Our active weather pattern continues with our next weather system slowly getting organized right now. Warm, humid air is already producing thunderstorms near a warm front from Southeast Texas to the Southeast Gulf of Mexico & the Fl. Straits. This warm front will lift northward through Thu. night as an area of low pressure develops over the Southern Plains. So clouds will increase through Thu. with a few showers in the afternoon continuing into Thu. night. Rainfall doesn't look to be great during this time period. Fri. will be a warm day with afternoon highs near 80 degrees. Widespread showers & storms will extend along a slow moving cool front from the Carolinas to Louisiana with much of this activity staying north & west of our area through the day. The showers & storms will then slowly spread south & east -- as individual cells move more quickly to the northeast -- Fri. night through Sat. There should be a few severe storms Fri. in Alabama, Georgia & the Florida Panhandle with
a few strong storms possible in inland Southeast Ga. (Waycross, Blackshear, Nahunta, Jesup, Homerville, Fargo) Fri. night. By Sat., the front will be weakening, upper level winds less strong & surface convergence along the front less pronounced so -- while there will be showers & a few thunderstorms -- the intensity shouldn't be particularly strong as sustained, intense updrafts in thunderstorms should have a hard time maintaining themselves.
The major storm system for the middle of next week still looks to be in the cards.
Tonight's (Wed.) lunar eclipse will have to be viewed through scattered cloudiness, especially over Northeast Florida. Totality is 10:01-10:51 p.m. We won't have another lunar eclipse visible on the First Coast until Dec., 2010. Solar eclipses are usually far more spectacular but also occur less often (because during a solar eclipse the shadow is caused by the moon which is smaller when compared to the Earth which is the object that casts the shadow during a lunar eclipse...it's "easier", in other words, for the Earth to be perfectly between the moon & sun to produce a lunar eclipse vs. the necessary set-up of the moon between the Earth & the sun for a solar eclipse). The next solar eclipse (only a partial) visible from the First Coast won't be until Aug. 21st, 2017. In the meantime, a solar eclipse will be visible in Canada, Greenland, Russia & China this coming Aug. with an annular solar eclipse (edges of the sun still visible) in May, 2012 but will only be seen in parts of the Central & Western U.S. Click here for a list of worldwide upcoming solar eclipses...& here for lunar eclipses (takes some time to load).
A good ol' fashioned nasty winter continues for the Upper Midwest where temps. all day Wed. were a few degrees either way of zero! Downright "stupid cold" in N. Dakota early Wed. Check out these records from the Grand Forks N.W.S.: RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA/GRAND FORKS 930 AM CST WED FEB 20 2008...UPDATED
...SEVERAL RECORD LOWS SET THIS MORNING IN EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...
GRAND FORKS AIRPORT SET A RECORD LOW OF -33 DEGREES WEDNESDAY
MORNING...BREAKING THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF -29 SET IN 1956.
DEVILS LAKE SET A RECORD LOW OF -34 DEGREES THIS MORNING
MORNING...BREAKING THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF -30 SET IN 1939.
FARGO HECTOR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT SET A RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE OF -31 DEGREES THIS MORNING. THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF -30 DEGREES WAS ATTAINED WAY BACK IN 1889.
Below are some photos from my dad in Central Iowa where the first accumulating snow fell the day before Thanksgiving with just a few days since T'giving when there's been little snow on the ground. The snow pack is the deepest right now it's been all season. Click here for a map & summary from the Des Moines N.W.S. on the snowfall so far this season. This winter should pretty easily go down as a top 10 snowiest, maybe top 5 (for Iowa). Notice the 2nd pic where the mailboxes are barely visible. By "Northern" standards, spring is just around the corner, but the pattern remains decidedly wintry for at least the next couple of weeks.
