Thursday, February 21, 2013

Final Forecast for Friday Snow

As of late this Thursday evening, we gathered the following forecasts for Friday's snow. For stations electing to use a "snow meter" or otherwise include very specific amounts produced by model data, we are using those exact forecasts (this was the case for Fox and KARE). For other weather outlets providing a range of snow, we are arbitrarily using the middle of the range as the forecast for the MSP airport.

WCCO: 3-6 (call it 4.5)
KSTP: 3-5 (call it 4)
FOX: 5.6 (for MSP airport)
KARE: 5 (per model)
NWS: 2-6 (per weather.gov)
MPR: 2-5 (call it 3.5)
Strib: 2-4 (call it 3)
Accuweather: 1-3 (call it 2)
Weather Channel: 2-6 (call it 4)
Shakopee Weather: 4.6
Novak Weather: 3-6 (call it 4.5)

Monday, February 18, 2013

Late Week Snow Possibilites... And More to Follow?

There's been a lot of talk about possible accumulating snow for later this week. It remains to be seen what will happen, of course, but Minnesota snow lovers are feeling the love between that possibility and others that appear to be following.

From Fox 9 Feb. 20. Graphic says 5.5 for metro; fine print says 2-4.

NWS forecast as of Monday mid-afternoon.


Monday, February 11, 2013

You Be The Grader

The Minnesota Forecaster is out of town and missed most of yesterday's storm. If you'd like to suggest a grade for various forecasters, feel free. In the meantime, have an enjoyable week.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Wide Forecaster Variability for Sunday Storm

If you like the opportunity to separate the men from the boys when it comes to forecasting skill, we've got a great set up for this storm. KSTP is the most bullish on the storm, forecasting 6 to 10 inches across the metro. On the conservative end, the Star Tribune's Paul Douglas weighs in at 2-3 inches of slush (nationally, The Weather Channel forecasts 1-3 inches of snow).

As of 10 p.m. on Saturday night, here's what we captured:

WCCO: 4-8
KSTP: 6-10
KMSP: 4-7 per KMSP website
KARE: 3-7
NWS: 5-9 (but challenging to decipher/add up)
Strib/Paul Douglas: 2-3
MPR: 3-8
Weather Channel: 1-3




Friday, February 8, 2013

We're Not Boston, But Do We Have a Storm?

While the eyes of most of the nation's weather lovers were on the anticipated monster storm for the Northeast, Minnesota Weather Nation looks toward the southwest to see what may be a notable storm of its own.

We here at TMF have been a bit too busy lately to monitor all the forecasts. Blog viewers are welcome to report the forecasts they hear from the various outlets so there's a collective record of forecaster performance.

The waiting ... and the anticipation ... continues.


Saturday, February 2, 2013

The (Clipper) Train is Rolling

The track seems well greased from Alberta to the Twin Cities and points southeast. Most all forecasters predict we're squarely in the midst of a train of Alberta clippers, the fast moving snow bursts that drop fluffy snow over these parts.

As of this writing, 7:30 on Saturday evening, it looks like train number two is close to leaving the Twin Cities station after dropping somewhere around a half inch of snow. More snow is forecast Sunday night and Monday night.

Are you enjoying nature's version of Amtrack?