29. So much I wanted to cover in one post, so I'll get right to it.
This morning some snow pellets fell at 9:30 as a cold front approached northern Wisconsin from northern Minnesota.
A brief shot of snow followed the snow pellets, leaving enough frozen precipitation in my rain gauge to melt: 0.01 inches of liquid. This picture (to the right) is a close-up shot of of the pellets on the boards of the deck. The pellets and snow melted by the afternoon as temperatures hovered around 32.
Radar this morning.
This radar screenshot (to the left) is from NWS Duluth and is focused on far northern Wisconsin, from 9:32.
The band of precipitation from the Apostle Islands and the Bayfield Peninsula trailing back towards Douglas County are the echoes that brought snow pellets to my location and Ashland. The blob of echoes north of Duluth show the snow that fell after the snow pellets.
Surface features this afternoon.
This map from the HPC (to the right) shows surface features at 13:00 this afternoon. The cold front, located south and east of Wisconsin, was the trigger of my snow this morning. Four hours after the cold front entered the far northwest corner of the state, it exited the southeast.
A high pressure, currently located over western Canada (1032 mb) will build southeast into the western Great Lakes through the weekend. Temperatures will be a little cooler on Saturday but warm back up on Sunday. Cloudy today, clearing before sunset.
A low deck of stratocumulus has lingered behind the cold front today, keeping skies overcast.
This map (to the left) is from UW-SSEC and shows the clouds at 17:15.
The deck has continued to slide southeast across northern Wisconsin allowing the back edge to reach Bayfield County with some sunshine before the sun sets.
Way down South. Thanks to Scout the Weatherman for finding my page and leaving a nice comment. Scout has a blog at WeatherScout that covers weather happenings in southern Wisconsin. Go check out what's happening down south!
James Spann.
I'm a fan (sounds like a lot of people are), and this article was sent to me by Mike Wilhelm (Alabama Weather Blog), so I wanted to post it. Thanks Mike!The Christian Science Monitor article can be read here. I enjoy listening to James and his group on WeatherBrains every week via podcast. He's knowledgeable, dedicated, and has a sense of dry humor.
I first heard of James from what one blogger called "The TWC mess" around the end of January 2007 (BBC Shortwave news informed me as I was sitting in the African bush), and I agree with his stance on Climate Change. He's got my vote... I wonder what his stance on Foreign Policy is?!
And finally, an article that was on the news tonight: Lake Superior & Duluth's Sky Harbor.
"We anticipate that even though the ice conditions are the worst that we've seen in about 12 years, we anticipate that we'll be able to get all of the ships out by the 22nd," said [Coast Guard Commander] Coot.
The shipping season is just about to get underway but due to the thick ice build up, shipments will be postponed.
The rest of this article from the Northland's News Center can be viewed here. More proof that it was it a cold winter, and an indication that the ice on western Lake Superior was substantial this year.
Current (and recent) ice coverage maps can be found at the National Ice Center's page here -- scroll down to the most recent date or check out the coverage in the past weeks.
Radar this morning. 
Surface features this afternoon. 
Cloudy today, clearing before sunset. 
Way down South.
James Spann.
And finally, an article that was on the news tonight: Lake Superior & Duluth's Sky Harbor.
