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Thank you for stopping by the Weather Watch 12 blog! Yesterday we did an in depth blog on earthquakes and the fault lines that run through Haiti. If you would like to check out that blog just scroll down and you will find it below this entry.
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Now onto the weather heading into Friday. As expected our highs made it well into the 30s across the region on Thursday. This did melt some of the snow, and with a lot of low level moisture from this snow melt, clouds were the result and covered Southeast Wisconsin. A weak front will push into the region tonight and likely produce some very light precipitation. The map below is from the 12Z NAM(North American Model), and is for 6am Friday. This indicates the possibility of some very light drizzle, freezing drizzle, or flurries. Again, this looks to be very light and at this point it doesn’t look anything that should produce icy roads. Maybe some slippery spots on driveways, sidewalks, etc.
As the weak front drops south of our region, winds will turn to the northwest to west on Friday. There isn’t much cold air behind the front, so temperatures may only retreat a few degrees on Friday. This means highs in the 30s will still be around through the weekend! I think a few spots may even hit 40 on Saturday!
If you are looking for a bigger or wetter storm, I still am very confident that our weather pattern will become more active for Southeast Wisconsin around the 22-26 of this month. This was the timeframe that I highlighted for our winter forecast of the wettest storm to hit Milwaukee with anything from rain to sleet to snow. More on that in the coming days!
The last subject I want to touch on briefly is wind power. When I was driving back to visit family on January 1 of this year I took this picture while traveling along I-90 in southern Minnesota around Albert Lea. I use to travel through this part of the state often, but not since I moved to Kansas City over 3 years ago. It was amazing to see wind turbines as far as the eye can see in many areas. Growing up in southwest Minnesota I can vividly remember the winds that would howl pretty much year round. So this seems like, and is, a great place for wind power.
Both Minnesota and Wisconsin continue to expand the use of wind power. But as more farms are developed there have been some challenges to overcome along the way. Any energy source will have pros and cons, but I had not read anything quite like the article that was recently in the Star Tribune. The article takes a few minutes to read, but I think you will find it interesting.
Here is the link to the Star Tribune wind power story:
http://www.startribune.com/local/81195972.html?elr=KArks:DCiUUUHDYaGEP7eyckcUX
What do you think? If you have an opinion on this article, or have a question or thoughts on our current or future weather please leave it in our interactive comments section!
Jeremy Nelson
WeatherWatch 12 
Jeremy,
Good job! The LLTI may go into affect next week. Vegas on Wednesday.
Gary
As long as you are back around the 24th you should be fine. That storm is right on schedule!
Jeremy
Um…Jeremy – don’t look now..but look whats coming…
The MJO is progged to be somewhere between Phase 6 and 8 in the next week to ten days or so.
It seems the NAO is lagging just a hair behind the AO, thus we may enjoy some east coast higher heights [mild blocking] as the cold air begins to build up again in Canada. Might give us some central troughing in about ten days.
The PNA is beginning to drop, but rises at the end of the models in that same timeframe. Likely ridging forming behind in the West from a strong central trough.
All this without looking at the pattern, but it seems to match what we are expecting.
If you go with the AO progs, it seems the last week of the month could be very cool. If you go with the pattern analysis, this is also consistent.
I wonder how this will go for those forecasting warmer than normal temps through the Plains/Midwest through the end of the month?
The models have hinted at colder air for the end of the month…but I think they are a little off. February should bring more cold and storms…kind of like December;)
Jeremy
I could see the cold air building in the last week of January, but unleashed more into Feb.
Fascinating comparison:
February should be a lot more like December…so the cold would certainly fit there. That storm on the 24thish looks wet! Last time through Milwaukee that produced over 1″ of rain.
Jeremy
Can’t wait!! We love the Cold dwn here in KC!! No More Melting, We hate melting!!!!!! We want More Snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We’ll send our snowpiles down your way Andrew:)
Jeremy