January 2013 Climate Data

 Notes:

• Temperature data from the airport (GFK) and precipitation data from the University.
• ##^R denotes record maximum
• ##_R denotes record minimum

Day	High	Low	Dep.	Precip.	Snow	Depth
1	19	-13	-4	Trace	Trace	4"
2	31	2	+10	Trace	Trace	4"
3	25	1	+6	Trace	Trace	4"
4	30	3	+10	0.00"	0.0"	4"
5	18	1	+3	Trace	Trace	4"
6	20	2	+4	Trace	Trace	3"
7	35	12	+17	0.00"	0.0"	3"
8	34	8	+15	0.04"	0.4"	3"
9	32	18	+19	0.00"	0.0"	3"
10	40	23	+26	0.17"	0.0"	3"
11	34	8	+15	0.06"	1.9"	1"
12	9	-5	-4	0.01"	0.5"	3"
13	6	-7	-6	Trace	Trace	3"
14	9	-4	-3	0.00"	0.0"	3"
15	35	0	+12	0.03"	0.6"	3"
16	37	-5	+10	Trace	Trace	3"
17	11	-3	-2	Trace	0.2"	3"
18	19	8	+8	0.05"	1.3"	4"
19	30	-7	+6	Trace	Trace	4"
20	-1	-13	-13	0.01"	0.1"	4"
21	-8	-17	-18	0.00"	0.0"	3"
22	5	-18	-12	Trace	Trace	3"
23	3	-17	-14	0.00"	0.0"	3"
24	9	-15	-10	0.01"	0.3"	3"
25	13	-9	-5	Trace	Trace	3"
26	14	-8	-4	0.00"	0.0"	3"
27	24	7	+9	0.00"	0.0"	3"
28	27	17	+15	Trace	Trace	3"
29	23	11	+10	Trace	Trace	2"
30	11	-4	-4	Trace	0.1"	2"
31	-5	-17	-19	Trace	Trace	2"
Jan 2013	19.0	-1.3	+2.1	0.38"	5.4"	Avg: 3.1"

Average High: 19.0°F [Departure from Normal: +2.5°F]
Average Low: -1.3°F [Departure from Normal: +1.8°F]
Mean Temperature: 8.8°F [Departure From Normal: +2.1°F]
Total Precipitation: 0.38" [Departure from Normal: -0.33"; 53% of normal]
Total Snowfall: 5.4" [Departure from Normal: -5.0"; 52% of normal]
Seasonal Snowfall: 19.6" [Departure from Normal: -23.2"; 46% of normal]

1981-2010 Climate Normals

Restaurant Review: Speedway - Grand Forks

On Wednesday evening, I dined at the Speedway Restaurant in Grand Forks for the first time. In the year and a half I've lived here, I think it was the only sit-down restaurant in the "Grand Cities" that I had not ate at. Shame on me.

I admit, most times I drove past Speedway without even realizing it was there. When I did notice it, I casually dismissed it as not being worth a visit - solely due to the fact that on the outside, there was not anything impressive about it. Again, shame on me. Speedway restaurant validates the phrase "you can't judge a book by it's cover".

I ordered the BBQ Feast which was on special that night for $11.99 and came with two sides. I chose a baked potato and cup of lasagna soup. I also ordered an appetizer of Hot Tots - a simple yet genius idea. Hot Tots were tater tots with bacon and jalapeno slice wrapped around each tot and covered with cheese, then baked. They came with BBQ sauce and were quite a tasty treat. The lasagna soup was fantastic - I could have ate a big bowl of that alone for a meal and been quite satisfied. My meal kept getting better as my bbq feast (beef brisket, pulled pork, and ribs - all covered with 'kickin bbq sauce') was delicious, as was the baked potato. The ribs were the prototypical "fall off the bone ribs"...possibly the best ribs I have ever had. I really have no complaints whatsoever with my meal.

