Apparently, it's "Weird Weather News Tuesday." I always say "the weather is always interesting" and this morning that adage has held true. In the last hour, I have digested these seven stories, which I started adding to "J's Breaking News" at right (and my Twitter feed) but then realized there were so many, they were worth a blog entry.

1. OVER A FOOT OF APRIL SNOW IN GREAT LAKES: It may be late April, but snow continues to fall over the Great Lakes, in fact over a foot fell in parts of Michigan and close to a foot in Wisconsin yesterday and overnight. Even though the radar says that snow is falling into central Illinois and Indiana this morning, if you check the airport observations at 9 AM you can tell that the radar is overestimating the snow coverage and in fact all the snow is north of Chicago. Top snow amounts as of 9 AM include 15.3" at Herman, MI and 10.4" at Long Lake, WI.

2. WEIRD VORTEX CRAWLS UP NEW JERSEY COAST: An interesting vortex on radar traveled up the New Jersey coast last night around 10:30 PM (see below, thanks Tyler for the radar capture from MapSpace™). Based on the lack of storm spotter reports, I'm assuming it was a benign "meso-low," a tiny low pressure system that sometimes forms from thunderstorms, but poses no threat unlike it's sister vortex the "hook echo" which indicates a tornado is probably on the ground.

3. CALIFORNIA - HIGHEST TEMPERATURES EVER IN APRIL: Several locations in California set all-time monthly record high temperatures yesterday, and San Francisco came within one degree (thanks Chris B.) You can read this NWS statement for specifics.

4. YANKEE STADIUM WIND FIELD COULD CAUSE HOME RUN STREAK: Yesterday we reported that the configuration and design of the new Yankee Stadium could be causing the recent Home Run streak. It got a lot of press pickup, including CNBC and USA Today. As you know, I Don't Do Sports [JessePedia] so I'll leave it at that.

5. POWER PLANT IN THE SKY TO DEFEAT HURRICANES: I just saw this story on Fox News on-air. Here is an article from Wired Magazine. Note that it quotes the NOAA Hurricane FAQ (which I have before when discussing how hard it is to actually kill a hurricane.

6. PEOPLE DON'T UNDERSTAND PRECIP PROBABILITY: LiveScience.com reports that the majority of the population doesn't understand probability-of-precipitation (POP) forecasts. Then a commenter in the article pointed out that, while LiveScience's definition was something that meteorologists (like me) were taught in college, the NWS definition is different. I say, who cares? Cut through the complication and use AccuPOP instead, which tells you "the percentage chance that a measurable amount of precipitation will fall at your specific location during a specific time period." It's a simple graph of POP, so if you want to mow the lawn this week, look for the time periods with the lowest bar. Get a 30-day trial to Premium to get 4 days of AccuPOP.

7. NEW ORLEANS HOMEOWNERS SUE "MR. GO" CANAL: Several New Orleans residents have created a lawsuit which charges that the construction of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) channel in 1968 led to the destruction of their homes during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The New York Times has more.

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