 |
 |
|
|
4Warn Weather BLOG |
|
September 2008
Categories
More KMOV Blogs
|
Recently by Matt ChambersStrong thunderstorms rumbled through Missouri Thursday evening, weakening as they pressed into Illinois and southern Missouri. Given the tranquil weather we've enjoyed for most of this August, it had been quite some time since damaging storms impacted our area. The trouble began a little after 7:30 PM Thursday when a funnel cloud was reported by law enforcement in Montgomery City, MO, west of the St. Louis metropolitan area. Just min... It's the middle of August, and in a typical year, we would be busy in the 4Warn Storm Center calculating the heat index and keeping up with the latest heat advisories. But, this year has been anything but typical. An unusual weather pattern over the mid-section of the country has kept the worst of the heat and humidity to our west and south so far this August, keeping us on the cool side of the averages for this time of year. Since t... July is known for its hot and humid days in the St. Louis area. It's unusual to see a cold front push this far southward during the mid-summer... unusual, but not unheard of. It actually happened over the weekend. A few strong to severe thunderstorms developed ahead of a front Friday and Saturday, but then, bucking the usual summer trend, a cold front passed through our entire viewing area, leaving cooler and less humid air in its wa... Could it be? Might we finally be nearing the end of the Great Flood of '08? As of the time of this post (Tuesday morning, July 1), the Mississippi River level is falling from Louisiana downstream to Alton. The level in St. Louis is holding steady, with a slow drop expected in the coming days. We'll have to wait until this evening (and into Wednesday) to finally see a crest in Chester. What about flooding off the Mississippi?... Now that the Mississippi River is cresting (or nearly cresting) in our area, our focus in the 4Warn Storm Center is changing. You'll hear less and less now about crest times and heights, and more about the duration of the crest. Unfortunately, in a major river flooding event like this one, water levels don't typically drop quickly after cresting. Many locations up and down the Mississippi River will spend two or thre... ***UPDATED THURSDAY, JUNE 19*** Can that possibly be? Indeed, the latest river level forecasts indicate that this episode of flooding on the Mississippi River may actually approach (if not surpass) those record levels set in the Great Flood of 1993, at least upstream from Grafton (north of St. Louis). To keep this as simple as possible, let's start north and work our way south. Louisiana... Is there a state in the Union that isn't dealing with some sort of wild weather? The national news has certainly been painting an ugly picture recently -- wild fires in the west, extreme heat in the east, and of course, strong thunderstorms and flooding in the nation's midsection. This river flooding issue is a complicated one, mainly because different local rivers will be impacted in dramatically different ways. For example, while m...
Severe thunderstorm warnings, flash flood watches, wind advisories... Anytime the National Weather Service issues a watch, warning, or advisory, they do so becuase certain pre-determined criteria have been met, or will be met soon. For example, consider a severe thunderstorm warning. Meteorologists at the National Weather Service don't just see a strong storm on radar and decide to issue a warning. It's much more complicated ... Unless you've been living under a rock since the start of the year, you know that our weather has been unusually wet of late. If you have been living under a rock, you've probably been flooded out of your home more than once over the last three months. Nevertheless, the statistics are remarkable...
Mother's Day of 2008 won't exactly be remembered for its picnic-prime weather in the St. Louis area. From severe thunderstorms Saturday evening to remarkable winds Sunday, the weekend weather was just plain ugly -- sorry Mom! Saturday started with some promise. Sunshine was breaking through the clouds, and temperatures were fairly mild, but by mid-afternoon, rain and thunderstorms had moved into eastern Missouri and western Illinois.... That's the debate in the Chambers household these days, and I doubt we're the only ones! Let's do a quick review of our recent rollercoaster ride. High temperatures averaged 78 degrees from Monday through Friday of last week. Factored into that number were our first two 80-degree-plus days of the year (Wednesday, April 23 at 81 and Friday, April 25 at 80). A cold front swept across the bi-state area Friday, bringing a round of stron... No, not the silver-colored goo in thermometers... the planet! Mercury, named for the swift-footed messenger of the Roman gods, is the planet closest to the Sun. It also happens to be the fastest-moving planet in our solar system, averaging about 30 miles per second as it makes its orbit around the Sun. Of the five planest that can be seen with the naked eye, Mercury is typically considered to be the most diffi... When the sun came up on the last day of March, we were sitting at spot #7 on the list of wettest Marches in recorded St. Louis history. But, with more rain in the forecast, and with less than an inch between our monthly rain total and the all-time March record, it was clear that we had a shot at rewriting the record books. Sure enough, with Monday's total of 1.22 inches at Lambert International Airport, March of 2008 became the wettes... Spring officially began at 12:48 this (Thursday) morning, and the good news is that the first few days of the new season look fairly tranquil. That good news has been vastly overshadowed by the moderate to major river flooding that is occuring across much ot the southern half of our viewing area. Let's consider those areas where moderate to major flooding is either occurring now or will be within 24 hours. Moderate Flo... Tornado sirens will sound across Missouri today as part of the National Weather Service's 2008 Severe Weather Awareness Week. Here is your chance to put your severe weather action plan into practice. A statewide tornado drill is scheduled for this afternoon at 1:30 PM. Sirens all around the Show Me State will blare, weather radios will be triggered, and equipment in the 4Warn Storm Center will light up as a test tornado warning is is... They say that a house divided cannot stand, but in the Chambers household, we've managed to prove that theory wrong a time or two. My wife and I look at the longer daylight hours of spring and summer in very different ways. We both work odd, and often long, hours. But, those hours don't typically match. My alarm goes off at 1:00 AM each weekday morning. As a result, if I'm behaving myself, I'm heading to bed sometime between... After Tuesday's 10" snow dump at Lambert International Airport, I was hoping for at least a bit of a break from the active winter weather pattern... But it just wasn't meant to be. By the time you woke up this morning (Thursday morning), a winter storm watch had already