:: Winter Finally Ends? Spring Finally Begins?
This winter has been a hard one. Mother Nature has been relentless in every way across the US, and here in Minnesota - and Lakeville in particular - we have not been excluded from extreme cold, heavy snow, or cooler-than-normal temps post-vernal equinox. By now we should be hitting our normal highs with regularity. The days are longer, and the sun's energy becoming more intensely directed upon the northland. However, we just had ice-out on Lake Marion last weekend!
Snow-wise, I am officially tallying up our snowfall measurments at lakevilleweather.com for the 2007-2008 winter season. We received a total of 48.50" of snow, split about evenly between 2007 and 2008 "halves" of the season. This is more than last season's tally of 30.75", but only slightly less than the regional average of 52". Not too shabby. On a side-note, all of lakevilleweather.com's snowfall measurements were ingested by the Citizens Weather Observation Program system, and we reported regularly to the National Weather Service office in Chanhassen (NWS-MPX) our real-time measurements during major snow events. It is very possible that when you saw a snowfall reading on the evening news for Lakeville, it came from us!!
Cold-wise, we set a new windchill record this season of -38.2, which occurred during daylight hours on February 10, 2008. Temperatures averaged below 40 in March, which was below normal. It was a cold winter, for certain!
Now we face a possibly tumultuous spring with sharp contrasts between cold polar air and warm tropical air clashing directly overhead. Such a scenario could occur today into Friday as a surge of warm and moist air from the south and west today is met by a pool of cool air from Canada. Thunderstorms will develop as the resultant low pressure circulation develops over the mid-plains in response. The first round should focus on western and southern MN, and as the entire synoptic mid- and upper-level storm rolls off the Rockies overnight and across the southern half of the upper midwest Thurs-Friday, heavy thunderstorms will develop over MN again Thursday afternoon and evening, and then rain shower activity will linger through Friday.
The contrast from our pre-system high temp today of 75 degrees and the post-system lows nearing 35 will be dramatic. Some models do not rule out a wet snowflake for parts of the state Friday! Spring finally begins???
Also, on a final note, more journal entries are in store for lakevilleweather.com as we head into the spring...we enjoy doing our prognostics for you!