A few days back I put the 2012 heat and drought in historical perspective. At that point we were on pace too set the record for the warmest July ever in Wausau. Now July is behind us, we have the numbers tabulated, and we did not end up breaking the record. 1936 still stands as the warmest July ever in Wausau when the average temperature was 76.7. July of 2012 averaged 76.0, which puts it in second place.

Some other interesting “hot” notes from the month include 12 days with high temps of 90 or greater, 16 days with high temps in the 80s, and only 3 days with high temps in the 70s. This is an extreme contrast with the July weather from just three years ago. In July of 2009 there were no days with high temps in the 90s, only 5 days with highs in the 80s, 21 days with highs in the 70s, and 5 days with highs in the 60s!

During July of this year we had 3 record high temps. The highs of 96 on the 4th and 98 on the 16th set new records for those dates, while the high of 96 on the 5th tied the old record. We set a new record for the warmest low temperature on the 5th when the mercury only dropped to 74. We also had a record rainfall on the 19th which was 1.61 inches. This was the bulk of the precipitation that fell for the entire month in Wausau. In general more rain fell in the northwoods and much less rain fell in the southern part of the area.

There were no really strange patterns in the highs or lows except that we had three days in a row with a high temp of 96 (from the 4th to the 6th) and we had 6 different days with a low temperature of 67. Here are the final sats for Wausau:

Average High: 88.0  (normal: 80.0)

Average Low: 63.9  (normal: 58.6)

Precipitation: 2.93 inches  (normal: 3.83 inches)

Snowfall: 0.0 inches  (normal: 0.0 inches)

Highest Temperature: 98 on the 16th

Lowest Temperature: 55 on the 20th

Have a fine Wednesday! Meteorologist Justin Loew

Posted under Monthly Recap

First off, the comment section should be working again. For those of you reading today, maybe make a little test comment to say hi or tell your favorite joke you have heard recently. If things aren’t working, we will take another whack at the problem.

Most everyone is raving about the recent record warmth, which is understandable, just remember that it can come with some negative consequences as well. Due to the persistent warmth, the maple syrup harvest will likely be quite poor this year. Growers of fruit trees here in Wisconsin and other parts of the country could experience a poor growing season if we end up with some hard frost later this month or in April. The problem is that the cherry trees (and probably some apple trees as well) are getting buds and might flower early. The flowers are highly susceptible to frost. If the buds or blossoms are killed off by frost, some crops could be decimated. Recent research has also shown a negative effect on some animals. Butterfly populations in the Rocky Mountain states have declined in recent years because of an earlier start to the growing season.

Cherry Blossoms

It seems they have the same problem that we might encounter this year. When mountain flowers bloom too early, they can be killed by a hard frost. Then when the butterflies hatch, they do not have as much food to support their life cycle. There is another negative aspect of current heat waves which I won’t recap here but you can find in this past blog post.

So continue to enjoy the warm weather but remember that from a natural perspective, it would be much better if our current warm spell was producing high temps around 45 or 50, instead of 60s and 70s. Speaking of 70s, we will probably not have 70s in most of the area again until this weekend. High temperatures today and tomorrow will likely be in the mid to upper 60s. This is still warm enough to potentially break some records, it will just not feel as much like Summer. The record high in Wausau today is 65 and the record high tomorrow is 68. Right now I am forecast highs of 66 and 68 respectively.

It will feel a lot more like Summer again over the weekend, not only becuase high temps will likely reach the low to mid 70s, but because the humidity will be rising as well. The increasing dewpoints will lead to a chance of widely scattered showers and thunderstorms from Saturday all the way through the middle of next week, but it should not be enough rain (or last long enough) on any particular day to ruin your outdoor plans. We should break some record high temps on Saturday and Sunday but on Monday it will be iffy as the record is 73. Here are the records highs that were broken yesterday with the old record in parentheses.

• Wisconsin Rapids 77 (72)
• Wausau 75 (67)
• Stevens Point 75 (67)
• Marshfield 75 (65)
• Merrill 72 (65)
• Antigo 72 (64)
• Rhinelander 71 (62)

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Earlier this week I was mentioning how efficiency gains do not always translate into a better environment and less pollution, because as energy becomes cheaper we tend to use more of it…a lot more. As we mature further into the information age, I think efficiency gains will produce more positive results because we won’t have as much need to move large masses of product and people around the globe.

