Japanese Typhoon Makes Minnesota Rain

Japanese Typhoon Makes Minnesota Rain

Have you ever heard the phrase: "If a butterfly flaps its wings in Mexico, it will create a tornado in Minnesota"? The idea behind this is that even the small features may have dramatic impacts on the weather down the road - it's called chaos theory. The reason for that small rant is because at some point in the early part of October, a weak disturbance formed in the Pacific Ocean which eventually grew into typhoon (hurricane) that caused some major problems in Japan. Take a look at this image taken by a NASA satellite last week (October 7th) of typhoon Melor as it was approaching the southern islands of Japan:

At 3pm (Tokyo time) Melor had sustained winds of near 100mph with gusts of up to 120mph. Interestingly, this is the same storm that is now battering the west coast of the United States:

Can you believe that this storm made it across the entire Pacific Ocean:

California appears to be getting hit the worst, here are some of the storm impacts:

Impulses from the main storm are being flung east-northeastward over the Rockies and through the woods - and to grandmothers house it goes... These weaker storms tend to get ripped apart as they make their way over the higher elevations, so we (here in Minnesota) will get the left-overs. Unlike earlier this week, accumulating snow will be harder to find through central and southern Minnesota because temperatures in the lowest mile of the atmosphere will be slightly warmer. Latest computer runs show a little over 0.50" of liquid rain through Friday morning.

Todd's Outlook for the Twin Cities

Wednesday: Light rain/snow mix possible. High: 43

Wednesday Night: Rain/snow mix lingers. Low: 35

Thursday: Spotty light rain/snow showers continue. High: 43

Friday: Mostly cloudy with spotty rain showers, still cold. High: 42

Saturday: Brighter and warmer: High near 50

Sunday: Sunny, even warmer. High mid 50's