The big rainmaker that was moving towards us this weekend, ended up splitting in half. The heaviest precipitation fell to the northwest and southeast of us. Minneapolis saw some decent snow, while Indianapolis dealt with thunderstorms. We still saw a dreary and damp finish to 2006. December 31st rainfall totals are at left.
While the beginning of December came in on a snowy and cold note, the end of the month will be much different...wet and very mild!
If you have some outdoor plans for this 3 day weekend, here's the break down: The majority of the daytime hours on Saturday should remain dry, other than a sprinkle or two. Our chances for soaking rains will increase greatly late Saturday night and into Sunday. Scattered showers will continue on into the first day of 2007. By Monday night, this storm system should be through with us and we should see drier weather move in for the first week of January.
2006 looks like it may be ending with a bang. Many models are predicting at least an inch of liquid precipitation before this weekend is over. Some, such as the picture at left, are plotting out over an inch and a half of rainfall. This storm system is just starting to come together right now over the southwestern corner of the country. It looks to track directly toward the stateline. In this scenario, we will stay in the warm sector of the storm for the majority of the time. This means that our precipitation (sorry snow lovers) will be mainly falling as rain. In my opinion, I'm calling a party foul on Mother Nature for all New Year's Eve celebrations. -ADAM
It sure doesn't feel or look like winter around here. Bare ground and warm temperatures have been a staple in our weather for the past two and a half weeks. Our weather pattern doesn't look like it will cool off anytime in the near future either. High temperatures will continue to rise to above average levels into the new year. The picture at left is the closest you will get to a snowman for quite awhile! -ADAM
While some parts of the U.S. were dealing with feet of snow, Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin residents were dealing with a good deal of rain this past week. While it was dry earlier in the week, a storm system dumped almost an inch and a half Wednesday through Friday. The holiday weekend will remain dry, however we may see a few snow flurries/showers just in time for Christmas. It may not be enough to "officially" call it a White Christmas...but just enough to put you in the spirit.
Jim Giles was a longtime Meteorologist for KOTV in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jim was hired as the Chief Meteorologist for the station in 1981 and kept many Oklahomans out of danger with countless severe weather alerts. Read more on Jim Giles' career by clicking here.
My name is Adam Painter, and I am the newest member of the weather team at WREX. The picture at left was taken at my previous job. If the mountains don't give it away, I spent the past two years working as the morning meteorologist at the NBC affiliate of KECI in Missoula, Montana. I will be the morning meteorologist here at WREX. That way Candy can sleep in like a normal person...
thought is to place the sensor on the top post of my deck off the west side of my house. This would make the sensor very exposed, about 8 feet from the house and 10 feet in the air, which brings up the question of lots of direct sunlight. Is this the best location for a temperature sensor?
PEORIA, Ill. (AP) -- Wintry clouds that dumped a sheet of ice and more than a foot of snow across parts of Illinois earlier this month could have a silver lining for the state's grain farmers, officials said Monday. Weather and farm officials say the already melted ice and snow now is seeping deep into fields, providing a moist savings account for next year's corn and soybean crops. (Read the full story here.) -ERIC
10:25pm-Snowfall amounts have ranged from 8 to 14 inches so far tonight! Snow will continue to fall across Northeastern Colorado tonight into early tomorrow where some areas could see 16-26 inches! The National Weather Service says that some areas could have drifts up to six feet!
here for their live streaming coverage.
Well, sort of. The new storm occurred back in July. The National Hurricane Center ran a post-season analysis confirming the thought that the system became a warm-cored tropical storm. The storm formed about 240 miles southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts on July 17 from the remains of a cold front that had pushed off the East Coast on July 13. At its strongest, the unnamed storm had sustained winds of 50 miles per hour. It quickly moved northeastward into much colder waters, which killed the storm 24 hours later.
A major blizzard will grip parts of Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado on Wednesday. The Denver metro could receive upwards of 16 inches of snow with higher amounts from DIA northeast toward Sterling, CO and North Platte, NE. Blowing and drifting will bring travel to a stand still.
13Microcast shows, we've got a chance of 3/4" of liquid precipitation. (If temperatures were 12° cooler we would have six inches of snow.) The rain will begin late Wednesday night into Thursday. -ERIC
LEMONT, Ill. - For most golfers, the year's first snowstorm means it's time to put the clubs away. Or book a flight to California or Florida.But for a small group of friends in suburban Chicago it means putting on longjohns, sweat shirts, sweaters, boots, jackets, wool hats and gloves. And, oh yeah, breaking out the snow shoes.
For about two decades they've been playing at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club through whatever weather is thrown at them (read the full story).
If you're about to pack the kids and Aunt Edna into the family truckster for the Christmas holiday, you had better beware of the weather to our west! As of Tuesday afternoon, Blizzard Warnings were in effect for the western third of Nebraska while Storm Warnings were hoisted for most of Colorado. Interstate 90 could be hazardous from Minnesota westward. Interstate 80 will be icy west of Omaha, Nebraska. Interstate 70 will be very treacherous in western Kansas. Follow these links for the latest National Weather Service forecast:
Over the weekend, a friend of mine and I sat down to watch "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary by Al Gore on global warming. He said that I needed to watch it so I could debunk the theories that were proclaimed in the movie. It made sense to me...If you're watching a documentary on global warming, it's probably good to have a Meteorologist on hand.
