Good Monday bloggers,
This has been one heck of a warming trend. It was -5° Friday morning and around 40° this Monday morning. The warming trend is going to continue today and Tuesday, and it will take a step up as the one limiting factor has vanished. The limiting factor was extensive snow cover.
Look at how the snow cover has vanished since Friday.
FRIDAY:
High: 24°
SATURDAY:
High: 39°
SUNDAY:
High: 56°
Now that the snow cover is pretty much gone, temperatures will be able to warm even more.
The average temperature for February through Saturday was 23.6°. If February ended Saturday it would be the 9th coldest February since records began in 1889.
Then, if February ended on Sunday the average temperature would be 24.3° which would be the 10th coldest February since records began in 1889. Now, February does not end until Friday night at midnight. It will be interesting to see what February ranks temperature wise after this 180 in the weather.
Now let's look at the last week of February and the first 10 days of March.
MONDAY:
High: 62° Wind: W-SW 10-15 mph
TUESDAY:
High: 64° Wind: S 5-15 mph
WEDNESDAY:
The warming trend will end as we track the one main system this week. It is not a strong storm system, but will bring clouds and perhaps scattered rain showers. Some data has .05"-.25" of rain. If we can get that, it will wash the salt & chemicals off the roads. Highs will be in the mid to possibly upper 50s with a northwest breeze at 10-20 mph. The sun may pop out before it sets.
THURSDAY:
The sun returns and a 2nd warming trend begins. Highs will reach the upper 50s to maybe low 60s. The wind will be northwest at 10-20 mph.
FRIDAY:
We will make a run at 70°. If the trough in brown is slower, we will almost certainly reach 70° or higher. If it moves through like is shown on the map, we may still reach 70° as the cold front is in northern Iowa.
MARCH 1-10:
There are two systems to track. The first system is timed for later Sunday into Monday. It is a small system that could bring .10"-1" of rain to Kansas and Missouri and points south.
The second system is timed for Tuesday and Wednesday and is a bigger storm. It will have heavy rain and wet snow on the north side to rain and thunderstorms on the south side. Some thunderstorms could be strong to severe.
On this data, our area is on the thunderstorm side. But, the track is still up in the air. It could track much farther south putting us in the heavy rain with a chance of wet snow at the end side. It is 7-9 days away and we will be following this through the week.
Have a great week ahead.
Stay healthy
