It was warm over the weekend. We had a record high temperature of 88 in Wausau on Saturday. We beat the old record by 1 degree. Highs were in the 80s on Friday and Sunday as well, but it was not enough heat to melt all the snow out on Rib Mountain. When the snowmelt contest began, I felt quite certain that the snow would melt on a record early date this year. Now I am not so certain. It will most likely melt in May but it will probably not be the earliest melt we have ever observed. The heat did a number on the remaining snowpile, but it was not enough to get rid of it. I have included a picture taken yesterday – May 20th.

Snow Picture - May 20th

Besides the warm weather over the weekend, some thunderstorms developed on Sunday as we expected, but they were not very widespread. Most of the rain and heavy weather developed north of Marathon county. Trees and power lines were downed near Tripoli, Antigo, and Florence, as well as a few other spots. Hail up to 1 inch in diameter was reported in Conover and Sugar Camp in Vilas county.

For gardeners out there, you will probably need to plan a little watering because it doesn’t look like too much rain in the forecast this week. Another cold front will be moving through the area on Thursday and it will produce at least a 30% chance of thunderstorms. However, as things look now, any rain on Thursday will be hit-or-miss, not too widespread. If we don’t get rain on Thursday we might have to wait until Sunday or Monday (Memorial Day). I am not too concerned about drought development as of yet, but I know things are getting a little dry out there. The weather pattern is still pretty active so at least we will have opportunities for rain. It would be worse if we had a stagnant or blocked weather (or jet stream) pattern, which usually leads to several days up to a couple of weeks of no signs of precipitation.

Have a good Monday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Severe Weather, Snowmelt 2012, Storms