Record snow!

We had some nice spring weather this week in Southeastern Minnesota. On Tuesday, the temperature got up to 27°C (80°F) and we had our apartment windows open in the evening.

Then on Wednesday, the temperature dropped precipitously, and we awoke on Thursday to this:

That picture was taken in the morning. The snow came down most of the day, piling up to 3.5 inches (89 mm).

But we didn’t get it as bad as Rochester, which is about an hour west of here. As the National Weather Service points out, Rochester didn’t break the snow record for May 2nd yesterday, they got more snow yesterday than all other days in May combined since record-keeping began in 1886. Here is the public information statement released by the La Crosse office of the NWS last night:

000

NOUS43 KARX 030107

PNSARX

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI

807 PM CDT THU MAY 2 2013

…UNPRECEDENTED SNOWFALL FOR ROCHESTER MINNESOTA…

WHAT A STORM FOR THE RECORD BOOKS. THE INFORMATION BELOW SHOWCASES HOW THIS SNOWSTORM RANKS FROM A MAY PERSPECTIVE…AND ALSO THE ENTIRE CALENDAR YEAR.

THE 13.9 INCHES…THROUGH 730 PM…BREAKS THE FOLLOWING RECORDS…

…DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR MAY 2ND / 0.7 INCHES IN 1954 /

…DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR MONTH OF MAY / 1.2 INCHES MAY 5 1944/

…MAY MONTHLY SNOWFALL TOTAL / 2.0 INCHES MAY 1944 /

IT CURRENTLY RANKS AS SIXTH GREATEST ALL-TIME DAILY SNOWFALL. THIS WILL LIKELY RISE ONCE THE OFFICIAL SNOW TOTAL IS REPORTED.

ALL-TIME 1-DAY SNOWFALL RECORDS
             ROCHESTER MINNESOTA
                 1886-2013

   RANK          SNOWFALL         YEAR
   ----       -------------      -------
     1         19.8 INCHES      3/18/2005
     2         15.4 INCHES      1/22/1982
     3         15.0 INCHES     12/11/2010
     4         14.0 INCHES      3/30/1934
                                4/20/1893
     6         13.9 INCHES      5/02/2013
     7         13.5 INCHES      2/27/1893
     8         13.0 INCHES      4/26/1988
     9         12.0 INCHES     11/30/1934

OTHER RECORDS BROKEN TODAY INCLUDE…

THE LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR MAY 2ND…33 DEGREES. THIS ALSO MAKES IT THE LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR ANY DAY IN THE MONTH OF MAY. THE PREVIOUS LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE IN MAY WAS 36 DEGREES…ON MAY 1ST 1940.

TO PUT THIS SNOWSTORM IN ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE…TODAYS SNOWFALL IN ROCHESTER SHATTERS THE COMBINED TOTAL FOR ALL PREVIOUS MAY MEASURABLE SNOW EVENTS. SINCE 1886…THERE WERE 10 MEASURABLE MAY EVENTS…FOR A TOTAL OF 4.3 INCHES. TODAYS SNOWFALL IS OVER 3 TIMES THAT.

FURTHER CLIMATE AND RECORD INFORMATION WILL BE ADDED ONCE TOTALS ARE CONFIRMED AND THE SNOW ENDS.

$$

ZT