While 90-mph winds blasted southern Alaska yesterday, record rains fell too with as much as 8.17 inches of rain falling at normally dry(ish) Seward, a record which caused record river rises. According to AccuWeather, Resurrection River at Glacier Bridge rose to a record 19.97 feet. Grouse Lake at Grouse Creek rose to a record 9.71 feet. Both records beat the previous record set in October 2006.

A deep, long fetch moisture plume of tropical origins extending all the way from Hawaii has acted like a hose, causing flooding across many communities in southern Alaska. The mountains have helped enhance the rainfall due to the orographic effect.

Colder than normal air to the north and west and warmer than normal to the south and east of Alaska has helped intensify the jet stream and in turn the Aleutian lows. A cold trough acts like a bowl which bungles the energy and forces pile to pile up and as it piles up, the lows which form, deepen causing the hurricane-force winds and the direction in which the air is flowing from, there is a lot of moisture which slams the mountains and causes flooding.

September Snowstorm For Upper Midwest, Record Cold for Northern Minnesota?

As a result of the powerhouse storms rattling into Alaska and a lot of heat pumping all the way up into the far north has been causing a split in the polar vortex and this split and orientation of the jet stream has meant some of this very cold air is being forced south aboard strong northerly winds down the spine of the continent.

A storm system over Ontario and Quebec is helping draw down this very cold air and with the moisture of the system and the cold coming down, snowfall is expected over parts of Manitoba as well as Northern and Central Ontario. Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and perhaps the UP of Michigan also are in with a chance at seeing anywhere from a few flakes to possibly a trace-2 inches.

It’s possible that 1-2 inches may accummulate over Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin Friday night into Saturday morning and if this occurs with the coldest air coming down on the back side of the moisture, we may see that snow stay on the ground during Saturday, holding daytime highs in the extremely rare 30s and low 40s at best. Saturday night may be very interesting. Clear skies, light winds, low thicknesses and a coating of snow on the ground, presents a good chance for record cold. Record lows may reach all the way to Missouri by Sunday morning.

The Sept record of 19 degrees at International Falls was set just last year. There is a chance with this setup that they could beat that. Teens are possible across much of the Arrowhead while mid, even low 20s could impact all the way to southern Minnesota, northern Iowa. 20s may reach northern Missouri and Illinois with Chicago possibly pushing 32.