Some might not think this event as deserving of the top weather event of the year, but whenever a month breaks an all-time record, it has to be in the running. Couple this with the fact that 2009 was relatively un-eventful and the record dry September sticks out a bit more. How much rain fell? Only 0.23 inches. The old record for the driest September in Wausau was 0.43 inches set back in 1952. September of 2009 was the driest September in over 100 years of record-keeping in Wausau. Being that the month was very dry meant that there were many sunny days. The sunny dry weather was surreal. Day after day was gorgeous. It was like living in southern California. High temps were in the 70s and low 80s every day except the last 3 days of the month when the mercury dipped into the 50s.

Other Year-End Lists:

The top 7 software/technology/web disruptions of 2009. Some of these things you might already own or use.

Not sure if I posted this one: The year in Energy. A good review of all the alternative energy developments. Interesting side note – mining lithium for use in advanced batteries is becoming big business. Here is an article about the “mining” process in Bolivia. One potential problem with relying on Bolivia for lithium is that it is ruled by a leftist dictator.

For all the geeks out there: The year in robotics. Very interesting to see how close we are to the idealized robot servant “Rosie” from the Jetsons.

One of my favorite topics: Astronomy Milestones in 2009. Some related articles: The Mars rover Spirit is still stuck but it is still making scientific discoveries. The Cassini spacecraft has caught an image of a sun glint off of the Saturn’s moon Titan, which adds further evidence to the existence of liquid lakes on its surface. The Pheonix lander could “awake” again as the sun returns north during the Martian Spring. The odds are not great, but if the electronics survived the winter, it could phone home once again. The next Mars lander the “Mars Science Laboratory” is being built but unfortunately is 400 million over budget. This does not bode well for future funding of NASA projects. Lastly, some new  cool pictures of the geysers erupting out of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

Coming tomorrow, Part 1 of the top 10 weather events of the last 10 years in Northcentral Wisconsin.

Have a fine Tuesday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Science, Space, Weather History

This years snowfall in the Wausau area is not comparable to what we saw last year but to our west and south they have been seeing a different story.  While we saw a nice slushy mess last week they saw many snowfall.  Our forecast office to our southwest in La Crosse says that as of right now La Crosse will go down as the seventh snowiest December on record.  They have seen so far 23.7 inches.  Rochester, Minnesota has seen 25 2 inches making them number four on the list of snowiest Decembers.  Here in Wausau we have seen 19 so far but that is nothing compared to the 37.6 inches that we saw in 2008! We all have a chance to see more snowfall on Wednesday so who knows they may climb higher on the list!

Brian also mentioned the top weather events of the decade from the Milwaukee office.  It is interesting to note that number 20 just happened!  The storm that we covered the beginning of the month was not only record breaking but an event that is very rare.  It was Green Bays biggest snowstorm ever on record in December.  Check out the snow map they have posted by scrolling to the bottom.  Iron county had over 23 inches with the storm! There were also spots near Madison that had 18 inches. 

 Two other things to note on the map:

1) Look at the lake totals, some of them are less then an inch.  This is because the water temp of Lake Michigan was still warm that the temperature would barely drop below freezing along the coastline.  So if it did fall as snow it would just melt when the hit the ground or the precip just fell as rain.   

2) Notice on the border of Clark and Taylor that we have a 12 inch next to a 4 inch.  If you look around that area most areas saw atleast 8 inches or above.  From a meteorologist stand point I would accountthat as inaccurate data measurement probably due to blowing and drifting snow.  It was hard to measure at times during this storm because the winds were so strong especially overnight and early on Wednesday morning.

Have a great few days! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Records, Storms, Weather History, Winter Weather

I really couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas.  I was able to spend several days with loved ones, including old friends that I haven’t seen in a long time.  I am still completely stuffed from numerous hearty-home cooked meals and Christmas Cookies.  And I must of have been good this year, because my stocking was not full of coal:)  Oh and go see Avatar…It is so worth it..but make sure you go to the 3D version.  I felt the story or plot lacked a bit, but the unbelievably crazy special effects made up for it.

There were only 2 wrenches in my Christmas.  The first wrench I got sick…what bad timing eh??  It was just a really bad head cold but it kept me from spreading as much holiday cheer as I’d like.  Instead I was just hopped up on Thera-flu.  I am feeling better though, just in time to get back to work.

The 2nd wrench was the weather.  Up here we still saw a fair amount of snow to go along with the ice and rain.  But I was down in the Milwaukee area.  Milwaukee broke a record for rainfall on Christmas…over 1 inch!!!  It was so nasty and it hardly looked like Christmas.  Temperatures by Christmas afternoon climbed well into the 40′s and the rain combined with melting snow caused flash floods in fields, along streams, and on roads where snow clogged the storm drains.  Weather-wise I would say for me it was the ugliest Christmas ever.  The rain did eventually change back to snow late Christmas night.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and Santa was good to you.  And I hope everyone took it easy on their back with the wet,heavy, and icy holiday snowfall.

Oh and also check out this review of the top weather events of the decade done by the N.W.S. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/mkx/pdf/news/TopWxEventsDecade2000_09.pdf

I know Justin is also working on an area top 10 weather event list for 2009…look out for that soon.

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

Posted under Winter Weather

In case you didn’t check the blog last Friday (Christmas Day), the big storm produced more rain and sleet than snow. If you include the light snow that occurred Saturday and Sunday which was generated by the same slow0moving storm, we ended up with 6.2 inches of snow and I would say 4 to 7 inches was pretty common in much of our area. If the precipitation had been all snow, we would have been in the 12 to 18 inch range. For the last few days of 2009 no big storms will affect the area but it will be on the cold side. Gusty wind and light snow showers are causing mini-ground blizzards this morning, a dusting up to an inch of snow is possible on Wednesday afternoon, and some significant lake effect snow (several inches) is possible Thursday and Friday in the far north.

