Northern Lights Thursday Night (January 9th CME)

Thursday 7:45 pm Update:

Here's the latest update from one of the sites I go to for Aurora forecasts...And I noticed when checking it out tonight their site was very slow, thanks to a lot of traffic on the website!  The word is out about The Northern Lights tonight, and while we won't have great views tonight in the Quad Cities thanks to thick cloud cover hopefully we'll see some great pictures from other parts of the world.

Thursday 3pm Update:

The CME that was thought to arrive overnight has is just now being detected near the Earth, so tonight would be a good night for seeing the Northern Lights, if it weren't for the clouds around the Quad Cities.  Regardless, there will be some great pics tonight and I'll try to grab some and share them here on the blog!

Previous Post: Wednesday Night
Tonight offers a great chance for a lot of people to luck out and see the Northern Lights!  2014's first big solar storm is taking place this week and aurora activity should go way up early Thursday morning...and stay up through Friday morning too! 

In the Quad Cities we will have some cloud cover tonight so our chances of seeing the Northern Lights aren't terribly high.  Even with clear skies you really have to luck out to catch Mother Nature's beautiful display.  But, especially for areas North of the Quad Cities, it's worth a look if you happen to be outside on yet another cold January night.  Just look to the North and look for something special in the sky!


A couple different aurora forecasts...

Notice the high likelihood of seeing some Northern Lights in Canada, and the green line South of the Quad Cities showing the possibility as far South as Central/Southern Illinois. 

 And here's a link to this forecast, which should change throughout the night... Click Here


Here's a great link with more info: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/index.html

Quad Cities Deals

Everybody loves a good deal, right?  We've got plenty of them coming up at CBS4 over the next few months!  Each Wednesday morning we'll start a new deal of the week in our new feature "Quad Cities Deals!" 

Anthony will announce the great offers on CBS4 News this Morning each Wednesday...then go to our website to take advantage of some awesome offers!  To start things off this week - Azteca $20 gift cards for just ten bucks!  That's half off of some great food! 

These are deals too good to be true...Almost!
You can go directly to the site by clicking here!

Snow Melt Across the Upper Midwest

A little bit more rain will fall across eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois Wednesday night.  The good news is that only about one-tenth of an inch of rain is expected.  This is already the fourth wettest April on record in the Quad Cities with 7.20".

While many area rivers are still in flood, many of them are dropping upwards to around a foot each day.

Dry weather through this weekend will help the rivers continue to drop.  However, with much warmer weather on the way not only here, but across the upper Midwest and the Plains, the snow will begin melting across the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

As you can see on this snow depth map from yesterday, there's still more than two to three feet of snow on the ground to our north that will start melting and making its way down the Mississippi.

That's something that we'll be watching very closely over the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for checking out the blog and have a great day!

CBS4 meteorologist Anthony Peoples

Spring Flooding Threat

Precipitation (rain and melted snow) in just the first part of 2013 in the Quad Cities is already running about 2.8" above average.

We've already seen some flooding on area lakes, rivers, and streams across the Mississippi and Illinois Valleys earlier this month, but we could be seeing more this spring.

Here is the Spring Flood Risk forecast from NOAA.

Unfortunately, it shows a "moderate" risk of flooding across eastern Iowa and western Illinois.  For the rest of Illinois, there is a "minor" risk.

Much of this forecast will depend on how much rain and snow falls this spring and how fast the snow melts across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas.  There's still roughly 20-39 inches of snow still on the ground to our north.

 And, from this wet precipitation forecast locally for April, May, and June from NOAA, it's not looking good.

Thank you for checking out our blog.  

Meteorologist Anthony Peoples

 

Last Day of Winter

Spring officially arrives in the Quad Cities at 6:02 a.m. CDT Wednesday. 

Unfortunately, this doesn't mean the winter chill will be ending anytime soon.  On Monday, we picked up 0.5" of snow in the Quad Cities pushing our winter total to 30.1", which is a little above average. 

While we'll see plenty of sunshine through the rest of this week, a storm system late in the weekend could bring us the more snow or a wintry mix. 

If we pick up measurable snow this upcoming Sunday (March 24th), how would that stack up with the last measurable snows of the past five winters?

WINTER'S LAST MEASURABLE SNOW

2011-2012     0.9"     March 4, 2012

2010-2011     0.3"     February 26, 2011

2009-2010     2.9"     March 20, 2010

2008-2009     1.1"     April 5, 2009

2007-2008     1.5"     March 27, 2008

The latest measurable snow on record in the Quad Cities fell on May 3, 1935.  Yes, we've had measurable snow in May!

Meteorologist Anthony Peoples

Drought Continues Heading Into April

It may be hard to believe that, even with the heavy rains and snow melt last weekend, that drought conditions still persist across eastern Iowa and northern Illinois.

The latest Drought Monitor report (3/12/2013) shows that eastern Iowa is still suffering from abnormally dry conditions and that parts of northwestern Illinois are still in a "moderate drought".

However, this is much better than just six months ago.  Check out this map from September 11, 2012.

The orange represents a "Severe Drought" and the red signifies an "Extreme Drought".

The drought situation has been helped by the above average rain and snow since December.  Between December 1, 2012, and March 14, 2013, the Quad Cities (the official totals from the Quad City International Airport) have picked up 10.29" of precipitation.  In that time period, 6.51" is average.

Since the ground is still pretty much frozen, most of the excess rain and melted snow is running off into area rivers, which is bringing up the river levels and causing some flooding.  As you recall, the drought caused exceptionally low river levels late last year.

What we really need is for some warmer weather to thaw the ground so the spring rains can soak in and replenish the water levels.

Here's NOAA's forecast for temperatures and precipitation for the March 22-28, 2013, period. 

The bad news is that temperatures are expected to remain below average, so the thawing of the ground will be a slower process.

Thank you for checking out the blog and have a great weekend.

Meteorologist Anthony Peoples