Record high?

According to the weather station at the Blaine Airport our highest hourly temp was 46F. Looking at the almanac on MyCast that I have on my phone 46 is the record high for today which was set in 1995 so we might have a tie today if the 46 that was reported is actually counted. Noone really expected it to get this warm today, the NWS saying that highs would be around 35 with clouds and patchy light freezing drizzle in the morning. I was up at 9:00 to get ready for work and it was clear out by that time so I'm guessing the clouds/drizzle that was expected cleared out much faster than expected which allowed the sun to be out longer and thus warm temps more than anticipated. It felt awesome out there today, on my way to get some lunch I drove with my window down. After the cold January we had I think we deserved a day like today. Unforunately it wont last as tomorrow it supposed to be cloudy and breezy with highs around 30 and colder on Mon/Tues with highs only around 15. Still no storms in the near future so it should stay pretty quiet thru atleast the first week of February.

I was looking at the surface obs in areas under a Red Flag Warning down in Kansas and the air down there is unbelievably dry. I think I was at the surface obs for Goodland, KS and they had an air temp of 70 with a dewpoint of -6 creating a relative humidity of 4%. :o

What is that?

Oh, its snow, something we havent seen in a long time here in Minnesota. I'm not sure on exact measurements, but January has been very dry this year in my memory. We picked up a quick half inch here, enough to allow me to play with the hand brake in the empty part of the Cub Foods parking lot after picking up a couple boxed dinners (the same dinner I nearly upchucked myself after seeing the weird Yankton TOR video Bill posted from 5/5/07). Streets aren't bad, I'm sure the highways aren't bad, snow has ended, just a quick dusting to remind us that Minnesota Januaries arent always about extreme cold. But, other than this I dont see much more snow for a while, certainly nothing big (or even any clipper systems) through the beginning of February. A nice brief thaw this weekend with highs maybe getting to 32, otherwise still very boring. Not much else to say except that I took some pics for my photo class and we are developing the film this week. I will probably just bring the film in to Proex or something and have them make prints of the negatives, it will take way to long to get the pics on here if I wait until after I enlarge them myself. But I should have a couple cool ones (I hope) but we will see.

Small warm up?

Still very boring weather and I dont have much to say. I just thought I would mention that temps here in central Minnesota should rebound back in to the 20's to near 30 over the weekend which will be very welcome after the recent cold snap. Although temps weren't nearly as bad for this recent arctic air plunge, it was still colder than most people wanted. But now it looks like temps should stay around average for a while. No big storms in the near future, hardly any snow at all actually. The most exciting thing right now is that January is almost over which is historically the coldest month here in Minnesota, so I am definately glad it is ending. Also, I am actually starting to notice a change in daylight a small bit, only a few months till chase season will be really starting here in the upper midwest. Like I said, not much to say, most of this post really isnt anything important but I havent updated in a few days.
On a more interesting note, my chase vid is almost done. I realize I have been saying this for a while but I should be done with it by Saturday at the latest. Email me for a copy:
midwestchaser@yahoo.com

Boring Weather

The weather has been extremely boring here in Minnesota for the last week or so. About the only interesting thing about the weather right now is the arctic air that is again sitting over us. But atleast it looks like a minor warm up back to the mid 20's by midweek. Taking a quick look at the GFS I dont see much of anything happening storm wise in to the first couple days of February, atleast certainly not for the rest of January. I'm getting sick of winter already, the small warm up we had last week really changed my mindset from winter mode to thinking about spring.

Anyway, I'm glad to see that Metro Skywarn has posted the dates for their spotter classes. I will most likely be attending the March 14th one in Blaine, as that one is usually one a lot of the chasers from the area go to. Anyone else planning on going to that one? One bad thing I just realized yesterday is that I might not be able to make it to the 2009 Minnesota Skywarn Workshop. We are going to have a wedding at work that Saturday and it would be a pretty tough day for me to try to get out of. We will see, I definately want to make it but I'm not 100% right now

Lastly, I made some major progress on Mother Nature: Rage & Grace. At this point, its mostly just offseason pics I need to put in, and I have already started getting them in there so it should be done some time this week.

Basketball team forfeits a win?!?

Sorry for staying off-topic but I had to post this. I was monkeying around on Yahoo when I saw this article. Here is a little preview for an idea of what I'm talking about:

DALLAS -- A Texas high school girls basketball team on the winning end of a 100-0 game has a case of blowout remorse.
Now officials from The Covenant School say they are trying to do the right thing by seeking a forfeit and apologizing for the margin of victory.

Now, I admit 100-0 is bit over the top, but come on, thats the way sports are! I cant believe people are making such a big deal out of this. Ok, the losing team only had 20 girls, but that's why you dont play against one of the best teams in the state! They haven't won a game in four seasons, isnt that maybe a sign that they should join a different conference, one that they can actually compete in?!? Instead of making the players from the winning team feel like crap, why dont they make the A.D. of the losing team feel like crap for letting it happen if this is such a big deal to the parents? Players should not regret a win, EVER, no matter what the score is. A win is a win, and they should never feel like they they played too well. This is just another example of how so many parents now want everyone to be equal and let everybody win. This isnt the way sports are, sometimes you're gonna get creamed, thats the way it is. I can remember plenty of times I was on a team and got killed. Heck, I was on a church basketball team and we lost 114-14 to another church, and NOONE complained, and we were much younger than the players in the article. We didnt cry, we didnt sulk around, our parents weren't compaining. It just amazes me how soft some people are. Did the winning team run up the score? Yea, probably (but for all we know they had their subs in and still got to 100), and I dont like running up the score, but is it enough of a reason to make them forfeit the game? In my opinion, not at all. The losing team obviously should not have even been playing this game, and that is the fault of whoever runs the basketball league for the state of Texas, dont take a win away from the players because some idiot scheduled a huge mismatch.

And oh yea, more arctic air saturday thru monday.........

Update on my chase vid.

Not that my vid. is a huge production but I thought I would let everyone know I have gotten some major work done. The dates that I have the most pics for are pretty much done and the little bit of video I have is getting worked on as we speak. After this its pretty much just finishing up the last few chases of 2008 and then the off season pics (which should take a while but if I actually work on it it shouldnt be too bad). I'm shooting for it to be done by January 30th. Sorry its taken so long, my time management for this project hasnt been great. Again, if you havent told me yet and you want a copy, leave a comment or drop me a line.
midwestchaser@yahoo.com

Reunited and it feels so good

Ok, so the title is extremely cliche and I feel sort of queer for saying it but its true. I was finally reunited tonight with my film SLR camera. I let my friend borrow it for a photo class last year and didnt get it back til after work today. I need it for a photo class at ARCC. It should be mostly stuff I already know but when you only need 3 more credits to be full time and nothing else works in your schedule you will take what you can get. The camera body is a Nikon N65 with a 28-80 mm Nik(k?)or lense. Its old school and I desperately need to upgrade to a DSLR but there are other things I need for chasing first. There are some things I have been wanting to try out but the Canon Powershot I usually use doesnt have the aperature settings I need. I'll be posting some of the pics I take and I should be able to get some good ones, although all the ones for class will be black and white. Time to start lining the fridge with film. I wonder how long its been since most of you have had to do that?!?

On a different note: I know I'll get a few rotten fruit thrown at me for saying this but I skipped my meteorology class today to watch the inauguration. I never thought I would be so intrigued by this kind of event but this was so much different than any other inauguration so far. His speech was simply awesome...