Weather event diary, station news and opinion blog.

07/03/2022 10:25: The HRRR is saying thunderstorm chances tonight look good. The ECM isn't as much in agreement however. Here is the latest HRRR. It was right the other night (.64") but the ECM was onboard too. The NWS forecast has a 40% chance. Once again this is a late night occurrence arriving about 11 pm if it does occur.

This video clip was posted yesterday by the SD Governor. Remember when talk show hosts like the great American Rush Limbaugh (RIP) would talk about the "New World Order" the left was creating and our leftist media called this far-right conspiracy theorist nonsense? Well, now the illegitimate Biden administration flat-out admits the high gas prices are part of the plan for the "Liberal World Order". Video clip HERE . This is by far in my lifetime the biggest existential threat we have faced. Rush warned us for years it was coming. I just hope artificial meat tastes good if we can afford it.

07/02/2022 Total rainfall amounts yesterday, NE (.64"), KVSH downtown (.55") both using 8" dia SRG. East-Side (.55") Coco gauge, Miller Field once again way behind (.37"). Got a report from the north side of Goose Creek Rd. 8 miles in. (.55") and was really needed that area was missing out on much of the rain we were getting.

07/01/2022 21:00: A cluster of cells to our west are rapidly moving eastward toward the Valentine area, movement has slowed to around 30 mph from 50 mph earlier.

18:30: SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH through 11 PM, HRRR has changed it's storm track locations substantially. It does this often as events approach. LATEST

Looks like we have a pretty good chance of thunderstorms tonight in Valentine specifically (50%) and NW Nebraska with the severe threat elevated. We don't see this elevated risk level-2 frequently so worth taking notice.

06/30/2022 Some big wind gusts last night 68 mph at the airport and 60 mph at the East-side station. 51 mph here in NE Valentine.

06/29/2022 Picked up a 51 mph gust on the backside of the thunderstorm after it went through. Only a trace amount of rain.

17:55: Highs temps today. Miller Field (104°), Tempest south side (103.8°), East-side (103.6°), (103.2°) here in NE Valentine. It has clouded up with thunderstorms in the area. Our high heat index was (99.6 °F) at 3:56pm. This still did not surpass (100.3 °F) on 13-Jun-2022. You may remember it was our steady 70° dew point day with a high of 94°.

Conditions across town were totally different early on with almost a 10° difference. The wind was calm 0-3 mph on the north side of town while south Valentine was running 10-23 mph. Eventually, the wind will pick up across all of Valentine with the forecast high today at 104°. The hot south wind just doesn't have the same influence on the north side so won't be surprised if the high temperature lags a couple of degrees behind the south side of town. 100° days are rare with the exception 2017 when 9 occurred in July. Average since 2014 is 1-2 days all summer, today will likely be one of them exceeding the 99.3 °F back on 19-Jun-2022.

06/28/2022 Highs today (90.4°) NE Valentine, (90.5°) East-side, (91.9°) reported at Miller field. IDK...light north wind today and there was never a 5-minute update that warm. High heat index (87°) here in NE Valentine.

Morning lows got down to 55° here in NE Valentine, and 52° at Miller Field this morning. Forecast highs, today 92° and a hot one tomorrow at 103°. Looking at models they show the dew point temp from mid-30s to mid-40s during the peak heating period depending on the model used. The feels-like will run 97 to 99° if it reaches 103° so still plenty hot.

06/27/2022 20:00: You can sure feel the dry air with the dew point under 50° the feels like has only reached 85°. It's very comfortable in the shade even coolish with the breeze. We landed right on the forecast high of 88° here in NE Valentine, 89° at the East-side station, 89° Miller Field.

17:00: Updated "About" page with a new IMAGE of the weather station here in NE Valentine. Forecast has 104° for Wednesday, the good thing it's only for 1-day.

06/26/2022 19:00: Lows this morning were a cool (42°) at Miller Field & (44°) here in NE Valentine. Highs today with light wind, (79°) Miller Field, (78°) NE Valentine, (77°) East side. It really was the perfect day.

06/25/2022 19:40: It's gonna be chilly in the morning the 39° dew point says so if the wind subsides. Afternoon highs (75°) Miller Field, (74°) NE Valentine, (73°) East-side.

06:15: Rainfall totals from yesterday NE Valentine (.41"), Downtown 8" gauge radio station (.40"), East-side (.33"), Miller Field (.19"). High temps reached 96° everywhere except 97° at Miller Field. Windy this morning with NW wind gusts into the 40s. High temps forecast in the 70s today and Sunday. Next rainfall chance looks like Wednesday night.

06/24/2022 21:20: Finally got more rain and it did get heavy (2" per hr. rate) with the radar in red. So far today (.40").

20:30: Whitetail deer feeding across the street, eating the yucca plant flowers and acting like nothing is going on. They don't even startle with the thunder/lightning cracks. This cell has all but stalled, it's barely moving. Seen that before something about Valentine's location. I've been told it's not immune from baseball-size hail however by my insurance agent and others.

20:00: Second round on the way. Looks to have slowed. Big hail though 2.5", 45,000' top. Severe Thunderstorm Warning box just went up covering Valentine.

19:30: Well, the cell just did clip mainly the far north side of town, the rainfall didn't get real heavy, never exceeded 3/4" per hr. rate. We may get more activity tonight. Manual check (.16") Update: Miller Field only reported (.02"). Got a report someone living just inside South Dakota north of town (.80"). This next large cell looks to be heading directly at Valentine. Already hearing the rumblings.

05:00: Starting to see a little mist east side camera as the temperature drops closer to dew point. Juicy atmosphere this morning with the dew point temperature at 67°. Our low temperature is on the warm side because of the moisture. Chance of thunderstorms today 30% and this evening 60%. Our last rainfall occurred 12 days ago on 12-Jun-2022. We've had several thunderstorms march toward Valentine only to fizzle on our doorstep, maybe tonight one will hold together and bring needed moisture.

06/23/2022 18:26: High temps today were on the toasty side NE Valentine 97°, East-side also 97° and Miller Field reports 98°.

Peter Sinks Utah gets reported as the national low temperature much of the time. It's a big sinkhole high in the mountains where the Utah State University set up a monitoring station. It's so cold at night down in the sinkhole year-round no trees just sagebrush grow. Thought everyone should know nobody actually lives there. There is a link to Peter Sinks monitoring station on link page. I've followed the temps since the mid-80s when it reached -69°f. Here is an image from the early years and audio clip HERE. Nowadays they have solar-powered fan aspirated radiation shield using Apogee instruments. 4 different sensors 2-prt type, 2-thermistors and 2 shields.

Hot summer day ahead with the forecast high of 97° for Valentine. The best chance of moisture looks like Friday night at 50% before the nice cool down over the coming weekend with highs in the 70s.

06/22/2022 19:00: Warm one today with the south wind. Miller Field high-92°, East-side-91° also no in-town influence (lawns, trees, etc.), and 90° here in NE Valentine. Warmer even hot tomorrow with 95° in the forecast. Still looking at slight chances tomorrow and a better chance Friday night currently 40% of a thunderstorm. Really our last best chance for a while with nothing forecast precip-wise through Wednesday.

Nice cool morning low temps 47-48°. High temperature expected to reach near 90° today. Yesterday the high was 82° here, 83° at Miller Field. Only 81° at the East-side station.

06/21/2022 On 6-19-2022 set not just June but an all-time station record high minimum temperature (77.6°). Station records started June 1, 2014. The airport looks normal this morning so what happened yesterday may have been an anomaly. Still a nice cool down for the weekend ahead with rainfall chances Thursday, Friday, and Saturday but nothing substantial.

06/20/2022 20:10: The high temperature for Valentine was 90° everywhere except the airport ASOS somehow managed 93°. Not a good sign, hope it's not starting this again. No reason for it either the wind was even out of the NW at the time. We ended up with a trace from the thunderstorm that fizzled as it approached.

13:40: Severe Thunderstorm Watch issued by NWS until 20:00 tonight. The wind has already switched to the NW. I don't know where this 93° at the airport came from. Nothing else was close at the time.

Another hot day forecast with the south wind not as bad and the high temps near 95° today, a cool front pushes through later triggering chances of thunderstorms 30% this afternoon and 40% tonight. The wind will switch around to the NW tonight as the front moves through gusts to 30 mph. A nice cool down after a hot week of 90s for the upcoming weekend with all models onboard now with high temps dropping into the 70s. The GEM (Canadian) has the high temp down into the 60s Saturday. Besides tonight's 40% chance this upcoming weekend looks like the next best chance of precip on Friday night into Saturday. This morning the dew point is starting out at 61° so do have decent moisture at the surface. It will likely peel off into the mid 50s during our peak heating period leaving our feels-like slightly below the actual temperature.

06/19/2022 19:00: High temperatures today: Miller Field 102°, East side 101°, Tempest south-101°, NE Valentine-99°. High wind gusts-51 mph at the East-side station, Miller Field-48 mph. High heat index here NE Valentine was 98.0 °F at 2:35pm.

The "Heat Advisory" continues through 8 pm tonight with another hot one expected today along with the south wind continuing. Here in NE Valentine, it fell just short of the century mark at (99°) yesterday. Looking ahead next weekend the ECM has a nice cool down, hope it's right. Forecast discussion says it may bring our best chance of precip too. We do have a few chances prior 20% today and a better 30% tomorrow. A little more moisture today so may feel stickier than yesterday with slightly less wind expected. Our dew point is starting out at 61° early morning. If the wind is going to be less it sure isn't showing, early on already 43 mph gusts on the east side. .

06/18/2022 Final high temperatures today (101°) Miller Field, (100°) East side, (99°) NE Valentine. The heat index here in NE Valentine topped out at (96.8°F) at 4:45pm. So today didn't beat the high index of 100° back on the 13th of June. That was our 69-70° dew point temperature day. Wind gusts looked like this: Miller Field (51 mph), East-side (52 mph), NE Valentine only (41 mph) and was protected by the city of Valentine itself. The Tempest station south Valentine near the airport recorded a high temp of 99.9° and had a wind gust of 49.5 mph.

The heat advisory starts today at 12 noon. Breezy this morning the dew point has fallen from 70° to 64° and is expected to reach the 50s this afternoon. The Heat Index will still be pushing 100° later in the afternoon. As far as reaching 100° today it's unusual for this station with only 3 occurrences since 2014 for all months of June, but can't be ruled out. The airport and south side of HW20 have a better shot where it runs slightly warmer than inside town with the stiff south wind gusting to 40 mph. The record high today is (101°). Our forecast highs have been coming up short lately mainly (IMO) because the humidity has been running higher than anticipated. Looks like next weekend may be a repeat so more hot weather, how fun. Hopefully, we can squeeze some moisture out before it dries out too much. The best chance looks like Sunday night at 40%.

I had a long-time resident tell me they thought the summer humidity here in Valentine had increased over the years. The rainfall average has gone from (18.5") 07/01/1889 to 06/10/2016 now (20.9") NCDC 1991-2020. This station average since 2014 has been (25.75"). But we had a couple really wet years unprecedented (roads flooded) that skew that average.

06/17/2022 Final highs with the stiff south breeze both thermometers south side of HW20 Miller Field and South Tempest 90°, NE and East-side station 89°.

16:25: The peak wind gusts today so far is 40 mph at both north side weather stations and 43 mph at the airport. The airport is running warmer up to (1.6°) at times but it's the real deal nothing is wrong with the thermometer. I've measured the air temp many times at the airport under these conditions with the strong south wind, it's about the location. Even the east side station will get in on the act occasionally and read warmer vs inside town. The afternoon forecast still says 100° tomorrow so could tie or break the old record of 101°. Forecast wind gusts near 40 mph again tomorrow means it's possible at the airport.

13:30: We did get a light shower here in NE Valentine.

12:45: Just had a couple of lightning strikes and hearing the thunder. Smelling rain too. Check out the Tempest South station shows the lightning and how far out. Notice folks the dew point temperature (63°), it's really moistened up. I wonder about the century mark tomorrow with a dew point like that. Plan on taking advantage of the clouds and 80°, mowing as soon as the lightning threat is gone. Twice a week don't bag, mulch so have to look for opportunities between heat waves and rainfall.

NWS statement "EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH CANCELLED FOR FRIDAY BUT REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY EVENING". Noticed a little change in the forecast now 100° for Saturday vs 103° while Sunday is 102° as of the early morning forecast Friday. Still hot just not quite as. Looking at models 4 pm Saturday the HRRR has us at 102° but very dry with the dew point of only 44°, while the ECM (European) has us at 97° and more humid with a dew point of 51°. More humidity slows the rise in air temperatures and also slows the descent so won't cool off as much at night. It's more humid early this morning (52 dp) vs yesterday (43 dp) at the same time of day. Low temps this morning so far 55° at Miller Field, 56° East-side station, also 55° here in NE Valentine. Highs yesterday, Miller Field came in at 86° plus 1° over the other stations all at 85°.

06/16/2022 Clear and calm this morning the air temperature is trying to reach the dew point temp of (43°) with the dry air and great radiational cooling conditions. Lows so far 44° airport, 45° East-side, and the warm spot 46° here in NE Valentine. The forecast says Hot Hot Hot coming up. Of course, Hot weather is relative to what we are used to. Same with cold depends on where you live and what you are used to. Valentine is unique it gets very hot and very cold.

