We don’t get to the use the word “historic” or the words “all-time” very often, but it has happened a couple of times in the last 2 years. First it was the “all-time” warmest March for the state of Wisconsin (and most cities in the state) last year. This year it is just the opposite. We can’t seem to get rid of wintry weather and we just had a “historic” snowfall for not only Wisconsin but for Iowa and Minnesota as well. Not only did we end up with single day snowfall records for May 2nd (and probably today as well) for all three states, the snowfall has also broken the snow records for the entire month of May for all three states. Here are the old records for most snow in one storm for May:

Wisconsin: 10.0″  (new record 14.0″ but potentially as high as 17″)

Minnesota: 12.0″  (new record 15.4″)

Iowa: 10.0″  (new record 11.0″)

These are not officially in “the books” yet, but they look pretty solid. Climatologists will review the reports over the next couple of days and certify them.

And this comes after a very cool April, which was the 8th coldest on record for Wausau. If we had not seen the 5-day warm-up into the 70s and 80s at the end of the month of April, we would have easily set the mark for the 3rd coldest April and might have even challenged for second place. It was quite amazing that from February 1st through April 25th, we only had one day when the temperature hit 50 degrees (April 24th). We did not have any nice stretch of real Spring weather with high temps in the 50s and 60s. We jumped straight into Summer during the last 5 days of April, then we slipped back to Winter in a big way over the last couple of days. Here are the preliminary stats for April in Wausau:

Average High: 46.1  (normal: 54.8)

Average Low: 30.1 (normal: 33.3)

Precipitation: 4.39 inches  (normal: 2.73 inches)

Snowfall: 10.1 inches  (normal: 4.1 inches)

Highest Temp: 82 on the 30th

Lowest Temp: 14 on the 3rd

Have a fine Friday! Meteorologist Justin Loew

Posted under Monthly Recap, Records, snow, Snow Totals, Spring, Winter Weather

Photo from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Untypical weather conditions in Wisconsin for the past few months have not significantly impacted the waterfowl population, according to a new report released by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 

“Overall, wetland numbers this spring were down but in Wisconsin our abundant permanent water contained in 15,000 lakes reduces the impact of dry conditions on the ducks” Department of Natural Resources biologist Kent Van Horn was quoted as saying the report.    

Our warmer and drier than average winter, coupled with an earlier, warmer and drier spring left less water in wetland areas for waterfowl breeding this year.  It also sparked migration and breeding earlier in the season than normal.  

According to statistics released by the DNR, state-wide winter precipitation was down 25 percent below what is considered normal. 

The report also cited the month of March as a key factor in the activity of the state’s birds population.  The department says temperatures were around 15 degrees warmer than average.   

The warmer and drier conditions have proven challenging for Wisconsin’s birds, but has not been devastating.  The Department of Natural Resources says the populations of the birds have not been as far off their average numbers as the weather has been in the past few months. 

The duck population inWisconsinfor this year is estimated at 521,079, just higher than the 2011 numbers.  The average for the past decade is listed as 545,240. 

The Wisconsin DNR also says that though the weather has contributed to an usual season for the animals, it is not completely abnormal or bad for wetland areas to experience bouts of dry weather for a period of time.

“Variation from year to year in wetland conditions and breeding ducks is part of the natural cycle in the world of wetland wildlife.  Wetlands need dry periods to maintain long-term productivity and ducks are able to adapt to changing wetland conditions among years and across the continent” the report said. 

To read the entire article from the Department of Natural Resources, follow this link: http://dnr.wi.gov/news/WeeklyNews_Print.asp?id=2210

Posted under Drought, Ecology, Environment, Nature, Records, Science, Seasonal Items, Snow Totals, Spring, Summer, Weather History, Weather NEws, Winter Weather

I asked a couple of days ago about June snow in Wisconsin and I am surprised no one had a story to share. Ray did bring up some old winter folklore which I have heard as well – that the “snow drifts were up to the top of the telephone poles” – and “every winter it got down to 40 below”. These stories do have a basis of truth but are also a bit exaggerated. Colder winter-time temps were a reality in the latter part of the 1800s and the first half of the 1900s, but we did not have 40 below every winter. In fact, the temperature has only officially reached -40 in Wausau on 3 different occasions, once in 1899, once in 1948, and once in 1951. Now, if you were living around the area in the late 1940s through the 1950s, it probably seemed like the temperature got that cold every winter, but it didn’t. We tend to remember the most extreme and emotional things from our past and forget the less exciting stuff. So there were more occasions with bitter cold in the past, but it did not occur every year.

