Record setting day across the Midwest

After what has been a slow, dull, boring (but actually kind of nice) October, mother nature quickly reminded us where we all live, and how quickly things can change. A low pressure system, with a cold front attached moved across the northern United States, while a secondary low moved up from the south and merged into one "megalow". The low moving from the south ended up becoming the main low, and rapidly deepened (or strengthened) bringing some incredibly strong winds along with it. The main low bottomed out around 28.20 inches of mercury (954.96mb) at Bigfork in Itasca County. This shatters the old Minnesota lowest pressure record of 28.43 that was set in the November 10, 1998 storm at both Austin and Albert Lea. The state of Wisconsin also broke their state record for pressure, with Superior recording a reading of 28.39 inches of mercury (961.3mb). That broke a record that stood for more than 28 years, dating back to April 3rd, 1982. The measurement was taken in Green Bay. Below is a graphic showing the progression of the low, courtesy of the NWS Office in La Crosse.




With this, the storm brought sustained winds between 20 and 30mph, with gusts of 40-60+mph. This caused power outages, trees to fall, and people's lawn furniture to end up in their neighbors yard. This low was also able to tap into some moisture from the south, and cold air from the north, creating the first decent snowfall across Minnesota and North Dakota. Blizzard warnings, High Wind warnings, and a whole slew of other advisories cover the area. The cold front extending from the low ended up causing problems across a good portion of the central and eastern United States. Severe storms containing damaging winds and tornadoes caused damage across parts of southern Wisconsin, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, as well as a few other states. This is a link to a more detailed description of what happened, courtesy of the Minnesota State Climatology Office http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/low_pressure_101026.htm Below is a satellite image of the low, with the cold front extending south off of it.

Yawn....

Well, what a stretch of weather we have had here in Western Wisconsin. It has been at least 15 consecutive days of dry weather, and that trend looks to last another 4 days at least. This dry stretch, however, was needed after the flooding rains most areas received about a month or so ago. Farmers have been taking advantage of this stretch of dry, warm weather by getting their harvesting done before we see any more rain, or even snow. Yes, that dreaded "S" word will be being used more and more in the coming months, but it shouldn't be seen for a little while yet. However, what is good for some, can be bad for others. While the farmers and most of the general public has been enjoying this stretch of dry weather, it is now to the point that the things leaves and grass are getting too dry, leading to a high fire risk across most of the area. So, quite frankly, some rain wouldn't be the worst thing in the world right now. It does, however, look like we will have to wait until next week before any chance at some measurable rain reaches the area. First things first...

Today looks to be mostly sunny, with maybe a few clouds here and there, highs right around 58 degrees. Tuesday night, a few clouds, temps dropping to around 38 degrees. Wednesday will be breezy in advance of a cold front that will be coming through. Temps will be slightly warmer with highs getting to around 60 degrees.

Looking further down the road, a change will begin taking place over a good portion of the United States, however how that change will unfold is still uncertain. A potent system will be coming onshore over the Pacific northwest this coming weekend, bringing with it a much more active pattern, with some long range models spinning up some decent storm systems that could hit the area with rain, wind, and colder temperatures. In fact, looking wayyy down the road, the GFS is hinting at the potential for some accumulating snow a couple days before Halloween. Keep in mind that this is far in the model, and will likely change as time goes on, but there has been a trend that at least one decent system (likely rain) will hit the Upper Midwest sometime next week. Below is a look at the system, per the GFS, the morning of October 29th. Again, it is a ways away, but when you're bored, you grasp for anything.



I will continue watching next week to see how next week unfolds. Until then, enjoy this (likely) final stretch of nice weather, because this could honestly be it until next spring.