06/15/2022 20:15: Comfortable day with the breeze, 83° was the high temperature from airport to the north side of town, and dry, saw our RH dip into the teens at times. Not good for the hay fields and wildfires, however. The forecast still has 103° for both Saturday and Sunday with 94-96° on the corners Friday and Monday. The 90s continue through the 7-day.

05:40: Radar is showing some returns but doubtful much is reaching the ground. (sprinkle currently) A cool front moves in today with a westerly wind with gusts to 35 mph. A good day to do outside chores before the heat arrives this weekend starting Friday 96°, Saturday 104°, and Sunday 102°. Something interesting this station has recorded only (3) 100°+ days in June total, ever. So having 2-100° days in a row is unusual for sure. Hasn't happened yet so we'll see. I won't be shocked if it doesn't happen something like humidity will move in and temper the high temperature like the other day. This dates back to June 2014 when the station went in service.

06/14/2022 Looking at the weekend forecast of 103° Saturday and Sunday you may wonder how humid will it be? Well, the dew point temp forecast is around 56° so could be worse, this will make the forecast high 103° heat index actually lower by 1° so 102° feels like. What can change this should our dew point be lower or higher than 56°. Don't have to go far east to get into the 60° dew point range HERE . That 70° stuff in Omaha is what we experienced yesterday, they can keep it.

12:30: There has been a revision to the forecast now with a 20% chance of showers. Light showers currently showing out west.

Wind gusts overnight have reached 48 mph, airport 49 mph. The atmosphere has really dried out compared to yesterday with our dew point back down in the low 50s. The forecast is still looking at 100s for the weekend starting with mid 90s Friday. Little chance of rain in the forecast until next Sunday night where a slight chance is mentioned. This isn't good to go for days during June during our peak solar period with no moisture, it'll really start to dry out everything again increasing our wildfire danger. Only (.05") in the last 4-days and now another long period moisture free ahead.

06/13/2022 Here in NE Valentine it reached 94° our heat-index reached 100°. You can look at details HERE under Records and Stats. East-side was slightly cooler by a few tenths at 93° rounded. Looks like Miller Field came in the same 93°. Valentine doesn't get that many days where the dew point hangs around 70° but this was one of them. Several records down south where the air was dry and temps shot way up.

15:00: Currently 91° heat index 97°. Our forecast high temperature for the day has been revised down slightly with the afternoon forecast package, now (96°) by the NWS. The high humidity has slowed the ambient temperature rise somewhat. Dry air both increases and decreases temperature faster vs moist air.

Was looking at the "Heat Advisory", Valentine is not included however Springview, Thedford, and Ainsworth are. I would still take precautions later today as the clouds burn off.

06:50: The forecast high today is 98°. My concern is our dew point temp is 70° this morning. If it stays in this range today our heat index will be around 105° later this afternoon. Maybe the dew point will lower some as the heat builds. Our forecast low tomorrow morning is 61° so the dew point will lower but that's tomorrow. That thunderstorm last night is still puzzling how with our atmosphere being so juiced it didn't produce much rainfall (.05"). It hung over us long enough to produce a 1/4".

06/12/2022 Update: 23:08: The manual gauge agrees (.05") still some sprinkles however. Same at the East-side.

22:55: Sure not getting much rainfall for how the radar looks and the noise it's making. We've had heavier showers than this with a lot less showing on the radar.

21:50: Looking at the storm attributes one of the cells furthest north is a supercell (Mesocyclone) tops just over 42,000 feet. Not seeing any indication of large hail as of yet. Radar will show larger hail with white and pink returns. Further north near Murdo SD there are some monster storms. 56,000 feet and large hail with a Tornado Warning the red box.

A 50% chance of thunderstorms tonight fueled by our daytime temperatures around 91° and surface dew point temps near 60°. Some could be strong with large hail. Monday high temps will warm up even more near (100°) in front of a strong cold front moving through Wyoming. Some of the higher elevation towns in Wyoming mention a snow mix like Jackson and Big Piney.

06/11/2022 The NWS afternoon forecast bumped up chances of precip slightly 30% tonight and 40% tomorrow night. Still near that 99-100° mark for Monday. High temps today across town with full sunshine 1042 W/m2 peak solar and light wind 87°.

Cooler at Miller Field this morning at 59° while only 61° on the NE side of town. The way it should be occasionally. Today's forecast high temp backed away from the low 90's now at 88° with a 20% chance of thunderstorms tonight. The forecast high for Monday is now 100°. North Platte's forecast high Monday is 105° which will break the record. Sunday night looks like a decent chance of rain per (ECM) model with 30% on the forecast.

06/10/2022 5:30 pm: Replaced the NE station temp/humidity sensor with a new unit. Being this NE station uses a high-speed fan for aspiration (51 cfm) the humidity sensor can dry out so needs replaced yearly. Spring is a good time to replace. Sensors in non-aspirating fan units can last twice as long. Sensor life can be extended by going to reduced fan speed at night this is also the trick for high humidity areas to prevent instrument saturation and dripping water out like yesterday morning.

Dense Fog this morning. Airport has .24 mi, visibility and 100% RH. at 55°. All the same here in NE Valentine but shows 99%. The East-side station has a newer humidity sensor shows 100%. Maybe it's time to replace this NE sensor, do have a new backup ready to go. Water was dripping out of the main FARS shield this morning so it reached 100% saturation. A friend down in south Texas ( Victoria area) has this issue almost every day, it's a rare occurrence here to have extended hours of fog where water starts dripping out. Water doesn't cause sensor damage they just take longer to dry out so will read higher humidity than actual during recovery.

06/09/2022 Highs, lows with precip reported across Valentine today here. High temps came in late at both Miller Field and the South St. station just before 8 pm, a rather late time of day. Checking conditions to see what may have caused this late hour occurrence the wind went dead calm for about 15-20 minutes on that side of town. Here on the north side our highs came in around 4 pm.

1:30 pm: Updated East side amount: Our rainfall total here in NE Valentine (.28"). The radio station SRG reports (.27"). Everything has worked east of Valentine. FYI East-side tipping bucket reported (.23") I'll head out there later check and dump the Cocorahs manual gauge. I may have to stop doing this with gas prices approaching $5 a gallon. (Update:) land owner is going to check and dump the gauge. (.24") in coco gauge, thank you Merle. That's as close as a tipping bucket gauge can get, within (.01") the last few rainfalls. Calling the calibration good.

11:05: am: Getting thunder and lightning that cell heading our way has a top of 29,000 feet. IMAGE The big thunderstorms approach 40,000 feet plus.

Our forecast has decreased chances from likely yesterday to a 40% chance of thunderstorms today and 30% tonight. Radar is showing some light showers developing to the west of Valentine this morning at the 5 am hour. The heat is turning up with 92° forecast Saturday, Sunday, and 96° on Monday.

06/08/2022 Low temps around Valentine this morning here. The north side of town was slightly warmer where the wind didn't settle down as much.

High-pressure is building in today with a slight chance of precip 20% chance tonight.

06/07/2022 Two different light showers 7:35 (.05") and 8:45 pm (.02").

Last night when I mentioned the Miller Field ASOS is back this is what I was talking about Click here. Haven't seen it reach 100% humidity for years or even exceed 94%. And at the same time was matching temperatures of other stations. I like to use this LINK for a quick station comparison. (Desktops work best) Miller Field is the south station. It updates about every 5-10 minutes. This link is at the bottom of the external link menu bar too. Radar is showing a big thunderstom down south and we have a little development west of Valentine over Cody currently (4:45 pm).

Low temps across Valentine this morning here. They came in last night around 2:20 am during our fog.

6:20 am: The fog that developed last night has dissipated this morning. Forecasters are giving us a 30% chance of showers & TS today with our best chance Thursday at 80%.

1:25 am: Folks the airport ASOS is back and real again showing accurate conditions temps match other stations and even 100% humidity... Thanks to whoever did this bringing back what our climate is actually like. I'm still envious that my Sensirion instruments take a long time to saturate and reach 100% RH. "Currently 98%" I can see fog developing on the east side camera.

06/06/2022 9:53 pm: We did get a heavy shower here in NE Valentine just now (.11") in about 6 minutes the 8" NWS style SRG agrees. Yellow on the radar. (.09") at the East-side station.

Highs temps today around town here. Added the Miller Field (ASOS) back to external links.

3:45 pm: Thunderstorms being this spaced out across a region have a better opportunity to get big. Nothing around Valentine currently. I see west of Merriman a twister was reported with an actual tornado on the ground.

6:00 am: We have some fog developing again around sunrise. Hills to the west 1/2 mile aren't completely covered yet.

06/05/2022 7:15 pm: The reported high temps today with precip since midnight here. An uneventful afternoon for Valentine. I didn't bother with doppler estimate images because they are high like 1.70" airport and 1.73" here in NE Valentine. IDK why the overestimate is so much, almost double.

10:25 am: Just got back from the East-side the calibration was almost spot on (.78") in the Coco gauge vs (.79") tipping bucket. Hee-Haw, finally.

7:45 am: (.80") is today's total rainfall so far and still a light sprinkle. We have fog developing the hills have disappeared. The Tempest Weather Flow station shows 99% Rel.humidity while the main NE station shows 97%. The East-side station tipping bucket says (.79") so maybe it's finally adjusted. Been chasing the calibration all spring. I'll head out there later and check the Cocorahs gauge. What happened we had to move the gauge because cattle got brought in. So it knocked the calibration off.

6:20 am: Heavy rain 4.2" per hr. rate at one time. Steady around 2.2" rate. Good things happen with the dew point at 57.6°, RH 97% with our 58° ambient temp.

5:25 am: Active with thunderstorms early this morning. Forecast overnight 30% chance with a better chance 60% mainly after 4 pm today. Looks like cells to the west in the Cody area moving at 25 mph will arrive around 6 am if they hold together. (.04") in rainfall so far today.

This is what you get at the airport ASOS with the (+1.8°f) error and relative humidity. The computer doesn't recognize the fog because the RH is only 88%. So reports it as mist HERE. What a great "CLIMATE STATION".

06/04/2022 7:22 pm: Highs and Lows around town today HERE , Same Ol' story with the airport.

10:15 am: 2-day rainfall total now (.22"). FYI the East-side station total was (.20"). So less than the NE gauge by (.02"), made an adjustment on the tipping bucket. Been chasing the east-side calibration too long now. Not a lot of change with chances of moisture every day except next Wednesday. Sunday is our best chance currently at 80%. Forecast temps are expected to stay below normal not reaching 80° throughout the 7-day with next Thursday and Friday being the warmest at 77°. Worth mentioning our dew point temperature is 55° now, so our lower atmosphere is moist enough should rain develop we can start seeing higher rainfall amounts. The dew point is forecast to stay near 50° or above for the remainder of the period.

2:40 am: Heavy rain and small hail for a few minutes.

06/03/2022 7:15 pm: High temps around Valentine today here. All stations are the same with the exception airport 'CLIMATE STATION" (+4°) at 71°. We're melting...Confidence in rainfall tonight by forecasters has varied today from 50,80 now 60%.

Here are the doppler estimates at 1:pm and what was reported comparison St. Francis reported (.27"), NE Valentine actual (.09"), Miller Field reported (.07"), and finally the Radio Station reported (.10").

1:10 pm: Update: (.09") now, also (.09") East-side reported, airport shows (.07") .... Previous: This is good the forecast had a slight chance and now getting a little moisture along the warm-front boundary. Currently (.07") and light rain. A better chance tonight at 50%.

Well, I'm going to miss Dave Dent "Radio Hall of Fame". Retires June 6th. He knows the weather.

For today 40% chance with the best shot of precip coming tonight at 50%, models show timing late around midnight into early am hours. As far as how much these models show (.12 to .25"). The forecast continues with chances of moisture every day over the 7-day period but nothing above 50-50 chance right now. Temperatures look to stay below normal throughout, next Thursday 77° forecast is as close as it gets to the 80° mark. Normal today is H-79 L-51.

Here are the lows around town. Plus 2° at the airport ASOS not surprising over the South Valentine station.

06/02/2022 Highs today around town here. The forecast has moistened up some now seeing chances of rain every day starting Friday. Lows in 50's too this is a good sign, need the dew point temps out of the 40s. The current DP is 38° here 36° East-side meaning our low temp potential is right around that number. The forecast low is much warmer at 49° so possible clouds and moisture moving in later tonight. Update: discussion talks about a warm front moving north and stalling near the SD border by morning.

Highs yesterday around town here. Every station 69° except you may have guessed the airport 72°. This cool influence continues making chances of soaking rainfalls not that great. 50% chance Friday. Our low here in NE Valentine 39° this morning. Still needing the heat pump to cycle taking the chill off in June. Here are the final lows locally on this chilly June morning. Subtract the +2° airport error and it's the same as South Valentine station. This website keeps daily records here, showing both June 1 and 2 have set station low temps for both and low high for the 1st. Not historical records but June hasn't started this cool since at least 2014.

06/01/2022 For May we ended below normal, temperature (-.9°). precip (-.62"), for more including the rest of the year, click here.. Scroll down you can see the departures from normal. Coolish temperatures with no 80°'s in sight through the 7-day with chances of rain starting Friday.

05/31/2022 Update: We've had several light showers today picking up an additional (.01"). (.02") since midnight. Did make it out to the East-side station manual rain gauge. (1.14") so (.09") less rain than NE Valentine location. Doppler agreed was (-.13) less.

