Dock Dogs at On the Waterfront

Kate Nelson of Rockford sent in this picture of her labrador retriever performing a jump an event at Gander Mountain this summer. "My dock dog jumped 16 ft 10 in. at the competition and she'll be competing at Waterfront this weekend! 12 & 2:30 on Saturday and 12:00 on Sunday. If you're at OTW, stop by and see these flying canines! And thanks Kate for sending in the great picture! -ERIC

Mad Science at On the Waterfront!

Make plans to be at the Kids Kastle while you're at On the Waterfront! That is where Eric and I will be performing several of our favorite Mad Science experiments. Eric will be out there Saturday at 1pm and 3pm, and I will be out there Sunday at 1pm and 3pm. We are teaming up with our friends at the Discovery Center Museum. You can witness the infamous "mentos" experiement, play with slime, and see much more. It will definitely be "fun for all ages." And best of all, it's totally free!

The Kids Kastle is located in the parking deck on S. Wyman Street in downtown Rockford, just south of Main (across from the Nat'l City Bank building). We'll see you there! -ADAM

Space station will be in view this weekend!

Be careful if you wish upon a star this weekend! The star you're looking at just might be the international space station! The station will traverse the sky twice this holiday weekend. The first sighting will be possible Sunday morning at 5:43am and will last three minutes from the southern sky to the southeastern sky.

On Labor Day the ISS will be seen at 6:04am and will last for two minutes. Look in the southwest sky this time.

How will you know you are looking at the ISS? While shooting stars/meteors move fast across the sky, the ISS will be moving rather slow. Just find a fixed star and focus on that. Your eye will be attracted to the movement of the ISS.

Click here for ISS viewing times for other locations across the USA. -ERIC

On The Waterfront Forecast

If you are headed to On The Waterfront, this is your one stop shop for a nearly perfect forecast. Our rain chances will be near nil over the next four days. Cloud cover will be fairly minimal, so keep your sunscreen and sunglasses nearby. Those will be the constants. On the other hand, temperatures will be fluctuating a little bit. Thursday and Friday we will be sitting ahead of an area of high pressure. This will cause our winds to blow out of the north. These cool breezes will restrict our high temperatures from rising too much. Temperatures for Thursday and Friday will top out in the upper 70s. Once this area of high pressure slides into Michigan our winds will change to a southerly direction. This is known as a "return flow" and often causes a warming trend to begin. Temperatures for Saturday and Sunday will jump into the low to mid 80s. All in all, I think the next four days worth of weather are a reward for the soggy weather we've been enduring the past 3 weeks! -ADAM

Two years after Katrina

June 2007 Blog Post on Hurricane Katrina

I won't ever forget the day Katrina came ashore. In fact, I remember showing the doppler radar on 13News as the eye came inland. The levees held for most of the day. But it wasn't until the storm was ashore that the flooding in the Crescent City began. For nearly 2,000 people life ended on that day and in the days following.

I had the unfortunate (fortunate) responsibility of covering Hurricane Lili for KPLC-TV in 2002. Lili was a category five storm before it made landfall between Lake Charles and New Orleans. I spoke with a member of FEMA who said "If a major hurricane hits New Orleans and it floods, the fatalities will be in the thousands." Unfortunately I didn't think that his words would ring true just a few years later. (Honestly, I am done covering hurricanes as a Meteorologist. There's something thrilling about chasing tornadoes and severe weather. Hurricanes are massive. For instance, I did one live shot from outside for three minutes and had every article of clothing wet. We don't think about the fact that the rain and wind are more than 80°. Being in the path of a hurricane wasn't such a nice thing.)

WWL-TV New Orleans has a great slide show with some very dramatic pictures of Katrina. Google has some satellite views of the Lower Ninth Ward. Unbelieveable to see how very little has changed.

What do you think went wrong with Katrina? Do you think it will happen again in our lifetime? -ERIC

New weather alert feature added

We have added a new alert feature to the blog. This will highlight any severe weather event that moves into Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. Right now it updates when new warnings are issued or cancelled. (I hope to get our website to create and upload the image every five minutes...I have to work more on that in the coming days).

Not only will we be blogging severe weather events as they happen, you'll be able to get some sense graphically as well.

We are putting the finishing touches on our new and improved blog. Our housewarming party is coming next week! Have a great night. -ERIC

Eclipse Pictures!

Check out these eclipse pictures from last night's show! Thanks to Mike Stone, Meteorologist for WTOL-TV, for sending them into us. Mike, one just doesn't look like the others however. ;-) -ERIC

Very Humid... Temporarily

That sticky feeling has returned across the Stateline. Dew points have climbed into the upper 60s and low 70s. This is creating a heat index or "feels like" temperature in the low to mid 90s. For folks that just can't stand the oppressive humidity, you'll be glad to hear that it will be exiting the region shortly. A cool front is set to slide across the region tomorrow. This will cause our temperatures to cool off, but the dew point drop will experience its usual 12 hour delay behind the front. Dew points will drop below the 60 degree mark by Wednesday night. -ADAM

Lunar Eclipse Tonight

(If you get any pictures of the lunar eclipse, please send them in then watch 13News!)

We will have a total eclipse of the moon during the early morning hours of Tuesday, August 28th.

The event is widely visible from the United States and Canada as well as South America, the Pacific Ocean, western Asia and Australia. During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon's disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dark gray.

