March 5, 2018

Temperature: 31°F
Dew Point: 20°F
Wind: E 22 mph
Clouds: Cloudy
Precipitation: 95%

There is an odd mix of precipitation events in the Eau Claire area. Most of the precipitation lies west of the low pressure front shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1. Daily Precipiation Map (intellicast.com).

Looking at the surface map, there is low pressure front almost straight down in the middle of the US. On the top of it, a wintery mix was developed. Anything west of the front seems to be experiencing more snow and east is more rain/sleet.

Figure 2. Current Surface map (intellicast.com).

The wind advisories continue today. For Eau Claire specifically, there is 22 mph winds coming from the east. The surface wind map in Figure 3, shows where the westerly and easterly winds collide. This is the same location as the low pressure front described in Figure 2.

Figure 3. surface winds (earth.nullschool.net).

Figure 4 shows the results of the 95% precipiation in the atmosphere. In a matter of an hour, there was rain, sleet (sounded like hail), and snow. Instead of typical snowflakes, the sleet was hard, icy, and circular like tiny little balls (those are the technical terms).

Figure 4. Photo taken by Kayla Coonen 3/5/2018.