Monthly Archives: December 2010

A Toast to a Better Year

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Daryl Ritchison

Tomorrow marks the beginnings of a New Year and a fresh slate of weather statistics.  2010 finished stormy as was the case on numerous occasions throughout the year.  Minnesota finished the year with more tornadoes than any other state, with … Continue reading →

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Repeating 1996-1997?

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Daryl Ritchison

The winter of 1996-1997 has become the bench mark that all other winters are judged against.  That winter, 117 inches of snow fell in Fargo Moorhead which is nearly 30 inches more than any other season in the record book. … Continue reading →

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Current Snow Cover

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Daryl Ritchison

It has been so long ( I really should say sooooooooooooooo long) since it has been sunny in the upper Midwest that I have not had a good opportunity to see the snow cover from visible satellite imagery.  Below are … Continue reading →

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Nor’easter

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Daryl Ritchison

Here is a nice image of the storm off the coast of New England where some areas had over 20″ of snow.

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Christmas Snow

Posted on December 21, 2010 by Daryl Ritchison

For 128 years of record keeping, Christmas day came and went with very little snow falling in Fargo Moorhead.  On only one occasion, back in 1912 did snow accumulate to any consequence when 3.6 inches was measured.  Sure, there was … Continue reading →

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A Copper Moon

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Daryl Ritchison

Tonight,  the full Moon will pass through Earth’s shadow, turning the lunar orb a delightful shade of coppery-red. Sky watchers in North America are favored with an overhead view as the eclipse unfolds on Tuesday morning between 01:41 am and … Continue reading →

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December Jinx

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Daryl Ritchison

The first 15 days of December finished with an average temperature of 6.7 degrees which is nearly 9 degrees below average for that period.  The first half of December ranked as the 19th coldest on record.  If you are wondering … Continue reading →

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My Winter Outlook

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Daryl Ritchison

In recent seasons, I have been requested to write a seasonal outlook for North Dakota State Climatologist Dr. Adnan Akyuz for his climate bulletin that is issued quarterly.  Attached below is what I wrote for the upcoming Winter Climate Bulletin … Continue reading →

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12th Month of Wet.

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Daryl Ritchison

December is climatologically the driest month of the year in Fargo Moorhead with an average of just 0.57 inches of liquid precipitation (melted snow and rain).  But our climate is a mix of wet and dry and recently our Decembers … Continue reading →

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Super Cool

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Daryl Ritchison

Earlier in the week we woke up to some beautiful winter scenes with the trees covered in a glorious white frost. Fog, even when temperatures are well below freezing, is usually composed of mostly liquid cloud droplets (supercooled water). When … Continue reading →

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