Temperature -51.3 degrees Fahrenheit
Dew point - 45 degrees Fahrenheit
Relative humidity - 79%
Wind direction - SE, http://hint.fm/wind/index.html (Check out the link to see the mid-latitude cyclone over Wisconsin currently, I recommend using Google Chrome as your browser!)
Wind speed - 4 mph, gusting up to 7 mph
Barometric pressure - 1029.66 g/kg
Cloud cover - overcast
The Eau Claire area along with much of Minnesota and other parts of Wisconsin has experienced rainfall, however the system I was talking about yesterday has not proved particularly fearsome.
The atmosphere is unstable in the Minneapolis area as indicated by the KI value and the orientation of the environmental lapse rate to the left of the DAR and MAR on the SKEW T graph. That said, rainfall amount from 2 am up until now (12:20pm) is under 0.25 inches. I don't expect the Eau Claire area will see anything more than another quarter of an inch from this system. Let's take a look at why that is.
If you took a look at the wind map I posted under the current conditions you can see the movement of the mid-latitude cyclone in the area very well. It is very difficult to make it on this satellite water vapor image. This is due to the lack of moisture in the system, something I didn't fully expect. However what I do expect is for the storm to strengthen.
By observing the course of today's jet-stream on the 300 millibar map it allows us to gain a general understanding of how this mid-latitude cyclone will track. In this case the storm will track over the southeast United States. As this storm moves farther south the low pressure system will draw up more warm moist air, which in affect will strengthen the storm and cause an increase in rainfall.
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