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

Warming Trend Leads To Wintry Mess

We saw another cold start to the day across Iowa and Illinois.  However, the eagles on the Mississippi River don't seem to mind!

In the Quad Cities, the official low temperature was -7°.  That means that six of the eight days this January have been below zero and another one is on tap tonight.

Tomorrow, highs will be in the 20s and 30s are likely Friday into early next week.  A few hometowns may even hit 40° Sunday!

We could see some light snow or flurries today and tomorrow, mainly across the south.  However, Friday looks messy.

Fog, dense in some locations, will move in Thursday night and by Friday, we'll likely see a wintry mix of freezing rain, sleet, snow, and rain through midday.  In the afternoon, as temperatures climb above freezing, rain is likely into Friday night.

With the threat of ice and melting snow, it's going to be slippery and slushy.

CBS4 Meteorologist Anthony Peoples

CBS4 Weather Trivia

Have you played our Weather Trivia game yet?  Here's how it works - on CBS4 News at 5pm we ask a question and give you a few choices.  Then you go to our website, cbs4qc.com, and click on this weather trivia logo. 

You can find it either on the Weather page or the Contest page, but it's only available between 5 and 6pm. 

It only takes a few moments to get your answer in.  Then check out CBS4 News at 6pm to see if you win!  The winners are chosen at random from all correct answers for that day.  Each daily winner gets a gift certificate or prize from a local business worth at least 20 bucks.  And it doesn't cost you a thing to play!

Sound like an OK deal?  Here's a sneak peek at Wednesday's question...

Zero or Below Zero Low Temperatures

It was another morning with below zero low temperatures.

 

This marks the 13th zero or below low temperature in the Quad Cities in the winter of 2013-2014.  As a matter of fact, five of the seven days this January have had below zero low temperatures.

Last winter, we had two zero or below zero low temperatures and in the winter of 2011-2012, only one low temperature of zero or below.

In the winters of 2010-2011 and 2009-2010, both had 11 mornings with zero or below zero low temperatures.

As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, the official temperature in the Quad Cities was still below zero and that marked 37 consecutive hours below zero.

CBS4 Meteorologist Anthony Peoples

Bitter Cold Will Ease This Week

Dangerously cold temperatures and brutal wind chills kicked off this week.

Here are wind chills from earlier this morning.

This is just a snapshot of the wind chills.  At times, wind chills approached -50° in our northern hometowns.

A "Wind Chill Warning" remains in effect until noon Tuesday for wind chills of -20° to -40° today, tonight, and early Tuesday.

As for snow, we could see some light snow Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night. 

With the 7.8" of snow this weekend officially in the Quad Cities, we're now up to 25.8" for the 2013-2014 winter season.  Our average snowfall in a winter is 31.6"!

Temperatures by Friday and the upcoming weekend should warm into the low-to-mid-30s for highs.

Be safe out there.

CBS4 Meteorologist Anthony Peoples

Weekend Snow Totals & Bitter Cold

We had quite an interesting storm passing to our south which was responsible for the snowfall we saw this weekend.  Officially 1.1" of snow at the Davenport Municipal Airport, while the Quad City International Airport measured 7.8"!  There is only about 15 miles between the two airports, so this is remarkable stuff!  The snow started earlier in the afternoon when temperatures were near 30°, but by evening we dropped down into the lower 20s which meant a higher liquid-snow ratio, which results in a light powdery snow that piles up quickly! 
Here are some totals from IL & IA (All preliminary totals).

Our attention now turns to the DANGEROUSLY COLD TEMPERATURES.  Strong northwesterly winds between 20 and 30 mph (gusts much higher) will create blowing and drifting snow.  With temperatures well below zero (-15° to -20° Sunday night), wind chills will range from -35° to -50° which is very, very dangerous.  Frost bite can occur in as little as 5 to 10 minutes.  Wind Chill Advisory continues through Noon Tuesday.  Stay safe, and stay warm!

Snow & Dangerous Cold

A very strong arctic cold front rolled through the CBS4 viewing area Saturday afternoon, bringing in brisk northwest winds that is filtering in very, very cold air.  Behind the front, snow began affecting parts of the area, especially southeastern Iowa and our Illinois counties.  Normally precipitation forms along and ahead of a cold front, but in this case the better forcing is behind the front.  Here are a look at forecast snow totals by Sunday afternoon.  Winter Weather Advisory through 6PM Sunday for southeastern hometowns for blowing and drifting of the 3 to 5"+ of snow expected.

Once the snow moves out of here, our focus turns to dangerously cold temperatures.  A very strong high pressure from Canada will take control, bringing a polar vortex into much of the Great Lakes regions.  A very strong gradient will create winds from the north at 10 to 20mph, gusting to 30mph at times.  Low temperatures will be near -20° Sunday night into Monday morning, creating very dangerous wind chills of -25° to -45°, with even lower wind chills expected.  A "Wind Chill Warning" goes into effect for the entire area at Noon Sunday and lasts through Noon Tuesday.

Here is the wind chill chart from our friends at the National Weather Service, showing how long it can take for frost bite to occur.

Daytime "highs" Monday will not make it above zero.  In fact, the QC metro may not make it above -10°.

Bitter Cold Will Get Colder!

This morning was the coldest morning this winter as lows dropped to around -15° in the Quad Cities. 

This was the coldest morning since January 2010 when we hit -15°. 

If the updated climatic report shows that it was even colder than that after 6 a.m. today, this will be the coldest January morning since 2009 when we dropped to the all-time January low of -27°.

Early next week, our lows Monday morning and Tuesday morning could approach -20° and wind chills those mornings could be dangerously close to -40° to -50° in some of our hometowns.

More snow is on the way Saturday into early Sunday.  Right now, it looks like an inch or so is expected in the Quad Cities with more off to the southeast. 

However, any movement in that snow axis to the northwest would bring higher accumulations to the Quad Cities.

Andy and Kyle will have more on that in tonight and Saturday's forecast.

CBS4 Meteorologist Anthony Peoples

Snow Totals from New Year's Day Storm

The accumulating snow is finally over with and if you haven't shoveled yet there's work to be done!  Totals ended up pretty close to 3/4 inches across just about the entire area...with a few higher totals mixed in for good measure (that's typical for most snow events!)   The official climate stations for the Quad Cities are in Moline (3.1") and Davenport (3.0")

Here are some totals for some of our Illinois towns/cities...














And Iowa hometowns....

Now we need to be ready for some extremely cold temperatures and wind chills...tonight's Wind Chill Advisory is NW of the Quad Cities and we should expect more of these Advisories and probably even some Wind Chill Warnings over the next week!

Happy New Year Snow!

Happy New Year!

Snow is in the forecast today and tonight and this will be followed by bitterly cold air and brutal wind chills Thursday and Friday.

Here is the updated snowfall forecast for today and tonight.

Yesterday, 1-4" of snow fell in our far northern hometowns.

A "Winter Weather Advisory" remains in effect through tonight or early tomorrow, depending on where you live across the Mississippi and Illinois Valleys.

High temperatures Thursday will only be in the single digits with overnight lows into Friday morning around -16° in the Quad Cities.

CBS4 Meteorologist Anthony Peoples