WELL THAT WAS FAST!

Winter made a brief appearance and now we're back to spring-like weather once again! The snowpack did play a role in temperatures, though.

A high in 30 in Mason City where around 8 inches of snow fell to 50 in Kirksville (bare ground). The warm air did have to overcome some snow in southern Iowa, but it didn't take much under full sunshine. Here's two high resolution images. One of the snow Saturday and then look what happened Sunday!

Good-bye snow! Something else pretty remarkable is this, tweeted by the National Weather Service in Chicago:

Pretty. Incredible. Let's move past the snow and go on to the warmth. It's not going to be record breaking, but temperatures will well above normal during the beginning of the week. Here are the high temperatures Monday:

And then Tuesday:

It's not all sunshine and warmth this week. In fact, a cold front will move through the Midwest and will produce a few showers and thunderstorms Tuesday:

It will be cold enough for a little light snow in north Minnesota and Wisconsin. It will be unstable enough to the south for strong and even severe storms. Here's the outlook from the Storm Prediction Center Tuesday afternoon:

The highest risk is down in southern Missouri and much of Arkansas. Here's a look at the CAPE values:

Near 1000 to 1500 for CAPE will lend itself to the potential for strong winds and hail. Behind this system colder air will move into the Midwest. This will be a period of temperature swings and several storms moving through. Here's the next 8 days on the GFS in the upper levels of the atmosphere. Not just dominated by a trough or ridge...

Last but not least, I wanted to mention Bill Paxton who passed away from complications during surgery. He will be remembered in the weather community for his role in Twister, which inspired so many weather enthusiasts, chasers and meteorologists. Here's a cool tidbit from the National Severe Storms Laboratory about the crew of Twister doing research before the film. You can click on the passage for the full article:

RIP Bill Paxton, The Extreme

RK