"Birmingham meteorologist briefly steps off-air after house suffers tornado damage"
One of the best during Severe Weather coverage is James Spann, who works at ABC 33/40 out of Birmingham, Alabama. A high risk of severe weather had been issued for the potential of violent tornadoes on Thursday. While covering a damaging tornado, Spann realized that his house was in the path of the storm. After stepping off screen for a while and checking on his wife, he reacts after he hears that his house suffered damage from the tornado. Unreal!
"After stepping briefly off air, Birmingham meteorologist James Spann on March 25 said his home sustained some tornado damage."
See the Video From The Washington Post HERE:
2021 Ice Out Dates So Far
Thanks to recent rains and warmer temps, several lakes across the southern half of the state have gone ice free including a few in the Twin Cities.
See more from the MN DNR HERE:
Average Ice Out Dates Across the State
Here's a look at the average ice out dates across the state. The orange markers across the southern part of the state indicate average ice out dates typically around the last week of March. We typically see average ice out across parts of central Minnesota and around the Twin Cities during the first couple of weeks of April. Folks across the northern third of the state typically see ice out closer to the start of May.
See more from the MN DNR HERE:
First 70F of 2021 on Monday?
Weather conditions on Monday look very warm. In fact, we may see our first 70F high temp of the year! Note that this would be the first 70F since November 8th when we hit 72F. The warm temps will also come with strong southerly winds.
Somewhat Soggy Saturday
Here's the weather outlook from AM Saturday to AM Monday, which shows our next storm system moving through late Friday and into Saturday. Saturday will be a somewhat soggy day with areas of rain, possibly mixed with snow across parts of the state.
Somewhat Soggy Saturday
Here's the precipitation outlook through the weekend, which shows some 0.25" to 0.50" tallies possible across parts of the state. This rain will be very beneficial as we head into the green up season!
March Summary So Far
Here's the latest March Summary for Minneapolis through March 25th. Note that the Twin Cities is more than +9F above average for the month, which is actually the 8th warmest start to any March on record! We're also more than 1" above average precipitation, but running a deficit in the snowfall category by nearly 5".
Saturday Weather Outlook For Minneapolis
Saturday will be a bit damp with off and on rain chances through the day. Temps will be slightly above average for this time of the year with a high nearing 50F.
Saturday Meteograms
Here are the meteograms for Saturday, which show temps warming from near 40F early in the morning to near 50s by mid afternoon. Off and on rain will also be possible through the day as well. The storm system will also bring gusty winds with gusts approaching 20mph out of the WNW later in the day.
Saturday Weather Outlook
High temps across the region on Friday will be nearly 5F to 10F above average with high temps warming into the 40s and 50s across much of the state.
Extended Temperature Outlook
Here's the extended temperature and weather outlook over the next 5 to 7 days. Note that high temps will warm to near 50F through the weekend, which will be nearly 5F above average for late March. Note that highs on Monday could warm to 70F for the first time this year! Stay tuned.
Spring Leaf Index
"How do you know when spring has begun? Is it the appearance of the first tiny leaves on the trees, or the first crocus plants peeping through the snow? The First Leaf and First Bloom Indices are synthetic measures of these early season events in plants, based on recent temperature conditions. These models allow us to track the progression of spring onset across the country. March 22, 2021 Spring leaf out continues to spread north across the country. After arriving early in southern parts of Southwest and Southeast states, cold temperatures halted the progress of spring leaf out for several days across the northern part of the Southeast and Great Plains. Spring leaf out is now gaining momentum again as it moves into Midwest states but continues to be behind schedule in the mid-Atlantic. Spring bloom has arrived in parts of Southwest and Southeast states. Spring bloom is early in California and Arizona and late in parts of Southeast states."
Extended Temperature Outlook
Here's the ECMWF & GFS extended temperature outlook for Minneapolis through the end of March and into the early part of April. Monday will feature well above average temperatures ahead of a sharp cold front that will drop temps to below average readings around midweek. Note that there will be a big warm up as we approach next weekend, which is the first weekend of April.
8 to 14 Day Temperature Outlook
According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the 8 to 14 day temperature outlook shows temps warming to above average levels across much of the Central US.