I had heard the service was touch and go, but our waittress was on the ball. Our drink and food orders were taken promptly, food arrived quickly, we were asked several times if everything was ok, and offered drink refills in a timely manner. The icing on the cake was at the end of our visit- and a staple of any meal involving bbq - the complimentary wet-nap!

Food was excellent, service was excellent, pricing was reasonable, and as bonus - the company of great friends to share the memorable meal with. Overall grade:


10/10!

2012-13 NCAA Basketball Rankings - Vol. V

Below are the rankings through games played on Sunday, January 27th. There was a lot of shuffling around, but as of now there seems to be four distinct groups:

Group A: Teams ranked 1-6 are in my view the elite teams that will fight for #1 seeds.
Group B: Teams ranked 7-14 are all pretty good teams and I think a majority of the #2 and #3 seeds will be from this group.
Group C: Teams ranked 15-34 are likely tournament teams but are so close in talent that I could see a lot of shuffling amongst these 20 teams over the next month or so.
Group D: Teams ranked 35-50 are primarily composed of teams that are just now getting hot (e.g. Villanova, La Salle, St. John's) , teams that are just now getting cold (e.g. Illinois, Notre Dame, Wyoming), or stagnant bubble teams (e.g. Oklahoma St., BYU, Saint Louis). These teams still have work to do to prove they are tourney teams.

Rank	Last	Team	Record	RPI	Conference
1	1	Kansas	(18-1, 6-0)	2	Big 12
2	5	Michigan	(19-1, 6-1)	7	B1G
3	11	Florida	(16-2, 6-0)	5	SEC
4	3	Indiana	(18-2, 6-1)	20	B1G
5	4	Duke	(17-2, 4-2)	1	ACC
6	8	Syracuse	(18-2, 6-1)	9	Big East
7	7	Gonzaga	(19-2, 6-0)	8	West Coast
8	17	Oregon	(18-2, 7-0)	19	PAC-12
9	16	Michigan St.	(17-4, 6-2)	12	B1G
10	10	Ohio St.	(15-4, 5-2)	24	B1G
11	6	Butler	(17-3, 4-1)	10	Atlantic 10
12	2	Louisville	(17-4, 5-3)	13	Big East
13	12	Arizona	(17-2, 5-2)	4	PAC-12
14	27	Miami	(15-3, 6-0)	3	ACC
15	21	Mississippi	(17-2, 6-0)	32	SEC
16	9	Minnesota	(15-5, 3-4)	11	B1G
17	32	Wichita St.	(19-2, 8-1)	16	Missouri Valley
18	18	UCLA	(16-5, 6-2)	33	PAC-12
19	13	San Diego St.	(16-4, 4-2)	29	Mountain West
20	33	Cincinnati	(16-4, 4-3)	25	Big East
21	22	New Mexico	(17-3, 4-1)	6	Mountain West
22	34	Pitt	(17-4, 5-3)	49	Big East
23	46	Wisconsin	(14-6, 5-2)	45	B1G
24	15	Creighton	(18-3, 7-2)	28	Missouri Valley
25	35	Georgetown	(14-4, 4-3)	39	Big East
26	26	Marquette	(14-4, 5-1)	18	Big East
27	41	Colorado St.	(16-4, 3-2)	22	Mountain West
28	14	NC State	(16-4, 5-2)	17	ACC
29	24	Missouri	(15-4, 4-2)	26	SEC
30	25	Baylor	(14-6, 5-2)	34	Big 12
31	38	UNLV	(15-4, 3-2)	15	Mountain West
32	50	St. Mary's	(17-4, 5-1)	59	West Coast
33	37	Memphis	(16-3, 5-0)	47	Conference-USA
34	19	VCU	(16-5, 4-2)	38	Atlantic 10
35	43	Iowa St.	(14-5, 4-2)	40	Big 12
36	20	Kansas St.	(15-4, 4-2)	37	Big 12
37	28	Connecticut	(13-6, 3-4)	30	Big East
38	39	Oklahoma St.	(13-5, 3-3)	44	Big 12
39	N/A	Villanova	(13-7, 4-3)	50	Big East
40	N/A	La Salle	(14-5, 4-2)	27	Atlantic 10
41	N/A	Arizona St.	(16-4, 5-2)	57	PAC-12
42	36	BYU	(16-6, 6-2)	42	West Coast
43	23	Illinois	(15-6, 2-5)	30	B1G
44	29	Notre Dame	(16-4, 4-3)	48	Big East
45	31	Wyoming	(15-4, 2-4)	54	Mountain West
46	N/A	Iowa	(13-6, 2-4)	78	B1G
47	N/A	Louisiana Tech	(18-3, 9-0)	43	WAC
48	N/A	St. John's	(12-7, 4-3)	53	Big East
49	44	Saint Louis	(14-5, 3-2)	69	Atlantic 10
50	N/A	Belmont	(17-4, 8-0)	14	Ohio Valley

