This is the time of year that the Old Farmer’s Almanac comes out with their winter forecast. Someone shared their forecast with me earlier this week. It was an odd forecast mentioning the words numb and shoveling. A forecast like that can’t be wrong, as the northern plains gets snow and cold weather every year. … Read more Old Winters
Category: General
Upgraded Stations
The North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network, usually referenced as NDAWN upgraded three stations in the past couple of weeks. These stations are near Oakes, Robinson and Hazen North Dakota. The upgrades to these stations include soil moisture data, something that has become more important during this dry summer. Plus, those stations will have snow depth… Read more Upgraded Stations
Cloud Appreciation
I am often sent pictures of clouds and asked for an identification. Recently when I sent back a note saying it was a Cumulus congestus cloud, a response came back as to why cloud names are so technical. Cloud names like many things in science, are Latin based. Latin, not being in wide use anymore,… Read more Cloud Appreciation
Smoke Continues
The smoke issues in North Dakota continue. In this blog in the past I had mentioned that the worst days tend to be the ones when our smoke is coming from the fires in Manitoba or Ontario, which was true. But now, several fires have started in Saskatchewan. Because that province is a bit farther… Read more Smoke Continues
The Dog Days
We are currently in what many people call the dog days of summer. There are many definitions to this term but in a modern time most often this phrase is used for the hottest 40 days of the summer based on average temperatures. For most areas that would be from Independence Day through almost mid-August. … Read more The Dog Days
Radar App
If you live in western North Dakota you are very well aware of the fact that the National Weather Service radars do not serve the western one-quarter of the state as well as other areas. Fortunately, non-National Weather radars do help fill those gaps. The Stanley and Bowman radars have been run for several years… Read more Radar App
New Cameras
Last week the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network, usually referenced as NDAWN, upgraded three stations in southwestern North Dakota. The Carson, Hettinger and Mott stations were transformed from tripod to towers. With this upgrade these stations now how all-season rain gauges, allowing for measurement of water in snow this winter. Plus, these sites now have… Read more New Cameras
Camera Views
NDAWN, the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network, has cameras on 58 weather stations through North Dakota and the Red River Valley in Minnesota. These cameras give a look at the current weather conditions, but also are used to see road conditions and crop progress across the state. In addition, in the past 3 weeks, these… Read more Camera Views
Uneven
Rain as we all know doesn’t fall evenly across the landscape. 1-inch difference in very short distances is very common. A few years ago, I had over 3” of rain fall in my backyard, my neighborhood streets were flooded, yet someone I know just a few blocks away ended up with just 1/4″. The same… Read more Uneven
Summer 2021
Summer is finally here! Today is the first day of meteorological summer, and all forecasts you may have heard for summer begin today and run through August 31. Summer is also the longest season of the year tied with Spring. Summer and Spring are 92 days long, autumn is 91 days and winter is only… Read more Summer 2021