5:00 am: Heavy mist this morning not seeing fog yet, the manual SRG (.75") since yesterday morning + (.48") from yesterday makes storm total (1.23") for NE Valentine. The website totals reset at midnight making things more confusing but they are within (.01") of each other. On the month departure is now only (-.64") so it was a very welcome rainfall. FYI the East Side station located .68 mile east recorded storm total manual gauge (1.14").

Doppler estimates are going to come in high of actual due to the dry lower atmosphere we started out with. Here are the 72 hour estimates. St. Francis , NE Valentine , Miller Field and finally the old station location west Valentine HERE . The doppler estimate is running about (.12") high as previously mentioned rainfall wasn't reaching the ground with green radar returns until yesterday is the reason. For others check your location the doppler estimate is linked under external links. Many times it's right on or within a few hundredths of the NE station location using the 8" diameter rain gauge.

05/30/2022 7:50 pm: The last update today we just had a nice downpour here in NE Valentine (1.18") storm total so far. The wind continues from a westerly direction at 21 mph with gusts near 30 mph. Storm totals will get summarized tomorrow along with Doppler radar estimates.

On this Memorial Day, we had early morning rain (.16"), prior to midnight (.32") making the event total this hour (.48"). Valentine avoided any damaging storms last night. Gusts of 50 mph at midnight in NE Valentine, East side just after midnight 49 mph. South side near the airport only 43 mph reported. The airport reported 58 mph. I did get a report of pea size hail that lasted a few seconds from the westside of town but the TS had pretty much weakened by the time it reached Valentine. Update: The (.48") total is the manual reading from the 8" dia SRG. If we don't get a major rainfall event in the next 45 hours we are ending the month of May well below normal. It's almost like pulling teeth just to get an 1/2" this year. Normal May rainfall is 3.52", here in NE Valentine sitting at 2.13" leaving a departure of 1.39". The airport is worse.

Here are the 72 hour doppler estimates. Here in Valentine it's higher than actual due likely to evaporation. St Francis , Miller Field , NE Valentine . Added the Doppler estimate back to the external links menu bar so you can check against your rain gauge. It's usually pretty close even right on at times but today it overestimated.

05/29/2022 10:44 pm: Movement has slowed or stalled, moderate/light rain. (.14") has fell currently

Lows around town this morning, here. Highs yesterday around town here.

Trace amounts of rainfall last night, everything stayed just W-NW of town starting at least 3-grass fires with lightning and lack of rainfall. A photographer could have got some spectacular lightning images last night. 70% chance again tonight with thunderstorms and 80% Memorial Day. Our dew point is slightly higher 55-56° (+2°) over yesterday this morning so feel a little better about getting rainfall tonight. Ideally closer to 60° plus is what we need for a good soaking. Last night was another example of our dry lower atmosphere, rainfall was only reaching the ground with the yellow and red radar returns. So our thunderstorms are pretty much shooting blanks unless parked directly under the main cell with lots of wind and lightning.

05/28/2022 8:20 pm: Update: We are under a Severe Thunderstorm WATCH currently. Thunderstorms to our west and SW are moving about 25 mph. Already hearing thunder so the arrival time may be earlier than thought. Lightning strikes 19-24 miles out. The stronger storm is the furthest out to our SW aimed toward Valentine.

Lows around town here. NE Valentine the warm spot +4 vs South and East-side. Notice the airport still runs +2° over the nearby station. Good chance of thunderstorms tonight at 60%. Hopefully not high based and we get some moisture.

05/27/2022 Highs today around town here. The Airport "Climate Station" +4° over the nearby south Valentine station. +5° over this NE Valentine location. The radio station downtown location surrounded by concrete and buildings high temp using NWS instruments reported (91°).

6:30 pm: The lower atmosphere is just too dry (44° dp) so hardly anything is reaching the ground even with dark green returns, seeing lots of virga from high base clouds. A sprinkle so far is all. We did get a gust of 41 mph here in NE Valentine. 34 mph South-side.

5:25 pm: update: The radar shows activity to the west the strength of cells are dying down some (no red). We might get a shower before it's over tonight. The dew point temp just crashed both NE and East-side. We were pushing 50° about 15 minutes ago now 42°. Seeing lightning 22 miles away, 8 strikes total.

The ECM is bullish on rainfall lets hope it's just half true.

Low temps this morning around town here. Our afternoon dew point temp was 43-44° 4-pm yesterday so was a little puzzled at the forecast low of only 51°. Unless there is a airmass change, clouds moisture cold front etc. you can get a good idea what the low temp will be by the afternoon dew point temp. That's the forecasters of old general rule before models.

05/26/2022 High temps today around town, here. The ASOS always runs +2° but why +5° IDK. ASOS stands for (Automated Surface Observing Systems). I have another name for it.

6:30 am: Final lows on this very chilly morning: NE valentine 35°, East-side 34°, South side near airport: 35°.

5:15:am Update: There may be some scattered patchy frost this morning, especially in low-lying areas. here on top of the hill above the city park and Mill Pond sitting at 37°. Noticed the 40° afternoon dew point yesterday and should have mentioned it. It doesn't need to freeze where air temps are measured for frost to form. Colder air is denser and sinks toward the ground making it several degrees colder, especially with good radiational cooling and dead calm like this morning. The airport area Tempest station is 36° at 7' above ground. (35°) at the East-side station. Still time to cover those tenders if you happen to be up at this hour.

05/25/2022 Update:3:pm: Well not one issue all day since posting this early this morning 5 am, maybe the problem on server end has been corrected: Previous: Been having an issue with the GR3 radar not connecting to the server. Recently it's gotten worse and really at a loss as to why. I'll try to keep it going and upload the message when noticed down. If you suspect the images are not updating use the loops under Sat/Radar tab. They are not near as nice or detailed but better than nothing. Hopefully, this doesn't continue especially when needed.

05/24/2022 6:34 am: Starting to see a little fog on the hilltops .

Doppler estimate agrees with rainfall in NE Valentine, the airport was .08" but only (.06") reported, so was low once again. The temperature runs high and the rainfall low on the "Climate Station", get it? Here is the estimate for St. Francis (.02"). For those living on the far westside and down on Lake Shore dr. the same .07". RH is running high this morning 97%-98% on all stations, the exception, airport Climate Station that can't run that high with the temperature +2° error. A couple more below normal days before we get into the 80's and possible weekend thunderstorms including Memorial Day.

05/23/2022 We picked up (.07") here in NE Valentine, (.08") at the East-side station here. As far as models go the winner was the GEM predicting only (.08"). It was also the first model to pickup on the freeze yesterday some 7-days out. I rarely give it a second look because it's all over the place maybe it's worth another.

12:45 pm: Hate to be the bearer of bad news once again, the curse of the 100% chance has struck again. Valentine looks to be in a dry slot. HRRR latest for future precip shows only .08. I hope not but at the noon hour using the HRRR, it doesn't look great for Valentine. So far not a sprinkle. We are up to a 42° dew point so that's going in the right direction, maybe the slot will fill in and bring some rain.

9:15 am: The forecast was adjusted down to 90% chance of rain today. Radar is showing some green returns over Valentine but nothing is reaching the ground yet. The dew point has come up 5° to 39° so the lower atmosphere is getting wetter.

5:30 am: The models have trended drier it started yesterday afternoon. The HRRR is the wettest here is what they say to expect in rainfall. The surface is dry this morning (34° dp) so expect early on radar returns not to produce much. Using the HRRR model rain in Valentine will begin between 10-11 am. It's gonna be another unseasonable cool day (52°), we've had plenty of those this spring with the La Nina influence along with the below-normal moisture. Some heat Friday, 90° followed by thunderstorm chances Saturday and Sunday.

05/22/2022 It's been down to (25.7°) at the South St. station near the airport. That's a pretty hard freeze over on the south side, here in NE Valentine only 29.5°. The East-side station low came in at 28°. Looking out the front window the lawn is frost-covered. Here's a shocker the airport ASOS low 28° and looks normal, Right? Wrong! The actual low was (25.7°) nearby so still runs +1.8° (1°c) high. The Tempest Weather Flow stations publish temperature similiar to the ASOS that 25.7° was a one minute average temperature. And the temperature is very accurate better than .2f is their claim.

Hopefully, we get a good soaking tomorrow some models show over an inch possible with ECM coming in at .60" and the lowest around .40". We are below normal for May our wettest month and if we don't get it now, may not come. Clouds will start rolling in from the SW after 2 pm today. The HRRR doesn't start rain chances for Valentine until Monday morning after 7am.

La Niña Synopsis issued May 12th: Though La Niña is favored to continue, the odds for La Niña decrease into the late Northern Hemisphere summer (58% chance in August-October 2022) before slightly increasing through the Northern Hemisphere fall and early winter 2022 (61% chance). The stronger La Niña is brings in more northerly drier flows for our area. So the weaker it gets the better for moisture.

05/21/2022 "Freeze Warning" is in effect starting tonight 10 pm for the Valentine area and Eastern Cherry. The Forecast low for the immediate area is 28° with widespread frost so most areas will freeze. Rainfall chance for Sunday night 60% into Monday 80% still looks good with most models saying around a 1/2". FYI: Noticed the dew point temp is 32°, that's the potential low temp should the clouds clear out this morning. Currently at 5:30 am it's 35° with a 10-14 mph wind so not ideal radiational cooling. South St. near the airport with lighter wind 3-5 mph is down to 34°.

Just how dry has this May 2022 been compared to others going back to 2015 HERE . May has been our wettest month with over a 5" average. This data is available under Reports/Daily summary. Reload the page if it doesn't open the first time.

05/20/2022 Rainfall overnight (.04"). Also at the East-side station, all fell prior to midnight. Some of the light radar returns this morning are not reaching the ground with drier air at the surface. High temps today and tomorrow only mid 50's. Saturday morning clouds will likely prevent a freeze for Valentine but Sunday skies will be clear with a current forecast low of 32° at 6 feet. As far as rainfall this coming Monday looks really good with a 70% chance with thunderstorms possible, models are saying around 1/3" ECM to 1/2" with others. As mentioned drier air at the surface shows with the doppler estimate overnight .07" here at the NE station actually reaching the rain gauge was (.04"). The airport estimate was .05", reported (.02"). The one exception St.Francis doppler estimate .15" , there was a report 3X that amount (.45")?

As with measuring air temperature, rainfall requires certain siting guidelines, along with an accurate gauge. The NWS recognizes two rain gauges the 8" diameter standard rain gauge and the 4" diameter CoCorahs gauge. Cocorahs gauges are affordable and can be purchased HERE.

05/19/2022 Today we have a 30% chance of showers during the evening with wind gusts reaching 40 mph with the approaching cold front. We've had good luck with 30% chances. Friday very cool, the high temp in the 50's with a few snowflakes into the early morning hours Saturday with the clouds and precip keeping any frost away per the forecast. Sunday morning we are not as lucky, with a clear sky it looks like scattered frost is likely with a 33° low temperature. Nice warm up Sunday during the day back to 67°.

05/18/2022 6:pm: One last update with so many wondering about the frost potential this weekend. Saturday morning looks like only 35° and maybe a few sprinkles or flakes but Sunday morning the forecast has 34° with patchy frost. I looked at the ECM cloud cover for Sunday morning from midnight on it's mostly clear. We got down to 40° just a couple days ago, even 39° on the East side with a much warmer air mass in place. The only thing that may slow it would be the wind around 3-5 kts at 10 meters, but when it says 5 knots it could be much less at the surface. Was given a list of flowers and while checking temperature tolerances ran across one (Marigolds) they don't like anything below 40°. What it says is 40° might not kill a healthy plant. Yikes! So some are more tender than others.

3:50 pm: Update: The 8" diameter SRG (.11") . The East side Cocorahs gauge was (.12"). This was what the TS cell looked like after it had weakened slighty. Here are the Doppler estimates NE (.11") and I added St.Francis here at (.01") . Some may understand what this is about. The airport doppler estimate says it was only (.04") where the instruments are located. West 3rd St. at the old station location came in at (.14") on the doppler estimate.

1:35 pm: Well that little cell got a little bigger and turned south slightly so we might get a shower. It's very weak right now with only 8 lightning strikes.

1:15 pm: This little cell looks like it slides just north of Valentine. St. Frances probably picked up an inch at least. Just kidding.

Thursday night is our next best chance of precip. Looking at the freeze/frost potential over the coming weekend it really comes down to clouds acting like a blanket holding the ground heat in or good radiational cooling with clear skies. Using the ECMWF model Saturday looks cloudy while Sunday looks clear around the 7am hour. Models differ at this point with the GFS MOS freezing Saturday and still being a few days out they will jockey around more. Yesterday the ECM model was clear Saturday morning and if the timing is off a little maybe clear again on Saturday. As of today the best chance of a frost/freeze looks like Sunday morning. I know this potential frost is on many gardener's minds with planting in full swing, if still sitting in pots ready to go in the ground I would just wait until after the weekend before planting to be on the safe side.

Need to make a correction on how HW 12 came into Valentine years ago. Thanks Gerry for the information, instead of connecting to Bias street which made sense because the Bias St. layout makes little otherwise it actually made a hard left and then a hard right. The 1957 yearbook verifies this, plus you can still see the outline on the google image. The NE station location looked much more wooded back in 1957 before developed.

05/17/2022 FYI if any interest in the thunderstorm cells out in far Western Nebraska, under the Sat/Radar tab open Cheyenne radar.