As far as the blizzards go, there were some doozies in the past, but again, the snow was not up to the telephone poles every winter. At least with a couple of the past snowstorms we do have some photographic evidence of the events. At the historical society of Marathon county they have some pictures of drifts as high as railroad cars. As for the telephone poles, we should remember that the poles were a bit shorter back in the day.

Overall, I am sure most people are happy with the more mild Winters we have experienced in the last 2 or 3 decades. The last time we had -30 in Wausau was in February of 1996. Most winters lately have some stretches of cold weather but in the city it seems we only get down to around -20 or so. Some of that has to do with the urban heat island effect, but some is due to the climate getting a bit warmer as well.

We might not have any stories about snow in June but we have a new story about snow in April. Just last night 1 to 3 inches of the white stuff fell in parts of the area. I measured just over an inch on my car this morning. The snowfall made it look like Granite Peak might be open for business again soon. The slopes were all white this morning – perhaps making people re-think their predictions for the 2012 Snowmelt Contest (with prizes provided by the R-stores of NorthCentral Wisconsin). Not to worry. After the inch or so of snow melts off the slopes today, the patches that remain are quite small. You still have until next Friday (the 27th) to get your entry in. Whenever you feel like entering, the easiest way is to use the entry form here: http://www.waow.com/category/236274/2012-snow-melt-contest Don’t post your prediction here in the blog. I see a couple predictions have come in to the comment section so far and I will enter them into the contest manually (no worries) but it is much better if you use our website form for the contest.

I usually do not make my prediction until the entry period has closed in order to not influence things too much, but I will make a guarantee. The snow will not last until June 24th – the latest snowmelt date we have ever had with the contest. That might not help a whole lot but it is the most you will get out of me for now.

CPC Temp Trend For May

What would help the snow stick around a while longer would be some colder weather – which I know a lot of you are NOT hoping for. The weather will stay colder than normal this weekend but should rise a little above normal (highs in the 60s) for the middle of next week. What about May? Well, the CPC has released the latest monthly outlooks and Wisconsin finds itself in the “equal chances” (or EQ) category, meaning an equal chance of having above or below normal precipitation or temperatures. No major trend is being picked up by the computer models. If you click through the other months in the outlook you will find that it stays that way for temps and precip through the Summer, then a greater chance of above normal temperatures develops for the Fall and into the Winter. So for those of you who might be worried that it is going to be a long, hot, humid, Summer because the temps started out so warm in March, at least the computer models are not picking up on anything like that so far. It doesn’t mean it won’t happen, just that we don’t have any good indications whether temps will skew warmer or cooler this Summer.

Have a nice Friday, Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under CPC Outlook, Snow Totals, Snowmelt 2012, Weather History, Winter Weather

“White Gold” fell in the northwoods this week. It was the biggest snow (other than lake effect snow) I can remember in the last 15 years for not only the northwoods but for the entire viewing area. In fact, it was in March of 1997 (15 years ago) that we had over 20 inches of snow in parts of Juneau, Adams, and Waushara counties. Earlier this week there were a handful of reports of 20 to 24 inches of snow and now the snowmobilers can have some fun – at least in the northern half of the area – at least for this weekend. As it looks right now, this weekend could be the last true Winter-like weekend with good snow conditions on the ground. The snowmobile trails will likely be able to remain open in the north for the following weekend as well (because it takes a long time to melt 20 inches of snow) but the overall weather trend is looking much more Spring-like for next week and toward the middle of the month.

Sure we could have a big snowstorm yet at some point later this month or even in April, but I think this will be the last weekend of real Winter where you can enjoy all of the Winter activities. For all the people who can’t wait for warmer weather, here is the latest 8 to 14 day temperature outlook from the Climate Prediction Center. There is a high chance that the eastern three-quarters of the country – including Wisconsin – will have above normal temperatures.

Be safe on the snowmobile trails – they will likely be crowded this weekend.

Have a great weekend!  Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Recreation & Sports, Snow Totals, Winter Weather

The biggest storm of the Winter season is not over yet but it is not too early to do a preliminary post-mortem on the storm and forecast. As expected the two big wild cards in the forecast were the line between rain and snow (where would it be?) and whether or not there would be thundersnow. As you recall in the blog posts over the last couple of days, I mentioned that thundersnow could really crank up some of the snow totals. Well, we did end up with some thunderstorms producing snow this morning from around Wausau and on up into the Northwoods, and this produced some hefty snow amounts.

