Talk about a cold night last night!  We have another one in store for tonight!  The good news is the seven day may be the best forecast I have seen for the area.  I can not believe we are going to see 70′s for the mid of October.  This year is completely the opposite of what we saw last year.  We had a mild and dry Sept last year and a wet and cool October.   This year it is vice versa! Here are just a few of the lows that we hit around the area:

Land O Lakes 23

Rhinelander 23

Eagle River 25

Conover 25

Neekoosa 25

Neecedah 25

Whittlesey 26

Antigo 27

Stevens Point 27 

Medford 28

Rib Mountain 29

For most areas it was the first freeze and the coldest night that we have seen so far this year!  I was up around 7 am and it was so cold out! It was neat though seeing the frost covering the ground. 

I also went hiking today because I wanted to see the Fall colors before they go away! It truly was a perfect fall day for it.  We will see a warm week ahead and if you haven’t been able to take a drive, hike or a bike ride and enjoy the beauty I really suggest you make the effort this week.  I wanted to share a few pictures from my hike up Rib today!

 Here is the pic of the frost, kind of hard to see but the ground is covered!   Have a great night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Fall, Fall Color, forecast, Freeze

A Canadian air mass has arrived and it will likely bring the coldest night of the season! Because of that a FREEZE warning is in effect for the entire area.  Most of us won’t just hit freezing but will drop a cold as the mid 20′s.  If there are any plants that you keep outside that you want to still have tomorrow make sure to cover them or bring them inside.  To top it off any amount of wind will make it feel cooler.

I had to go back to April to find a temp that was below 30 for Wausau.  The last time we hit the 20′s was April 22nd when we dipped to 27.  That is just crazy to think that it has been a half of a year! We did see a few 30′s last month in Sept.  We hit 35 on both Sept 25th and 26th.  The last time we hit below freezing in the 30′s was on May 10th.  On that date we hit 31!

On the flip side we are going to see 60′s even 70′s this week! This will be what we called an Indian summer.  An Indian summer occurs after the first frost but before the first snowfall.  It is usually a period of warm, sunny weather!

I also wanted to share these two pictures sent in from the Flood.  They were taken a week apart Sept 24th and Oct 1st.  The first is after the rain the second is the week before. This is taken at the Little Bull Falls at the Yellow River just north of Pittsville.  You can’t see any of the falls after all the rain we saw!  Thanks to Monica and Mike from Pittsville for sending them.

Have a good night! Meteorologsit Kristen Connolly

Posted under forecast, Freeze, Viewer pictures, Weather NEws, Winter Weather

Over the last few days, the blog has been all about the rare May snow. I hope you haven’t been bored. From a weatherperson’s perspective it is exciting, even if it is annoying this late in the season. How special was the snow? We received more snow Friday night in Northcentral Wisconsin than we received during the entire month of March and April combined! How much snow was it? Here are some reports from our weather watchers:

1. Phillips, 5.0″
2. Merrill, 3.5″
3. Almond, 4.0″
4. Prentice, 3.5″
5. Whittlesey, 3.0″
6. Scandinavia, 3.0″
7. Antigo, 3.0″
8. Stevens Point, 2.5″
9. Polonia, 1.0″
10. Florence Co., 3.0″

Here in Wausau we ended up with a total of 2.9 inches. Amazingly this did not break a record. Why? The record for the 7th of May is 2.5 inches. The record for the 8th of May is 1.5 inches. In Wausau, 2.4 inches of the snow fell on the 7th (before midnight) and 0.50 inches fell on the 8th (after midnight).

Now we go from snowy conditions to freezing conditions. With clearing skies tonight (Saturday night) and light winds, low temps in most of the area will drop into the 20s. A FREEZE WARNING is in effect for the entire area. I have some forst tolerant vegetables already growing in my gardens – peas, spinach, mixed greens, and beets. I suppose I will find out just how frost tolerant those crops are tonight.

And if you think this is the last we will see of snow and frost, it still looks like a cooler than normal trend for the next week or so. The next real Spring warm-up will not hit until the 19th or 20th or so. At that point we might see some high temps in the 70s. Up until then, there might be a couple nights with a touch of frost. Don’t plant any tomatoes or peppers unless you are prepared to cover them. And what about snow chances? Believe it or not, the next storm system that will be moving through our viewing area on Monday night and Tuesday could bring a few flakes of snow or sleet to the northwoods. Yikes!

