:: Return of the Journal (Autumnal Review)
The Lakeville Weather Journal took a hiatus, as you might of noticed, over the last few months...but so did any notable weather for Lakeville over the same time period. Kinda. What has been extremely notable *has been* the weather...we are in an autumnal drought, and have experienced higher than normal daytime temps for the last 15 days. Here are some highlights from the last few months:
High Temp November 8th: 77°F
High Temp so far December: 50°F (Dec 14th)
Coldest Temp last 45 days: -2°F (Dec 7th)
The average temp so far in December is 26°F, however, showing that at least nighttime temps have been plunging below freezing. Most dominant in the abnormalities of the regional climate for the season has been the lack of precipitation. With the warm and dry autumn, trees and plants have suffered - abscission occured on a near-normal timeframe in our region, will the full extent of dormancy for the trees, plants, occurring no sooner than mid-November. With the leaves off, and the temps remaining mainly above freezing, the lack of precip caused horticulturists to admonish people to water trees and lawns in November.
November came and went with only a trace of precip. December has seen a .13" rainfall, but no accululating snow. In fact, no snow whatsoever. Some mixed flakes have been reported in the form of flash-flurries that moved through with some low stratus on a couple Alberta Clippers that rushed the area early in the month. December, in fact, did start out with temps below normal, with a major shift in the Polar jet - ushering a large mass of cP that had been densifying in coldness over the Northwest Territories in late November. The cP moved in and almost set up a rex-blocking scheme that would have placed MN in the big chill for more than two weeks. Instead, steady implulses over the jet in the form of Alberta clippers, and a large impluse that evolved from a dissipating Asian typhoon moved the cP east and north off the CONUS.
Now, mid-December, the region has remained in the doldrums of a zonal pattern for the last week or so, bringing mild daytime temps and cold nights. If the region had any snowpack, a typical feature for this time of the year, temps would be normalized during the daytime hours even with the zonal jet riding the MN/IA border. There is a major shift through a complex split of the polar jet - again 'rare' for the season, but it could spell a return to somewhat "normal" climate for the region from Christmas into the New Year. The next post will detail the first looks at this system, as the models have it set up...