Last night it was looking like we might get something today but now looks less likely. Still a 30% chance with the forecast, the only model showing more than a .01 or .02" is the GEM with the ECM showing nothing. The potential freeze over the weekend is still on. Saturday and even Sunday mornings are possible. As far as station freeze data on the season we sit at 160 currently. (Correction made I'm half asleep sometimes when I do the morning blog) This season the only record was, we had the fewest days where the high temp stayed below 32° only (25). The next fewest was (33) back in 2015-2016.

High temps yesterday here in NE valentine (83°), at the south side station next to the airport (84°) as was the downtown radio station thermometer with (NWS Instruments). As is standard now the airport ASOS KVTN (Climate station) tongue in cheek, reported +2° at (86°).

05/16/2022 11:am: The Doppler radar is back and so is the current forecast thanks to KVSH radio giving a heads up. Wasn't paying attention this morning. The North Platte forecast stopped working so reverted back to an older script.

5:45 am: Cool morning currently 39-41° from South St. to NE side. Not seeing much accumulation of rain this week, maybe a few hundredths each event. Potential frost Saturday morning with forecasters in discussion mentioning growing confidence as a colder air mass moves in Friday. What it comes down to is whether it's clear or cloudy Saturday morning the air mass will be cold enough to freeze. Sunday also has a potential. Most models have high temps Friday around 50° exception is GFS currently 56°.

05/15/2022 Updated Doppler estimates around town after a few more showers occurred ranged from NE side, actual (.38"), airport side here , reported (.26") as you can see south side had less. Here is the far west side of town at the old station location. The St. Francis estimate here at (.21").

9:35 am: Checked the Cocorahs gauge at the East-side station (.34") . So calibration is a little low (.31") easiest way to fix is software adjustment so that was done. Also we have had a couple more showers (.04") so total rainfall is now (.38") here at the NE location.

7:40 am: Slept through the rain last night, just checked the 8" SRG (.34") The website tipping bucket was very close within (.01"). Also, put a Cocorahs gauge back out at the East-side station because the tipping bucket got calibrated a few days ago. I'll head out there later and compare the gauges. Well a nice little soaking, not totally unexpected. The European ECM model was on track and had been for some time. Anytime the ECM keeps saying the same thing it usually is more right than not. The America models even the HRRR, never mind I'll zip it.

05/14/2022 Here is what Doppler says fell over the past 24-hours in the area. This was the evening showers (15 lightning strikes occurred) just to our east under a tenth of an inch.

6:00 am: Strange occurrence the wind just gusted to over 30 mph from almost calm conditions. Temps bumped up to 48° also.

5:30 am: Temps this morning on the cool side 42° and dropping across town. Model runs early on look about the same as yesterday with the ECM still saying a couple of tenths late toward or after midnight tonight. The German Icon is onboard also. American models not so, this includes HRRR. Won't surprise me to see a shower but not near enough. The month of May is generally such a wet month for us and being 1/2 way through with only 1-inch is concerning. Things can sure change however look at Ainsworth over 2" in one storm reported from city observer. Wasn't long ago the same happened to Valentine where nothing could miss. One last freeze is back on the table for the 22nd per the GEM (28°). Still a ways out but something those planting tenders are concerned with. Not many places have to wait until almost June for their last freeze.

05/13/2022 12:30 pm: The forecast doesn't look great for precip at 20% but the latest hot off the press ECM continues to move moisture in around the 10-11 pm hour Saturday night (tomorrow). Not a lot but is something to watch for being this is the best medium range model.

05/12/2022 6:10 pm: The peak gust so far here in NE Valentine is 56 mph, East side 52 mph, and the airport ASOS looks like 58 mph.

5:25 pm: I can't remember thunderstorms moving this fast. 60 mph according to the direction barbs. Ainsworth doesn't need more rain and they're about to get it.

HRRR at 6 pm today. Gusts will reach the 40's around the 5 pm hour according to the model. Sticky outside today with the 65° dew point temperature.

05/11/2022 Updated 5/13/21: Yesterday turned on a new Weather Flow Tempest station for public viewing. The station is located next (13-feet) to the NE station so you can compare temperature and dewpoint. Don't use the wind speed it's mounted near ground level and surrounded by obstructions so not accurate at all. That's the problem with any all-in-one weather station is finding an open unobstructed area where wind can be measured accurately like at the South St. station. The link for the new station is found on the external links menubar or HERE. If you click on the cloud toward the top right you get a forecast with rain chances etc. Also, you can click on history for comparing highs and lows you may be surprised how accurate it is sitting next to the professional NE station. Follows much closer within a few tenths vs the +1°c (+1.8f) airport ASOS. The temperature isn't real-time but a 1-minute average similar to how the ASOS reports. What's nice about these all-in-one Tempest stations they also do lightning detection, UV and solar so really a complete package provided accurate wind speeds and rainfall iffy at best aren't a necessity. The strong point is the temperature and humidity they have quality sensors and with AI technology for accuracy claim (.2f) or better and you can see it sitting next to a fan aspirated station.

05/09/2022 Here is the doppler estimate over the last 72 hours, Valentine around (1.07") , St.Francis has got the least by far according to doppler here . This covers Friday and the 2-weekend storms Saturday and Sunday nights.

A large thunderstorm capable of 2" hail according to GR3 doppler rolled through. Checked the manual gauge (.46"). Here is what doppler says fell here also (.46"). At Miller Field (.51") but only reported (.39"). Miller Field seems to always report lower. The barometer is low this morning 29.26" with the forecast having wind gusts reaching 45 mph later today.

05/08/2022 7:30 pm: 2 models are now saying Valentine will get 1" plus precip tonight. ECM, and Icon. Doesn't look very threatening but starting to see some development out west. Make that 3 the HRRR got onboard with the last hourly run. Looking at the HRRR timing around 1-2 am for arrival time.

*UPDATED* Today did rain gauge calibration checks on both the East side and NE station automated tipping buckets. Made adjustments as needed. The SRG 8" diameter manual gauge is the final say, but still want the best calibration possible for website visitors in real-time. About 3% accuracy is the best a tipping bucket of this design can do depending on rainfall rate. The East side station tipping bucket gauge has a 5% accuracy. There is a single spoon rain gauge bucket coming out in about 8 weeks according to the manufacturer RainWise with a 2% accuracy I"ll be looking into. I've spoken with them about the single spoon, the claim is it resets much faster than alternating tipping buckets so less loss between tips.

05/07/2022 Wood Lake had some larger hail. (1.25"). Not sure when the power east of town gets restored. Meanwhile, the east side camera image (middle) won't update nor will the East-weather station report.

Update: The peak wind gust as the thunderstorm rolled in, at the NE Valentine location (57 mph). We did get an abundance of pea size and slightly larger hail. The hail pad showed mainly pea-size with a few larger but nothing near 1". We had 3 nearby lightning strikes knocking power out each time. The east side station power is still out.

5:43 pm: We are under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. A "Warning" was issued for NE Cherry county. Quite the lightning show to the west of Valentine. 12-15 miles are the closest strikes currently. 2000 strikes and building. Open the South St. station it will show the lightning strikes. Current image as it approaches. Reminder that white reflection is hail.

Cody got wet, Kilgore is next image here. When you see white reflected back that is likely hail. The pink triangles are TVS ( Tornado Vortex Signature ) indicated by radar. Doesn't mean a tornado, rarely does just rotation is detected.

4:45 pm: HRRR has most of the activity east of Valentine but looking at the current radar it's well west so not sure how this plays out. It's behind on timing for sure with thunderstorms developing at least 1-hour ago.

05/04/2022 2:20 pm: Today we did pickup (.02") in moisture. Our next best shot of precip comes in late Saturday evening into Sunday, the forecast says thunderstorms.

11:30 am: Light rain and the doppler radar is back up. Keyboard (Ctrl+ F5) if image hasn't refreshed.

Doppler Radar at North Platte (Thedford) is down for maintenance again. The backup Doppler that covers Valentine is Rapid City. The loop is found under Sat/radar tab. Valentine is on the very outer edge so may not show actual intensity.

Not looking very impressive for moisture again. HRRR has pretty much backed away from the idea (.01"), here is what some different models look like early this morning.

05/03/2022 Lows this morning before it clouded up. NE: 28°, East: 27°, South St.: 28°. I doubt this is our last freeze the way this spring has gone with below normal temps. Station average last freeze is May 13 so wouldn't be surprised this year to see a freeze sneak in toward June. Looking at the HRRR this morning we may get around 1/4" plus of moisture Wednesday.

05/02/2022 Here is what doppler radar says about rainfall over the past 24 hours.

4:pm Starting to look like we won't even get a sprinkle out of this. Wonder how often this occurs, going from 100% to nothing? Yesterday I could tell it was a stretch getting much anyway because all but one (GFS) had us on the outer edge so any shift south we get left out and that was exactly what happened. It's too bad events got moved unnecessarily.

9:05 Added the Cheyenne Wy. doppler radar which covers the western Nebraska panhandle area. Linked under Satellite/Radar tab. Update also added the Omaha doppler. FYI the radar you see on the website front page images are generated from GR3 Doppler Radar software so a private feed that uploads automatically to the website. GR3 is much more detailed and has a higher resolution than what the general public gets with the green blob radar loops.

7:55 am: The HRRR this morning is showing showers moving in around 11 am....Update now showing nothing. So maybe not a total bust. (update)...It was.... You can look at the "Model Hourly " link scroll down and look at each hour with temperature.

2:40 am: The power outage is over. Looks like the East-side station is back up not sure why updates are not going through. Updates never went down here in NE Valentine thanks to the cellular hotspot.

05/01/2022 3 pm: Hate to break the news on this next round of moisture, been holding off waiting for a model shift northward instead the moisture keeps moving south. Here is what HRRR says, bone dry. Hope it's wrong. I have very little faith in the GFS which still says Valentine is very wet (1.5")+ while other models are all under two-tenths. The GFS is the outlier and doesn't have a good track-record when it is. Now if it was the ECM it would be different. Hope the forecast and GFS are correct and the HRRR gets its act together. We still have more chances later this week should everything stay south.

For April we ended up (-3.3°) below normal on temperatures but only (-.13") on moisture thanks to the last storm. For the year however we are still (-1.51") behind. Our temperatures with the strong La Nina influence bringing down more dry Canadian air are running (-1.4°) with all but January running below normal. For the full summary go HERE. For April HERE. Something many can relate to I've heard a lot of complaining including myself, using wind-run data starting from the station beginning of June 2014, April has been by far our windiest month with more than (1,000 miles) further than the 2nd windiest month also in 2022 (March).

04/30/2022 After 7:am an additional (.04") fell upping Storm Total (1.84") with the East-side (1.79"). Peak wind gusts today, 55 mph with 50 mph at the East-side location.

04/29/2022 The 2 am HRRR around 3.5" just through Sunday 1 am. I'm going to stop posting model predictions it's pretty clear we are in for a good soaking by the end of next week. Enjoy the moisture it's been a long time coming. Valentine residents continue to boil drinking water until the all-clear, listen to local radio or visit here .

04/28/2022 I keep waiting for models to say "Awe shucks nevermind, we messed up again" but they continue to advertise heavy rainfall amounts. Here is the latest 1 pm: ECMWF run. Even wetter now for south central SD showing 5" amounts. SE Cherry County has been very dry, worse shape than Valentine so this is good news if it holds true. This only goes through Monday 7 am with more coming during the week.

Beginning to look like a drought buster over this upcoming 6-7 day period starting Friday. The last couple of model runs Valentine 2" plus likely by Monday but even more throughout the week totaling (3.21") according to the ECM model which would put us only slightly below normal on the year. This is our rainy season so normal keeps growing (.10") daily (.70") weekly so seeing rainfall amounts in the 3" range over a week is not that abnormal.

FYI the forecast dropped chances from 100% yesterday down to 90% today but see no reason the models have only gotten wetter so wouldn't read much into it. The power outage scheduled for all of Valentine Sunday midnight for 2-hours doesn't look like it will be during rainfall, showers forecast to start later. The weather station here in NE Valentine and East-side are solar and battery powered so no information is lost. The NE station (valentinenebraska.net) will be put over on the backup passive shield for temperature and humidity prior to the outage because the (52 CFM) aspiration fan inside the main solar radiation shield needs 115v AC power.

04/27/2022 Here is last night's ECMWF run for Sunday 7am . Looking pretty good for at least 1-inch of moisture for the Valentine area and leaving wiggle room for more. For other models use the "Model Hourly" link under external links/Menu Bar. We are currently around 3" deficit this year but it's actually worse when you combine the dry Oct. Nov. fall months of last year. BTW the North Platte doppler radar is currently down for routine scheduled maintenance but will be back before the moisture arrives.

04/26/2022 Here is what models are saying this morning Valentine , North Platte . You can see the one outlier is the UK. The ECMWF is the one to pay the most attention to. This is linked under menu bar "Model Hourly" Also included is the HRRR daily temperature trend which is the most accurate for the next 18-hour temps. We've been down to 28° this morning but since warmed above freezing currently, fluctuating around this morning.

04/25/2022 If this comes anywhere close to actual it would be wonderful. So Friday the 29th is the big day if it happens, followed by Sat, Sun and maybe some on Monday.