Dropped from rankings: #30 Boise St., #40 Temple, #42 Utah St., #45 Texas A&M, #47 Evansville, #48 Washington, #49 Kentucky

Ground Blizzard

We are under a blizzard watch for ground blizzard conditions expected during the daytime Saturday. A ground blizzard is basically blizzard conditions in terms of high winds, but reduced visibilities due to mainly blowing snow as opposed to actual snowfall. This is classic North Dakota weather and I am looking forward to experiencing it. Hopefully it pans out and I can update this post with some pictures.

EDITED 1/27/2013:

Here  is a video I shot on the west end of town where ground blizzard conditions reduced visibility down to 1/8 mile at times:

Look At Those Diurnal Curves!

My previous post highlighted the non-typical diurnal curve that occurred here in GFK on the 15th, with temperatures generally rising from midnight to midnight.

As alluded to in the previous post, the opposite trend occurred on the 16th, with temperatures generally falling from midnight to midnight. Here is a look at the temperatures for 1/16:

For comparison, here is a comparison of January 15-16, 2013 observed temperatures versus the typical observed January temperatures over a two-day span:

As you can see, the temperature trend was fairly normal through the daylight hours on the 15th (albeit above average temperatures). Then the observed diurnal curve increased as opposed to decreased, before eventually crashing following passage of the cold front. Cold air advection continued through the day on the 16th, allowing for a fairly continuous drop in temperatures before leveling off during evening. Although this is kind of basic information, it is neat to see a graphical comparison of how westerly winds induced from a warm front can cause nocturnal maximum temperatures here; and how cold air advection of great enough magnitude can overcome the "typical" daily rise in temperatures caused by daylight.

Not Your Typical Diurnal Curve

Pretty neat weather ongoing here in GFK. Today we had a daytime high of 20°F. Then some snow moved through ahead of a warm front - coating the ground with a fresh dusting to half inch. And what a nice warm front it is, with a 1am temperature now at 37°F! Here is a copy of the surface map with a crude overlay of frontal positions at 0716Z. Notice that in the 15 minutes that elapsed before I grabbed the surface map for analysis, the cold front passed through and the temperature dropped 5°F in 15 minutes:

I forgot to hit publish earlier, so I will expand on this topic a btit more. Plenty of cold air up in northern Manitoba where it's currently -35°F with a wind chill of -64°F at Gillam (ASOS: CYGX)! Should be a steady free fall in temperatures through the day -- we'll fall below zero during the afternoon. By 11:59pm, if we can fall to -13°F we will achieve a diurnal temperature range of 50°F! The latest GFS-LAMP MOS takes us pretty close, but falling just shy with a low of -11°F. Here is an hourly look at temperatures since midnight Tuesday:

Obviously the "curve" will be reversed for 1/16, and when graphing the two days together, it will be neat to see one big diurnal curve over a two-day span, as opposed to the "normal" pair of diurnal curves over the two days.