On Monday, the Associated Press released it's "State of Science 2006" which details some of the biggest science stories of the year. To read the entire story, click here. -ERIC
If you are planning on getting the family truckster on the highway later this week, you should be in good shape. While we will have a midweek system providing some rain and snow to the country's mid-section, much of the weekend will be dry.
(figure 1) On Wednesday, scientists observed an unusually strong solar flare. Solar particles began traveling 1,000 miles per second toward earth's magnetic field.
(figure 2) The earth's magnetic field, or magnetosphere, attracts the solar particles. The particles are put together much like beads are threaded on a wire.
(figure 3) The particles accelerate as they travel down the magnetic field lines. The particles collide with the atoms and molecules of the upper atmosphere where the magnetic field lines reach down to the surface of the earth (near the magnetic north and south poles).
(figure 4) When the particles from the magnetosphere collide with the atoms and molecules in the earth's upper atmosphere (over the north and south poles) atoms of oxygen and nitrogen release their energy in the form of light. This is the light that we see from the ground...the aurora borealis!
I've received numerous calls and E-Mails regarding tonight's northern lights (aurora borealis). I sent out a special 13YourCast e-mail with the hopes of catching some of you. I hope you got a chance to view them. The image to the left shows the present auroral activity. (click to enlarge) You can see the bright red over Hudson Bay tonight indicating a high level of auroras! While the sights can be seen over Northern Illinois, it likely isn't viewable south of St. Louis!
In addition, on my little trek through the country this evening, I saw many shooting stars that were brightly lit all the way down to the ground. There are still so many because the geominid meteor shower peaked last night. In fact, a micro-meteorite struck the Space Shuttle early this morning while the astronauts slept. For more info on that, click here. -ERIC
While the weather in the Midwest will be quiet through the weekend, the weather in space will be flaring up. Space.com reports that a major flare erupted from the sun Tuesday night. This solar flare could impact the earth Thursday by disrupting power grids and causing communication systems to malfunction. Lead forecaster at the NOAA Space Environment Center says "We're looking for very strong, severe geomagnetic storming" to begin mid-day Thursday. To read the full story, click here. -ERIC
Even though the Rockford area saw a fairly tranquil severe weather season in 2006, that did not hold true for the entire state. Southern Illinois was especially busy with tornadic activity. The three significant tornado outbreaks ocurred in March and April. On March 12th, there were 12 tornadoes near Springfield. On April 2nd, there were 36 tornadoes in St. Clair County. Lastly on Easter Sunday (April 16th), there were 14 tornadoes spread across the eastern half of the state. Here's a look at the Public Information Statement that was released today! -Adam
Many of you have asked us that question over the past few days and finally the models are hinting at something!
This is a picture of Highway 20 right by I-90 looking east from our Magic Waters Cam at 8am! You can barely even see the road! Fog has become very dense across the Stateline this morning and will continue to persist through this morning and afternoon. Visibilities in Rockford have been reduced to less than a tenth of a mile and near zero miles in some other spots. As a result, Dense Fog Advisories have been issued until 10am this morning for all of Northern Illinois!
Watch out there for the dense fog! The National Weather Service has issued a Dense Fog Advisory for the counties shaded in yellow (as of 6:00pm). To check the status of visibilities in your area, click here.
I know the title sounds rather bleak, but it's true! We've got quite the warming trend in the works this week...the likes of which will probably melt most of the snow. If you're an avid snowmobiler, get out there for the next few days because the warm weather will be above 40° for six of the next seven days. If you're a snowman, you better shed the scarf now! -ERIC
On Monday December 11th, around 7:00 a.m. EST (The actual launch window extends for several hours beyond 7 a.m.) a Minotaur-I rocket is scheduled to be launched from Wallops Island, Virginia. This rocket will rapidly ascend to an altitude of 255-miles over the Atlanticin less than 10-minutes, to deploy two research satellites. From the Greater New York Area, the long contrails that the rocket leaves in its wake should be visible low toward the southern and southeast parts of the sky. Based on similar launchings from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the contrails may become weirdly twisted and contorted (due to high altitude winds) and may attract the attention of the general public -- especially since the launch is due to take place in the middle of a Monday morning rush hour! Because the launch will occur just prior to sunrise (in a twilight sky) visibility along much of the US East Coast is anticipated. Unfortunately, if the launch takes place well after sunrise, little or none of it may be seen. For complete sighting details, including links to the latest launch updates aswell as a live webcast of the liftoff from Wallops Island go to: http://tinyurl.com/yl6d3c -ERIC
I wouldn't have thought Harmilda the cow could be blamed for global warming, but it appears some science now proves it! A recent United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife!
Saturday's highs were right where we're supposed to be for the beginning of December! And temperatures will only continue to rise from there. After we've been dealing with the cold weather over the Stateline for the past week, the upper 30s and even lower 40s will make a come back.
The Associated Press photo to the left shows the "pirate plank" walk which marked the end of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season in Key West, Florida. The poor guy dressed as a hurricane was tossed into the drink...but it was a nice time to celebrate as the United States didn't see one hurricane make a landfall.
If you think December has been cold so far, you are absolutely right! As of December 7th our average temperature was 17.2°F. Typically we see an average of 29.0° during the first week of December. Looking back at the historical records for Rockford, we haven't seen a colder start to December since December 1976!