04/24/2022 Light flurries and wind-driven sprinkles throughout the day, high temps only managed 40° at all 3 stations with wind gusts reaching 51 to 53 mph. The airport "climate station" as usual (+1.8°) or more, the max wind gust at the airport 56 mph. This April will end up being the windiest month since this station started in 2014. Current wind run 8,083 miles with 6 days left, the next closest happens to also be this year (2022) March 7,076 mi so if you thought it has been windy you would be right. Average wind speed 14 mph, avg. daily high gusts 39 mph with a peak gust of 67 mph. All this information is available under Reports/Daily, Summary.

6:00 am: We picked up an additional (.03") in mainly snow before midnight making the storm total (.28") in moisture. At 6 am we are 35° and very windy again with gusts into the 40's. More precip is possible in the form of snow showers 50% chance today. FYI this total was more than expected looking at models, grateful but still leaves 3" dep. on the year.

04/23/2022 High Wind Warning was reissued by the NWS, it expires at midnight. Something happened with the East-side anemometer direction. It's came loose or the mast has rotated maybe even bent, I'll need a calm day to investigate and fix. meanwhile I've added some direction offset inside the Davis console to compensate. The wind speed looks close to normal.

Noon: (.25") moisture total here in NE Valentine, also at the East-side station (.25") so far. Radar is showing less retuns now with only a 30% chance going forward.

4:40 am: (updated) Rainfall from area TS activity (.14") still light rain in the area as of this hour. The same (.14") in the east-side gauge (.68 mi) east of here. We had lightning-started grass fires going on last night along with the 60 mph wind gusts south of town hopefully they got extinguished. The peak airport wind gust was 63 mph. The 73 mph HHHR predicted gust never developed for Valentine. Other peak gusts at the South St. station 57 mph, East-side 55, and here in NE Valentine 49 mph. It really wasn't that bad compared to some of the other wind events this year. If you live on the south side of town you may of thought it was worse. A little taste of what the north side gets all winter long. Here is the doppler radar image of thunderstorm cell as it passed over Valentine.

Don't know if you heard the radio station this morning talking about the record high temperature supposedly at the airport yesterday. They measure the air temperature at the radio station location and have been for many years using NWS instruments for the NWS and the high recorded was 93° yesterday vs 97° at the airport. The Weatherflow (tempest) station near the airport recorded 94° the same as the NE station here. We have a serious problem of fake climate warming records being created right under our own noses. Reminder the KVTN ASOS is considered a Climate Station one the scientist trust as accurate and it's anything but.

04/22/2022 Make sure everything is battened down. Already seeing 55 mph at South St. and east side, 63 mph at the airport. The NE station won't have as strong of south winds due to the location with the City of Valentine being the windbreak so watch the East-side or South St. stations for a better indication of wind speeds tonight.

Some may find this interesting the South St. station shows how many lightning strikes in the area and how far away. Linked below menubar.

5:50 pm: Many thunderstorms popping on radar in SD mainly, the lightning detector on the WF stations says 22 miles distance. Maybe a better chance tonight around 2 am HRRR has activity moving in with about 1/4" of moisture. So far It's reached 95° at the east station, 94° here in NE Valentine and 94° at the South St. station near the airport.

5:10 am: Wish I could say all is looking good for moisture. It may be more thunderstorm dependent initially and that puts us in a hit or miss situation. If we can somehow pick up a quarter-inch that will be a plus. One thing for sure is high wind speeds tonight between 11 pm and 1 am, we could see south wind gusts in the 65+ mph range per the HRRR which is pretty good at projecting wind. South is a different direction from our usual high winds NW. Unless you have a Pivotal subscription wind gusts aren't available so here is the 11 pm graph

04/21/2022 The late afternoon forecast dropped our chances of moisture down to 60% Friday night and Saturday. Looking at models this afternoon you can see why. Hopefully, they look more encouraging tomorrow. (Check out the next HRRR (048) tab about 8:45 pm, linked) The forecast high for tomorrow was also moved down a couple to 90°. Today's high reached 71° at both South St. and NE locations, 72° at the east side station. As usual, add a couple (+2°f) or (+1c), 74° reported at the airport ASOS. Peak wind gusts ranged from 41 mph to 46 mph. The HRRR this afternoon projects 66 mph out of the south tomorrow evening for Valentine starting around 11 pm.

Looking like better chances of precip 70% Friday night and 60% Saturday along with some serious heat for this time of year (92°) on Friday....Fingers crossed.... We still have the wind in the forecast especially Friday night into am hours Saturday with gusts to 50 mph along with thunderstorms. Rainfall amounts with thunderstorms always vary. The only location that froze this morning was the east side location (31°). South St. reached (32.4°) and here NE Valentine (33.7°) as of 6:30 am.

04/20/2022 Last night just after midnight anywhere from (.01 to .03") fell in certain areas. It was pretty spotty around Valentine where some areas got nothing, more fell to the east. Lows around town this morning only got down to 46° at all 3 locations, NE, East, and south near the airport. The airport ASOS as usual came in much warmer at 49°. Nice not to freeze for once. Looking at freeze data we are sitting at (157) this season and it's not over with May 13th the average last freeze since 2014. Freeze data is linked under Reports/Daily tab.

04/19/2022 8:10 pm: We may pick up a little something tonight here in Valentine. The 40% chance looks about right with radar starting to show returns to our west.

6:00 pm: High temps today, NE-71.0°, East side 71.7°, South St. 71.1°. For the airport ASOS just add anywhere between (1.8°) to (3°) to the South St. station. The peak gusts today, east-side 47 mph, NE-44 mph while the airport with excellent south exposure topped out at (49.5) mph

8:00 am: Well the air temperature did reach 32.0° this morning in NE Valentine and the lawn sprinklers showed it. Here. and Here, very crunchy underfoot. Other lows (32.1°) at the east side and (32.4°) South St.

5:15 am: Finally starting to see air mass changes starting today with much warmer temperatures unfortunately not seeing a whole lot of moisture yet, maybe 1/4" this week when we need 2.5" just to catch up. Mid-April through about July is our rainy season so we are inside it now. (33°) everywhere but the airport ASOS (35°) this morning so we may freeze before sunrise. Do have the lawn sprinklers going this morning but they are the self-draining heads. Being so dry have to start watering to prevent weed take over, especially with no guarantee we are going to get anywhere close to normal rainfall with La Nina expected to continue into June.

04/18/2022 Some information for visitors, I've had several WF (Weather Flow) Techs look at the South Street station because of a little concern it was running around 1/2 to 1 degree cooler than this NE station at times and was assured there was no offset on the station and it was accurate. Here was just one of several correspondence emails, note (tech) William said the green station ASOS was a touch warm. LOL, it's not just a touch, it runs (+1.8f) warm or (+1°C). Here is the correspondence Image . My response was no offset necessary I just wanted to confirm there was no offset. Oh yes! And I let them know what I thought was going on with rural ASOS climate stations. Also had to clear up where the ASOS location was in comparison to the South St. station by sending images from both satellite and camera. Something else of interest, WF stations update temperature using AI every 1-minute giving the 1-minute average so similar to how ASOS stations report temperature, this removes many peaks and valleys with average data. I don't like it, IMO it's not the proper way to measure air temperature but it is what it is.

Another chilly morning running 13°+ below normal. The sun isn't up yet so may not be final lows, South St. near the airport (17.6°), here in NE Valentine (20°). I've been following South St. closely it's actually the cool spot for daytime highs much of the time, yesterday was 58° while here in NE Valentine 58.6°, and the airport ASOS reported 62° yesterday, or (+3°) just a block away from the South St. station location. All stations linked under menubar.

04/17/2022 A trace amount of rain this morning and still sitting at (.21") on the month and (.77") on the year so almost 1/4 of the year has gone by with well under an inch of moisture. In comparison to last year 2021 on this date we were (1.67") for April and (5.75") on the year at this location.

04/16/2022 Calm and clear this morning, final lows the South Street station next to the airport was (13°). The remote east station was (14°) and the warm spot here in NE Valentine (15°) coming in late (7:20 am) 20 minutes after sunrise. These temps are around 20° below the normal low of 33°. All these station thermometers are linked under external links.

04/15/2022 7:35 am: The light snow has stopped, it was just enough to fill the cracks.

6:00 am: Getting some light snow this morning. The low temperature dropped to 16° at both South St. and here in NE Valentine before it clouded up. The wind is only 10 mph with gust to 16 mph so that's a plus.

04/14/2022 We haven't set any low temperature (station Records) this April but we have set several (13) daily high wind speeds and gusts records. Here is the link to the NE station daily records . Look over on the right side highlighted in maroon all daily wind records for this April 2022. Records date back to June 2014. We continue to run below normal temps and dry with the La Nina Pacific influence. If the wind decreases to calm toward morning we could see some low teens if not upper teens as the forecast says.

04/13/2022 7:00 pm: Our high and low temps today didn't set any station records but the wind kept the "feels like" well below freezing.

5:05 am: Bitter cold for the time of year (17.4°) currently, the feels like is (zero to 2°f) above zero. High wind gusts last night came in between 9-10 pm, pretty much what the HRRR predicted, (53 mph) here in NE Valentine, (51) at the remote east side, (53) mph at the South St. WF station, (53) mph at the airport.

04/12/2022 12:25 am: Looking at the barometric pressure (29.20") indicates just how deep the low pressure is...Hang onto your hat. The HRRR has Valentine gusts to 54 mph this evening 2200. I'll go with it over the GFS 44 mph based on how deep the low pressure is. At the noon hour we have a lighter west wind 12-18 mph and trying to switch over to the NW direction.

04/11/2022 The potential big midweek storm looks like mainly a North Dakota event. As of this morning, it looks like just a chance of rain and snow showers for the area.

04/10/2022 Daily moisture (.06") in light rain.

04/08/2022 Next week something is brewing according to the European model. A possible blizzard with 68 mph wind gusts and up to 15" of snowfall (1.5") moisture is what is being projected for Valentine right now on the latest run. Being 5 days out and not all models in agreement it could fizzle on the next forecast run but serious enough to keep an eye on what forecasters say as we get closer.

04/07/2022 6:00 pm: Updated peak gusts today: Airport (64 mph), Remote east (64 mph), NE Valentine (60 mph), South St. near airport (59 mph). Total moisture in the form of 1" snowfall was (.12").

6:29 am: We just had a lightning strike and thunder, (thundersnow). The distance was 3 to 6 miles.

6:12 am: Getting moderate/heavy snow now with the temperature at 32°.

5:25 am: Getting snow showers this morning (.03"). We are above freezing at 34° so melts on contact. Current wind speeds are 20's with gusts 30's mph. Later today the wind gets back into the warning criteria 60-65 mph again.

04/06/2022 2:35 pm: Looking at the forecast for Thursday forecasters expect potential 65 mph wind gusts again. Even Thursday evening 55 mph before the warning expires at 9 pm. Currently hanging in the 25 mph range with gust to 40 mph. Course as soon as I type it 30 with gust to 46 mph.

12:20 pm: We've measured (.02") in NE Valentine in the form of mainly snowfall. This is coming from the automatic tipping bucket haven't done a manual check yet. Still, 25 mph NW winds with 40 mph gusts.

6:15 am: The wind has relaxed some sustained wind currently 32 mph vs gale force of 40 mph just over an hour ago. The "High Wind Warning" statement potential gusts is back to 70 mph which has occurred.

5:00 am: Just had a 67 mph gust here in NE Valentine. It's noisy, we may have some damage around town. Once it approaches 70 mph stuff starts breaking. Also on (South St.) Tempest station 65 mph

4:10 am: New peak gusts (NE) 59 mph, (Remote east) 68 mph, (South St.) 57 mph, (Airport) 62 mph..

3:21 am: Our strongest wind gusts so far (Remote east) 59 mph, (NE) 54 mph, (South St.) 53 mph, (Airport) ?

04/05/2022 5:15 pm: A little good news with "The High Wind Warning" expected peak gusts have decreased to 65 mph . Today the highest gust so far has been 49 mph and was associated with a rain shower. Snow shower chances tomorrow have decreased to 60% in the afternoon forecast package.

11:20 am: Getting some light rain 38° currently. Peak gusts so far (NE) 49 mph, (Remote east) 47 mph, (Airport) 46 mph. It's just getting started though 3-days of this ...Ugh!

"High Wind Warning" The NWS has moved the warning up to start (NOW) through Thursday evening at 9 pm. So this will be a very extended period of high wind speeds (3-days) with gusts to 75 mph possible. The highest wind speeds are likely Wednesday. I enjoy weather observing but am not a fan of extended hair pulling wind events. Looks like forecasters are feeling better about the chances of snow with this vigorous spring storm with a 70% chance of snow showers on Wednesday morning before 11 am. Not seeing much accumulation however. The barometric pressure is sure low early this morning at 29.28 inches. Notice our high temp came in at 12:52 am (65°) today.

04/04/2022 6:45 am: update: We have widespread freezing ground fog around Valentine this morning, from the east side camera you can't see the fairground lights so it's dense. Calm wind everywhere south side currently 98% RH, here in NE Valentine 97% RH. If you want to see what the ASOS is saying for humidity and temperature here it is. Check that 88% RH and dense fog, visibility -0 at times. This is what happens when you raise the ambient temperature sensor +1°C (1.8°f). Update: Now the ASOS went to haze and 80% humidity it's not broke what it does is look at the RH and visibility, calculates there can't be fog so says HAZE, the only thing broke is the thermometer calibration. I guess this is the new normal raise the temperature calibration for the climate activist and fake out the scientist.

Looking early this morning what models are saying the wind could be like later this week, the ECM has gusts reaching 62 mph on Wednesday. This graph shows gusts not sustained.