2012-13 NCAA Basketball Rankings - Vol. IV

Here are my updated Top 50 rankings, through games played on 1/13/2013:

Rank	Last	Team	Record	RPI	Conference
1	4	Kansas	(14-1, 2-0)	3	Big 12
2	5	Louisville	(15-1, 3-0)	8	Big East
3	9	Indiana	(15-1, 3-0)	10	B1G
4	1	Duke	(15-1, 2-1)	1	ACC
5	2	Michigan	(16-1, 3-1)	7	B1G
6	8	Butler	(14-2, 2-0)	15	Atlantic 10
7	11	Gonzaga	(16-1, 3-0)	6	West Coast
8	12	Syracuse	(16-1, 4-0)	13	Big East
9	6	Minnesota	(15-2, 3-1)	4	B1G
10	7	Ohio St.	(13-3, 3-1)	27	B1G
11	14	Florida	(12-2, 2-0)	9	SEC
12	3	Arizona	(15-1, 3-1)	2	PAC-12
13	13	San Diego St.	(14-2, 2-0)	31	Mountain West
14	26	NC State	(14-2, 3-0)	12	ACC
15	18	Creighton	(16-1, 5-0)	19	Missouri Valley
16	20	Michigan St.	(13-3, 2-1)	20	B1G
17	41	Oregon	(14-2, 3-0)	26	PAC-12
18	28	UCLA	(14-3, 4-0)	34	PAC-12
19	27	VCU	(14-3, 2-0)	30	Atlantic 10
20	29	Kansas St.	(13-2, 2-0)	38	Big 12
21	47	Mississippi	(13-2, 2-0)	47	SEC
22	24	New Mexico	(15-2, 2-0)	11	Mountain West
23	10	Illinois	(14-4, 1-3)	17	B1G
24	15	Missouri	(12-3, 1-1)	23	SEC
25	30	Baylor	(11-4, 3-0)	46	Big 12
26	N/A	Marquette	(12-3, 3-0)	22	Big East
27	46	Miami	(12-3, 3-0)	5	ACC
28	33	Connecticut	(12-3, 2-1)	16	Big East
29	25	Notre Dame	(14-2, 2-1)	44	Big East
30	42	Boise St.	(13-2, 1-0)	28	Mountain West
31	17	Wyoming	(14-1, 1-1)	37	Mountain West
32	22	Wichita St.	(15-2, 4-1)	21	Missouri Valley
33	19	Cincinnati	(14-3, 2-2)	35	Big East
34	21	Pitt	(13-4, 1-3)	69	Big East
35	16	Georgetown	(11-3, 1-2)	55	Big East
36	49	BYU	(14-4, 4-0)	33	West Coast
37	50	Memphis	(12-3, 2-0)	50	Conference-USA
38	39	UNLV	(13-3, 1-1)	24	Mountain West
39	23	Oklahoma St.	(11-4, 1-2)	36	Big 12
40	N/A	Temple	(12-3, 2-0)	32	Atlantic 10
41	43	Colorado St.	(13-3, 0-1)	25	Mountain West
42	N/A	Utah St.	(14-1, 5-0)	86	WAC
43	N/A	Iowa St.	(11-4, 1-2)	48	Big 12
44	34	Saint Louis	(12-4, 1-1)	51	Atlantic 10
45	N/A	Texas A&M	(12-3, 2-0)	41	SEC
46	N/A	Wisconsin	(12-4, 3-0)	63	B1G
47	N/A	Evansville	(11-6, 4-1)	78	Missouri Valley
48	N/A	Washington	(11-5, 3-0)	58	PAC-12
49	31	Kentucky	(10-5, 1-1)	68	SEC
50	N/A	St. Mary's	(12-4, 1-1)	73	West Coast

Dropped from Rankings: #32 Maryland, #35 Tennessee, #36 Iowa, #37 Texas, #38 North Carolina, #40 Colorado, #44 Indiana State, #45 Stanford, #48 Northwestern