been posted for Reynolds and Iron counties in Missouri. Those are the two southern-most counties in the News4 viewing area, and home to the towns of Centervill... Predicting the future is no easy task but, let's face it, that's basically the duty of a meteorologist. When we create our forecasts, we do so with the understanding that a small change in the short-term weather could result in larger misses down the road in our extended forecast. We saw evidence of that over the weekend. If you were watching our forecasts late last week to get a sense for your weekend weather, you probably noticed t... I intended to blog this morning about tonight's total lunar eclipse, but hard-working Kristen Cornett beat me to the punch. Her posting from Tuesday does a great job of breaking down the astronomical event, so check out her entry just below this one. I do have one addition to make. Kristen's blog entry mentions tonight's events at the McDonnell Planetarium in Forest Park, but we've been made aware of another eclipse-related event. A... February 5th of 2008 will be remembered as a dark day in weather history across middle-America and the South. The death toll from an outbreak of strong tornadoes is already in the mid 50s, and may continue to rise in the coming days. This is a map from the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) showing reports of severe weather across the country from Tuesday, February 5. What a weekend! We didn't just break the record high temperature Sunday -- we obliterated it! Sunday afternoon's high temperature of 73 degrees far surpassed the previous record of 67! That benchmark temperature had been in place since 1907. In other words, on Sunday, we shattered a record high that had stood for over one hundred years! Garnering less attention, but still just as impressive, is the fact that we also set a "r... From a January ice storm, to oppresive August heat, to a big December snow, 2007 was literally a year of ups and downs! Now that the year is over, our friends at the National Weather Service office in Weldon Spring have done some number crunching. When all the numbers are tallied, 2007 comes in as relatively warm and dry. Official temperature and precipitation records run all the way back to 1870 in St. Louis, and 2007 is tie... I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Holiday! I've been out of the storm center since Thursday of last week, fortunate enough to have some time off around Christmas. So, my family and I did the same thing that many of you did. We hit the road, headed for our native territory of northwest Missouri -- St. Joseph, MO, to be exact. Of course, it was wonderful to be in the midst of family and friends for the Holiday, but the t... Two waves of wintery weather rolled through the bi-state area over the weekend. Round one arrived early Saturday morning, December 15, bringing a mix of rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow. The second round developed to our west and southwest Saturday afternoon, intensifying as it moved into the St. Louis metropolitan area. Thundersnow (a snow storm producing lightning and thunder) was reported for a brief time in p... How's that for wishy-washy? Forecasting the weather in and around St. Louis at any time of the year is difficult at best, but there is no more challenging time than late fall and winter. The last few days have been evidence enough of that, as merely a few miles meant the difference between freezing rain and rain, between losing power and keeping the lights on, between icy roads and wet roads. Now comes our next challenge -- Sa... They say there are three things that really count in the real estate business... Location, location, location. The same is true in the world of weather, and Thursday's winter-style storm system is proof of that. The line is fairly sharp between those who woke up Friday morning to snow on the ground and those that were left with more of a sleet/snow/freezing rain mix accumulation. That line basically runs from Columbia, MO to ... Much of our area is now (or soon will be) under either a snow advisory or a winter weather advisory. Check out the main page of KMOV.com, and take a look at the weather alert text scrolling near the top of the page. This will tell you if your area is included in either of these advisories. So, when does the wintery weather arrive, and is accumulating snow or ice really going to be a problem? ... A day of big change across the Midwest, and the 4Warn forecast appears right on track. Kent's blog below still holds true. After such beautiful weather yesterday, today is a complete 180-degree turnaround. Temperatures drop, and occasional showers and thunderstorms roll through our area. It still appears as though there is a brief window of time late tonight and early Thursday when lingering rain could mix with and change to ... If you've been living in a state of denial, trying to convince yourself that winter just won't come this year, then you probably shouldn't read on... Today is Winter Weather Awareness Day, a day set aside each year by the National Weather Service to raise public awareness about the coming winter storm season. That's right -- it will be here before you know it! The newest member of the 4Warn Storm Team, >> Continue reading: Wacky Winter Stats on Winter Weather Awareness Day Think back to last April... Eckert's Peaches Hit Hard by Late Freeze A late season freeze had those with agricultural interests sweating in the cold. A powerful cold front sent temperatures plunging from a high of 83 on April 2nd to a high of only 36 on April 6th. Overnight readings dropped into the lower 20s. Beli... Just a quick update to Steve's blog entry from yesterday... The "fire weather watch" that was in effect for the southern tip of our viewing area has been upgraded to a "red flag warning", set to expire at 5:00 PM. The combination of gusty winds, low relative humidity, and dry vegetation is creating explosive fire growth potential. While only St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Madison, and Perry counties (all in Mis... This morning's low temperatures were not the coolest of the season so far, but factor in a stiff breeze out of the north, and what do you get? The coolest-feeling morning of the season so far. Huh? This morning's low temperature of 47 degrees at Lambert International Airport was the 4th coolest since the start of September (the unofficial start to autumn). Here are the top 3... October 11: 4... Have you seen our 5-day forecast lately? Here is a rough draft of a graphic that I'm working on for today's edition of News4 at Noon. That's quite a change from this past weekend's weather. Saturday, we hit 83 degrees, and warm south winds pushed the mercury to 84 Sunday afternoon. The unusuall... October is not exactly synonomous with severe weather in Missouri and Illinois, but strong storms can and do happen in the fall. The last two days serve as evidence of that. Here is a map from the Storm Prediction Center showing reports of severe weather (large hail, strong winds, and possible tornadoes) from Wednesday, October 17.
