Early Spring 101

This past week was a great lesson for those who are unfamiliar with Spring in this region. It featured our first thunderstorms since last August and our second snow of the Spring season here at OSNW3. The thunderstorms had heavy downpours embedded in them that brought minor street/field flooding. Over an inch and a half of rain was recorded for the 24hr period ending Apr 7. The snow, which accumulated over three inches, provided a peaceful winter scene for a half of day before it melted off. With the warmth of March and the beginning of April thus far, I foresee cool times ahead during the month of May. In the nearer future though, forecasts call for seasonable weather with a couple Summer like days squashed between it all.

(OSNW3 Weather Brief)
(OSNW3 April Observations)

(OSNW3 April 2010 Summary)

(click on graph for the month summary data - it will open a new tab/window)

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Weekly Snowfall
We had two consecutive days with measurable snow at OSNW3 this past week. The snow started late on Apr 7 and lasted throughout the night into the following morning before tapering off to light snow, flurries, then graupel early evening on Apr 8. The OSNW3 webcam caught all the action from beginning to end. The time-lapse is 2 minutes and 30 seconds long, 17MB in size. To watch it, click here. I recommend it.

(Apr 8, 2010 - 2.5")


(Apr 8, 2010 - 1.3" - Total 3.8")


This snowfall provided some significance as it moved April of 2010 up to 17th all-time snowiest Aprils in Oshkosh at OSNW3. I created a listing of each month with a graph for comparison between the 16 higher ranked Aprils to go along with this stat. Some quality conclusions can be made with a quick study.

- Snowiest Aprils; Ranked
- Snowiest Aprils; Compared

Other 2-Day snowfall totals from around the county are below. It's evident that the day time melting of the snow proved too much for some of the other stations around Oshkosh as they recorded a snow less second day.

Day1 + Day2 / Tot / Station
2.0 + 0.0 / 2.0 / Official NWS - WWTP
3.0 + 0.0 / 3.0 / CoCoRaHS WI-WN-2
2.0 + 0.0 / 2.0 / CoCoRaHS WI-WN-5
4.0 + 1.0 / 5.0 / CoCoRaHS WI-WN-7
2.5 + 1.3 / 3.8 / OSNW3, WI-WN-4

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The Second Week of April
Last April around this time, the seasonally active second week of April, was in the spot light. This year makes it 3 out of 4 since 2007 that have been active in our region and that I've been able to visually document. Text from last year is below along with the addition of this years radar loop.

Nathan brought up the famed "April 10th storm" from last year and instantly I wanted to see the radar. Sure enough. Impressive radar returns with 2008 and even 2007. Seems we here in the North have been spared in 2009, but places to our south have not. The second week of April is truly an active part of the year, well at least during 2007-2009. (click images for radar loop)

(Radar from Apr 11, 2007)


(Radar from Apr 9-13, 2008) the famed "April 10th storm"


(Radar from Apr 9-12, 2009)


(Radar from Apr 6-9, 2010)


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Front Of House
All the trees around the property are budding. The time lapse photo albums of the FOH and webcam are updated. To view them, click here.

(FOH - Apr 11, 2010)