its raining squirrels and rain

 

This is what I walked out to this morning near the side of my house... oh yeah and it was raining!

You Know its going to be a great day when you wake up and hear the booming of thunder and the shaking of your probably not legitimate foundation underneath your apartment. Also when you walk outside to a squirrel rummaging through the garbage too. Today turned out to be a decently nice day though of course after the craptastic thunderstorms had passed. Temperatures reached 57 degrees with about 60 percent cloud cover at 8 pm when I was walking home. Winds are coming from the Northeast at 10 miles per hour. Tomorrow I expect the clouds to hang around and the humidity to be pretty high along with the temperature, which could get up to 76 degrees. I think the high dewpoint and humidity will lead to some on and off again rain as the heat brings some instability in the atmosphere .

bi-polar weather

After a gorgeous day of sunshine we were once again reminded by mother nature that it is spring. Today started off with some precipitation that discipated by later in the morning. Cloud cover was at 100% stratocumulus which discipated as the day went on. The temperature is 54 degrees and the winds are coming from the south west at 14 miles per hour. A dome of high pressure is on its way which will clear things out for tomorrow. Temperatures should be in the mid sixties then for the rest of the weekend, but the sun will not be sticking around all weekend. : (

Under pressure

These crummy temperatures will move out and the sun will peak through the clouds for the first time since Monday. Today started off as overcast with a few sprinkles throughout the day. Temperatures reached a high of 41 with winds from the north west switching to the south west as the night goes on. On my bike ride home today I spied the end of the gloomy cold front that has been moving across our state as a trough in the jet held for quite some time. That low has finally passed and I spied the bright sunny skies that are in store for us Friday. The dissapation of the clouds means tonight will get semi-chilly as that blanket of cloud cover continues to lighten. But tomorrow looks like we can once agin pull out those shorts and flip flops, at least for a day, the rainy weather will make a comeback Saturday so enjoy the sun while you can.

an unexpected kind of okay day

I woke up today expecting rain, but was pleasantly surprized when I stepped outside to just a cloudy day, not a drop in sight. Of course, this didn't hold all day long, there were a few microscopic drizzles later in the afternoon, but those were tolerable. Temperatures reached a high of 42 degrees today with winds from the Northwest at 7 miles per hour as that center of the low tracks to our south east. That meant a bit chillier conditions, but not a whole lot of precipitation with about 85% cumulus cloud cover. For tomorrow I expect temperatures to warm up a bit and winds to continue from the northwest into the weekend.

I Enjoy Watching People Struggle With Umbrellas

Although the thought of bringing my umbrella on my walk to class today was tempting, I avoided the temptation because I checked my wind speed and direction before heading off to class and realized the frustration wouldnt be worth it. Right now at noon the temperature is 39 degrees, the wind is coming from the northwest at 10 miles per hour, a slow down from this morning when I got a reading of 15 mph on my phone. The barometric pressure is on the rise which would explain the brief stop of rainfall outside. Cloud cover is at 100% The rain should hold up into tonight and then resume into a possible wintry mix late tonight. For tomorrow I expect the precipitation to continue and the winds to continue from the northeast as the center of the low continues to track to our southwest. I expect 100% cloud cover again and a pretty high chance of precipitation : (

Setting up for mr. Rabbit

Okay, here's the set up for this weekend. A trough in the jet stream over the Rockies will make the precipitation track just south if Wisconsin. Which means despite the rainy temps today and tonight things will clear up for Mr. Bunny to make his way out for Easter. The trough will bring some humid warm air up to us raising temps for Easter. It looks like this pattern won't hold however and the rain should be back to greet us again on Monday.

Prepare for the Ice Age

Back to the crappy cold weather. The weather outside is hazy and cold. THIS SUCKS! Temperature right now is 42 degrees with winds gusting at 27 miles per hour from the East... you know what that means... we are all going to die... obviously. So here is the current set up for the crappy weather that will be heading our way. The storm developed in the Plains, moisture from the gulf has made its way up which will feed into the chilly air mass looming over Wisconsin right now. That combo will dump roughly 2-4 inches of snow and some possible snow/rain mix onto Eau Claire later tonight. That storm will head over to Michigan and be out of our hair by mid day tomorrow. I think given the current temps and the projected low 40 degree temps for tomorrow that snow will have the chance to accumulate, leaving us with some shoveling to do tomorrow morning and late afternoon. Hopefully after this we won't be seeing any more of the white stuff until late November.