Overall, I am happy that most of the forecast on timing and amounts ended up fairly close. Here in Wausau the mid morning total on snowfall was 6.1 inches. On Monday I forecast 8-12 for Wausau and yesterday I had dropped it down to 3 to 6 inches, so it ended up in between. In the southern half of the area there was a quick couple inches last night and then the rest of the morning it was all sleet and rain as expected. The biggest official miss was snow amounts in the northwoods. On Monday I was forecasting up to 15 inches, yesterday I had lowered into the 6 to 10 range, and it ended up in the 15 to 18 inch range, with a few unconfirmed reports of over 20 inches. I knew the thundersnow was a possibility, but was not confident enough in the analysis to forecast the enormous amounts of snow. Tony had mentioned a bit more for the north – 15 inches or more – last night so he gets a better grade.

Another inch or two of snow could pile up in a couple areas yet this afternoon so the graphic you see here will probably need some updating. The Warnings and Advisories for the area officially continue through 6pm today but the roads should improve this afternoon, especially around Wausau and further south, as temps rise into the middle 30s.

3.8 inches of the 6.1 inch total for Wausau fell before midnight last night, so the record snow of 4.5 inches on February 29th (today) might hold. So far today we only officially have 2.3 inches of snow.

A final note. We are still watching the potential for another storm to hit the state on Friday. Some charts indicate it could produce several inches of snow for the southern and eastern parts of the area (around Wausau and points to the south and east), while others indicate not much accumulation. More on this tomorrow.

Have a good leap day! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Snow Totals, Winter Weather

Through Monday, we’ve only accumulated about 2.5″ of snow for the month of February in the Wausau area.  That makes sense when you see all the brown, bare ground patches that have opened up.   The normal amount for the entire month is 9.2″.  Given that we have a fairly active pattern shaping up through early next week, we probably will reach normal. 

 In either case, mabye you are wondering what some of the snowiest and least snowiest Februarys have been.  Well, below you will see exactly that.

Snowiest Februarys on Record in Wausau

1.  1945      34.5″
2.  1962      29.1″
3. 1953       28.3″
4. 1909       27.0″
5. 2008      23.9″

Least Snowy Februarys on Record in Wausau

1.  1966      0.30″
2.  1912      0.60″
3. 1968       0.90″
4. 1987       1.00″
5. 1969       1.20″

Biggest Daily February Snowfalls on Record in Wausau

1.  Feb. 5th, 1908         13.0″
2.  Feb. 19th, 1898       12.0″
3.  Feb. 14th, 1950         9.4″

So as you can see, we have had quite a variety of snowfall numbers in the record books for February.  Again it does looks fairly snow off and on through early next week.  There might even be a big storm lurking around Sunday.  It will be interesting to see how the statistics will change.  Ah the beauty of numbers, it’s all how you look at them.  Stay tuned!

Posted under Records, Seasonal Items, Snow Totals, Winter Weather

Aside from a handful of short cold snaps and brief bouts of a few inches of snow at a time, this winter has proven to be fairly tame.  Especially when compared with last year’s winter that provided much of the United States with considerable snowfall. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has just released two images showing just how striking the difference has been in terms of snow depth.  In the image below, you’re looking at the continental United States.  Areas shaded in a taupe-peach color indicate areas that are dealing with nearly 40 less inches of snow compared to the winter of 2010-2011.  Areas in the blue color are places with nearly 40 more inches of snow. 

The top image illustrates the comparison in December, the lower in early February. 

What a difference!  We can see it has been a unique winter anecdotally, but when you look at the numbers and see how widespread the difference has been, it really is quite striking! 

To see the entire article from NOAA, follow this link: http://www.climatewatch.noaa.gov/image/2012/fierce-2010-2011-winter-dwarfs-this-seasons-snowfall

Image from NOAA.

Posted under Arctic climate, Environment, forecast, Nature, new media, Science, Seasonal Items, Snow Totals, Weather History, Weather NEws, Winter Weather

There is a lot of brown ground across Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest for so deep into the winter season.  The mild winter so far has to be one of the main topics of conversation no matter where I go!   Here are some statistics to get a better perspective on all this.  So far this winter season we have received 15.2″ of snow in Wausau.  That is about 10.5″ less than normal for this point in the winter.  For January, we’ve accumulated 2.9″ of snow so far.  So how does this stack up to normal and other winter seasons?

