2012 Spring/Summer/Fall Weather Thread

[hawing]

Because it was 82 degrees in Madison yesterday, March 15.

 

Plus if this video from the Ann Arbor area isn't spring/summer/fall weather enough for you, I don't know what to tell you. (Note: Some of the audio is NSFW)

 

[CheezWizHed]

Does Winter get its own thread because in Wisconsin, Spring/Summer/Fall normally last about 6 months and Winter alone normally lasts about 6 months?

[owbc]

Record high in Madison yesterday, 82 degrees.

 

-The average high is 43 so that is 39 degrees above average.

-Warmest it's ever been this early in the year, going back to 1869.

-This is also the warmest temperature ever recorded in March (tied with March 29th, 1986 and March 31, 1981), as is also (by two weeks) the earliest 80° reading ever measured there.

-The previous record for a temperature so hot this early in the year was 79°F set the previous day, on March 14, 2012.

 

No sign of any significant cooling in the 10-day forecast.

[RobDeer 45]

I blame Al Gore

[owbc]

Milwaukee just broke the March temperature record, as it has now reached 83 degrees today.

[adamb100]

Couldnt ask for a better start to Spring.

[owbc]

I'm going to start posting all my commentary in this thread, we had a nice discussion in the winter thread about the how climate change may be relating to the recent warming. I'll pick that up here since it is officially spring now.

 

I highly recommend the latest blog post by Dr. Jeff Masters which places some context on the heat wave.

 

In particular:

-The southern Lake Michigan surface temperature is similar to what is usually observed in late May/early June.

-Chicago's March is so warm that it would rank as the 7th warmest April.

-The most amazing record of all was from Pellston, MI. Yesterday's high of 84 broke the previous record high by 29 degrees and was 44 degrees above the 30-year average.

-For yesterday in particular, the temperature southern WI was around 4 standard deviations above normal. An individual day like that occurs once every 43 years (using the 1979-2010 mean climate). For parts of lower Michigan, an anomalous day like yesterday may occur as rarely as once every 4,800 years.

-If the last 100 years of data were used instead of 30, yesterday's temperature anomaly would be much more rare statistically. Without global warming, it would be very difficult to explain.

 

Basically, this heat wave is completely unprecedented and is unlikely to be matched again in our lifetimes.

[NeedMoreFans]

Gotta love seeing this from the NWS...

 

SPOTTERS SHOULD GEAR UP AND BE READY FOR ACTIVATION AS SEVERAL

BOUTS OF MORE WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS LOOKING MORE LIKELY ACROSS

SOUTHERN WISCONSIN THIS WEEKEND.

[BradWI]

Crazy afternoon and night today down south. Been keeping up with the chaser streams all day. And it's not over yet. Hopefully tomorrow is nowhere near as bad for us.

[hawing]

The Weather Channel TOR:CON rating for Wisconsin (west/central) today is 6/10, vs. 9/10 in the hot spots Saturday. So it might be less here, hawing said hopefully.

[Baldkin]

Surprised this hasn't been bumped yet today....

 

half-dollar sized hail reported in Watertown. Crazy.

[NeedMoreFans]

I see it's been 2 months since this thread has been commented on. I think we set the record for the driest June in Madison. We had a whopping 0.32 inches of rain.

 

Also, the string of derechos hitting this week has been nuts. The storm that hit DC started west of Chicago and stormed across the country in 12 hours. Crazy.

[AZBrewCrew]

Phoenix weather for the last month until October - Hot.

[hawing]

Also, the string of derechos hitting this week has been nuts. The storm that hit DC started west of Chicago and stormed across the country in 12 hours. Crazy.

Check out this video of the Iowa-to-DC derecho:

 

 

I imagine most everyone's thinking this already, but it's just nutty how the same areas keep getting slammed with storms and rain while other areas get nothing - in Wisconsin alone.

[Baldkin]

I found that it is rather warm outside today.

 

I'm not looking forward to attempting to sleep without A/C tonight.

[fondybrewfan]

Many farmers were happy when FDL got about 1-2 inches or rain in the span of 2 hours last night. They were starting to enter panic mode. This heat wave has been just ridiculous. The central AC I put in last year is the best investment I ever made. I don't have any intention of going outside tomorrow unless it means going to the pool.

 

The only positive of this heat wave and lack of rain is that I don't think I have mowed my lawn in at least 4 weeks.

[owbc]

It will be interesting to see if some locations can get to 110 degrees on Thursday. Right now it is looking like most locations will stay in the 100-105 range but you never know.

 

You guys should be enjoying the hot weather. Go for a swim and get some sun. Soon it will be winter again.

[NeedMoreFans]

The problem is you overheat so quickly, then heat exhaustion kicks in. It's hard to enjoy yourself (unless you're in water) when it is 100+ outside. People are starting to compare this to the 1995 heatwave.

[owbc]

I was only 9 but I remember that 1995 heat wave well. It was far worse than this heat wave.

 

The highest heat index in 1995 was 120 on July 13, 1995, which you get from a temperature of 102 and a dew point of 78.

 

The worst case scenario for this week is a heat index around 105-108, as the dew point is about 10 degrees lower than 1995. So the dry weather is actually helping to prevent this from being worse. Although at a certain point the difference doesn't really matter, it's just hot.

[pitchleague]

is anybody really surprised about this? The nation, overall, was coming off of a very mild winter so you were bound to not be able to enjoy this summer as well.

 

Our monsoon is finally starting up here so clouds (haven't really had a cloudy day since April) and daily rain are finally on the way.

[AZBrewCrew]

The problem is you overheat so quickly, then heat exhaustion kicks in. It's hard to enjoy yourself (unless you're in water) when it is 100+ outside. People are starting to compare this to the 1995 heatwave.

 

The problem is that in a good majority of the country people arent used to extreme heat like this so they dont properly hydrate and take other necessary precautions. Ive found I can easily drink 2 gallons of water (if not more) a day during the summer here in AZ. Even then sometimes it doesnt feel like enough. I vaguely remember the heatwave in 95 (i was in jr high) but that was brutal. We've finally got some rain on the radar here tonight, but the first monsoon storm usually just makes everything muddy and icky out.

[adamb100]

Well Milwaukee cracked 100 degrees.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Lkqz1.jpg

[AZBrewCrew]

So crazy that its 77 and raining here in Phoenix and 100 degrees in Milwaukee,

[brettac1]

The worst part is when it only drops to 80 at night. I don't care much about the daytime temps, but the overnights are the worst.

[owbc]

First 100 since July 14, 1995 at Mitchell. It's also hotter in Milwaukee than Miami today, although it's not exactly cool here.