CAN I HAVE A SUNBEAM PLEASE?....
Try as it might, the sun has not been able to shake the clouds over much of the Midwest the past week. Here in Cedar Rapids we've had just 1 hour of partial clearing since noon of last Friday. That's pathetic but who's counting?
The fight for sunbeams will continue today as the remnants of our big spring storm slowly work their way east. Parts of my area could see some late day breaks but in general it looks to be another cloudy cool day.
Saturday appears to be the best day of catching some rays as a weak high drifts across the Midwest. The EURO sees enough sunshine to pop highs into the mid to upper 50s.
That will be a welcome change following the rain driven 40s of the past 2 days. And while we're on the topic of rain here's the 24 hour rain totals through Thursday morning. Some places have added on quite a bit since then, especially east of the Mississippi.
Here's a closer look at reports around much of my local area. Just north of the Quad Cities in Park View (Scott Co.) a healthy 1.65" was measured
Throw in the rain of the past 7 days and you get this for weekly rainfall totals.
So while we'll get a break from the wet weather Friday and Saturday it will be short lived. I see 2 more systems over the central Midwest in the coming week. The first arrives Sunday and quickly departs. The next one is fast on its heels Tuesday and Wednesday. It's a bit early to get overly fine with the rain numbers but once again the heartland is in the "heart" of the potential action. The GFS has this for rain through next Thursday.
The EURO has this for the same period.
If you are looking for that big surge of warmth that will send us into the 70s and finally bury winter, some sad news in the form of the EURO 500mb ensemble control. Here it is April 14th.
That is not the upper air pattern you want to see if you're looking for warm weather. You can see why in the 10-15 day temperature departures (April 9-14th). Plenty of cool air gripping the Midwest.
April 14th looks especially bad if the EURO is catching the trends. Temps at 5,000 feet are running 20 below centigrade. Convert that to Fahrenheit and you're talking readings about 30 below normal!
Well, sooner or later warm spring weather will come. But with the chances for one last snow dwindling by the day, it can't come soon enough for me! Roll weather and have an awesome weekend. Roll weather...TS
