Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Sign Of Spring?

by Scott Hall

We were a divided country this morning - heavy snow in the southern half of the KAXE listening area closed or delayed schools in Carlton, Aitkin, Crow Wing, Cass and Hubbard counties.  Hardly a flake north of highway 200. John Latimer stuck his nose in the studio at 7 this morning to say "I told you so!"  Tuesday's forecast predicted 4 to 11 inches of snow in Itasca County and the Iron Range. John said "I doubt it."  On Monday, 24 to 30 hours before the storm, Tornado Bob said "maybe".  They were both half right. As the sun breaks through here on the Mississippi River in Itasca County, the final tally isn't in yet for the "south of 200" communities, but it looks like 8 to 14 inches when it's all over.  And it will stick around a while.  Temps tonight 5 below to 5 above, highs tomorrow in the 20s, with sunshine.

This morning, retired U of MN Extension Specialist and Maple Syrup guru, Carl Vogt (right), told us the best sap runs often follow a big storm like this one, but other factors are equally important: "overnight temps below freezing, daytime temps in the 40s, sunshine and stable high barometric pressure, and, for some reason, light winds."

Signs of Spring

This Saturday morning John Latimer joins hosts Gail Otteson and Michael Goldberg on "Between You and Me" from 10 to noon.  They'll be tracking the arrival of Spring!  Listen to 91.7 (89.9 in the snowbound Brainerd area, 105.3 in the Bemidji area, on the web at kaxe.org) and call during the program, 218-326-1234.

1 comment:

Harvey said...

Glad you were right, John. My shoulder isn't healed enough from my bike accident to shovel 12" of snow! If heavy snow is a sign of spring, that means we are still in the grip of winter in the cold north-of-200 country.