Therefore, it is a good sign that solar power continues to get cheaper by the day. Some would say a lot of it has to do with a glut of solar panels on the market and/or subsidy support from the Chinese government, but there is also a lot of technological innovation going on. It might take a while for green energy technologies to have an impact on pollution levels but we are moving in the right direction rather fast.

A recent study has suggested that technological advances should allow manufacturers to bring the price of solar panels (and solar generated electricity) down to levels comparable with coal before the end of this decade. This was not considered remotely possible just 5 or 10 years ago, but that is how far we have advanced.

Several companies are making this happen with different approaches. One method involves using less silicon to make the panels.

Twin Creeks thin solar panel

Current manufacturing for silicon solar panels wastes a lot of silicon. Ampulse is using a new vapor deposition method to create thin silicon cells from the “bottom up” and Twin Creeks has developed a way to “peel” thin layers of silicon off of bulk silicon (ingots/blocks). I have not seen any numbers as to the efficiency of the related products but they should become available soon as these two companies license their methods to other producers. If the thin silicon wafers work as promised, solar panels could come down in price to 50 cents per watt or less.

Other more speculative research has involved the use of silicon nanoshells to absorb more light from the sun, thus making solar panels more efficient. Also, computer simulations at MIT have shown the potential for precisely manufactured metamaterials that have ridges and valleys on their surface could absorb more wavelengths of light. In the realm of solar thermal power, a company called Halotechnics is developing newer materials that will allow thermal plants to operate at a higher temperature. This would increase the efficiency solar thermal plants which are already more efficient than photovoltaics.

In other great news, Solar Frontier is dramatically expanding its operations in Japan. They of course have basically shut down their nuclear power plants and are looking for alternatives. Hopefully solar power will fill more of the need going forward. Also, UCLA scientists have just broken a world record efficiency at 10.6% for cheap-to-produce tandem solar cells.

In not so good news, Abound Solar is starting to lay off employees and First Solar is talking about not opening some of its new manufacturing facilites. It is a tough marketplace and not all companies will thrive.

The most disturbing news in solar energy is that installation and permitting costs continue to be stubbornly high. At least some web-centric entrepreneurs are trying to reduce some of these costs. Even company Eight19 is battling against government permitting and installation costs in trying to sell very cheap thin film solar panels in developing countries. I would expect someone to have come up with a cheaper way to install solar panels by now, but I suppose it quite often involves work on steep roofs and this can be complicated. As far as permitting goes, it is almost unconscionable that governments are getting in the way of solar adoption. If they want more alternative energy, they should keep their bureaucrats and regulations under control.

Have a nice Thursday! Meteorologists Justin Loew.

Posted under Alternative Energy, Heat, Records, Spring

With the heat wave across much of the country during the month of July, the topic of anthropogenic global warming received a little greater focus. There was a lot of push and pull from opposite sides of the debate. There was a lot of discussion how many record high temps there were. According to the NCDC there were a little over 2,700 daily record high temps in the U.S. during the month of July. There was at least one new record high temperature in all 50 states. We had one record high tied in our viewing area. Some people made a little hay about the record highsby stating the fact that there were only a couple dozen record highs during the month of July, but these were “all time” record high temps, which is still rather significant. If we broke our all time record high in Wausau (107), it would be a very significant event, even if it was the only one in the country.

In addition to the heat, we also had a record for the amount of exceptional drought in the U.S. according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Many AGW theorists have predicted more drought (and, well, pretty much more of every “bad” weather phenomenon) in the future. That being said, the exceptional drought is mainly confined to the Deep South, Texas, and New Mexico and it is only a record since the Drought Monitor started 12 years ago. We have had more widespread drought across the country in the recent past, just not as much exceptional drought. Also, it is most likely that exceptional drought was greater during some of the other famous droughts in the country’s past, such as in the early to mid 1950s the 1930s. La Nina was the primary cause of the drought in the south this year, as it has been in the past.

