May 8, 2014 - 3:30 P.M.

Current Weather Conditions

Temperature: 71° F

Wind: SE at 8 mph

Barometric Pressure: 1005.4 mb

Relative Humidity: 66%

Dew Point: 55° F

For those of you following this blog that are not my professor (I'd be surprised if there are any of you), this will be my last post. Hope you enjoyed reading!

Figure 1 - Surface conditions map.

Today has been a very warm day in Eau Claire. It was also pretty sunny for most of the morning, though clouds have started to cover the sky and winds are out of the southeast. It shouldn't be too much longer until thunderstorms enter the area. I was thinking that we would see some storms last night or earlier in the day today, so it looks like they are a bit late. The barometer continues to drop as low pressure moves in, foreshadowing the coming rain. Personally, I'm itchin' for a good thunderstorm. I haven't seen one in a while, and I'm starting to get impatient. Figure 1 shows the low pressure to the southwest with the cold front that is pushing those storms in this direction and giving us the winds from the southeast.

Figure 2 - Lightning strikes in the US during the last hour.

Figure 2 shows cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in the US for the last hour and Figure 3 shows the water vapor in the atmosphere. Both of these correlate with the low pressure dome, cold front, and dry lines in figure 1. That is, of course, not surprising. It just means that storms are heading this way. The storms should be done by tomorrow morning, however it looks like there is still plenty of rain in the future, so I'm expecting the low pressure dome that will be moving out to be quickly replaced by another one. Friday will most likely get winds from the southwest or west, while Saturday and Sunday will probably have winds from the southeast again.

Figure 3 - Atmospheric water vapor above the US.