Screw you Mother Nature

Mother nature still has some nasty tricks up her sleve and they are headed our way, but not today. Temps at 4pm were at 48 degrees with the wind coming from the southeast at 5 miles per hour. Cloud cover was mixed with some cumulus and stratus clouds covering about 60% of the sky. I expect those clouds to continue to accumulate into tonight as a not so lovely storm makes its way to Eau Claire tomorrow night into Wednesday. But we will get to that tomorrow. For tonight and into tomorrow I expect things to start to cool off as a cold front and precipitation approach. The cloud cover tonight will help keep things a bit warmer, but temps will still be in the mid 30's tonight. For tomorrow  I expect mostly overcast skies and the wind direction to increase and change direction as that nasty weather comes near.

A chance of snow?

As I predicted Tuesday, things cooled off a bit for us today as we prepare for some not so fun weather conditions this weekend. Today temps were at 47 degrees just before noon today. I didn't pay much attention to cloud cover today but my guess would be upper level clouds most likely stratus clouds possibly stratocumulus since there was a slight chance for precipitation today. For tomorrow I expect temps to remain cool in to the weekend as a big low makes its way up from Nebraska.  

why am i inside right now??????????

The weather outside is gorgeous, it makes me wonder why I'm sitting inside working on my weather lab. The temperature is at 65 degrees with 80% cirrostratus cloud cover . Winds are from the Southwest at 13 miles per hour. That high pressure will stick around for a bit longer, however the cold will roll in as a low accumulates off the west coast heads our way. We might see some light precip later tonight which will cool things off a bit. As for tonight I expect cloud cover to continue to build up until later tonight which will drop some rain showers on us over night into the morning and through tomorrow.

"severe weather"

So it was kind of an upset this weekend as far as severe weather hitting Eau Claire. For the most part on Sunday the heavy winds, hail and severe thunderstorms that were forcasted didn't hit Eau Claire as intensly as forecasters had predicted.

This is what I saw when I was riding with my friend during the "Tornado Warning" you can see the front boundary moving to the Northwest with the vertical cloud development of cumulus congestus clouds.
As for today, the high pressure is back with temps at 63 degrees at 4 o'clock winds were at the northwest at 12 miles per hour. Cloud cover is at 20% cumulus clouds indicating those nice mild temps are here to stay. Later tonight I expect temps to be in the upper 40's with similiar conditions tomorrow.

Thursday

The wind made the switch to the Southeast today which means warm temperatures and cloudier skies which makes being stuck inside working on geography lab really sucky!
Temps right now are 59 degrees and like i said winds are coming from the southeast at 12 miles per hour. highlevel alto cirrus clouds ar king of blanketing the upper atmosphere right now, they are so slim that you can barely pick them out but there there . For tommorrow and tonight I expect the clouds to stick around keeping the warm air trapped in over night and bringing us our first taste of 60 degree temps tomorrow!

Wednesday Wonderful

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous outside. I didn't get an oppourtunity to get a chance to record this last night so here is a quick recap. Temps reached a high of 57. Cloud cover was at 40% Stratocirrus cloud cover. Winds were from the north northwest at 5 miles per hour. Those warm temps and relatively cloudless skies are due to dome of high pressure hanging around for a while. Tomorrow (today) I expect sunny skies and similiar temps to yesterday as that high pressure sticks around.

I now declare it officially Spring!!!

It seemed like mother nature finally decided it was time for spring, or at least that's what the weather felt like outside. The temp right now is 43 and sunny with minimal cloud cover, there are some strato cumulus clouds off to the Southwest  which indicates we might be seeing an incoming front. Winds are coming from the Northwest at around 5 miles per hour. and like I said for the most part it is a cloudless day. Looking at the surface map it looks like there is some precipitation that might be headed our way from Minnesota which could give us a few showers or a wintery mix later tonight. This might correlate with those approaching clouds I mentioned earlier. For tomorrow, due to the precipitation I expect temperatures to cool off a bit and we should expect to see more cloud cover earlier on in the morning.

