A blast of actual winter hit the region this week and many were feeling it! Thursday we had cold temperatures that barely reached above zero and Friday we had a strong clipper system bring some descent snow to parts of the area. I thought it would be a good idea to put the information from both posts into one big wintery cold post!
Front yard view January 20th 2012
First I will discuss the snow. A strong clipper system hit the region today bringing moderate snow accumulations and heavy snow to parts of the area. The system its self was not a huge deal becuase compared to what we normally see but becuase its been so long since we had decent snow it was a sight to see, and for some this was the largest snowfall of the season so far. Some parts in the southern part of the area saw accumulations topping 5 inches! Everyone saw at least an inch of snow from this, but there was a fairly sharp cut off from the heaviest to the lighter amounts to the north. This was a very fast moving system becuase when people went to bed Thursday night skies were clear, and by 3pm Friday, skies were clear again! The snow fell when the temperatures were very cold in the single digits, so it was a fine powdery sand grain type snow. Some Snow lovers and warm weather lovers alike I talked to both agree that it is nice to see a little Minnesota winter in our weather for once, as the area is starting to establish a fairly good snowpack for the 1st time this winter season.
The highest accumulations were right along the Iowa boarder Lanesbro hit 5.50" and Preston had 5.0" It's kind of interesting to me that Rochester had lower amounts even when locations west and east of there got at least 3" but just over 2.0" was the rule there. Amounts were closer to 1-2" in the north.
Thursday was the coldest day of the season so far for the entire area. Lows starting off Thursday morning were well below zero and in the teens below zero for many areas. Under arctic sunshine highs were slow to rise, and when they did they only rose to the single digits. Steam from a Downtown Rochester buliding can be seen very easily in the cold clear day like today was!
The coldest temperature area wide was just west of Rochester with a low of -12.F reported at Byron, The warmest was Winona and inner city Rochester which was -8.F
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