Take it for what it’s worth, but the latest Winter Outlook from the CPC (Climate Prediction Center continues to forecast above average temperatures for us.

With a moderate El Nino currently occurring in the Pacific, climatologically the odds do favor warmer than average temperatures over the winter as a whole (December through February).  It will still get cold, it always does, but the overall trend should be warmer than average.  El Nino’s are our best long range forecasting tool in this area, but having said that, El Nino’s are far from a guarantee as every once in a while, an El Nino will fool you.

On November 15th, 1996, 2 inches of snow fell on Fargo/Moorhead.  Little did we know that 115 more inches would fall in the next 5 months with devastating results as it melted in April of 1997.

The WDAY/WDAZ weather team, in cooperation with The Forum of Fargo/Moorhead will relive the 1996/1997 winter with a day by day description of the events of that winter beginning on November 15th on Page 2 in The Forum. 

We will describe the weather of that particular day 10 years ago, with snowfall totals, news of that day and sometimes pictures of the many storms (8 blizzards!) that hit the area.  I hope you’ll have an opportunity to revisit that winter with us in the paper as we remember the "Big Winter of 1996/1997".

If you take a look at this satellite image:

The "white" you see in south central and south eastern Minnesota is all snow cover from yesterday’s snow storm.  You’ll notice a "line drawn in the sand" as they say.  Some areas had 7", whereas area just 10 miles away had only a dusting.  Thundersnow (snow falling with thunder being reported) was also common with this system.  If you’re heading to the Twin Cities, they were missed, just the far south eastern suburbs had a light coating of snow, but just 20 miles south of the southern Suburbs, 6-12" fell. 

Some of the totals:

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT…SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
955 PM CST FRI NOV 10 2006

..TIME…   …EVENT…      …CITY LOCATION…     …LAT.LON…
..DATE…   ….MAG….      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. …SOURCE….
            ..REMARKS..

0559 AM     SNOW             WELCH                   44.56N 92.69W
11/10/2006  E5.0 INCH        GOODHUE            MN   BROADCAST MEDIA

0615 AM     SNOW             FAIRMONT                43.64N 94.46W
11/10/2006  E3.0 INCH        MARTIN             MN   LAW ENFORCEMENT

0615 AM     SNOW             NORTHFIELD              44.45N 93.17W
11/10/2006  E7.0 INCH        RICE               MN   LAW ENFORCEMENT

0615 AM     SNOW             MADELIA                 44.05N 94.42W
11/10/2006  E4.0 INCH        WATONWAN           MN   LAW ENFORCEMENT

0630 AM     SNOW             BLUE EARTH              43.64N 94.10W
11/10/2006  E2.0 INCH        FARIBAULT          MN   LAW ENFORCEMENT

0730 AM     SNOW             NORTH MANKATO           44.18N 94.03W
11/10/2006  E4.5 INCH        NICOLLET           MN   PUBLIC

            4 TO 4.5 INCHES OF SNOW

0800 AM     SNOW             JANESVILLE              44.12N 93.71W
11/10/2006  E4.0 INCH        WASECA             MN   PUBLIC

0824 AM     SNOW             8 W FARIBAULT           44.30N 93.44W
11/10/2006  E5.5 INCH        RICE               MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

0917 AM     SNOW             WATERVILLE              44.22N 93.57W
11/10/2006  E5.0 INCH        LE SUEUR           MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

1007 AM     SNOW             RED WING                44.58N 92.60W
11/10/2006  E6.0 INCH        GOODHUE            MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

1015 AM     SNOW             MANCHESTER              43.72N 93.45W
11/10/2006  E9.0 INCH        FREEBORN           MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

1045 AM     SNOW             LEWISVILLE              43.92N 94.44W
11/10/2006  E8.0 INCH        WATONWAN           MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

1120 AM     SNOW             OWATONNA                44.09N 93.22W
11/10/2006  E7.0 INCH        STEELE             MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

1130 AM     SNOW             AMBOY                   43.89N 94.16W
11/10/2006  E5.0 INCH        BLUE EARTH         MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

1137 AM     SNOW             KIESTER                 43.54N 93.71W
11/10/2006  E11.0 INCH       FARIBAULT          MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

1137 AM     SNOW             MENOMONIE               44.89N 91.91W
11/10/2006  E4.5 INCH        DUNN               WI   TRAINED SPOTTER

1204 PM     SNOW             MANKATO                 44.17N 93.99W
11/10/2006  E8.0 INCH        BLUE EARTH         MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

1209 PM     SNOW             ALBERT LEA              43.66N 93.37W
11/10/2006  E12.0 INCH       FREEBORN           MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

1235 PM     SNOW             ZUMBROTA                44.29N 92.67W
11/10/2006  E6.5 INCH        GOODHUE            MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

0130 PM     SNOW             GENEVA                  43.82N 93.27W
11/10/2006  E11.0 INCH       FREEBORN           MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

0130 PM     SNOW             MINNEAPOLIS             44.96N 93.27W
11/10/2006  E0.0 INCH        HENNEPIN           MN   OFFICIAL NWS OBS

If you’re a weather geek, you may want to try this link for an analysis of the storm prepared by the National Weather Service Office in the Twin Cities:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=mpx&storyid=4269&source=0