Soggy Saturday, Sunny Sunday & 70s on Monday?
By Todd Nelson, filling in for Douglas.
For the 2nd week in a row, violet tornadoes ripped across parts of the Deep South. According to the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama, one tornado in particular on Thursday may have been on the ground for nearly 100 miles, which unfortunately proved to be deadly.
NOAA says that tornadoes kill an average of 80 people in the U.S. each year. 76 died 2020, but astonishingly, more than 550 people lost their lives in 2011. A number of those fatalities were attributed to the "Super Outbreak" on April 27th, 2011 when nearly 30 different deadly twisters tracked from Mississippi to Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.
March 2021 has been a warm and somewhat soggy month for us. Minneapolis is running nearly +9 degrees above average, which is the 8th warmest on record. We're also more than 1 inch above average in the precipitation department with more rain expected today.
Sunday will be the brighter, better day of the weekend with above average temps once again. A windy Monday could feature our first 70 degree high of the year!
Extended Forecast
SATURDAY: Damp & drab. Wet snow N. Winds: WNW 5-15. High: 49.
SATURDAY NIGHT: Showers end, clearing overnight. Winds: NNW 5-10. Low: 31.
SUNDAY: Brighter, better day of the weekend. Winds: WSW 5-10. High: 52.
MONDAY: Very warm & windy. First 70F of 2021? Winds: S 15-30. Wake-up: 42. High: 70.
TUESDAY: Few showers early, cooler breeze. Winds: WNW 15-25. Wake-up: 40. High: 55.
WEDNESDAY: Bright sun. Stiff NW wind continues. Winds: NW 15-25. Wake-up: 28. High: 42.
THURSDAY: Dry & mild stretch begins. Winds: SW 10-15. Wake-up: 27. High: 52.
FRIDAY: Gusty winds. Well above average temps. Winds: SW 15-25. Wake-up: 43. High: 63.
This Day in Weather History
March 27th
1946: A record high of 78 is set at Redwood Falls.
Average High/Low for Minneapolis
March 27th
Average High: 47F (Record: 75F set in 1946)
Average Low: 29F (Record: 5F set in 1921)
Record Rainfall: 1.52" set in 1998
Record Snowfall: 5.6" set in 1965
Sunrise/Sunset Times for Minneapolis
March 27th
Sunrise: 7:02am
Sunset: 7:35pm
Hours of Daylight: ~12 hours & 32 minutes
Daylight GAINED since yesterday: ~ 3 minutes & 8 seconds
Daylight GAINED since Winter Solstice (December 21st): ~ 3 hours & 46 minutes
Moon Phase for March 27th at Midnight
0.5 Days Until Full "Worm" Moon
"1:48 p.m. CDT - In this month the ground softens and earthworm casts reappear, inviting the return of robins. Some more northern tribes knew this as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signals the end of winter, or the Full Crust Moon because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. This is also the Paschal Full Moon; the first full moon of the spring season. The first Sunday following the Paschal Moon is Easter Sunday, which will be observed one week later on Sunday, April 4."
What's in the Night Sky?
"The moon will look full to the eye on both March 27 and 28, 2021. The crest of the full moon falls on March 28 at 18:48 UTC (2:48 p.m. Eastern; 1:48 p.m. Central; 12:48 p.m. Mountain and 11:48 a.m. Pacific; translate UTC to your time). In North America, we call the March full moon the Worm Moon, Crow Moon or Sap Moon. This 2021 March full moon presents the first of three springtime full moons in the Northern Hemisphere, and the first of three autumn full moons in the Southern Hemisphere. Lunar perigee – from two root words meaning "near" and "Earth" – will come on March 30, 2021. Thus this full moon is somewhat closer to us than usual. It's 2021's 4th-closest full moon. And you might hear some people calling this full moon a supermoon … but is it? The next three full moons in April, May and June 2021 will be closer yet, with the May 26, 2021 full moon presenting this year's closest supermoon."
National High Temps Saturday
Here's the weather outlook on Saturday, which shows temps warming to well above average levels in the eastern half of the nation.
National Forecast Map For Saturday
The weather map on Saturday shows active weather continuing in the eastern half of the nation with widespread showers and storms in the Southeastern US. Strong to severe storms with large hail, damaging winds and even tornadoes will be possible late Saturday into Sunday.