What an incredible weekend! Let's review some of the stats... Saturday Sunday There hasn't been a high temperature in St. Louis cooler than Saturday's 65 since April 19th of this year, when we hit a high of only 62. In other words, it had been about five months since we'd seen temperatures as cool as those of the p... We're more than 10 days away from the official end of summer. Despite what the seasonal calendar might tell us, this week's parade of cold fronts, marching across our area, has many wondering if the hot and humid days of summer are a thing of the past. As a huge fan of the Autumn season in Missouri and Illinois, I, like many of you no doubt, would love to think that the sweaty and oppressive days of summer are behind us. But, let's n... We managed to take a big bite out of our rainfall deficit last week, and even into the weekend. After several days of rain and occasional thunderstorms across our area, green has returned to many local lawns. Unfortunately, for those with agricultural interests, this rain came a bit too late to do much good for certain crops still in the ground. The multiple days of on-and-off rain, heavy at times, resulted in some impressive rainfal... As far as the United States is concerned, this has been a fairly quiet hurricane season... so far. However, it may come as a surprise to you that September is actually the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. While we're certainly not in the clear just yet, only one hurricane (Dean) has formed in the Atlantic this year, in addition to four tropical storms. Meanwhile, in the Pacific Ocean, there have been e... Want to be a meteorologist? You might change your mind once you realize what's involved in the process. If you want to earn a college degree in meteorology, or, as some universities call it, atmospheric science, get ready to devote a great deal of your college life to the study study of math. We take courses that range from simple statistics, algebra, and trigonometry to much more complex topics like calculus, differential equations, and ma...
Hi everybody -- Matt here in the 4Warn Weather Center. This past week has easily been the hottest of 2007 so far. There were even two triple-digit days (Tuesday and Wednesday), our first 100 degree days of the year. We spent much of the week under an excessive heat warning, which the National Weather Service issues when it appears as though the heat index will reach at least 105 for at least three consecutive days. >> Continue reading: Excessive Heat Warning, Excessive Heat Watch, Heat Advisory... Are You Confused Yet?!? On July 19 of 2006, after a hot and humid afternoon with highs near 100, a cluster of thunderstorms tore a path through the St. Louis metropolitan area, leaving in its wake incredible wind damage and hundreds of thousands of residential electricity customers in the dark. Based on the damage left behind, and data from sensors across the region, wind speeds in the metro likely ranged between 70 and 80 miles per hour, with some spots in Illinois... Hi everyone -- Matt here in the 4Warn Weather Center... Is it just me, or is the local forecast for the 4th of July always bascially the same? Year in and year out, it seems as though the Independence Day outlook calls for humid weather with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. As one who doesn't often break with tradition, I'm calling for humid weather with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Original,... Hi everybody -- Matt here in the 4Warn Weather Center, counting down the last few hours of Spring. In fact, by the time many of you read this, summer will have already arrived. The summer solstice occurs today (June 21, 2007) at precisely 1:06 PM local time. First of all, what is a solstice, and secondly, how could we possibly know that it occurs at such a specific time? The word solstice has Latin o... What an age in which we live! Not only do we have a man-made marvel of scientific ingenuity in orbit right now around our home planet, but we also have the ability to accurately predict when that home-spun "satellite" will be visible in our local sky!
The International Spa... The beautiful weekend weather brought a lot of bi-state residents outside to enjoy the comfortble conditions. If you were out and about after sunset, you might have notcied something interesting, and a bit unusual, in the sky. When the two brightest objects in the night sky move close to one another, it's tough to miss. A few of our viewers not only noticed, but took the time to snap a few pictures and send them our way. This... |
