Tagged: weather RSS

  • jimmy 7:11 pm on February 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: nws, , weather,   

    Two storms this week. First had a glaze of freezing rain before a good 3 inches of snow. Second had under 3 inches blowing snow. One had 12 hours lead time of a winter storm warning (after 24-36 hours lead with a winter storm watch), the other had a winter weather advisory issued 2 hours before the storm started. It might surprise you which storm matches which warning/advisory.

    Hint, the storm with more snow and the ice had only 2 hours notice.

    My local NWS office kinda fails at issuing warnings, it seems.

     

  • jimmy 11:38 pm on February 21, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: snow, weather,   

    Well, pre-spring was fun while it lasted.

     

  • jimmy 8:21 pm on January 31, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: blizzard, hpc, weather,   

    Select quotes from this morning’s HPC Short Range Forecast Discussion: “rapidly deepening upper-level trough,” “incredibly strong surface front,” “ice and snow will be a major concern,” “dangerous amounts of sleet and freezing rain,” “thunderstorms will plague … Gulf Coast.”

    I haven’t heard anyone saying the word “historic” the last couple of days, but I think that’s because they’re all too busy trying to pin down the exact sleet/snow/freezing rain boundaries and pouring over wind forecasts trying to decide if Blizzard Warnings are warranted.

    Fun times.

     

  • jimmy 8:28 pm on October 26, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: fall, , , , tornadoes, weather   

    The giant storm currently wrecking havoc across the Midwest has a low pressure (957mb per 18z Surface Analysis from NOAA’s Hydrometeorological Prediction Center) equivalent to a category 3 hurricane. To be clear, that is historically low for the Midwest.

    CIMSS notes that the storm is still deepening. At least the winds of this storm aren’t on par with those of a major hurricane, unless you count the nearly 200 reports of severe winds/damage so far today (blue dots on map to right). But even the strongest severe thunderstorm winds rarely make it much into category 1 hurricane territory. (Winds over 58mph are severe, winds over 74mph are hurricane, winds over 114mph are category 3 hurricane.)

     

  • jimmy 9:11 pm on September 4, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , weather   

    I feel fairly certain that this is the future of Hurricane Hunter operations, and I find it very exciting:

     

  • jimmy 4:38 pm on September 2, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , weather   

    There are, by my count, no less than four agencies flying airplanes in and around tropical storms/hurricanes this year. Forecast discussions from the National Hurricane Center have mentioned getting data from: the Air Force Hurricane Hunters (C-130s), the NOAA hurricane recon group (C-130s and Gulfstream V jet), the National Centers for Atmospheric Research (NCAR, also flying a G-V jet) and the National Science Foundation (apparently hurricane researchers love them some Gulfstream V jets as the NSF is also using one this year).

    Not only is the Atlantic getting crowded with storms, it’s getting crowded with hurricane hunting airplanes.

    Edit (9/3/10): it seems in my quick iPod posting originally I had forgotten what types of planes NOAA uses for Hurricane Hunting. It’s actually two P-3s and one G-IV (see pic).

     

  • jimmy 9:33 pm on September 1, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: hurr earl, , , weather   

    I can think of few hurricane tracks that would affect more people than a major and large storm skipping up the East Coast from Cape Hatteras to Nova Scotia just before Labor Day weekend.

    East Coast, meet your “big one.”

    Earl, East Coast.

    I guess you understandably don’t really want to be friends.

     

  • jimmy 6:28 am on August 27, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , weather   

    5 years ago tonight, at 5am EDT August 27, 2005 hurricane Katrina’s winds increased to 115 mph, making the storm a “Major” category 3 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. This was less than 28 hours after emerging into the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm with 70mph winds and only 6 hours since causing annoyance to the meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center by not turning as predicted, prompting the forecasters to call the storm “stubborn”.

     

  • jimmy 10:02 pm on August 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , weather   

    5 years ago this afternoon, at 5pm EDT August 25th, 2005 a little storm called Katrina was upgraded by the National Hurricane Center from a Tropical Storm to a Category 1 Hurricane with winds of 75 MPH. At the time the eye was less than 15 miles off shore. Around 7pm local time, the storm made landfall near North Miami Beach, FL with winds of 80MPH.

    The storm uprooted many trees in Miami, dropped tornadoes, killed 6-9 people and caused an estimated $600 million in damages in South Florida on the 25th and early 26th.

    By 3am, the storm’s center had crossed Florida and was in the Gulf of Mexico pretty much intact. Winds had only fallen to 70mph (from 80mph at landfall) as the storm’s track over Florida had been mostly over the marshy Everglades. (Meaning not a lot of actual land stopped the flow of warm moist ocean air into the storm’s center.) At 5am the storm was again called a hurricane with 75mph winds.

     

  • jimmy 11:04 pm on June 12, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bow echos, , , summer, , weather   

    Interesting forecasting process here: the SPC (Storm Prediction Center) issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch (#301) this afternoon for parts of Illinois and Indiana (no news there, it’s June in the Midwest, afterall). But then, 4 hours later, with a nice bow echo (that radar image will ony be available for 5 or 6 days, sorry) approaching the edge of that watch area, it become a matter of some discussion whether to issue a new watch to the east of the current one (BTW, one reason I find this whole thing interesting is because my county is JUST to the east of Watch 301 as defined at 2pm EDT by the SPC, and this was making me sad since I like severe weather and being inside severe watches). Point in favor of a new watch included, well, the GIANT BOW ECHO of severe thunderstorms, but points against it included, well, a fairly stable atmosphere (e.g. not friendly to the creation or continuation of severe weather) over Ohio.

    The solution to the problem of Giant Bow Echo Of Severe Thunderstorms Leaving Watch Area But Will Lose It’s Severe Status About An Hour Later? Extend the current watch slightly to the east. This avoids the issue of issuing a new watch that only includes a few counties and only runs a few hours, but it also makes sure to get the word out to the people of the 7 counties added to the watch area that a GIANT SEVERE (and tornadic, judging by the warnings) BOW ECHO is coming.

    Nice. Well played SPC, well played.

    /geeking

     

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