February Sky Show! Near 40 Thursday? Arctic Friday; 2nd warmest winter so far

Stronger February sun boosts temps into the 30s again

40 degrees possible in southwest Minnesota Thursday?

Arctic front arrives Thursday night!

Near 0 in the metro Saturday morning?

"Pine Tree Effect" season kicks in in northern Minnesota

February Sky Show!

This is a great night and month for sky watchers!

Several planets are bright and scattered across the evening sky this month. Venus is the most brilliant...that brightly glowing planet in the southwest sky after sunset has extra "hang time" this month as it sits higher above the horizon now.

The just past full moon rises in the east after sunset and dazzles with Mars and the constellation Leo.

Orion is high up in the southeast sky at dusk, and rides the southern sky all night long.

Get out on these crystal clear nights and enjoy the show!

More details from Sky and Telescope.

This Week's Planet Roundup

"Mercury is out of sight in conjunction with the Sun. By the end of February, however, it will be back in view having its best evening apparition of the year, low in the western twilight.

Venus (magnitude -4.1, in Pisces) is the most brilliant "Evening Star" shining in the southwest during and after dusk. It doesn't set now until a good two hours after dark. Venus will continue to appear a little higher, and stay up a little later, each week all this winter. In a telescope it's still a small gibbous disk, 15 or 16 arcseconds in diameter and 72% sunlit, as seen above. It will reach half-lit phase (dichotomy) in mid- to late March.

Mars (about magnitude -0.7, at the Leo-Virgo border) rises in the east around 8 p.m., far beneath Regulus and the Sickle of Leo. It's to the right or lower right of 2nd-magnitude Denebola. Mars is brightening rapidly as it approaches Earth. It shines highest in the south, in best telescopic view, around 2 or 3 a.m.

In a telescope Mars has grown to about 12.4 arcseconds wide, close to the 13.9″ it will display when it's nearest to Earth in early March. Mars appears only slightly gibbous now: 97% sunlit.

Jupiter (magnitude -2.3, still at the Aries-Pisces border) shines high in the south-southwest at dusk, moves lower toward the southwest as evening advances, and sets in the west around 11 or midnight. In a telescope Jupiter has shrunk to 39 or 38 arcseconds wide, as Earth pulls ahead of it in our faster orbit around the Sun.

Saturn (magnitude +0.6, in Virgo) rises in the east around 11 and is shines highest in the south before dawn. Spica, a bit fainter at magnitude +1.0, is 7° to its right or upper right. Saturn's rings are now tilted a generous 15° from our line of sight. This is the most open the rings have appeared since 2007.

Uranus (magnitude 5.9, in Pisces) is in southwest after dark approaching Venus. Uranus will pass 0.3° south (lower left) of Venus on the evening of February 9th.

Neptune is lost in twilight."

here's a good video from astrocast.tv

Milder Thursday!

As cold air begins to pour into northern Minnesota Thursday, a wedge of milder air will slide into southern Minnesota ahead of the advancing cold front.

With ever stronger February sun and little or no snow cover, temps could again make a run at 40 in much of western & southern Minnesota...and maybe even the metro.

Arctic Front Arrives Thursday night:

By Friday morning you'll feel the newest attempted shot of arctic air in Minnesota. Temps should plunge below zero up north, and single digits in the south.

The cold air will last through Saturday, before a moderating trends kicks in Sunday afternoon.

Temps could dip to near 0 in the metro Saturday morning, with some sub-zero readings in the 'Burbs. Northern Minne4sota should dip well below zero this weekend.

"Pine Tree Effect" kicks in:

We're moving into Pine Tree Effect season in northern Minnesota. The green trees cause the sun's rays to bounce around and warm the air faster than a snow covered prairie. On sunny calm days it can be much warmer on the Iron Range than on the snow covered treeless prairies of western Minnesota.

With less snow cover this winter the effect may not be as pronounced as in previous years.

2nd warmest winter on record so far:

More from the MN Climate Working Group:

Balmy Winter in the Twin Cities 2011-2012

The balmy winter of 2011-12 continues to march on. February has continued the above normal temperatures and so far from December 1 to February 7 the average temperature in the Twin Cities is 27 degrees, or 9.3 degrees above normal. If meteorological winter finished on February 7, the winter of 2010-2011 would be in second place behind the winter of 1877-78. February would have to continue to remain much above normal for the Meteorological Winter to finish second warmest. As of February 7, the average temperature in the Twin Cities for the month of February is 29.9 degrees.

Twin Cities Warmest Meteorological Winters

Top Meteorological Winter (Dec-Feb) average temperatures (Twin Cities 1872-2012)

Rank Year Avg. Temp

--------------------------

1.) 1877-1878 29.0 F

2.) 2011-2012 27.0 F*

3.) 1930-1931 26.9 F

4.) 2001-2002 26.8 F

5.) 1997-1998 25.9 F

6.) 1986-1987 25.8 F

7.) 1982-1983 24.0 F

8.) 1991-1992 23.5 F

9.) 1943-1944 23.5 F

10.) 1920-1921 23.2 F

11.) 1999-2000 23.1 F

*As of February 7

The Twin Cities International Airport has only seen three nights that have dipped below zero for the winter of 2011-2012. That means that this winter has the second fewest sub-zero nights on record back to 1872. The coldest Minimum Temperature of the 2011-2012 season so far in the Twin Cities is -11. This is in a five-way tie for the third warmest winter minimum. The warmest winter minimum is -3 in the winter of 2001-02.

Twin Cities Least Number of Below Zero Minimums in a Winter

Rank Year Number of days below zero (Twin Cities 1872-2012)

-------------------------------

1.) 2001-2002 2

2.) 2011-2012 3*

3.) 1877-1878 4

4.) 1930-1931 5

5.) 2005-2006 6

6.) 1881-1882 7

6.) 1986-1987 7

8.) 1982-1983 8

9.) 1920-1921 9

10.) 1997-1998 10

As of February 7

January finished the 8th warmest in the Twin Cities with records going back to 1872. The average temperature was 23.3 degrees, or 7.7 degrees above normal. The average temperature for December 2011 and January 2012 together was 25.6 degrees, making it the 4th warmest December and January on record for the Twin Cities with only 1877-78, 2001-02 and 1913-14 being warmer. The average for 1877-78 was 27.8 degrees.

Twin Cities Daily records broken or tied during December and January.

Twin Cities Daily records broken or tied during December and January.

Date Record Value Old Rec. Year

----------------------------------------------------

Dec. 26, 2011 Maximum 52 51 1936

Jan. 06, 2012 Warm Low 37 35 1928

Jan. 09, 2012 Maximum 49 49 2002 (tie)

Jan. 09, 2012 Warm Low 34 34 2002 (tie)

Jan. 10, 2012 Maximum 52 49 1990

PH