Speaking of La Nina and El Nino, after the super El Nino of 1998, many AGW theorists predicted more and more devastating El Ninos in the future (because of the warming atmosphere). After further analysis, it appears that the central Pacific ocean-atmosphere circulation will continue to vary quite a bit between La Nina and El Nino.

Whether or not El Nino and La Nina continue to cycle back and for, if the ocean warms up a bit more, it could cause more rapid melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets - if the historical record is any guide. Rapid melting has occurred in the past. The difference today is that so much expensive human infrastructure is near sea level. Even if the ocean only rises a foot or two, which doesn’t sound like much, billions of people along coastal areas will be hopping mad.

In addition to these news items, there is some other controversy brewing in regards to AGW “mascots” and rebel scientists – which I will have to get to tomorrow because of all the severe weather and flooding rain occurring this morning. As of 10am, the rainfall total in Wausau was getting close to 2 inches. The record rainfall for Wausau is only 2.45 inches so it might be a record day. Thankfully the storms should taper off by late afternoon and it looks like mainly dry weather for Wednesday and Thursday.

Have a good Tuesday. Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under AGW, Climate Change, Drought, Heat, Records

I am going out to visit an area Summer school program today so I only have time for a quick blog update to highlight the record high temperatures that occurred yesterday.

• Wausau 94 (old record 91)
• Stevens Point 97 (old record 94)
• Antigo 91 (old record 90)
• Rhinelander 93 (old record 92)
• Marshfield 93 tied (old record 93)

Remaining Snow on Rib Mountain - June 7th

Also of note, I did make it up to Rib Mountain yesterday to take a picture of the remaining snow. Yes, there is some snow remaining. The pile that is left was really taking a hit yesterday, but it is big enough that we will likey have a few more days yet before the final melt. I predicted the 13th but I think it will last a day or two longer than that.

Have a good Wednesday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Heat, Records, Snowmelt 2011, Viewer pictures

First I just want to point out how crazy warm it was in the Northwoods this afternoon.  Ironwood, Michigan in the UP rose to 61, Land O’Lakes which is notoriously known for being cold made it all the way to 59.  For the middle of February that is unbelievable! Those temps double what is normal.  Now we do have our warm spells here and there and I am sure that felt comfortable. 

I know snow enthusiasts are not happy with everything that has been happening weather wise.  We have seen significant melting, shutting down the snowmobile trails.  It is possible we could see snow Sunday into Monday with another storm but besides that we don’t have any major snowfall in the next seven days.  This being said if the storm does track North…then we could see accumulating snow, enough to replenish some of what was last.  Right now the storm has been tracking more south though and if this is the case we could miss out. 

By the way if you have not checked out Justin’s blog from a few days ago you must! He blogged about “Watson” the contestant on Jeopardy.  I have not seem Jeopardy in ages but happen to catch the show on Monday and was so impressed with IBM and how much thought went into the AI or robot.   

Talking about storms I wanted to mention the mess that is happening in Australia. I blogged about the water drenched country a few weeks back and they are being devastated yet again.  Cyclone Carlos, the latest storms, with winds of 80 mph knocked down trees and brought devastation to an area that has seen quite a season so far.  Cyclone Yasi was the storm that hit on Feb 3rd, that one was a Cat 5 storm and caused major flooding and damage.

Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Environment, Natural Disasters, Science, Severe Weather, Snow Totals, Weather History, Weather NEws, Weather Safety, Winter Weather

Record breaking high temps caused significant melting across our area today.  Lets first break down the records and then I want to talk about the snow pack across the nation that is going to see a significant drop this week.  It has already went from 65% to to 42% from the 10th to the 13th!

High Temps, Record Highs Starred.  Four out of seven location broke their record for Feb 13th!

Stevens Point    50      51 1976

Marshfield   50*     44 1921

Wisc. Rapids   50*    49   1921

Wausau    50*   42  1908

Merrill    45    49  1921

Rhinelander   46*    44   1921/1947

Antigo    43    45 1991

What is so amazing is that the temperature difference  from Friday morning lows and today’s highs was near 60 degrees!!!    

