Weather

After our above-normal temperatures and little moisture weather pattern for most of the month of November, we have seen a big change in our weather pattern. Of course, last Wednesday we saw our first (or second) snow of the season for parts of the region. Other areas did see some snow in late October, but…

This week is Winter Hazardous Weather Awareness Week in Minnesota. This is a week to prepare for the upcoming severe winter weather season. The idea is to get everyone ready with their vehicles, homes, and self to avoid a potentially life-threatening situation such as a car stuck during a winter storm. This was good timing…

The U.S. Drought Monitor released their latest report late last week, and it shows that central, west central, and northern -Minnesota were all in a moderate to severe drought situation. Things did improve slightly over last week due to some recent precipitation in central and parts of southern Minnesota.   We still have a long…

I am sure that many of you are still trying to adjust to the early sunset after we returned to Standard Time last weekend. Of course, we turned the clocks back last Sunday morning, and now our sunset is before 5 p.m. This is always hard to take as many of you work until 5…

In November, the bright winter constellations that have been lighting up the morning sky begin climbing over the eastern horizon during the evening hours. By mid-month all will be up by 1 a.m. Traveling with these stars are brilliant Jupiter, shining above the hourglass form of Orion, the hunter; and rapidly brightening Mars, bringing up…

What a week we have had already, and the week isn’t over. We had record- and near record-high temperatures Monday into Tuesday. Much of the area had highs Monday in the low-to mid-70s, but some spots in southern Minnesota had highs approaching 80 degrees by Tuesday.  The warmer air Tuesday was out ahead of a…

The weather has been incredible to start this week. On Sunday, temperatures were in the 70s and 80s with lots of sunshine and light winds across the state. Minneapolis came close to a record as it hit 81 degrees at 4 p.m. Sunday. The record is 83 degrees, set in 1953. Meanwhile, St. Cloud rose…

We had our first widespread freezing temperatures of the season Sunday night into Monday morning across the region. We followed that up with another round of freezing temps Monday night into Tuesday morning. As my wife, Tracey said, “We went from summer to winter” almost overnight.” I know many of you thought the same thing…

October skies offer some of the best star-watching, given their dark and often clear nights. In the morning sky, Mars is gradually brightening as Earth gains on it in the orbital race. During October the red planet passes below the Gemini twin stars Pollux and Castor, heading toward the constellation Cancer, the crab.  Saturn shines…

Some locations in Minnesota have seen their first frost of the season late last week, and again Sunday night into Monday morning. It sure has been a wild year for our weather both locally and across the U.S. We are dealing with a drought for the second time this year after record rainfall sandwiched in-between.…