“Perfect” Weather Day

2013-04-24 23:43:36.000 – Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist

A view from today.

Everybody has their own opinion as to what it means to have “perfect” weather. To a farmer dependent on rain, a rainy day may be perfect. For fans of the beach, it might be a sunny day with temperatures in the 90’s. For an ice climber, cold and icy is what they would find ideal. For a sailor, an ideal day would have stiff enough winds to move their boat at a good pace with minimal choppiness. And for some, like myself, today could be classified as a “perfect” weather kind of day.

After a cloudy start to the day, skies cleared out providing ample amounts of spring time sunshine. Winds diminished to calm and then remained low through the better part of the day. And since it is still spring, this meant that despite the calm winds, there were no bugs swarming us yet. Temperatures rose into the 40s for most of the day. This might sound cold to some but 40’s with light winds are great to hike/back country ski/board in – it’s cool enough to keep you cool while out and about but warm enough to be out and about in with minimal layers. Vistas were unlimited allowing for great views all around. The air was sweetened by the surrounding wet ground from the melting snow pack. Birds could be heard and could be seen chasing each other like children on a playground. It was just one of those kinds of days that just put you in a euphoric state of mind all around.

But like all good things, todays “perfect” weather is about to come to an end overnight into tomorrow. A passing cold front will return clouds and eventually summit fog. Rain showers will spread in then transition to snow by the morning hours. Winds will continue to build then remain elevated through tomorrow. Temperatures will be more seasonable as they fall to the 20s with wind chill values nearing the zero degree mark. So in general our weather tomorrow will be more winter-like than spring-like and less than “perfect” to me. But far be it from me to say that tomorrow won’t be “perfect” either; it’s all just in the eye of the beholder. So, if you find tomorrows weather to be “perfect,” hopefully you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed today.

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Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist