29. Yesterday's storm system stayed far enough south and east that I only received a dusting of snow.
However, as was expected, the area around Milwaukee felt the worst part of the storm -- up to 8" of snow fell in and west of Milwaukee city.As the system departed, it left a lot of low level moisture behind that is now trapped beneath an inversion (currently at about 1500ft). Twin Cities' Skew T plot here.
Overcast skies with light snowflakes or light freezing drizzle is likely throughout the weekend... another long stretch with no sun.
Who had a White Christmas? Me.
The NOHRSC has released a map (to the left) of the Lower 48 showing where there was a White Christmas this year. It's a fun map, at least for me to see how far the snow did extend. A White Christmas is defined as having at least one inch of snow on the ground during December 25th.
The picture (to the right) was taken as I was driving in to Ashland on US 2 Wednesday morning (the 26th). All four lanes were a snow-covered white mess with visibility below 1 mile.
The picture (below) was taken as I was driving south through Ashland on Hwy 13 on Wednesday morning. Ashland has an official city-limit population of 8,620 and is the county seat of Ashland Count. Ashland was first plated in 1856 and quickly developed into a port for ore and lumber.
There is a new blog, that was just begun, and will continue to be developed, called NWWIWeather.
The blog's author is Derek from Clayton (Polk Co.), Wisconsin. He will write about weather news (with pics) concerning the area around Polk, Barron, Dunn, and St. Croix Counties. When interesting or severe weather occurs across northwestern Wisconsin, Derek and I will work together to cover our entire region.
The picure (to the left) is of Hwy 13 as it continues south in Ashland County. This area used to be location of the Penokee Mountains, but after five glaciers nothing remains except a very large range of hills. This area is Wisconsin's Lake Superior snowbelt.
(Below) is a picture of a house on the side of the highway on the northern edge of the snowbelt, just north of Mellen. I believe that one of the granite quarries in Mellen is where the tombstone for JFK's grave came from.
Snow Tally and Snowdepth.
Today, Saturday the 29th, I have 17.2 inches of snow on the ground. It's slowly settling, compacting, and sublimating. The highest depth on the ground was 18.5 inches on December 27th, after the weekend snowstorm and the Monday/Tuesday stalled-clipper.
The right-hand green column has numbers for each month and precipitation event of the current month, but let me sum a few numbers up.
November snowfall total: 0.745" December snowfall total: 31.4"
Winter 2007/08 snowfall: 36.645" (so far) Average winter snowfall: between 60 and 80"
December liquid & liquid-equivalent: 3.725" December liquid & liquid-equivalent normal: 1.38" Percent of liquid & liquid-equivalent normal: 270%
Snow Angel???
And my last picture (to the left). This is my roommate making a snow angel on Friday at my house here on Maple Hill. An angel he is not.
This week's outlook.
The next five days look unsettled, with a low pressure moving across the region Sunday & Monday. An accompanying cold front will sweep through on Tuesday, bringing both colder air and some lake-effect snow (yippee! more snow... note sarcasm).
Our coldest day looks like Wednesday morning with a low temperature below zero, but temperatures may re-bound to near 32 by late next week.
NW WI Weather Blog.
our entire region.
Snow Tally and Snowdepth.
Snow Angel???