04/03/2022 6:50 pm: Updated final peak NW wind gusts today in mph. (NE)- 48, (Remote east)- 54, (South St)- 43, (Airport)- 45,

04/02/2022 Heavy frost this morning, we have our micro-climate going on this morning with a 12-17 mph wind on the north side holding the temp at (33°) while the South St. station is (27°) with only 4-7 mph wind. Temperatures may come closer together if the wind subsides toward sunrise.

Pinned : Many if not all "Rural Climate Station" thermometers have been compromised running (+1°C) Celsius, this is the same error I see in Fahrenheit (+1.8°F) with multiple field checks done using a NIST certified (calibration certificate traceable to NIST is available) thermometer with (.1f) accuracy at the Miller Field ASOS. This also throws the Rel/humidity off so these compromised stations can no longer exceed 94% humidity without a manual input to cover it up. Most of the record highs the Valentine ASOS (KVTN) has set are not real dating back to early 2016. When I first started recognizing something was wrong along with others who also measure the temperature, I couldn't imagine this was being done on purpose but it's spreading across the country with other rural climate stations. Notice I say "Climate Stations" the stations scientist rely on for accurate data and it's anything but. It's no longer just the Miller field ASOS as mentioned, 2 other contacts with CWOP wx stations are reporting the same issue with their nearby ASOS suddenly running (+2°) warm and can no longer go above 94% RH. So it's not going unnoticed amoung the CWOP community. If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

04/01/2022 9 pm: Both the NE and remote east only picked up (.01"), the South Street station, and the airport (.03"). Was down in North Platte today doubling sometimes quadrupling spendable income grocery shopping and there were just a few raindrops. Note to self don't go on a Friday again it was very crowded even at Margarita's. Rumor has it we may have a Mexican food restaurant coming to Valentine soon. Hope it's true.

10:35 am: Temperatures are warm enough we should get mainly rain if the precip ever gets here so took the snowboard/stake down to allow the grass underneath to breathe and get moisture. The camera is still running available under camera tab.

If you thought March was running on the cool side you would be right just like February at (-1.9°) which included 3 days reaching below 0. The arctic and Canadian air visits were frequent but the downside it's been dry. Climate summary HERE .

03/31/2022 HRRR has dropped the predicted precip tomorrow down to (.10") Still above the ECM (.02").

Looks like another shot of moisture Friday with the HRRR more bullish (.17") than the ECM (.02"). The more the merrier going south and east of HW 83 along the Goose Creek road didn't get as much moisture as we did. Over on the west side of 83 they received more moisture the yellow is .50" plus. The Valentine estimate was (.17") , St. Francis (.17") . Actual here in Valentine was (.18") north side (.19") south at the airport. I've always found the Doppler estimate very close to actual. Added the Doppler rainfall estimate back to external links.

03/30/2022 Storm total was 1.7" of snowfall with (.18") water content. Most of the snow fell before midnight on the 29th. Accidentally deleted the whole day so this is the summary. I use Notepad++ a text and source code editor to do this blog, it's not the easiest software to use and if not paying attention can mess up.

03/29/2022 2:35 pm: Seeing lots on the radar but nothing reaching the ground here yet. The lower atmosphere has been so dry it may need to moisten up before the lighter radar returns start producing. The dewpoint temp is 33° and the RH only 51% so what's falling is evaporating.

Moisture chances for the area picked up overnight, models indicate 1/3" on the low end to 1/2". NWS forecast chance was bumped back to 80%. I'll get the camera snowboard & stake setup today in the event we do get snow. We could have periods of snow squalls with lots of wind once it changes over to the NW direction but not expecting more than about 1". Travel could become difficult during these periods. Yesterday we made 66° in NE Valentine but it was a struggle coming late in the day and the wind chill didn't help. We won't freeze this morning which is rare it's only our 3rd time this month with the dry atmosphere and low dew point temperatures. Changed the HRRR link from snowfall over to total moisture. Also added the front porch camera back just for the storm you may need to (ctrl + F5) to clear cache if an old image shows up.

03/28/2022 5:30 am: Valentine today will be on the divide line between very warm air near 80° to the west and cooler March-like temperatures 50's to the east. Our high temperature will occur late today during the 5-6 pm hour. The Red Flag Warning is for the western side of Cherry county where temperatures are warmer with lower humidity. We are still on track for moisture anywhere from a tenth to 1/3 of an inch starting late Tuesday into Wednesday. The forecast chance has dropped slightly down to 70% reflects the lesser amount on the GFS only a tenth of a inch. The ECM however is still showing 1/3" of a inch. Later today the HRRR will be within range and another adjustment could be done.

03/27/2022 Still on track for moisture starting late Tuesday into Wednesday around 1/4" is the model consensus. Today's forecast by the NWS has a 80% chance of moisture. Getting excited over a 1/4" of moisture in March is a sure sign of drought. Here is some good news back in 2015 it was also dry (.03") and then the dam broke with one of our wettest May's on record 8" plus.

03/26/2022 Final lows across Valentine with the dry air and good radiational cooling, the warm spot (17.9°) here on the NE side, (17.2°) at the South St. location and (17.1°) at the remote east side. Still looks like possible moisture coming next week. It's not near enough but at least something.

03/25/2022 12:12 pm: Starting to see a good chance of moisture on Wednesday. Slight chance on Monday, right now models are saying around 3 tenths is possible on the 30th and 31st. Today we are getting NW wind gusts in the 35-40 mph range as we have another dry clipper with Canadian air moving through. (48°) at noon so it's chilly without a jacket.

03/24/2022 7:55 am: Final lows today across Valentine, (14.2°) at the South-side location near the airport, (14.3°) at the remote east side with the warm spot (14.9°) here in NE Valentine. This calm wind is nice but it does make for chilly morning lows with the dry air. We are gonna warm to almost 70° today so enjoy.

5:10 am: No wind this morning it's calm here in NE Valentine. Also, the warm spot (19°) while the south side near the airport is running 16° (linked menu bar). Still no serious moisture chances in the 7-day forecast other than a slight chance toward the end. Looks like these cold dry clipper-type systems will continue with above-normal temperature spikes between. The wetter pacific systems will run the southern route leaving us dry. Unfortunately, this is the pattern of La Nina we are stuck in, and now being warned by SD state Climatologists this may continue through June. Let's hope not.

03/23/2022 Final peak gusts (NE) 45 mph, (Remote east) 50 mph, (airport) 46 mph.

03/22/2022 7 pm: Peak gusts today (remote east side) 50 mph, (airport) 47 mph, (NE Valentine) 44 mph

1:39 pm: Starting to get some decent gusts (46 mph) at the remote east side station. Just checked the airport ASOS the same (46 mph) gust. Only 39 mph at this location. The remote east side wx station is linked with real-time updates every few seconds. This station is located on the wide-open prairie and uses the same wind, temp/humidity, pressure instruments as the NE station. The only difference it doesn't have a heated rain gauge being remote and no electricity. Everything is battery and solar powered.

03/21/2022 11:30 am: Updated peak gusts, (50) mph here, (53) mph at the remote east station, (48) mph at the airport and (47) mph at the south Valentine location. The HW 83 station just north of the SD border peak gust has been 62 mph. BTW you can link to these stations under menu bar "Area Observations" and click to open, use your scroll wheel to zoom etc. Moisture chances have pretty much disappeared with a 20% chance of snow showers Wednesday.

03/20/2022 6:00 pm: Very nice springlike day with all 3 locations across Valentine... southside, NE, and remote east reaching 75°, while the airport thermometer reported its usual (+1c) (77°). Very light wind currently (2 mph) with high clouds the peak gust was (26 mph) here at the NE location. Forecast has a slight chance of precip Tuesday night with a better chance on Wednesday but below the likely criteria.

03/19/2022 10:20 am: Did a soil temperature check in the middle of backyard near the snow stake where it gets full sun all day. At the 4" depth 10:am it was 34° and was able to reach the full 6" length of the thermometer probe without hitting any frozen ground. Not sure if that means totally thawed further down. I've got soil temperature sensors for 4 different depths I still haven't setup since moving to this location. Maybe later this year it gets installed.

Still major model differences this morning. ECM and NAM have a large area of no precip including around Valentine and the GFS has moisture and lots of it, (1.43") here in Valentine. The main concern today is the elevated fire danger and it is tinder dry out there so the NWS has issued a "Fire Weather Watch". Morning temps across Valentine 23° north to south with light wind almost calm and clear sky so could drop a degree or more before sunrise.

03/18/2022 7:00 am: Looking at models this morning doesn't look promising with the upcoming system, unfortunately. Still some hope however the GFS is still wet but the ECM (Euro) has consistently stayed on the dry side. I did notice the German ICON got wetter this morning after being dry yesterday. It looks more like showers vs a soaking. The forecast also says showers and slight chances in the 30% range. Current temps this morning across Valentine (17°) at the remote east side, (18°) here in NE Valentine, (17°) on South St. happens to be the same as the airport ASOS (19°) , (shocker) by removing the (+1°c) error.

03/17/2022 Over halfway through March and still very dry. La Niña years generally bring drier arctic systems into the area vs wetter Pacific and it's really played out this year. We had weekly dry arctic clippers for the ladder part of winter and now La Niña is favored (53%) to continue into the Northern Hemisphere into the summer maybe even August with colder pacific water. Scattered showers to the west on radar this morning with a better shot of precip starting Monday but questions still remain on how much and when this happens we generally get the lesser amounts projected by models which could mean little. Fingers crossed this is as dry as I've seen it around Valentine in 7+ years.

Pinned : Many if not all "Rural Climate Station" thermometers have been compromised running (+1°C) Celsius, this is the same error I see in Fahrenheit (+1.8°F) with multiple field checks done using a NIST certified (calibration certificate traceable to NIST is available) thermometer with (.1f) accuracy at the Miller Field ASOS. This also throws the Rel/humidity off so these compromised stations can no longer exceed 94% humidity without a manual input to cover it up. Most of the record highs the Valentine ASOS (KVTN) has set are not real dating back to early 2016. When I first started recognizing something was wrong along with others who also measure the temperature, I couldn't imagine this was being done on purpose but it's spreading across the country with other rural climate stations. Notice I say "Climate Stations" the stations scientist rely on for accurate data and it's anything but. It's no longer just the Miller field ASOS as mentioned, 2 other contacts with CWOP wx stations are reporting the same issue with their nearby ASOS suddenly running (+2°) warm and can no longer go above 94% RH. So it's not going unnoticed amoung the CWOP community. If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

03/12/2022 Just another 59.5° swing day.

Both NE Valentine and remote side thermometers went below zero before midnight and just after (-2° NE), the remote station (-4° and -5°), while the South St. station stayed above zero at +(1°). Everyone has warmed up since with the cloud deck showing on satellite and cameras. It may clear off again just before sunrise but warmer air is also moving in today after 3 days of sub-zero lows on this side of town. Sub-zero lows in NE Valentine is (19) on the season, several have occurred just prior to midnight and just after but they still count as 2 separate occurrences in the climatological books.

03/11/2022 2:45 pm: Updated seasonal snow report. The new snow today had (.01") in moisture.

5:15 am: Wind overnight was stronger than forecast mid-teens gusts to 24 mph here on the north side of Valentine most of the night. It has slowed below 10 mph as we approach daybreak. Areas, where the breeze is the calmest, will also have the lowest overnight lows. Currently, at this moment 6° south side where the wind is only 2-3 mph and 9° here on the north side with a 8-11 mph wind.

03/10/2022 7:20 am: Our overnight lows so far South Street (-2.0°), Remote east side (-2.5°) here in NE valentine (-0.7°), I'll update later if they change. The airport ASOS reports (-0.4°) removing the (+1°c) error it's actually (-2.2°) or the same as the South Street temperature which is only 1-block away.

03/09/2022 8:55 pm: Clear sky and calm wind currently, looks like the (-2°) forecast low is very reachable. We are already between 8 to 10°. The 8° location is on South St., 9° here and 10° at the remote east side location. FYI we did get a late afternoon snow flurry but nothing measurable. Added a few more locations to the forecast pull-down box for personal localized forecast at different towns and cities.

2 pm: The forecast this afternoon has been updated, changes are we dropped to 30% chance of snow today, tonight 20% with the low in the morning below zero at (-2°).

5:00 am: Below zero wind chill this morning, currently (12°) and slowly dropping toward the forecast low of 11°. Snow chances for Valentine have dropped to 40%, we may see a few tenths of a inch or maybe not. If heading south today there's a "Winter Weather Advisory" for the North Platte area with 2-4" and a additional 1-2" possible tonight. The heaviest snowfall will occur along the Nebraska/Kansas border concentrated on the Kansas side.

03/08/2022 10:15 am: We are currently getting that 30% chance of snow in the forecast. Currently light snow here in NE valentine.

Don't be surprised if Valentine only gets a skiff of snow from the upcoming event. The NWS uncertainty of the upcoming storm track is because models keep pushing it further south down into Kansas. Hopefully, models get a better handle today. The NAM (North American Model) is disseminating right now and looks like this. Valentine is in that sub 1" range. Same thing with the ECM (euro) . One thing we won't miss out on is another shot of arctic air. HeeHaw!

03/07/2022 4:00 pm: Looks like this upcoming snow event is a repeat of around 1" or so for Valentine. Only one model out of several is disagreeing. Heading south it's a different story however. FYI I added the EURO ECMWF under the menu bar you can check for any updates twice a day. The HRRR updates hourly but to be frank hasn't done as well as expected predicting Valentine precip recently.

