some pictures

Just a few pictures.

May 28th/29th Northern light show

For those who missed last night's Northern Lights show,don't worry I got you covered since it is my job...Last night the skies did clear off I was setup by 10:15ish PM and played the waiting game,however it wasnt to long and the Northern Lights showed up and danced across the sky!...I was fighting dew throughout much of the night thanks to the rain earlier in the day...Freaking got humid and no wind...I would say this was the first time I had so much of a dew problem....I called it a night about 2:30ish AM...Here are some pictures....

May 22nd severe weather summary

Severe weather pounded parts of our FA on Sunday May 22nd…Many hail reports will only list 1” or > since that is the severe weather threshold…6 tornadoes have been confirmed be the NWS offices of Chanhassen and Duluth.


First off lets list the hail damage…

Once again we are only going to list > one inch or greater…There were 9 hail reports …Notice times are not in order…This info comes from the LSR from both Chanhassen and Duluth NWS.

1. 4NW of Elmwood in Pierce Cnty@3:12 PM

2. 1.50” 3W of Elmwood in Pierce Cnty@3:14 PM

3. 1.75” Elmwood in Pierce CNTY@3:15 PM

4. 1.00” 2S of Chippewa Falls in Chippewa Cnty@4:07 PM

5. 1.00” 9S/SE of Loretta in Sawyer Cnty@2:25 PM

6. 1.25” 7S/SE of Loretta in Sawyer Cnty@2:25 PM

7. 1.00” 3N of Butternut in Ashland Cnty@3:04 PM

8. 1.00” 6S/W of Butternut in Ashland Cnty@3:23 PM

9. 1.50” 2S of Kennan in Price Cnty@5:33 PM

There was 12 thunderstorm wind damage reports. List is not in any order.

1. 13W of Phillips in Price Cnty@2:35 PM

2. 13W/NW of Phillips in Price Cnty@2:38 PM

3. 2NW of Park Falls in Price Cnty@3:04 PM

4. 2SE of Butternut in Ashland Cnty@3:15 PM

5. 10NE of Butternut in Ashland Cnty@3:57 PM

6. 2NW if Mikana in Barron Cnty@4:00 PM

7. 2N of Mercer in Iron Cnty@

8. Counderay in Sawyer Cnty@4:27 PM

9. 8E of Phillips in Price Cnty@6:13 PM

10. 1NE of Phillips in Price Cnty@6:13 PM

11. Loretta in Sawyer Cnty@5:18 PM

12. 2NE of Stone Lake in Sawyer Cnty@4:27 PM

There was 6 confirmed tornadoes to effect the FA.

1. 2NW of Mikana in Barron Cnty rated low end EF1. time of tornado @4:00 PM

2. 12SW of Park Fall in Price Cnty rated low end EF1 time of tornado @ 2:33 PM

3. 4.5 W of Prentice in Price Cnty rated EF0. time of tornado @ 5:39 PM

4. 4N/NW of prentice in Price Cnty rated EF0 time of tornado @5:52 PM

5. 6.5 E/SE of Phillips in Price Cnty rated EF0 time of tornado @6:01 PM

6. 17 NE of Phillips in Price Cnty rated EF0 @ time of tornado 6:26 PM

Once again all the above info comes from the LSRs from both Chanhassen and Duluth NWS…All info is preliminary.

For the pictures of the storm that produced the tornado see below….Now on to some damage pictures.

The images below are from the base reflectivity as the storms moved through Barron County.

Images below are the storm relative volocity scans as the storms plowed through Barron County.

Many tress were also downed in the city of Rice Lake it's self...The image below is from the NWS showing the start and end track of the tornado.

The day started off with thunderstorms during the early morning hours,then there was a break in the action...Sun was able to peak out for a time,which was enough to get some SFC heating going..With the very cold air aloft did take much to fire up storms...Also had a warm front through the area and a SFC low pressure system over in Central MN which also worked East...This pushed a cold front into the area causing lift to keep the updrafts alive...Wind shear was off the charts around 30 KTS plus.These storms also produced flooding rains throughout  much of Barron County and points towards the North/Northeast.

Click on pictures to see a bigger size....

Hard freeze and frost possible tonight.

Hard freeze is Possible for much of my far Central and Northern areas,while a hard frost is possible elsewheres...Patchy frost is possible in my Southern Counties....

Storm chase pictures from today.

 A very fun chase day, not the best but it was fun...Traveled many miles..Many Counties today, on very little sleep.I went way back old school today. I didn't use a nowcaster nor any model data out on the road no radar nothing...To be honset I was not in the best of moods running on 1 hr of sleep.I really didn't feel like talking to anyone when I was out chasing..You know what it was the best chase I have had in a long time,like years as far as not having to worry about the radar calling my nowcaster or them bugging me..Yes I did have the celly with just in case I needed to make a call...Three things I used today.1 my eyes the best tools a chaser has!!...2. my scannner with the weather radio going... 3 My training and gut feeling....After today I may just go right back to the very old school way of chasing...Was nice to be one with the storms! Here is some of what I got...I got alot more but them pictures won't be posted here or on FB...Thems will be for sell!

Severe thunderstorm outlook maps

Here is the severe weather threat areas..Our local area will depend on how much SFC heating can take place for a higher risk of severe thunderstorms..For now will run will a slight risk.... Main threat from thunderstorms would be hail and damaging winds.

Short term forecast.

Showers and thunderstorms have been forming over in Rusk County…Stronger thunderstorms have formed over Western Taylor and Eastern Taylor County…. Other showers are slowly forming in Northwestern Chippewa/Eastern Dunn Counties along with the Northern part of Dunn County….Other showers are found over Central ST. Croix County…Looks for showers and thunderstorms to become more widespread as we head through the early morning hrs… Some storms could produce some small hail and gusty winds…No severe weather is expected from this activity …..Highly unlikely but if severe thunderstorms were to form they would remain on the low severe weather thresholds..


The dry air that moved in late Saturday afternoon is now becoming saturated again..Winds have been out of the Northeast for much of the later afternoon and evening hrs of Saturday…Winds did switch back to the Southeast a couple hrs ago allowing moisture to return to the FA….