Meteorological summer that is -- it runs June through August during when we typically have our warmest temperatures. The summer solstice will be on June 20th. Regardless it's going to feel like summer this week.

Here's the set up -- a big ridge of high pressure builds i...

Drier air has taken over and it feels pretty nice outside. Now the sun is strong this time of year and it still feels pretty warm but by the numbers it is dry. 

 Dew points (the humidity) Saturday evening were in the 30s and 40s across the Upper Midwest. That is dry air...

I wanted to start on an update about Saturday's tornadoes in Iowa and Illinois. The National Weather Service in the Quad Cities has confirmed five tornadoes. Three EF-1s and two EF-Us (unknown rating, didn't cause enough damage to be rated). You can see more informatio...

Multiple tornadoes touched down in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin on Saturday, 12 reports so far. Here's a view of the tornado warned storm with the tornado visible from the Iowa City area from Ron Allen:

 The cell went on to produce into Cedar and Jones counties. On...

Prior to the last few days, we had been pretty dry in the Upper Midwest... going back to around mid March. Here's a look at the precipitation totals for April... there really wasn't much.

 Prior to May 12th, most of my local area had just picked up about a half an inch...

We're finally getting back into the swing of things around here. The first half of May (especially the last 10-ish days) has been not very spring-like at all. Here's a look at the temperature departures for the last week: 

May has generally been running around 5-9 degre...

UPDATE: Clouds have won out overnight and into Monday morning. Temperatures will still be in the 30s to around 40 degrees Monday morning. There will be another chance for frost Monday night into Tuesday morning. 

 Monday will be yet another chilly day with temperatures...

May 9th and we're setting record cold temperatures because that's what 2020 seems to do. Unseasonably cold air moved in and led to temperatures well below freezing Saturday morning. A very late season freeze and frost for the Upper Midwest (even the east coast got into...

It was hands down a gorgeous weekend in the Upper Midwest. Changes are coming, though, and we'll be locked in a colder pattern for the first half of May. And we begin Monday, unfortunately. Temperatures much cooler compared to Sunday:

 That translates to temperatures ru...

We've been talking about this for a while now and the change arrives soon. We're going to see below normal temperatures for the first two weeks or so of May so enjoy the warmth while it lasts. Here's a look at the Climate Prediction Center outlook for May 10-16:

Now let...