Summary of Rain & Ice

Summary of Heavy Rain and Ice
2009 February 9th - 10th

Rainfall Amounts		Ice Accumulations
List of Ice Reports (pdf file, may take up to a min to download)

A deepening low pressure system slowly made its way northeast across the upper plains on Monday, finally centering over northern Minnesota on Tuesday. The low pressure center finally pushed northeast into the borderland and exited the region into Ontario, Canada by Wednesday morning.

Locations across Minnesota and Wisconsin experienced a combination of winds gusting in excess of 30 mph, heavy rain, areas of fog, and a February thaw this week. Most areas reached their warmest temperatures, in the upper 30s to low 40s late Monday night, then held steady through Tuesday night. The warm air took longer to work its way into the far northeast sections of Minnesota and along the North Shore of Lake Superior where temperatures hovered around 30 F degrees through the day Monday, before finally warming above freezing in the evening and overnight hours. As a result of the persistent shallow layer of sub-freezing air and ground temperatures, locations from the Duluth-Superior area to Silver Bay, Finland, and Grand Marais saw freezing rain and a widespread glaze of ice Monday. Most areas received around a tenth of ice, with higher amounts of around two tenths along the North Shore of Lake Superior. Luckily, most of the roadways were pre-treated over the weekend and this allowed for streets to remain mostly ice-free with the exception of dirt roads and un-treated driveways and parking lots. The ice that did accumulate on the trees and power lines melted after a short time as temperatures continued to rise through Monday night.

Impressive February rainfall amounts were also recorded with new daily rainfall records set at both International Fall and Duluth. Most areas in northeast Minnesota received a third to a half inch of rain while higher amounts approaching one inch were measured at locations in the higher terrain of the North Shore of Lake Superior.


More Weather Details
Station Plot	Radar	SFC Maps	Upper Air	Satellite	Soundings
----------	----------	----------	----------	----------	----------
10Z Feb 9	14Z Feb 9	00Z Feb 9	00Z Feb 9	13Z Feb 9	00Z Feb 9
12Z Feb 9	15Z Feb 9	06Z Feb 9	850 mb	15Z Feb 9	INL
14Z Feb 9	16Z Feb 9	12Z Feb 9	700 mb	17Z Feb 9	MPX
16Z Feb 9	17Z Feb 9	15Z Feb 9	500 mb	19Z Feb 9	ABR
18Z Feb 9	18Z Feb 9	18Z Feb 9	300 mb	21Z Feb 9	OAX
20Z Feb 9	19Z Feb 9	21Z Feb 9	12Z Feb 9	23Z Feb 9	BIS
22Z Feb 9	21Z Feb 9	00Z Feb 10	850 mb	01Z Feb 10	12Z Feb 9
00Z Feb 10	23Z Feb 9	03Z Feb 10	700 mb	14Z Feb 10	INL
02Z Feb 10	01Z Feb 10	06Z Feb 10	500 mb	17Z Feb 10	BIS
04Z Feb 10	15Z Feb 10	09Z Feb 10	300 mb	19Z Feb 10	MPX
06Z Feb 10	17Z Feb 10	12Z Feb 10	00Z Feb 10		ABR
08Z Feb 10	19Z Feb 10	15Z Feb 10	850 mb		OAX
10Z Feb 10	21Z Feb 10	18Z Feb 10	700 mb		DVN
12Z Feb 10			500 mb		12Z Feb 10
14Z Feb 10			300 mb		INL
16Z Feb 10			12Z Feb 10		BIS
18Z Feb 10			850 mb		MPX
20Z Feb 10			700 mb		ABR
22Z Feb 10			500 mb		DVN
			300 mb

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Summary of Rain & Ice