Because we are not the only ones seeing the warm up we will not be the only ones seeing the melting of the snow.  Check out these pictures of the National Snow Analyses:

 If you look at Texas through the Central Plains you can see the significant reduction in the snowpack.  In the first image the only state without snow was Florida.

It is forecasted by the end of this week we will only see a 25% snowpack across the National because of the warm up that will grip the Eastern half of the US.  The jet stream is going to change from a more zonal across the northern section to rise into Canada with a significant dip out west.  Here is a look at what it will look like by the end of the week:

Meteorologsit Kristen Connolly

Posted under forecast, Records, Snow Totals, Spring, Weather History, Weather NEws, Winter Weather

No not here but across the Mid Atlantic it is a scorcher!  They are breaking all time record highs in areas! Here  are some of the records:

Richmond 105

Washington DC 101

Baltimore 100

Raleigh 100

Newark 99

Atlantic City 99

Philadelphia 97

New York City 97

The most impressive: Norfolk which tied their ALL TIME record high of 105! The last time they hit 105 was August 7 1918.

Raleigh also tied their all time July record high of 100.  It was the hottest it has been in the city in 33 years. 

Normal record highs are in the mid to upper 90′s so many places slashed that by 5 degrees or more!

We are not the only country dealing with the sweltering heat.  Russia has been under a gruesome heat wave that has now made July 2010 the hottest month ever record in Moscow.  Many business and even the government has relaxed dress codes in order to keep the citizens as comfortable as possible.   Today they came less than a .20 of a degree of breaking the all time record high in the city. 

Also, the last advisory on Bonnie was issued today at 4 pm central time.  She is now a Tropical Depression ( barely) and will have less of an impact on the Gulf Coast and the oil spill.  Evacuations of the boats related to the oil spill and rigs were called off and they were aloud to return to the site.  They should be back and running in 24 to 36 hours.

For us… sunshine for 3 days in a row! We will see a few scattered showers this evening taper off and then we will go with a dry forecast through at least late Tuesday.  This will be a much needed break considering last nights storms brought another inch of rain in some areas, mainly to the south of 29.

Have a great night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Heat, Natural Disasters, Records, Severe Weather, Storms, Summer, Tropics

Taking a look at Kristen’s blog post from yesterdayyou will find a list of 2 record high temps that were tied on Sunday and the list of potential records in Northcentral Wisconsin today. Not only is there a potential high temperature here in Wausau today, we most likely will break the record for the warmest low temperature for May 24th. The old record was 63 set back in 1975 and 1991. The record high today for Wausau is 89 set back in 1928. I am forecasting 90.

Feeling the warm weather outside might have you thinking the snow is gone from Rib Mountain but that is not the case. I, of course picked today’s date as the final day for snow on Rib Mountain, as did 68 other people who entered the contest. Unfortunately, they will not be winners of the R-store gift cards. The one remaining big pile of snow is melting fast but will likely last a few more days. If it doesn’t melt early this week with high temps in the 80s and low 90s, it might last into the weekend because some cooler weather is likely by late this week. At least one computer model is forecasting high temps only in the 60s by Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Wouldn’t that just be typical Murphy’s Law for Wisconsin weather – a big cooldown just in time for the big holiday weekend. It is only one computer model (the GFS) predicting such a drastic change, so I am still hedging toward 70 degree weather instead. I’ll keep you up to date on any changes throughout the week.

Usually when we go from hot and humid to cooler and drier weather we end up with a period of thunderstorms – often times severe during this time of year. This time around we will have a 40% chance of thunderstorms Tuesday evening through Wednesday but the chances of severe weather appear fairly low at this time. If we don’t get rain Tuesday night into Wednesday then chances for rain look pretty low until early next week. If you need to water your garden you will want to watch the rain potential closely and slot a little time for watering later this week in case we don’t get much Tuesday evening.

With potential record high temps today, no doubt the anthropogenic global warming (AGW) story will come to the forefront in a few media outlets. It continues to be an interesting story because the evolution of the “crisis” and the counter trends continues as I expected. Every media headline that proclaims devastation, death, and doom-and-gloom can be balanced with headlines describing new cleaner technology and efficient societal operation. Today we can read “Small Mammals Will Have it Tougher in a Warmer Climate” and “2010 the Warmest Year so Far” and on the opposite side, “Tesla Hooks Up With Toyota”, “New Process Creates Cheaper Solar Cells With Compound Semiconductors, (on both sides of the Atlantic)”, “New Airplane Design Could Reduce Fuel Usage by up to 70%“, “Ecomotors Has Designed a Diesel Car That Could Get up to 100 mpg, (and they have gotten a new round of funding)”.