5:30 am: Here in NE Valentine, currently (10°) with a 9-12 mph wind making the windchill (-3°). 2-miles away the south side of town has less wind so running a degree or two colder on the thermometer with less windchill. It's gonna get worse this week before it gets better if not a winter weather fan with much colder air moving in mid-week and chances of snow again. We are still running about half of normal (moisture & snowfall ) this season so hopefully, we get some of that needed moisture. These 1" snowfalls just aren't getting it done. Historically March is our snowiest month but since 2014 it's been February. This upcoming storm is more of a dead of winter type with arctic air instead of a typical spring storm.

03/06/2022 4:10 pm: Getting light snow here in NE Valentine but nothing showing on radar.

03/05/2022 Updated: We picked up another (.01"), since the manual snowmelt check so (.08") total moisture today. Updated the seasonal snow report page. Only 18.8" on the season, about 14" below the Valentine seasonal average (33") but we still have most of March left which can be our highest snowfall month. Having (0") of snow during October and November is why we are lagging so far behind this season.

9:20 am: Snow is heavy around 1/8 mi visibility currently, the distance of the house across the field on the west view camera. We had a few flakes off and on wetting the ground but it didn't really get going until about 9:00 am. I didn't notice any freeezing rain today.

03/04/2022 The NWS has issued a Winter Weather Advisory starting Saturday 6am for Ice and snow accumulations. The snowfall potential map has been updated and it looks like 1.6" for Valentine and .07" of ice. Haven't seen any fog development so far this morning. Looking at next week a couple models are hinting at below zero temperatures with others in the single digits again around the 11th.

03/03/2022 5:00 pm: The fog finally lifted after 1 pm today. Something similar may occur tomorrow with fog again per the forecast discussion with the high temperature-dependent on just how long the low clouds can hang on and limit sunshine. The air is very warm should it clear off early so reaching 60° shouldn't be a problem.

At noon still ice fog, 1/4 mi visibility here in NE Valentine and 26°.

8:50 am: Still ice fog, noticed as I went downtown bushy trees are starting to turn white. Visibility has been as low as 1/16 of a mile at times.

03/02/2022 The image occasionally going on the front page is from the (remote east side) weather station location. The area has 30 head of cattle currently so has a makeshift fence around the instruments. If traveling east on HW 12 just out of Valentine and look off to the left it can be seen. This station is running on solar and is a great location for measuring weather conditions due to the wide-open area but has no power source for snowmelt. It uses the same professional instruments as the NE station with minor differences like the radiation shield is naturally aspirated and no rain bucket heater. Real-time conditions from this station (remote east side), linked under external links.

03/01/2022 We did reach 70° across Valentine today. All 3 locations South St., NE and (remote east side) all occurred around the same time 4:30 pm.

7 am: Below freezing (30.6°) at the South Street station with only a light breeze while the north side of Valentine is 39°. South St. station is linked (external links). This is what's called a microclimate usually occurring pre-sunrise, it's been a common occurrence here in Valentine between storm systems.

Big temperature differential (10°) across Valentine this morning with a brisk west wind (17-25 mph) blowing across the north side of town. The South St. station is near freezing while NE Valentine is 41°. The Forecast has us reaching 72° today, turning much colder this weekend with chances of snow.

02/28/2022 February will go down as our coldest winter month again for (2021-2022) season with 7 sub-zero lows. There is a clear pattern that's developed with our climate, starting in 2018 (4 of 5) February months have turned into the coldest months. The only year Feb. wasn't the coldest month occurred 2020 when Jan. came in (.6°) lower. Here is the station mean temps.

02/27/2022 5:20 am: Calm wind this morning clear skies, the cold location so far is here in NE Valentine (11°), remote east side (13°), South St. (14°). A big warm-up is expected this coming first week of March pushing 70° Tuesday, Wednesday. This is a whopping 83° temperature differential from 2 days ago. The METAR conditions icon is back on, I don't think it's working right still but with no moisture expected until Friday will leave on for a while anyway.

02/26/2022 3 thermometers 39° for high temps today across Valentine today.

6:30 am: Another cold morning but so far its stayed above zero. Lows so far (1°) remote east side and here in NE Valentine. (3°) near the airport at the South St. location. It sounds cold but we are running +13° above yesterday at this same time.

02/25/2022 6:45 am: The calm wind and clear skies this morning is creating good radiational cooling. With a 3 mph wind our wind chill is running (-20°)...Lows so far (-16°) at the remote east side station (-14°) here in NE Valentine (-13°) on South St. Expect a healthy warmup today with upper 20's. Webcam images this morning: HERE. and HERE.

02/24/2022 Final highs today were still very cold with the fresh snow. 10° NE, 10.8° remote east. Tomorrow will approach freezing followed by a steady warm-up getting above normal over the next 7-days.

Light snow started about 6 am and still falling 11 am but radar shows it may stop soon. (.6") measured new snow. Final lows this morning came in at (-6°) both NE and South St., (-8°) remote east side.

02/23/2022 Another cold one today. High temp today NE Valentine (5.8°), remote east side (5.7°), and the warm spot South St. (7.0°). I think there is a snow reflection issue with the Tempest passive shield not really shown today it was partially cloudy but others where +3 or more was recorded. Both NE and the remote east side have the best sensor radiation shields with extensive testing done when it comes to snow reflective glare. My correspondence with Tempest Station tech support says they never addressed the issue and didn't even know about it. Whatever, it's a known issue with shields. Snow glare can heat a shield up.

02/22/2022 5:05 pm: The NWS reissued the "Wind Chill Warning" for tonight starting at 6:pm, so possible negative -30's again. Our high temps across Valentine today (-0.1) NE location, (-0.8°) remote east side, (+0.3°) and that's above zero (barely) at the South St. location near the airport. The wind chill has stayed in the -23° or lower range all day. I believe this is the coldest day (feels like) I've experienced in Valentine since moving the station here in 2014. We've had other below zero daytime highs but not with this much wind.

10:20 am: Total snowmelt (.06") here in NE Valentine. (-6°) air temp and starting to see blue sky but the wind is still rearranging the 1" of powdery snow. The lowest wind chill recorded was (-37°) around 7:15 am this morning. Unfortunately .06" isn't much moisture, the good thing is what snow fell will rapidly melt once it warms up.

5:00 am: Ongoing winter event with extreme cold and light snowfall. Air temperature this morning (-9°) with a -30 to -34° windchill. Wind has ranged 14-20 mph with gusts near 30 mph here in NE Valentine. Yesterday the air temperature dipped below zero by late afternoon, today the forecast high temperature is 1°.

02/21/2022 8:20 am: Visibility has dropped some looking like a haze on the horizon with very light arctic type (small) flakes falling. The airport ASOS has it as haze which is the norm now. We have dropped to 4° with a -13° windchill currently. The temperature continues to fall even after sunrise. The latest HRRR has our moisture at (.13"). Not much room for error should the track shift slightly one way or the other.

6:00 am: Currently 6° with a windchill of -10° and a few flakes falling. The forecast high today went from the previous forecast of 12° to 17° ? now. The 24 hr. high occurred at midnight 21°. Looking at the HRRR Valentine temps should peak around 9-10° at most during the daylight hours before falling again this evening. It looks like we could pick up some needed moisture ranging from (.12 to .20") in snow water content. The snowfall/moisture ratio is expected to range between 15:1 and 17:1 for calculating how many inches in snowfall. Example: at 17:1 (.10") moisture is 1.7" of snowfall. FYI snowfall isn't expected to start in earnest until after 9 pm.

02/19/2022 Snowfall potential forecast was updated last night linked on this website.

02/18/2022 6:45 pm: Getting some light snow now, the snow stake board is covered. 5:25pm: light rain.

02/17/2022 Final Lows this morning: South St. (0.3°), remote east side (-0.1°), NE Valentine (0.4°).

The winter storm next week could be impactful. If any travel plans make sure to watch the forecast and adjust accordingly. Very cold sub-zero at times with chances of snow is pretty much the theme next week.

02/16/2022 Today it looks like our high temperature came in at midnight (29°), currently we are at 24°. We do have a few light flakes starting to fall at 2:20 pm. It's taken a while for the atmosphere to saturate down to the surface even though radar shows light snow.

02/15/2022 Last year today Feb 2021 the all time station low (-32.2°) occurred. We ended up with 8 below zero station records that week. 3 of those days (12,13,14) the high temps never got above zero. Station daily records going back to 2014 are available HERE.

02/14/2022 After the Wednesday clipper our next shot of winter looks like Monday the 21st. Usually, when you see this type of consensuses it holds true even if it is a week out. We've had a steady diet of these clippers that just don't stay long since the end of December. Maybe this one will be different and bring some needed moisture. The ECM usually conservative with low temps is pointing toward -20° so something to watch how it evolves with upcoming forecasts.

(50°) temperature differential yesterday. We went from 8° to 58° here in NE Valentine the same east remote station 8° to 58°, the South St. Station near the airport 10° to 57°. The special airport ASOS thermometer reported 12 to 60° so the mechanically aspirated radiation shield on the ASOS reported +3° warmer than a naturally aspirated thermometer a block away. I did notice several other stations in the region also reported large spreads of upper 40's. The 50° spread is the most I can recall at the NE station without digging through the station data.

02/13/2022 5:30 am: Arctic air back over the area this morning with the low coming in at (8°) here in NE Valentine. A warm front will quickly replace the cold air warming us back around 49° later today per the forecast. No mention of precip. in the forecast. Yesterday our high temp stopped short of the forecast coming in at 38°. With Valentine located near the edge of these arctic clippers just a few miles separation temperatures can vary greatly so being a few degrees off does occur. I've mentioned this before this area is unique with the rapid change of air masses. Very few places does it go from single digits to 50° the same day.

02/12/2022 Light snow this morning. We've really warmed up currently 20° from the overnight low of (10.4°) at 2:25 am. Other lows (11.3°) on South St. near the airport and (10.6°) at the remote east side station. We have a warm front moving through which has triggered the light snow. Our high temp forecast today is low 40's late in the afternoon.

02/11/2022 Snowmelt (.02") making the daily moisture total (.06"), (.04") fell as rain. Updated the seasonal snow report page. Peak wind gust today 47 mph at the remote east side, 41 NE station, 40 airport, 38 mph South Street. Our high temp today occurred at 12 am (41°) during the daytime hours as the arctic air spilled in it dropped into the 20's.

8:45 am: Moderate/heavy snow NE Valentine visibility around 1/8 mile. FYI the house across the field is .14 mi distance.

We picked up a little welcome moisture overnight (.04") in rain. We do have an arctic clipper cold front moving in today with a skiff of snow possible and 40 mph wind gusts just in time for the Bull Bash Saturday but not near as cold as 2021 when it ended up being canceled due to the bitter cold. February of 2021 was one of the coldest on record, inside top 10 dating back to the late 1800s for Valentine. All the remnants of the December snows melted yesterday here in NE Valentine with the high temperature of 60°. There was even a little green grass underneath.

02/08/2022 4:00 pm: Updated peak gusts, (51 mph) here in NE Valentine... (55 mph) at the remote east station and (52 mph) at the airport.

5:30 am: We have a (10°) split in temperature across town pre-sunrise. The south side has less wind and is running around 10° cooler. Here on the NE side wind is NW 17-29 mph currently. The south side of town has the micro-climate going on with other stations in the area similar to NE Valentine. Temperatures will come together once the wind mixes to the surface on the south side. "Red Flag Warning" goes into effect starting at 11:am until 6:pm central. NE Valentine has had gusts to 34 mph already this morning.

02/04/2022 3:15 pm: METAR conditions icon is back on. BTW we are going to have for the first time this winter 3 continuous days where the temperature never made freezing. All winter long cold snaps have been unusually short.

02/03/2022 5:30 am: Below zero again this morning. Lows so far vary by location, same with the wind: (-6°) NE, (-8°) remote east side, (-4°) South St. Here at the NE location very little wind but the remote east side has a (-14°) windchill currently. I'll update the final lows later today if they change. Today we start pulling out of the deep freeze reaching into the mid 20's as the arctic air moves away. A little change to the forecast, Friday won't be as warm as previously thought only low 30's but back into the 50's Saturday.

02/02/2022 5:20 pm: High temps today 9° South St. and remote east, 10° NE Valentine location.

Final lows on (2/2/22), the remote east station (-4.0°), South St. near the airport (-3.6°) NE Valentine (-3.2°).

4:55 am: Below zero this morning currently (-2°) NE Valentine, South St. (-3°) and at the remote east side. Areas where the light breeze is blowing the WindChill is around -11°. Temperatures may drop more before sunrise so will update the final lows if they do. Today will be a cold one struggling to get out of the single digits and back below zero tonight. Looking ahead nothing but 40's and 50's starting Friday so this is another short-lived cold snap followed by above normal temperatures. Pretty much the theme of this winter.

01/31/2022 We had a peak wind gust of 53 mph from the west around 4:08 pm in NE Valentine as the wind shifted from SW to NW. Since has calmed to 16-28 mph at 5:50 pm. Our dewpoint dropped into the single digits between 1:30 and 4:20 pm this afternoon. Around 5 pm a grass fire over on the west side of town was reported. The low RH reached 10% and DP 2° here in NE Valentine. Our high temperature was 61° at both NE Valentine locations and at the South Street location near the airport.