Enhanced Severe Risk on Saturday
According to NOAA's SPC, there is an ENHANCED RISK of severe thunderstorms (in orange) below. This is where an elevated tornado risk exists late Saturday.
National Weather Outlook
Here's the weather outlook through the weekend, which shows active weather continuing in the eastern half of the nation with widespread storms and severe weather in the Southeastern US.
Extended Precipitation Outlook
The extended precipitation outlook over the next 7 days shows areas of heavy rains across the Gulf Coast states and Tennessee Valley with several inches of rain possible through the weekend.
Extended Snowfall Outlook
Areas of heavy snow will still be possible across parts of the northern half of the nation and especially in the Western US. There may also be some heavy snow in the Eastern Great Lakes Region.
Climate Stories
"Aircraft contrails are a climate menace. Can we rid the sky of them?"
"The wispy cloud trails left by aircraft cause more warming than the carbon emissions from their fuel. Now there might be a simple way to stop them forming. THERE are few more delightful antidotes to stress than to lie on your back in warm grass and watch the clouds go by. As children, we love finding the outlines of animals and castles in the billowing shapes. As adults, there is something calming and comforting about those fluffy tufts of white drifting slowly past. Clouds are beautiful. Clouds are innocent. With one exception. The streaky smears of cloud that criss-cross the sky in the wake of aeroplanes may look too wispy to cause any harm. But we now know that these condensation trails, or contrails, make an outsized contribution to global warming by trapping heat like a downy jacket. "They are one of the few manifestations of man-made climate change agents that you can actually observe," says David Lee, an atmospheric scientist at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK. As the evidence mounts to show how harmful contrails are, some engineers are reaching for an audacious solution: scrub them from the sky altogether. Contrails are created when water condenses to form ice crystals around tiny particles of soot from aircraft exhausts. Yet there is no fundamental reason why this has to happen. Decades of experiments with spy planes, alternative engines and, most recently, with artificial intelligence have shown that it is possible to stop them forming. It won't be easy: wiping the atmosphere clean of contrails may require nothing less than a wholesale reimagining of the traffic in our skies."
See more from New Scientist HERE:
"Australian Bushfires Spewed Volcanic Eruption-Worth of Aerosols Into The Stratosphere"
"The bushfires that ravaged Australia between 2019 and 2020 were so huge that they spewed as much smoke into the stratosphere as a large volcanic eruption, with serious consequences for the environment, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. The stratosphere is the second layer of the atmosphere, right above the troposphere – where we live. "For us, it was a huge surprise" to see such a significant effect, study co-author Ilan Koren, a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, told AFP. "I never saw such an injection (of smoke) to the stratosphere," he said. The amount of smoke released into the atmosphere by the fires is comparable to that put out by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, which was the second-largest of the 20th century. Researchers noted that the smoke drifted away from Australia to the east, and then returned again from the west two weeks later. "We could see the smoke completing a whole circulation in two weeks," Koren said. "I never saw such a strong event spread so fast." The phenomenon can be explained by three factors, according to the study. First, the fires themselves were intense."
See more From Science Alert HERE:
"Melting Glaciers Contribute To Alaska Earthquakes"
"In 1958, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake triggered a debris avalanche into Southeast Alaska's Lituya Bay. Displacing estimated 40 million cubic yards of water in an instant, the avalanche created a wave that ran 1,700 feet up a mountainside before racing out to sea. The largest known tsunami in history was taller than the Empire State Building in New York - 1,454 feet (or 443,2 meters) tall. Geological evidence, historical testimonies, and even myths suggest that earthquakes followed by megatsunami are quite common here. Since 1853, at least four or five similar events are documented. French explorer Jean-François de La Pérouse, who explored Alaska in 1786, noted that the shores of Lituya Bay "had been cut cleanly like with a razor blade," suggesting that a tsunami occurred shortly before his arrival. Local legends of seamonsters shaking the Earth record even earlier events, predating modern explorers and scientists by centuries. Researchers now think the region's widespread loss of glacier ice helped set the stage for the earthquakes and their increasing intensity."