Wind chills will be in the single digits this afternoon. Tomorrow will be a fairly nice winter day with high temps around 20. Late this week we will have a strong north wind once again and high temps will drop into the teens on Thursday and maybe only reach 10 degrees on Friday.

Year-End Recap:

As promised, I am going to provide some year-end weather lists this week. Today and tomorrow I will recap the top ten weather events of 2009 and then Wednesday and Thursday I will recap the top ten weather events from 2000-2009. Today will be numbers 10 through 6 of 2009. Once I get through the top ten please feel free to comment, disagree and/or add suggestions.

10. Lack of snow in March and November. Last winter started out with a roar with record snow in December of 2008 and very cold weather at times in January. Winter ended with a whimper when only 2.5 inches of snow fell in March, which was 8.2 inches below normal. This winter started out quiet as well with only a trace of snow in November (along with temps almost 8 degrees above normal). Normal snowfall for Wausau in November is 7.1 inches.

9. Cool and wet weather in October. Given the cool and damp conditions in October (including some snow) many people were thinking we were in store for an early start to winter (it didn’t happen – see #10). It was so cool in October that the average temperature in Wausauwas almost cooler than the monthof November. The cloudy and wet weather did not allow people to enjoy the Fall color season very much. Rainfall for the month in Wausau was 5.15 inches. Marshfield ended up with a record wet October.

8. Consecutive cold days in January. For ten days in January from the 8th through the 17th, low temperatures were below zero in Wausau and most of the area. The coldest temps were -20 to -30. The coldest in Wausau was -22 on the 16th. This was part of a very cold January. From the 4th through the 19th there were only 2 days with low temps at zero or above. All told there were 22 days in January of 2009 with low temps below zero. Brrrr.

7. Record cold June 6th through 8th. This one is fairly high on the list because there were 2 records broken during this stretch. In Wausau, the high of 51 on the 7th tied the record for the coldest high temperature and the high of 53 on the 8th set a new record for coldest high temp. Not only was it cold, there was rain each day, and it was windy. It almost felt like snow was about ready to fall. There were plenty of complaints from people who had outdoor activities planned.

6. Ice/Snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This one might be a little too high on the list because it was so recent and well entrenched in our short-term memories, but it was a big storm. It not only snarled traffic in Wisconsin, there were widespread effects all over the midwest, even all the way down to Texas. The storm hung around the midwest for nearly 5 days. This was one of only 2 big winter storms during the year.

My top 5 of 2009 will be coming tomorrow. Any guesses? Feel free to leave suggestions for top 10 of the decade as well. What storms, events, or weather trends dominated the last 10 years?

Honorable mention for 2009:

- 83 degree high temperature on April 24th. Record highs were set in Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids, as well as in many locations in southern Minnesota where high temps were in the 90s. Severe thunderstorms producing hail were also noted.

- Heavy rain April 24th-26th. The rain total in Wausau over the three days was 2.31 inches. Some locations had between 4 and 5 inches.

- Heavy rain May 26th-May 28th. The rain total in Wausau over the three days was 2.51 inches. Some locations had between 4 and 5 inches. The 3-day rain in April and again in May were the heaviest consecutive-day rain events of the year.

Posted under Monthly Recap, Weather History

I am having writers block tonight…..  maybe it is the fact that “Sound of Music” is playing on our station and I am hearing it in the background.  This is the movie that my family and I always watch on Christmas day night.  As old as it may be it is still my favorite.  I hope one day I can be in the musical, I know every line by heart!

The storm that has been spinning around our area is finally moving out.  It is having one last hurrah bringing snow to Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania.  We will see some snowfall in the snow belt tomorrow but most of us will begin to dry out.  There is another chance late Wednesday through Friday with a cold front that will march through to kick of 2010.

As we look ahead it is the last week of 2009.  How crazy is that, we are almost 10 years into the second millennium! We always do a recap of the stories of the year.  What do you think tops the list?  

Here is recap of the 2009 weather stories according to The Weather Channel.  I think my favorite one is the dog howling in Boone, NC, too cute. 

Have a great night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Storms, Travel, Weather History, Winter Weather

A flight to the North Pole, yep that’s right, 60 kids took a trip from Spokane ,Washington to the “North Pole”.  It was Alaskan Airlines flight 1225 who brought seriously ill or disadvantaged kids on a trip of a lifetime.  The flights don’t just fly out of Spokanne but other cities including Phoenix, Chicago, and San Antonio. 

80 of Santa’s Elves helped to usher the kids through securityand get them on the plane.  But it wasn’t easy because the elves had to get through security themselves and with all the jingle bells the TSA said it was “a madhouse”. 

The flight is sponsored by “Spokane Fantasy Flights” a non-profit who give these kids a special night and lots of presents! They set off to a hanger which takes about 40 minutes to get to.  When they arrive Santa, Mrs. Clause and even reindeer were waiting!  This is the 12th year of the North Pole flight but only the second year for Alaskan Airlines, United covered the years prior. 

Other airlines including United, and Continental also have a similar magical flights.  American also had a program for children of fallen military heroes.  They fly kids and their families to a spot each year for them to enjoy a week long vacation. 

For more information on Santa Flights check out this article.

Maybe one day I can be an elf and help! It sounds like lots of fun. Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Travel