The warm temperatures this month could be attributed to the lack of snow cover, but even if the month started with a noticeable snowpack, the temperatures would still have been above normal, just not as warm. A typical five-to-ten-inch snowpack usually takes about ten days to melt, this year we only had a few inches… Read more Pattern and Snow
Tag: snow cover
Open Winters
I have often in this blog mentioned that most people have very short weather memories. The lack of snow on the ground this year has brought many inquiries about the last time this occurred, or in several instances, people told me that this has never happened in their area. Similar conditions have occurred in 2017,… Read more Open Winters
Southern Snow
There was a significant blizzard to our south on Sunday into Sunday night. The storm stretch from Kansas and Nebraska through southern Iowa to Chicago. Certainly not all areas, but double digit snow totals occurred with the storm as well as wind gusts over 50 miles per hour with even a few locations recorded gusts… Read more Southern Snow
Exposed Heat
Genuinely “spring-like” days usually do not happen until the snow is mostly melted off the fields because that is when the black topsoil in much of the region can absorb large amounts of sunlight and convectively heat the air which has been the case in some parts of the area this week. The highest temperature… Read more Exposed Heat
Plenty of Snow
There are definitely a few exceptions, but overall, most of North Dakota now has at least 4” or more snow cover. Some parts of central North Dakota that had significant snows from both of the major storms in the past couple of weeks have 18 inches or more snow on the ground. Snow cover plays… Read more Plenty of Snow