Get yourself ready for the coldest air of the young fall season. Lows tonight will plummet to the 30s but high enough to preclude a freeze for most places (though it'll briefly touch 32 in Fargo & Homerville) + too much wind for frost. But it'll be even colder Fri. night with lows dropping into the upper 20s well inland -- Waycross, Blackshear, Homerville, Fargo, Folkston, Lake City, Ft. White, Raiford & Gainesville...to around 30-32 near the Highway 301 corridor -- Woodbine, Callahan, Hilliard, Macclenny, Middleburg & Starke...to near 32 along the I-95 corridor to the upper 30s at the beaches. Metro Jax will range from 30 on the far west/northwest side to 33 at JIA to 37, 38 at Jax Beach. These numbers are nowhere close to the record lows in the mid 20s but are well below the avg. of 50 & about 2 1/2 weeks before the avg. first freeze at JIA of Dec. 3rd.
I mentioned last Fri. (Nov. 9th post) that the weather pattern could become very active next week. Such looks to be the case as we head towards Thanksgiving, & this could spell trouble for travelers. Forecast models -- as would be expected with a potentially strong storm -- are inconsistent with timing, track & intensity. But it's possible that the storm will cross virtually all the U.S. east of the Rockies next week with cold & snow on the storm's north side & heavy rain & possibly strong storms on the storm's south & east side. Lots to be worked out when it comes to details, but I'll update accordingly. For the First Coast, it would appear much of the week will be pretty tranquil & nice. Onshore winds will mean some cloudiness & possibly a few coastal showers Mon. into Tue. but then lots of warmth Wed. & T'giving Day ahead of the potential storm. As of right now (& timing could change!), the strong storm system won't reach the area until Thu. night/Fri. or so. But for much of the rest of the country, stormy weather could be mean some serious travel issues -- by air & by road.
Strong tornado hit last evening near the Tennessee/Georgia border west of Chattanooga. Here's the preliminary report from the National Weather Service:
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
1115 AM EST THU NOV 15 2007
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0802 PM TORNADO 3 SW JASPER 35.03N 85.67W
11/14/2007 F2 MARION TN EMERGENCY MNGR
*** 9 INJ *** SEVERAL VEHICLES DAMAGED IN KIMBALL. CHURCH
IN KIMBALL WAS ALSO DAMAGED. TORNADO RATED AS EF2 WITH
PEAK WIND SPEED ESTIMATED AT 130 MPH. PATH WIDTH 200
YARDS. PATH LENGTH 2 MILES.
A viewer (Bunny LeBlanc) sent a First Alert Photo -- see below -- of altocumulus (midlevel) clouds at sunset. The pattern is referred to as a "mackerel sky" because the clouds give the sky the appearance of fish scales.
Piano-playing record! I mentioned Mon. that Pat Jones was trying to break the record for "The Longest Keyboard Playing Marathon by an Individual". Well, she did it. Pat played for 65 straight hours breaking the old record by one hour! Congrat's Pat...I dropped by the "after hours party" at Theresa's Piano Gallery this evening to offer CBS47's/FOX30's congratulations along with a few station "goodies".
I spent some time Mon. with my family at our beautiful Jax Zoo & Gardens. They've started something (relatively) new -- the zoo is selling plants that you can find within the zoo that will do well in your own yard. When you walk through the turnstile, take a left & look along the wall just beyond the gift shop. We bought a "parlor maple"...also referred to as a flowering maple. The blooms resemble hibiscus but are smaller...the leaves look that of a maple tree, & the plant thrives in our climate -- comes back strong after winter. And the "firebrush" was highly recommended too so, of course, my wife couldn't resist buying a couple of those.
