Check out this graph of temperatures!

Click on to enlarge

Hard to believe, but just a year ago, we we all basking in relative warmth as the high temperatures hitting the 80 degree mark on a regular basis! This March has definitely not been much of a prize with the last nine days (starting on the 17th), seeing high temperatures that were colder than the daily lows were last year!

And, it looks as though, over the coming week, this trend will be staying pretty much the same. With only a couple of exceptions (Easter Sunday the 31st and Monday April 1) we will still be hanging out in the fifties before moderating upwards to where we should be as we get into the month of April.

More local weather is available at www.taneyservices.com!

Last winter storm of the year blows on by!

What I think everyone hopes will turn out to be the last snow of the winter season, (it is spring after all), was a bit of a fizzle for us down here in southwestern Missouri and even more so if you lived near the Arkansas border.

Temperatures that held pretty steady at the forty degree mark provided just enough of a cushion to hold back what could have been another few inches of the white stuff. That would have been a second dose within a week and just days after the official start of the spring.

Now, all eyes are turned to the last week of March when a slow and gradual warm up is forecast. After temperatures that hovered below the forty degree mark for much of the prior week, a few days of sixty will feel positively bodacious!

On a more positive note, we are getting rain every few days as the atmosphere remains unstable and pulses of energy continue to move through the region. West Plains has recorded 3.23 inches of precipitation for the month while Springfield stands at 3.66 inches. Both these readings place this area ahead of normal rainfall amounts for the month to date. (My reading at Forsyth of 2.65 inches shows us to be lagging just a bit behind). And, with more rainfall forecast over the next seven days, it looks probable that we will close out the month at close to normal.

Crawling ever so slowly to April!

Like a man who’s been lost in a cold an inhospitable desert for too long, but who now sees an oasis just ahead, he crawls slowly towards salvation.

That man is me and I’m hoping the month of April turns quickly to be the warm(er) salvation I so desperately need! Well, OK, so it’s not been all that bad a winter. But, it’s been a long one, as far as I’m concerned. March, circa 2012 was 12 degrees warmer than normal and other than the complaining of some fishermen, it was an awesome month. This March of 2013 looks destined to be some 5 to 6 degrees colder than normal and so the word ‘awesome’ has not come to my mind. Other descriptors have, but not that one.

It’s comforting to know, then, that the average temperature of April, jumps upward some 13 degrees! A figure that should kick some serious temperature bootie. And when that happens, SPRING will start to happen with all the subtlety of a freight train! Can’t happen too soon for me.

Another Winter Storm Coming? What!!

What’s wrong with this picture? The weather service out of Springfield is forecasting yet another blast of cold arctic air coming down from who knows where (probably courtesy of those mean old Canadians). That front will meet up with a glob of moisture (from the Gulf?) and will cause even more havoc in what is currently a soggy and wet southwestern Missouri. This blessed event is to come right on the heels of a snowstorm from just a day ago! ‘Heavens to Murgatroyd’, if I might quote old Snagglepus!

Yes, it appears as though parts of Missouri, especially the northern parts will get another dose of Old Man Winter on Saturday and Sunday. This storm system, which is currently hiding out in the Rockies, is due to strike the Midwest sometime on Saturday, March the 23^rd. Acting more like a classic mid-winter storm than anything else, counties to the north of Forsyth will see the most action, with our area spared the worst effect. As a matter of fact, if we get lucky, all that will fall down this was will be rain! (Well, do you feel lucky punk)?

Wow! What a great snowfall!

This morning I got up and measured the snow depth by my house and came up with 4 ½ inches! There also seems to be a glaze of ice over the top so my advice to anyone this morning, would be to at least wait for the plows to come through before attempting to leave your home. While I’m not sure of the conditions in cities like Branson where they may have salted the streets and such, I can say that the rural areas will more than likely take a bit of time to clear. On a good note, this snow looks like; 1) it would make great snowman making material and 2) like it won’t be around long as temperatures should rise up to close to the 40 degree mark later today! For more, go to www.taneyservice.com!

Snow to our north and rain in Forsyth?

When the National Weather Service uses the term ‘the devil is in the details, that’s their code way of saying, ‘we ain’t got a clue’; and that is the case with a very complex system that will affect parts of southwestern Missouri over the next 48 hours or so. In a nutshell, Missouri will be center stage for the coming together of cold air and warm Gulf moisture. A situation that would normally imply frozen precipitation of some sort were it just a bit earlier in the year. But, seeing as it is the later part of March, thermal profiles will play an increasingly important role as to what actually ends up falling from the skies.

That said, I have a feeling, call it a gut feeling that the inclement winter weather will sag just a bit further to the south than what the weather service is currently indicating. I’ve reflected that in the graphic above and yes, much will depend what can be termed as a ‘warm nose’ of air that may well push its way across the area in the middle of the evolving events. Should that happen, it would be an all rain event with little if any snow.  

March Weather Madness!

Of all the months of the year, March holds the distinction for being the most changeable when it comes to hot and cold changes! After two back to back warm (even hot) days, the winter weather switch is about to be flipped as a colder frontal system comes barging into backyards where us men are desperately trying to get their early weekend barbeque started.

With the much colder air will come the real possibility of copious amounts of (much needed) rain. As much as an inch and a quarter is being forecast by the National Weather Service for some spots around the Forsyth area overnight tonight and into Sunday.

But wait! There’s more. As the coming week wears on, it will be the 50’s as usual with another blast of even colder air arriving around midweek. And yes, boys and girls, snow may even be in the forecast for the Thursday to Friday time frame.

Well, it is March and warmer days are just ahead! We hope!