How about a couple pictures of the snow. The patio picture was sent in by Melody of Lindsey. The trees and snow picture came from Brian in Rhinelander. The frozen orange picture was taken by Carol in Amherst.

Have a nice night! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Records, Viewer pictures, Winter Weather

We seem to go from one extreme to the next around here! 

 If you are wishing for winter we received our first taste of it up North! This morning on the local obs in Eagle River snow was reported.  If it was anything I am sure it was just a few flakes. The obs were observed at 3:30, 4:30 and also 8:30 am.  

Tonight we have a FREEZE WARNING in effect for the Northwoods with a FROST ADIVOSRY for our other counties.  I did a little research to find out when was the last time  we were this cold.

In Wausau:

The last time we hit below freezing was 31 on April 22nd.  The last time we hit just above was May 11 when we dipped to 33.

In Rhinelander:

The last time we hit freezing ,32, was June 4th.  The last time we were less then 30 was May 29th when we hit 29. 

Make sure to cover any plants especially if you are in the North! This could be a killing freeze for many areas.   

On a different note… The national news today was focusing on the 8.0 magnitude Earthquake that caused a Tsunami that hit the Samoa Islands in the Pacific.  For more info check out this article.  Here second one on the topic.  I thought this article was very informative on how earthquakes and tsunamis are related, something people commonly questioned.

Have a great night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Freeze, Uncategorized, Winter Weather

I have been focusing quite closely on the developing El Nino in order to get a handle on upcoming winter trends in the U.S., particularly here in the Midwest. Many people could use a more accurate long term outlook in order to plan, energy bills, vacations, or major purchases.

Weak El Nino so far this year

A moderate to strong El Nino will usually give us a little more certainty. It would typically mean wetter and colder weather for the southwestern U.S. and California could really use a wetter than normal winter. Here in the upper Midwest, a moderate to strong El Nino usually means a milder and drier winter. A weak El Nino does not affect our winter weather too much. 

Mega El Nino of 1997-98

The current El Nino pattern has not yet reached a moderate level. Here is a recent discussion about this year’s El Nino, where a couple El Nino experts are hedging their bets as to whether this El Nino will grow in strength. If it does not, then it is more likely (though not guaranteed) that we will have more normal winter conditions. In the article are images comparing the strength of this year’s El Nino and the El Nino of 1997-98. The contrast is quite dramatic. The monthly El Nino discussion will arrive in a week to 10 days and we will get a better read on any strengthening.

In the short term, it will surely feel more like winter outside today. The weather has changed quickly and it looks like we will have our first hard frost of the Fall season tonight. A FREEZE WARNING is in effect for areas north of Marathon county for tonight. A FROST ADVISORY is in effect for the rest of central and southern Wisconsin. We might have a touch of frost on Wednesday night into Thursday morning as well. Overall, it looks like cooler than normal weather will continue for the next week to 10 days.

Space News:

NASA’s LCROSS probe is aiming for a different lunar crater. The original crater was judged to have too many “negatives” for getting a good result of water detection. The new crater increases the odds of a “good find”. In case you were unaware, the LCROSS mission includes sending an impactor into the lunar surface. Instruments will then analyze the ejecta (debris that flies into the air) and see if there is water. This event is planned for October 9th. Hopefully they will get some good video and pictures. There is nothing like smashing objects into one another. The Deep Impact mission was spectacular.

When it comes to humans traveling to Mars, one of the main negative factors is time. Most experts estimate it will take a little more than 500 days. Here is an old concept “the two burn” that could cut the time of the trip in half. However, it does require fueling up in space (near the moon), and then there is the matter of getting back to earth.

This story about a potential new dark matter/energy detector brought up some old question marks (in my mind anyway), about the nature and evolution of the universe. I am willing to mostly accept the standard theory of the universe and its evolution (Big bang and expansion), however, when 95% of the universe is still undetectable, even after years of searching with our most advanced instruments, it doesn’t boost my confidence very much. Lingering in the recesses of my mind is the elegant “constant creation” theory proposed by Fred Hoyle. For those who are a bit skeptical, another theory has been proposed to explain away the “95%-of-the-universe-is-undetectable-for-years-on-end” problem. This one, proposed by mathematicians, claims a large wave in space-time is making distant galaxies appear to speed up.

Have a good Tuesday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under ENSO Update, Freeze, Space