High temps reached 59° across NE Valentine yesterday, the forecast has it 64° today. The record is 70° back in 1989 so not in jeopardy. Today it looks to be very breezy with SW gusts reaching 50 mph and tonight W-NW reaching 45 mph as the arctic air moves in with a 30% chance of snowfall holding off until Wednesday.

For January it's been dry with only (1.8") of snowfall, (.12") moisture which is a station record for the lowest amount dating back to 2015 (4.6") (.32"). Watching the SD news going north it's been drier with Pierre only receiving 1.8" of snowfall all season including the fall months. So Valentine is fortunate to have had double the normal precip (.80") in December with two good snowfalls.

01/29/2022 (3) above normal days (50's) ending the month of January before another arctic cold snap and the accompanying chance of light snow arrives Feb. 1st (Tuesday). The forecast has our high temps back into the upper 30's next Friday so another fast rebound. So far this winter we have avoided consecutive below-freezing days lasting more than (2) days, we may reach (3) this coming week (Tues,Wed,Thur). This is not the norm our average winter stretch of consecutive completely below-freezing days has been (11) since 2014 with (22) the most back in 2018-19 and this year having the least at only 2 so far. Going back to the end of December the somewhat numerous arctic air visits have been short lived this winter season with temperatures going above normal in-between.

01/27/2022 Looking ahead to February right on cue, arctic air and possible snow the first week. Enjoy these upcoming 50's ending the month of January. For today 30% chance of snow. We got an inch with 20% on the last system but this one is a little different the air is not as cold.

01/26/2022 Yesterday it got down to (0°) before midnight at both the South Street and NE location. The remote site east of here was (-2°). The south wind has since kicked in and we have been on a steady temperature rise. The climate here is one-of-a-kind located on the divide between warm and cold, even dry and humid summer air making it one long rollercoaster ride. I've mentioned before how we can and do on a regular basis have several different air masses over a 24-hour period and why our high and low temperatures can occur at the oddest times.

01/25/2022 9:35 am: Sun popped out so did a snowfall measurement before the light fluffy snow settled, exactly 1" today (.04"). 25:1 ratio at 13° air temperature. Updated the snow report page. FYI the snow stake matches snow board measurement.

8:55 am: Visibility 1/8 to 1/4 of a mile moderate snow. Radar shows almost nothing so it will likely not last. We are around 1" now of accumulation.

8:14 am: Light snow continues just over 1/2" of snow today. Looks like moderate snow (green radar returns instead of blue) south of here but looking at the HW camera near Brownlee we have as much snow on the ground here. We are far enough away from the radar I'm not convinced the returns are correct for snow because it's so shallow.

5:00 am: Currently light snow again. Snowmelt yesterday was (.01") and (.01') today. Our high today forecast low 20's with single digits tonight warming into the 40's Wednesday and 50's starting Saturday. It will be interesting if this February continues the recent trend as our coldest month. Winter temperatures were really delayed this year with November being more like October and December more like November. January has been closer to normal but dry only (.09") in moisture.

01/24/2022 1:45 pm: Light snow continues on and off, the rain gauge tipping bucket finally tipped (.01"). We are already down to 24° so well ahead of the 5 pm temperature expectation. The manual snowmelt check for Cocorahs gets done tomorrow morning.

10:40 am: Flurries continue web cameras are not picking it up well but roads are wet. Our temperature has already slipped below freezing (29°). Looks like the airport ASOS isn't fixed, reporting HAZE. ..The radar is picking up on the light snow.

7:15 am: Fast-moving arctic clipper will move through, high temperatures already occurred, falling to around 25° this afternoon with a 30% chance of snow. Wind gusts this morning 43 mph, remote east-38, HW-83 north of town 45 mph, so wind gusts over on north side higher than forecast but should lighten up over the next hour says the HRRR. HRRR has freezing temps arriving around 4 pm, 26° by 5 pm.

01/23/2022 6:25 am: Light snow this morning didn't last long this is the trace amount.

01/22/2022 6:00 am: Stable and above normal temps again between these glancing-blow arctic air systems every few days. The next one is due Monday night and back into the 40's on Wednesday. This morning across town currently 16° at the south side station and 17° here in NE Valentine. Normal low is around (11°). Yesterday we had a trace amount of both sleet and rain as a warm front pushed through scouring out the arctic air.

01/20/2022 7:00 am: Lows so far (-14°) at the remote east station, (-13°) South St. near the airport, warm spot (-12°) here in NE Valentine. I used to think this NE location was a cold spot until the station went in on South St. near the airport where it's currently -13° linked on website.

4:55 am: Making lots of ice, the 3 stations low temps so far -12 to -13° across town, the area cold spot is the new Tempest station off Goose Creek Rd. (-19°). It must be located down in a cold air drainage area (valley). The thermometer sensor (SHT31) on these Tempest stations has no user calibration so it's correct within the (.3f specs). That station is linked under Tempest area map. Our daytime high here in NE Valentine yesterday topped at 11.7° but the 24 hr. daily was 17° occurring at midnight.

With the big ice fishing tournament coming up on Jan. (28-29th) I heard an interview talking about Merritt not being fully frozen over and how unusual it was for late January. Last year was the same. I think the issue goes back to the super mild fall weather October-like in November the water just got a late start at cooling down. January has been normal on temperatures actually running slightly below as of today. 6 sub-zero lows but no extended days of cold exceeding 2 consecutive days of below freezing highs with several high wind events that can eat at the ice if above freezing. All this has contributed to Merritt having thin ice in certain areas. It may be frozen over solid by Jan. (28-29th) hopefully for the 400+ fisherman.

01/19/2022 6:35 am: Arctic air is fully entrenched this morning currently (7°) and still slowly falling. TRENDS page. NW wind at 16 gusting to 28 mph gives a -11° WC currently. Most of the light snow is falling well south of Valentine. Our high temp today mid-teens bottoming around -5° tomorrow morning.

01/18/2022 Another arctic air visit today and like the last one doesn't stay long. We've had our share this winter but nothing super cold (-20's) and they tend to be the glancing-blow variety. Timing on arrival the HRRR has our temps dropping below freezing just after 6 pm today, forecast has temps dropping into single digits (4°) around sunrise Wed. and below zero the next morning Thursday. As usual with these visits, there is a chance of snow mainly in the panhandle with Valentine seeing flurries. Windchill could get pretty low with any wind. If you live on the south side of town the station has been hanging around 31° this morning. Warmer with more wind mixing on the NE side.

01/17/2022 We've got an all-night full moon, with any snow cover it would look really bright out tonight.

Was able to get the snow stake closer to the ground using a long-shank drill bit for the frozen sod. It should give a more accurate snowfall total during high wind and powdered snow events. The elevated board wouldn't collect anything. The camera and stake is a visual aid only and is not the actual amount measured officially for Cocorahs.

01/16/2022 12:45 pm: We are getting some light snow flurries.

01/15/2022 8:00 am: Deer browsing out front in the fresh snow this morning. Our lows this morning were 9° in NE Valentine, 7° at the south side and remote east side stations, all occurred around 4 am before it clouded up.

01/14/2022 6:15 pm: Snowfall measurement .3" (.02") melt. Still snowing lightly seen on the snow stake camera catching the flakes falling, update on seasonal Snow Report is done. We stand at 15" exactly.

FYI the airport ASOS has broke again not reporting any snow or moisture falling after (15:40) while snow continued for several hours. I mentioned this before how it shorts our actual precip during winter storms dating back at least 8 years for Valentine. I'm thinking of removing the METAR conditions icon for good. The cameras do a better job anyway.

4:06 pm: We've had enough snow the ground is white and the tipping bucket just tipped (.01"). Nothing has stuck to the snow stake board with the wind and powdered snow so being elevated isn't accurate but the ground was so frozen couldn't get stake down any closer even with hot water after moving closer to the camera. Visibility is pretty low, currently about 1/8 mile. We've already had more snow than I was expecting, these arctic air invasions have done this before over the years even with low chances.

11:18 am: Just looked at the remote east side station (59 mph) gust recorded. The airport ASOS reports a (55 mph) gust, and (52 mph) here so far. South side station only (47 mph) but that's being measured at just 7.2 feet.

Glancing blow of arctic air moving in but won't stay long. It's still looking like a more significant arctic air intrusion around the 19th with chances of snow mixed in. 41 mph gusts out of the NW here in NE Valentine this morning.

01/13/2022 Another breezy night but warmer preventing any chance of a freeze today breaking our freeze streak at 40-days dating back to December 4th. It almost froze at the industrial area South St. station (32.4°), NE Valentine (32.5°). Looking beyond the chance of moisture tomorrow, models are pointing toward something brewing around the 19th with arctic air and a chance of precip.

01/12/2022 The night-time moderate wind is blowing again on the NE side of town. (14-24 mph) This seems like a common occurrence in the winter. Over on the south side near the airport only 3-8 mph and several degrees (5-8°) cooler with less mixing. The nighttime microclimate is actually the airport and portions of town where the wind is unusually light at night usually SW direction , most all other stations in the area show this same moderate breeze being experienced on the NE side with a WNW wind direction. I've stood next to the airport ASOS when it says 8-10 mph average wind with barely a breeze felt. The wind is being measured at 33' not at the ground level. The south side station (Tempest) wind is being measured at 7.2' so what you see is actual near the surface. 26' feet here in NE Valentine with the anemometer measurement.

01/11/2022 5:30 pm: Snow stake camera is back up using an older spare camera without zoom but think it will work. With the frozen ground can't move any closer so this will have to do. The other (2) cameras both same model must have fried internally with the power outage. Spent a portion of the day with no joy they were completely dead so went with the spare camera. Some electronics just can't handle any line surge.

6:05 am: Breezy and warm (34°) NE Valentine this morning. Running 8° warmer than the south side station. If the wind subsides temps will drop. The power outage knocked out both the east and snow stake cameras yesterday. I'll be looking more into it today, looks like the power supplies may have got toasted because the IR lights aren't coming on at night which is automatic normally.

01/09/2022 Lows (1°) at the south side station near the airport and here in NE Valentine. The Remote east side came in below zero at (-.4°).

01/08/2022 We reached (47.2°) in NE Valentine (46.4°) near the airport, our high temps came in around 10:40 am so very early and prior to modified arctic air filtering back in. Our forecast low is back down in the single digits for tomorrow morning. The special airport thermometer was 50° today.

01/06/2022 Our low temperatures today (-12°) both NE stations and south side Tempest. As does happen here with different air masses the high temperature today came in late 10:34 pm at 10°. At 11:30 pm we are (9°) with a 12-18 mph SE wind. Looking at the 7-day no mention of moisture, starting Monday above normal temperatures after this cold start to 2022 currently running (-14°) below normal.

Lowest wind chill so far (-33°) @ 3:18 am, more station information including time of occurrence is HERE . This page summarizes yearly (2022) information.

01/05/2022 Noticed there is another Tempest weather station south of Valentine off Goose Creek road that just recently went online in December. HERE I'll link the Tempest station map below menu bar having ranchers living in the area that visit website. For those that do live in the area of Goose Creek Rd. your 7-day NWS forecast specific to the area is available with pull-down forecast menu called "Ranch".

12:30 pm: Currently -2.1° and with the increasing clouds, it's starting to look iffy whether we'll reach zero today. Our WC is still running -25°. (Correction we were 1.9° at midnight) so we did get above zero today.

If traveling today this is what the HRRR is saying for snow. North Platte could pick up 3.4 inches, going north from NP it will clear up fast but with the cold and wind any snow could be an issue.

6:45 am: Bitter cold 24 mph wind with 38 mph gusts here in NE Valentine. Current temperature (-4.5°) and still slowly dropping with our windchill -30°. Also (-4.5°) on south street and the remote station east of here. The snow mention has been removed from the forecast until Thursday night with only a slight chance (30%). This current system dug a little further south taking the snow chance away and brought in a little colder arctic air. Our high temperature is forecast at (2°) for Valentine today (-13°) tonight and only an (8°) high temperature for tomorrow. The airport ASOS always runs (+2°) higher than actual if it helps to feel warmer.

01/04/2022 4:05 pm: Still getting wind gusts to 53 mph and some light snow flurries, the air temperature is 20°.

2:40 pm: The arctic air has arrived our peak gusts so far 53 mph. Mostly cloudy with an air temperature of 26° and crashing. The HRRR has our temperature in the single digits around 9 pm tonight and below zero in the morning.

7:45 am: The arctic air should start filtering in around 2 pm per the HRRR model. We may see some west to NW wind gusts around 50 mph during this period. Not much snow is expected for the area, around half an inch at the most.

01/02/2022 Overnight lows so far this morning (-14°) NE and south side. Remote east side (-16°). Warmer air is moving in with high temps expected to reach into the mid 30's today, 40's Monday and Tuesday before the next arctic front arrives. Currently doesn't look like much snow with this system but there is still some question. Final lows will get updated later today if they change.

01/01/2022 4:40 pm: Jan 1, our coldest day of the season so far with daytime high of (4°) at both NE Valentine locations, and 5° at the south side station. The forecast has negative teens tonight likely with good radiational cooling. Big warm-up Monday, Tuesday followed by another arctic cold snap mid-week.

Manual snowmelt 8" SRG (.07"), snowboard measurement 1.0" of accumulation. Seasonal snow report is updated.

For older blog look under Reports/daily it goes back to June 2014. The file was getting to large so this section starts in 2022 Jan. 1.