LEAST SNOWY JANUARYS IN WAUSAU

1. 1915     1.6″
2. 1981     1.7″
3. 1961     1.8″
4. 1974     1.9″
5. 2010     2.3″

SNOWIEST JANUARYS IN WAUSAU

1. 1929      32.9″
2. 1996      32.1″
3. 1971      31.4″
4. 1935      31.3″
5. 1967      26.7″

The most current really dry January was that of 2010.  The most recent January where we really got buried in deep snow was that of 1996 when just under 3 feet pile up!  I remember that winter well.  The snow drifts were so deep out in the field that we couldn’t get through with our tractor to haul manure on the farm.  Road ditches had banks 8 to 10 feet high in spots.

LEAST SNOWY WINTER SEASONS IN WAUSAU

1. 1967-68     19.3″
2. 1980-81     20.1″
3. 1914-15      20.7″
4. 1913-14      27.5″
5. 1960-61     28.0″

SNOWIEST WINTER SEASONS IN WAUSAU

1. 1908-09       103.8″
2. 1995-96       100.3″
3. 1916-17          85.1″
4. 1950-51         84.6″
5. 1906-07        84.0″

If we keep on our current pace through March we probably will end up in the top 25 least snowy winter seasons this time around.  Of course one or two major snowstorms could change all that.  We will just have to wait and see.  At least for the next ten days I don’t think we will pile up very much.

Posted under Drought, Records, Seasonal Items, Snow Totals, Winter Weather

The healthy wet snow event Saturday evening definitely went a long way in getting the turf covered and white in a good chunk of the Upper Midwest.  Of course it is still not enough in most areas for things like skiing and snowmobiling but you have to start somewhere, right?   The weekend storm put down a decent swath of snow all the way from the Southern Rockies to Lake Superior.  Check out the latest national snow depth map below.  As to be expected early in the season, the greatest depths, over 1 foot, are generally confined to the mountainous states out west, with some near 1 foot amounts in some lake effect locations of Upper Michigan as well.

Snow Depth, Dec. 5th, 2011

The areas from Texas northeast through the Ohio Valley and eastward have been unseasonably warm the past few weeks being on the eastern side of the storm tracks.  That’s why their ground is brown.  They have had inches of rain in some of those areas.  Just imagine how much snow that would have been had it been colder out!

Closer to home, about the northwest two-thirds of Wisconsin has snow on the ground.  It’s generally from 1 to 5″ deep in most spots.   There is also a strip of an inch or less from around Wautoma down to Madison and Whitewater, mainly from what fell early Monday morning.  You can get a closer look at it on the map below.

Snow Depth, Dec. 5th, 2011

Posted under forecast, Recreation & Sports, Snow Totals, Travel, Winter Weather

The 4-December Snow Cover Chart From the National Weather Service.

This weekend’s winter storm was very interesting to watch and forecast.  The storm included a distinct line of mixed precip that essentially divided Wisconsin into two chunks. South and southeast of the line saw rain.  North and northwest of the line saw snow, and in some places quite a bit!

Also interesting with the storm is where the rain/snow line ended up staying.   For hours on end it sliced through parts of Marathon, Wood and Portage counties giving us rain, snow and sleet.  For most of the night in three separate counties that cover a relatively small geographic area, we had three different types of precipitation falling at once. 

Viewer photo of the 7" that fell in Boulder Junction, From Wendy Ross.

In the end, most of Marathon saw snow, Portage rain and Wood saw a little bit of all three.  What was also fascinating to watch is how steady the line held, with relatively little movement through the night. 

The position of the rain/snow line played a big role in where we saw the significant accumulations.  We had been forecasting to see the highest accumulations in Wausau and then in points north and northwest of the city.  It was a difficult storm to forecast accumulation for because the way things appeared, and how they eventually transpired was the boundary between the 1-3” region and 3-6”+ region cut right through Wausau and northwestern Wood County where quite a few people live!   

Once the storm had moved out, Wausau saw 2.7” of snow but nearly a half-inch of rain.  Meanwhile on the western edge of Marathon County and the eastern side of Clark County, Abbotsford picked up 5” and Owen received 5.6”.  North of Wausau we saw just less than 5” in Merrill and 6” in both Tomahawk and Medford. Winchester saw the most (as of the most recent reports) at 7”.

All in all, we lucked out that the accumulations came just about the way we had anticipated and the rain/snow line’s dance over Marathon, Wood and Portage Counties kept accumulations down for the storm total. 

But of course, this is just winter storm number two of the young season.  We’ve got a ways to go before we can start thinking about summer again! 

Can’t wait!  Thanks for sticking with us here at Storm Track 9 through the storm.

Posted under Nature, Seasonal Items, Snow Totals, Storms, Viewer pictures, Weather Safety, Winter Weather