Not a cloud in sight

I don't believe I saw a single cloud today as  I walked to and from class or around campus this afternoon. The weather, minus the snow and semi-chilly temperatures was wonderful. Today's high was 40 degrees with slow 5 mph winds from the East. As I mentioned before cloud cover was non-existant today as the sun was out in full force trying its hardest to melt away the remainder of that snow.
Those cloudless skies will go away tomorrow for a bit as that dome of high pressure that's been looming over Wisconsin finally makes its way East ushering in a smaller cold front that could have us seeing some slight rain showers tomorrow after noon. I expect with this rain and the exchange of fronts we will see a bit more cloud cover tomorrow which will mean warmer temps for the end of the week!

Okay snow, you can leave anytime now

A chilly start to this morning just as I expected as that large area of high pressure looms around the midwest. Which actually might be helping us avoid some crappier weather thats riding along that low pressure area to our south west. That high pressure is also to thank for the chilly temperatures coming from Canada. The jet stream is taking a dip right over Wisconsin right now which is bringing us those 30 degree temperatures, meaning the snow is here to stay for a bit longer. Temps at the noon hour are just hovering above 30 degrees with winds coming at about 2 miles per hour from the west. Som patchy areas of cirrus clouds are in the sty today, associated with that area of high pressure. Those should stick around into tonight which should make for yet another chilly night with relatively clear skies. Tomorrow should warm up a bit as that area of high pressure starts to move out which should warm things up a bit as I expect the sun should be out in full force for yet another day. But as that high pressure dome moves out we may be in store for some unpleasant weather later in the week.

Spring broke

So much for having warm temperatures in Wisconsin over spring break, but the good news is it looks like the warmer temperatures are just around the corner and hopefully this time they're here to stay! Today was a bright sunny day with some cumulus clouds at about 30% cloud cover this after noon temps were around 38% but the sun made it feel a whole lot warmer. A big area of high pressure should keep those nice days around for another day or two which should make getting back into the swing of classes a bit more bearable. Tonight I expect temps to cool down significantly as cloud cover is sparse, which means that tomorrow should be a pretty chilly start I expect that winds will be mild most likely coming from the east for most of the day and cloud cover should be similar to today.

Winters on its death bed

Just as I predicted the weather outside is hazy but warm! Temperatures are at 43 degrees with winds coming from the west at 5 miles per hour. Later on in the afternoon I anticipate the showers to make there way through the area..as we get our first real taste of spring. I expect the cloud cover to hang around overnight brining us warmer temperatures overnight. For tomorrow I expect that warmth to stick around making the morning pretty warm outside. Although the beginning of the day will start off cloudy tomorrow I expect the clouds to disapate as an area of high pressure makes its way toward us which should bring some warmer temps for the start of spring break.

spring in full bloom

Finally starting to see the spring time peaking out from underneath all of the snowpack. Today temps were at 51 outside with the sunshining through I felt that it was much warmer than that. Cloud cover was sparce I would say 25% Stratocumulus cloud cover and a wind from the south at around 5 miles per hour. For tomorrow and later tonight I expect rain to move in as a band of precipitation makes its way toward us. I expect there to be a pretty large amount of cloud cover as that precipitation makes its way toward us probably cloud conditions will be hazy cloud cover at 100% or a little less.

chance of rain

Its a bright sunny day right now at noon, but later in the day I expect that that small system of low pressure off to our west will bring us some light showers in the evening. As I predicted, there is about a 60% stratocumulus cloud cover in the sky and the wind is coming from the Southwest at 10 miles per hour. For tomorrow, I expect the weather to be darn near shorts and tank top weather! Most likely temps will be in the low 50's with pretty minimal cloud cover due to the ridge of high pressure.
In other news. here are some photos I came across of the earthquake and tsunami arial photos of before and after the disaster, the images from there are almost unbelievable.

Sendai, Japan Airport before the earthquake and tsunami

The airport after the earth quake and tsunami