Days of April

There were a few systems that rolled through this past week, but only one made an impact here at OSNW3. One day with rain and wind proved to be the highlight of the week. Temps for the most part were below average, but by no means cold. We spent a good amount of time outdoors taking walks and such. (OSNW3 April Observations)

(Temp Comparison 2008 / 2009 | April 1 - 5)
Max temp: 46.9 / 45.8 / -1.1
Min temp: 30.9 / 31.9 / +1.0



(April 2009 Precipitation | April 1 - 5)
2009 Monthly Total
Precip.. 0.24"
Snow.... 0.0"
Oshkosh Average
Precip.. 2.87"
Snow.... 1.5"
Departure
Precip.. -2.63"
Snow.... -1.5"



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Waves & Ice Shoves
As the storm system moved through the area on Mar 31, with it came some powerful southeast winds. Enough to stir up the Sheboygan shoreline of Lake Michigan and to push the Lake Winnebago ice onto the shoreline in Oshksoh. In some places almost as high as the houses. Wind gusts (data from Mike Davey) were almost 30mph. (radar loop)

(Lake Michigan - Mar 31, 2009)


(Ice Shoves - Mar 31, 2009)


More photos of the waves and ice shoves can be found here.

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March Snowfall
March ended 2.1" above average for snowfall (Seasonal Snowfall). Snow fell on 4 days, which seems typical for the three years I've been observing and slightly above the Oshkosh average (Days with Measurable Snow).

(OSNW3 Snowfall Comparison - March)


(OSNW3 Snowfall Comparison Through March)


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Broken Record
March of 2009 broke an OSNW3 monthly maximum precipitation record. 1.55" was observed on Mar 25. Minor flooding accompanied this event (Monthly Extremes).

(Precipitation - March)


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Randomness
There was a lot of media talk about the handful of storms that made their way across the continental US the past two weeks. Major snowstorms and tornadoes, top to bottom. I put together the US radar loop of Mar 22 through Apr 2. It's 30MB. Unfortunately I was unable to obtain the rest of Apr 2 and the entire day of Apr 3 as the radar image I d/l to create these loops failed to update during that time missing the entire fourth system moving across the Midwest. No reason to continue after that.

AND, it's always fun to watch the snow depth loop... check it out here. The time at which it loops is adjustable. Replace the "Speed in ms" with any number you like. The previous two seasons are obtainable by clicking here, or by clicking on the dates to the left/right of the page title, on the page.

(Screen Capture - Snowdepth Loop)


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Front Of House
Let the growing begin!

(FOH - Apr 5, 2009)

Comments

  1. NOOOO!! All we had were a couple of snow flakes in the morning and then nothing. That "storm" really diminished.

    By the way, how do you make those graphs?

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  2. Scout, dude! My pal, ese, who lives in GB overheard some people talking last week about how this past storm was to be the "Perfect Storm". HA. Yeah, perfect storm for sunshine! Regarding the graphs, you can thank Bill Gates as I use his software. Microsoft Office Excel 2007.

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  3. Awesome picture of the ice!! I'd hate to be standing there when one came ashore! :o) We had a few really big snowflakes this morning here in Missouri, stuck only for a few minutes. Ugh! I am sooooo ready for summer!!!

    BTW, Excel is one of my all-time favorite programs!

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  4. Wow, that picture of the ice is really neat, that must be over 2 feet in thicknes!

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  5. I've never even heard of ice coming ashore like that until earlier this year. I need to add that to my list of things to see some day.

    Active weather, huh OSNW3? It seems like our April is starting below average, but the temps show a different story. The cold rain/wind has made it miserable lately! We are in for a hard freeze tonight, which is not good for the fruit tree farmers in the area.

    BTW...when is your average last frost date? I believe our last frost usually hits around April 20.

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  6. Great ice shove pics...Also liked the radar loop of the past couple storms that have affected parts of the U.S. Awesome! Looks like a dry week around my area...I'm happy for that, I've seen enuf active weather for a little while-lol. Give me about a week, and I'll be baggn' for more storms!

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  7. Ha! The perfect storm for sunshine! :D Nice....

    Ami, you probably had more snow than I did here in SE Wisconsin. None of the little snow here accumulated. It was with much agony that I had to update the blog about such an awful topic, less snow. :)

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  8. Ami, Thanks! I am sure the ice didn't move all that quick onto shore. I think it would have been much cooler had I been there when it was though. I am thinking that this was our last taste of Winter this season. :)

    D, about a month ago I over heard some guys talking about the lake ice. They were saying that it was 2-3 feet thick. The chunks I was near in that photo were mighty thick!

    WxWatcher, the weather has been nice lately. Seems to wind down here though with not much precip in the forecast. Regarding the last frost, I have not kept track of that, but looking back at my data the past two years Apr 13, 2007 and Apr 15, 2008 were the last freezes. The NOWData from the NWS GRB states, since 1971, Apr 30 is the average last freeze. I've got the data bounty, so I'll go back and put some elbow grease into it.

    Timothy, I am sure you are accustomed to some ice shoves. Thanks for appreciating the photos. I wish Intellicast wouldn't have crapped out on me, I would have liked to have been able to put a complete loop together of all five systems ending today, but... whatever. Yes, I agree, you folk up over there do need a break!

    Scout, it was brisk out there today!

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  9. OSNW3, I answered your question about my rain gauge on my brother's blog, but I'll tell you here too. I signed up with CoCoRaHS about a year ago, but I moved in December and haven't had my gauge up since then. My station is MO-CF-3.

    Chris, our snow lasted a couple of hours and stuck to some leaves and branches and the car, but that was about it. The rest of the ground was too warm for it. Funny that I got more than you did though! :) I'm ready for summer. My bones don't like the cold weather!!

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