Will progress in “green-tech” and efficiency head off any theoretical future warming of the planet? Will cheap solar panels and long range electric cars arrive soon enough? I tend to think so, and that is why I typically discount the most extreme AGW Armageddon scenarios.

Have a good Monday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under AGW, Alternative Energy, Climate Change, Records, Snowmelt 2010

As Brian mentioned yesterday, we smashed the record highs across northcentral Wisconsin yesterday. High temps were in the upper 70s to low 80s. We will likely break the record for record warm low temps today as well. The record in Wausau is a very vulnerable 47 set back in 1963. Our low this morning was 61 and if the temperature does not drop down to 47 before midnight tonight then we will have another record. As far as the record high today, I don’t think we will break it. The record is 76 set back in 1963. Even though temps started out very mild, the clouds are a bit thicker today and this will probably keep a lid on the temps. I expect low to mid 70s in the area but not quite 76.

People tend to welcome the out of season warmth and I would certainly welcome some out of season precipitation – something (rain or snow)  heavy. Unfortunately, the front that is moving through tonight and Saturday has picked up speed. It is now starting to look like rain amounts will be less than a half inch and it will be overwith by midday Saturday. Boo! Yesterday it had looked more like a soaking rain for most of the day on Saturday and up to an inch in the rain guage. Now it looks more meager and short-lived. However, there is still hope! Another significant storm system will be moving through the upper Midwest on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. This one again has the potential to produce heavier rain. Keep your fingers crossed.

Even though it feels like summer outside, we haven’t experienced any summer-like severe weather yet, which gives us more time to prepare by learning how to identify severe storms. The NWS is traveling across the viewing area this Spring offering free Severe Storm Spotting Classes. Next week there is a session in Manawa (Monday, 6:30pm) and in Waupaca (Wednesday, 6:30 pm). You can find more details here

Some other reminders:

With the rain coming into the area later tonight and Saturday morning, remember that you can keep “trak” of it by using iTrak – our interactive radar technology on the weather page at waow.com. It is really handy during severe weather when you can zoom in on individual storms and find out what type of threat each storm represents.

Also, starting today we now have a StormTrak9 fan page on Facebook. If you are on facebook just search StormTrak9 and you will find the page. We will be using this page for announcements and forecasts in the future.

Have a fine Friday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under iTRAK, new media, Records

So last year yesterday and today were record breaking days! If you can think back it was in the 70′s- talk about an Indian Summer! Highs were in the low 70′s for two days on the 3rd it hit 72 and on the 4th it hit 70 not bad at all for November.  Of course it was short lived and on the 7th we received our first Trace of snowfall last year.  I remember the first snowfall because it was on a Tuesday and I had been off that day.  A friend came to visit and we were headed to dinner, driving on the highway. Ironically,I wouldn’t drive because I was soooo scared! It had been 5 years since I had driven in snow and even with a four wheel drive SUV I was worried.  How times have changed, I obviously have gotten more used it! Hard to believe that was all just one year ago.

On that note next week is Winter Weather Awareness week and we will be covering many topics.  We had an early shot at winter this year with the first snowfall occurring between Oct. 10th and 12th.  Here are just a few tips to make sure you are prepared for winter:

-Make sure your vehicle is winterized for example anti-freeze and wind shield washer fluid that goes below 32 ( I learned this one the hard way last year!) and a bag in your car with the following: blankets, a flashlight and batteries, first-aid kit, non-perishable food, shovel and knife, scraper and brush, and cellphone. 

-Keep your tank as full as possible and if you have to travel in a storm try not to travel alone.

-Have a weather radio at home with batteries.

-Store some extra food at home that requires no cooking.

Since the Christmas music is beginning to play I guess we should start thinking about that time of year.

Have a great night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Records, Weather History, Winter Weather