"Punch 2" of our storm system began over Southeast Georgia Fri. afternoon dropping 1-3" of rain on top of the 2"+ from Thu. night. Large hail fell in Darien just north of Brunswick, strong winds dropped some trees & branches & nuisance flooding has been widespread. All the while, Northeast Florida has had but a few widely scattered showers & storms with brief downpours. A pretty stout upper level disturbance will move from the Northern Gulf of Mexico along the Fl./Ga. border Fri. night-Sat. morning which will maintain showers & thunderstorms while also helping to develop rain & storms from the Big Bend eastward across most of North & Northeast Florida. While an isolated storm might produce some gusty winds & small hail, the primary concern will be areas of very heavy rainfall. New rainfall of 1-3" should occur across Southast Georgia...around an inch over Northeast Florida but with local 2"+ amounts.
Saturday's weather will depend on the southward movement of a weakening cool front. It would appear that showers will still be pretty widespread earlier in the day then confined to mostly Northeast Florida & metro Jax at midday with a few thunderstorms...diminishing from the northwest through the afternoon.
That'll leave us with a cooler but nice Sunday with partly cloudy skies.
All weather eyes will then turn to the next storm which will be another significant cross-country storm that'll pound the west this weekend & move into the midwest by Mon. Initially the storm will be moisture-starved, but the system will eventually evolve into a full-blown late winter storm with snow & ice to the north of its path from Nebraska & Iowa to the Great Lakes to the Northeast...& heavy showers & storms from Louisiana to the Carolinas south to Florida with at least some severe weather. And on the storm's backside will be an intense push of arctic cold that could plunge parts of the East -- Florida included -- into some of the
coldest air of the winter (relative to seasonal avg's.). So for the First Coast:
-- a nice Monday
-- breezy Tue. with showers & t'storms in the afternoon & at night
-- windy, much colder Wed. with some lingering rain
-- possible freeze early Thu.
Lots of airport delays across the Eastern U.S. today due to snow & ice in the north & heavy rain & storms in the southeast. For Jax Int'l. Airport, click here for "status info."
What a ski season out west this winter with another storm looming. I received this press release Fri. from Lake Tahoe:
COLD WINTER STORMS BOOST SKI LAKE TAHOE RESORTS' SNOW LEVELS, AMONG THE HIGHEST IN RECENT HISTORY...SKIERS AND SNOWBOARDERS TO ENJOY EPIC LATE-SPRING CONDITIONS WELL INTO MAY
Resorts' Snow Totals Include Over 30 Feet of Seasonal Snowfall, Base Depths Over 12 Feet
Lake Tahoe, CA & NV (Feb. 22, 2008) - The Ski Lake Tahoe resorts are celebrating some of the best seasonal snow to date in decades, with even more powder days in the forecast from cold winter storms expected to deliver over three feet of snow through the weekend. The storm, currently delivering light, fluffy snow to the Lake Tahoe region, is yet another powerful Sierra storm system that follows an intense month of snowfall that has put snowpack totals above 150 percent of normal for the months of January and February. With a snowpack over 12 feet in select locations around the lake region, several Ski Lake Tahoe resorts will keep the lifts turning well into May, which is an annual occurrence due to Tahoe's typically longer winter seasons.
Click here for snow conditions at Tahoe.
I received another nice photo from Wed's. lunar eclipse...from Charles Nettles, Mandarin -- a little after the moon was coming out of the total eclipse.
Our wonderful Jax Zoo & Gardens is helping out Sat. with a great local nonprofit -- "Dignity U Wear". Here are the details:
Zoo Offers $2 Off Admission for Contributions to Dignity U Wear’s Undie Sunday, Undie Monday Clothing Drive This Weekend!
February 21, 2008 - Jacksonville, Fl - Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is proud to announce Dignity U Wear’s Undie Sunday, Undie Monday clothing drive on February 23rd to collect new, packaged children’s underwear to help restore dignity, self-confidence and self-esteem to children and families. It’s part of a citywide campaign that culminates on Undie Sunday—March 9th—and Undie Monday, March 10th. As a drop off location the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is offering a special admission to guests who donate new children’s underwear. Bring at least one new package of children’s underwear to the Zoo on February 23rd and guests receive $2.00 off regular child, adult or senior admission.
“We are proud to support this great organization in their efforts to help children in need,” said Zoo Executive Director, Dennis Pate. “This is the second year that we have held a collection event for them, and we’re hoping that everyone will come out to contribute.”
Dignity U Wear was founded in 2000 to provide new socks and underwear to the homeless. The nonprofit organization expanded rapidly and now distributes brand new clothing of all types to men, women and children through 280 nonprofit recipient agencies in 30 states. Seventy agencies in the Dignity U Wear network are located in Northeast Florida. Since it began, the organization has donated 3.4 million pieces of clothing, valued at $65 million, to more than 300,000 people. For more information go here.
Quite a bit of feedback from my Tue. post regarding Randy Pausch & his battle against pancreatic cancer. He's a college professor & his "last lecture" has garnered a great deal of viewing, discussion & a guest appearance on "Oprah". Here's Randy Pausch's web site.
Earth Gauge: Make the Call
Each year, less than 20 percent of unwanted cell phones are recycled, despite the fact that cell-phone recycling has big environmental benefits. When you recycle your phone instead of tossing it in the trash, you keep valuable reusable materials out of the landfill, prevent air and water pollution, save energy and materials needed to make new products, and reduce emissions. As a matter of fact, recycling the 100 million cell phones in the U.S. that are at the end of their lives would save enough energy to power over 194,000 homes for one year. If those 100 million cell phones were re-used, we'd save enough energy to power 370,000 homes for one year!
Tip: Instead of throwing an old cell phone out or letting it sit in storage, recycle it. Precious metals, plastics, and copper from the phones can be recovered, and phones in working order may be donated to charitable organizations who can re-use them. The U.S. EPA has partnered with a number of retailers and service providers - AT&T Wireless, Best Buy, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Office Depot, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Staples, and T-Mobile - to offer cell phone recycling.
For the list of retailers and service providers that offer drop-off or mail-in cell phone recycling, visit EPA's "Plug-In to E-Cycling" Website
(Sources: U.S. EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "Cell Phone Recycling is an Easy Call."
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Climate Fact: Halted Hibernation
Over the last century, temperatures in Spain have increased by about three degrees Fahrenheit, with most of this rise occurring in the last thirty years. As a result, winters are milder than they used to be, and some nut and berry species are now available year-round. This warming has been particularly pronounced in the Nation’s northern cordillera, where approximately 130 brown bears still live in the wild. This increase in wintertime food availability means that it is now practical for female Brown Bears with cubs to forego their traditional winter hibernation and instead stay active. Over the last few decades, more and more bears have been seen foraging during the winter, and this trend has been especially noticeable in the last three winters.
(Sources: Iberia Nature: A Guide to the Natural History of Spain. “Climate Change in Spain.” 2006. Accessed Online: 4 February 2008 “Climate Change vs Mother Nature: Scientists reveal that bears have stopped hibernating.” The Independent 21 December 2007. Accessed Online 4 February 2008
Have a great & safe weekend!
