Saturday, June 04, 2005

Saturday Update

* Glad to see the interns are getting some action on the blog! I will look foward to hearing more from them over the next few months.

* Had the opportunity to have dinner with Josh Johnson and and old friend of WTOK (and former chief meteorologist) Jason Simpson. Really great to catch up with him, and look forward to hanging out more with them after the 10 oclock news!

* Weather looks hot and humid for the next seven days or so. Very humid out there right now, with a dewpoint in the low 70s. I think we see a better chance of showers and thunderstorms around here by Monday as a disturbance swings our way, helping to cool off the upper atmosphere a little bit to make it more unstable.

* For the Tuesday-Friday time frame we should only see an isolated chance of an afternoon thunderstorm each day. Although summer doesn't get around here until the 21st of the month, the weather pattern definitely looks that way!

* Currently 4 days into hurricane season, and all is quiet in the tropics. We will keep you posted...

Friday, June 03, 2005

Intern Day!

Well here I am at WTOK for the second time this summer interning with Cheif Meteorologist Josh Johnson! I will be here on most Thursday afternoon and evenings, of course with the exception of today which is FRIDAY! Anyways I am really looking forward to my summer at WTOK and I also want to thank the station for allowing me to intern here. It will be very rewarding and I will learn a LOT more about the weather. Well I feel like I should write a little about the weather, so here it goes.... It's HOT!.....and summer doesn't even begin until June 21.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Hurricane Awareness Week

* This week is Hurricane Awareness Week in the state of Mississippi. As we all learned last year from Hurricane Ivan, our area is certainly not immune to landfalling tropical systems. NOAA has issued it's official forecast for the upcoming season, and it's a troubling projection:

NOAA Hurricane Season Forecast


* Here's a link to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, where you can find a lot of great hurricane awareness information:

MEMA

* Here's a summary of press releases regarding Mississippi Hurricane Awareness week...More great info available here:

MEMA Press Releases

* Once hurricanes form, many readers want to know WHERE they can get current information. Here are a few personal favorites:

National Hurricane Center
- THE source for tropical info!

Matt Settineri's Website
- maintained by our friend (and Meridian resident) Matt Settineri - great info.

* We'll have to keep a wary eye on the tropics over the next several months!

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

A Rainy Day...

* Rain continues to fall across most of Mississippi and Alabama. This is exactly what we needed to help out our rainfall deficit - a good soaking rain. Most places will end up with close to an inch of rain by the time the rain ends sometime later today.

* We'll still leave a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms in the forecast for Wednesday. But, many locations will stay dry.

* It looks like we'll get back into a summertime pattern later this week, as dry air moves in from the north. So, we'll forecast an increase in sunshine, starting as early as tomorrow afternoon, but especially into Thursday and Friday. Highs by this weekend will get close to 90 degrees.

Monday, May 30, 2005

Wet Memorial Day Ahead

* Before we get to the weather, I'd like to express a very sincere thank you to the men and women serving in our Armed Forces this Memorial Day. It's hard for me to even fathom the sacrifices that you and your families make to make our world safer. So, we thank you....

* It sure looks wet today. A large mass of rain currently near the Gulf coast will lift northward through the day. There could be a few embedded strong storms, but the threat of severe weather seems pretty low. Heavy rain will be the word of the day - some places could see 1-2" of rain.

Sunday, May 29, 2005

4:10 PM Update

* New severe thunderstorm warnings for Hale and Marengo counties in west Alabama. These warnings are both in effect until 5:00 pm. Again, the main threats will be damaging winds and frequent lightning. This cluster of storms will affect almost all of both counties, especially northern Marengo and southern Hale...

* The severe thunderstorm watch has been cancelled for most of our Mississippi counties.

* There are more thunderstorms developing back in Louisiana. These will likely affect us later, but they should weaken a bit before they arrive here. All of the rain we've seen today will help stabilize the atmosphere.

* We'll be watching it...

Update

* New severe thunderstorm warnings for Sumter and Marengo counties in west Alabama. The warning is in effect until 4:00pm. The line of storms will affect almost all of Sumter and Marengo counties - including York, Livingston, Gainesville, Demopolis, Bellamy, and Sweet Water. While the warning is for damaging winds, another big threat will be lightning.

* While there will be a few more severe thunderstorm warnings, SPC does NOT plan to extend the Severe Thunderstorm Watch into west Alabama...

2:20 PM Update

* Severe thunderstorm warnings for Lauderdale, Newton, Scott, Leake, Clarke, and Jasper counties....All of the warnings are for a cluster of storms moving towards the northeast.

* This cluster has a history of producing wind damage - Jones County reports several trees down. There have also been numerous reports of wind damage in Lawrence County as these storms moved through.

* Watching it closely...

2:10 PM Update

* New severe thunderstorm warning for northwestern Scott and Leake counties until 3:00 pm...Main threat will be damaging winds...Carthage and the Highway 25 corridor will be under the gun in the next 20-30 minutes.

* Also, new severe thunderstorm warning for Clarke and Jasper counties until 3:15 pm. Worst of it will be across southern Clarke and eastern/southeastern Jasper counties. Again, the main threat will be damaging winds, and perhaps some small hail....

Storms Moving In...

* A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for about half of our viewing area - roughly along and southwest of a line from Butler to Meridian to Philadelphia. Here's the watch:

Severe Thunderstorm Watch

* Severe Thunderstorm Warnings continue along the cluster of storms - right now, we have Scott, Jasper, and Jones counties under warnings, those are set to expire in a few minutes. Frankly, these storms do not look overly impressive on radar. But, there will be a lot of frequent lightning in these storms, as well as some small hail. So, stay indoors as bad weather approaches.

* Derek Kinkade and I are here watching things closely...

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