Cool air lags behind the cool front that moved through the area early Thu. morning so temps. managed to make it to near 70 before falling late in the afternoon as clouds thickened & rain started to break out just north of the front. This will be a classic "over-running" rain this evening. An upper level disturbance will move across the area as relatively warm, moist air aloft is pulled northward across the front (which sits close to I-4). Showers will be widespread across most of Northeast Florida. Despite some brief heavy rain, total rainfall should still end up a third of an inch or less with a few isolated spots south of Jax managing a half inch or so where there could also be a few lightning strikes. Meanwhile, rain will be much more spotty across Southeast Georgia & north of I-10 in Fl.with only light amounts. This system is a fast mover & will be east of the area later tonight, push the front well to the south & east allowing for clearing skies. That'll set the stage for dry & mild weather for Fri. & Sat. before a cold front brings a quick shot of much cooler air for Sun. & Mon.
And oh how we could use some rain. We're still very dry, of course....but rain would also help the pollen situation. Have you noticed the return of the "green stuff" -- a green/yellowish powder that blankets anything sitting outside? For the 2nd winter in a row, our tree pollen season has started unusually early. The reason is the lack of any sustained or significant cold temps. Officially at JIA there have only been 10 freezes -- all have been 29-32 except Jan. 3 when it dropped to 25. The Southside of Jax has had only about 5 freezes this winter. So tree pollen is off & running & the grass pollen won't be far behind. Rain will give relief
but only temorarily. It'll be a long couple of months ahead for pollen sufferers considering our average last freeze is just a few weeks away.
Memphis, TN has now posted some info. -- including photos & doppler radar imagery -- on the violent tornadoes in Western Tennessee Tue. night which included at least 1 EF-4. More info. will be posted as surveys are completed & written.
And speaking of tornadoes...let's get something straight: this outbreak was NOT
(1) without warning. The severe weather set-up was an obvious one. The Storm Prediction Center began issuing outlooks for the area 5-6 days ahead...placed the area in a "moderate" risk Mon. then a "high" risk early Tue. Local weather service offices issued "hazardous weather outlooks" & virtually all significant -- including ALL killer -- tornadoes had warnings issued in advance. In many cases, the warning was 10 to as much as nearly 30 minutes in advance! An outbreak like this one 50-100 yrs. ago would have killed hundreds, maybe thousands. Two problems: the tornadoes were very fast movers -- on the order of 50-60 mph...& secondly many of the tornadoes occurred after dark when they're difficult to see.
(2) caused by global warming. That's simply hyperbole & a knee-jerk reaction. If any global warming alarmists jump on this tornado outbreak as an indication of the severity of global warming, it's flat out false...bad science & an attempt to use hysteria to advance one's agenda. (as is linking "Katrina" to gloabal warming).
I had the pleasure of visiting Holy Family school this morning talking to the 3rd-8th graders about hazardous weather -- see the photo below:
Today's topic for "Hazardous Weather Awareness Week" is hurricanes & associated flooding. Florida is threatened by a hurricane -- on average -- once every
4 years. A hurricane has not made landfall on Florida soil since 2004 & 2005 but, of course, those were record years with multiple hits.
