April 2016 Observations and Discussion

[Geos]

Wow, 06z GFS and 00z EPS really pump a summer ridge into the central CONUS by the 15th and it moves up towards the Lakes.  Gosh, is that going to feel pretty D**n good for the boys near the Lakes!

 

Hopefully we don't end up chasing the warmth on the models.

[Tom]

Arctic temps just about hit normal for the time of year.  It'll be interesting watching these trends as we head towards summer.  Most models are indicating below normal arctic temps.

 

http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/plots/meanTarchive/meanT_2016.png

[james1976]

37 and cloudy and very windy right now. My mom said they had flurries earlier. Winter still hanging on.

[Geos]

Up to 45" of snow for the season. Just shy of last years total. Will probably break it tonight.

 

[Tom]

So the GFS/EURO finally showing some type of storm bowling across the Rockies into the Plains by next Fri-Sun bringing some appreciable moisture.

[Tom]

CPC's thinking...

 

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/610day/610temp.new.gif

 

 

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/814temp.new.gif

 

 

Taste's of Summer on the horizon???

 

The central Plains are out-looked for above normal precip start next weekend through the end of the month.

[Geos]

So the GFS/EURO finally showing some type of storm bowling across the Rockies into the Plains by next Fri-Sun bringing some appreciable moisture.

 

Don't really need a soaker here. There's standing water all over the place. Nebraska, Kansas, and anyone else in D0 can have it.

Money in for a couple more inches tonight?

 

Snow should start sticking again around 5pm.

 

[Hawkeye]

We had some snow pellets around midday, the first we've seen of that in April.

[Madtown]

Threading the needle tomorrow night in Dane county...f this crap!

[Geos]

Snow moving a bit closer Madtown on this run.

 

[Geos]

Nice meso low near Moneyland.

 

[Geos]

Reports of 2.5"/hour near Oshkosh.

[Geos]

This is cool looking.

 

[Tony]

Looks like some heavy snow will fall in areas tonight

[Money]

So much snow you couldn't even see in from of you

 

Def was impressive

[hlcater]

That mesolow feature is really awesome looking, not as much now as it was earlier

[bud2380]

That would've been fun to see. We got on and off snow showers here all day. Nothing stuck and wasn't heavy but cool to see.

[Geos]

Looks like some heavy snow will fall in areas tonight

 

Yeah the main band means business. Just started here. Snow is blowing across the roads. Had to scrape my windshield off after leaving the store.

[Geos]

Been snowing heavily here. Over 1/2 inch down.

[Tony]

 

Been snowing heavily here. Over 1/2 inch down.[/

Hope you get nailed

[Geos]

 

Been snowing heavily here. Over 1/2 inch down.[/

Hope you get nailed

 

You could get nailed by that yellow area heading for Du Page county.

That's white out conditions for sure. It snowed heavily enough for it to stick on the concrete.

 

[Tony]

I'll let you know if it happens

[Tony]

Coming down really good and sticking. What a spring!

[Geos]

Picked up 0.9" here. Heavy enough and now cold enough it has turned the driveway and street icy. Had one guy that was spinning his tires trying to get up the hill.

 

Southern MI getting dumped on now. Note the LES forming.

 

[Geos]

Earlier tonight.

 

 

If it doesn't cloud up tonight, the temp is going to tank into the teens probably.

[Hawkeye]

The warm 8-14 day CPC map above looks nice, but recent runs of the GFS and Euro suggest the opposite, with another stretch of cool weather settling into the northern US.  Let's hope not.

[Tom]

Over the last week, these bursts of April snows have been impressive near the Lakes. I don't recall seeing such heavy and persistent snowfall this late in the season.

Yesterday evening, a rain shower went over head and I captured this rainbow, it was actually a double rainbow but couldn't get the full image on my phone.

[Tom]

00z Euro showing some big rains in the Plains...

[westMJim]

Had several hours of heavy snow here in the Grand Rapids area last night. GRR reported 5” and there are some reports of 6” I had to work last night but when I got home there was 3.25” on my snow board and still 3” there right now. The official low at GRR looks to be 21° but here at my house I bottomed out at 18° The funny (well its not that funny) is today is opening day for the local minor league baseball team and there is still at least 3’ of snow on the ground and I work there and it looks like they are going to play the game today. And right now I have a temp of 27° but yes it sunny so what a great day for a ball game

[Tom]

Looks like Chicago missed the record low temp by 2 degrees...

 

http://www.weather.gov/images/lot/GraphiCast/FileL.png

[jaster220]

3.5" here in Marshall. Snowiest stretch of April days since I moved down from NMI in Oct. of '97 and I've had quite enough now, thx!

[Geos]

Made it down to 20° here this morning. Still below freezing at this hour.

[Tom]

Here are some pics from last night near Land O'Lakes, WI. A friend of mine went up there for the weekend.

[Geos]

Yeah if you go an look at Weatherbo's pictures on AMWX, that area isn't close to blooming out into spring yet. There's been some areas that have received 40" of snow this month up there!

[Geos]

The warm 8-14 day CPC map above looks nice, but recent runs of the GFS and Euro suggest the opposite, with another stretch of cool weather settling into the northern US.  Let's hope not.

 

Yes, let's hope not.

I haven't been able to continue any projects this month because the weather has been too unsettled and cold.

 

Hopefully the next weekend is warm, after that it looks like an easterly flow. So that will mean more highs in the 40s here.

 

Edit: Just went outside and tried to spread out a pile of dirt, but the top couple inches is frozen solid. This has to be the craziest first 9 days to April I've ever seen.

 

Lake temperatures have flat lined for the last 3 weeks.

 

[Geos]

High of only 32° here today - with sun! If it would have clouded up it probably would have stayed in the 20s. -21° from normal. 

 

I'm just above last seasons snowfall now. 105% of normal.

[westMJim]

Here in Grand Rapids we set both a new record snow fall and snow depth record for April 8^th

 

RECORD EVENT REPORT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS, MI

0127 AM EDT SAT APR 09 2016

 

...RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM SNOWFALL SET AT GRAND RAPIDS MI...

 

A RECORD SNOWFALL OF 5.4 INCHES WAS SET AT GRAND RAPIDS MI

YESTERDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 4.3 SET IN 1938

And

RECORD EVENT REPORT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS, MI

813 AM EDT SAT APR 09 2016

 

...RECORD DAILY SNOW DEPTH SET AT GRAND RAPIDS MI...

 

A RECORD SNOW DEPTH OF 5 INCHES WAS SET AT GRAND RAPIDS MI

TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 4 INCHES SET IN 1982.

Also of note the local minor league baseball team played their game yesterday as the grounds crew did a great job of clearing the snow off the field and the sun and salt helped clear off part of the stands. (the 3^rd base side was cleared by the sun the 1^st base side was still snow covered at game time but melted as the game went on) and with reported temp of 35° it was reported as the second coldest home opener here in Grand Rapids. Right now I am at home waiting for today’s game to be called as I am getting light snow and sleet here at my house and the temp is 29° so my guess is I will not be working the game today. 

[Niko]

Still waiting for Spring. I think the pattern breaks finally starting next week. Hello 50s and 60s with sunshine all week, Thats gonna feel really nice and especially for my house projects. I need this soil to dry up.

[hlcater]

that minor league game kinda sounds like the Iowa home game back this november where we got 9" of snow overnight and the ground crew had to keep clearing it off. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmFd_xQAtQw

[Geos]

Another crappy rainy day here. Had 0.1" of snow and sleet earlier today.

 

EURO is nothing but easterly or northeasterly flow here. No good