An eclipse of the Moon can only take place at Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of Earth's shadow. The shadow is actually composed of two cone-shaped parts, one nested inside the other. The outer shadow or penumbra is a zone where Earth blocks some (but not all) of the Sun's rays. In contrast, the inner shadow or umbra is a region where Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon.

If only part of the Moon passes through the umbra, a partial eclipse is seen. However, if the entire Moon passes through the umbral shadow, then a total eclipse of the Moon occurs.

Stray Storms

This morning at 5am I was watching a thunderstorm complex roll through Minneapolis and La Crosse, Wisconsin. It was moving straight east. Since then this cluster of activity has made a bit of a right hand turn. The core of the widespread rain is still sitting to the north of us in Madison, but a few thunderstorms have popped up on the tail end. These storms are moving to the east at 25 mph. We could see a few thunderstorms in the next couple of hours, which could produce brief downpours.

One thing that is working in our favor is that this complex is moving into a much drier atmosphere away from the greatest instability. They should slowly weaken as they continue to move east. -ADAM

A Drier Work Week

This next work week won't be completely dry, but it will be drier than the last work week. The jet stream high up in the atmosphere acts as a pushing device for storm systems. Think of a cold front as a sail. If the sail is parallel to the wind it isn't going to move much. That was the scenario this last work week when we saw showers and storms every day. A frontal boundary moved into the area and just sat there.

This next work week we will see less rain, because the storm system set to move in for Tuesday and Wednesday will be perpendicular to the jet stream. The "sail" will be able to pick up the driving wind making it a much quicker moving rainmaker. -ADAM

DeKalb/Sycamore Floods on The Weather Channel

DeKalb Flooding Images & Updates

These photos are courtesy of Andrea Nesbit in DeKalb. Yes, that is a car underwater.

As of 7:15am: The south branch of the Kishwaukee River has reached 15.2 feet and is still expected to rise a few more inches. This is 5 feet above flood stage and less than a foot away from an all time record flood. Major flooding is occurring and basically the whole northwest side of town is flooded. All schools in DeKalb have been cancelled today. -ADAM

MAJOR FLOOD EVENT FOR DEKALB, ILLINOIS

The DeKalb area braces for one of the biggest floods in the city's history. As of 9:15pm August 23rd, the water level was 12.3 feet.

The river will continue to rise overnight and crest around 13.1 feet by Friday morning.




To put this into historical perspective, the highest level ever recorded in DeKalb was 15.8 feet on July 2, 1983. The second highest is 12.97 feet on July 18, 1996. As of 9:15pm the flood was the fifth biggest flood in DeKalb's history.

At 10.4 feet water covers one lane of Taylor Street. Water approaches apartments and homes on the city's south side. Lions Park is flooded.

At 11.0 feet street flooding occurs in Northern DeKalb.

At 12.0 feet homes are flooded in Northern DeKalb.

At 12.1 feet river floods Riverheights Golf Course.

At 12.5 feet flooding affects Northern Illinois University.

At 13.5 feet flood waters overtop levees protecting the city.

Rockford breaks monthly rainfall total

(from the Rockford Register Star) By Sadie Gurman

August 2007 became Rockford's wettest month on record at 4:54 p.m. today when the National Weather Service station at the Chicago/Rockford International Airport recorded an hourly total of 0.57 inches of rain. That gave the city a total of 13.82 inches since Aug. 1, erasing the old total of 13.55 inches, set in August 1987. Thursday's total was 1.23 inches of rain through 5 p.m., on the heels of 1.19 inches Wednesday. More rain is expected tonight. The normal rainfall through Aug. 23 is 3.01 inches, putting us 10.81 inches above normal. And there are still eight days left in August. When the previous record was set in 1987, widespread flooding struck most of northern Illinois, mainly on Aug. 14, when more than 5 inches of rain fell. Sound familiar? On Aug. 7, 2007, 5.15 inches of rain caused flash flooding in Rockford and Cherry Valley; 12 days later, 3.09 inches fell. The Rock River Valley could see showers and thunderstorms Friday with some of the storms likely to produce heavy rain. Storms could continue until about 1 a.m. Saturday. No rain is forecast through the weekend, but showers are likely to reappear Tuesday night.

No wake zone on Lake Geneva

(From The Week newspaper)

Water gushed out of Geneva Lake at a rate of 2,100 gallons per second, spilling into the already swollen White River Thursday. That's 7.5 million gallons per day, said the lake's top law enforcement official.

The city of Lake Geneva and Town of Linn enacted emergency slow-no-wake rules Wednesday for its portions of the approximately 5,200-acre lake. Fontana was expected to follow suit Thursday night, after this edition's deadline, and Williams Bay was considering similar action, Hausner said.

Tom Hausner, manager of the Geneva Lake Law Enforcement Agency says "I don't know how people are going to react. I've gotten calls from people on both sides-people saying we've got to do something and other people who said they're upset." Read the complete story here.

EXCLUSIVE SEVERE WEATHER INFO

7:30pm - Storms over Iowa should track along the I-80 corridor. Northern Illinois still has the potential to receive heavy rain. Severe weather should remain south of RFD.

5:15pm - N Oregon [Ogle Co, IL] trained spotter reports FLOOD at 04:14 PM CDT -- water above house foundation

5:06pm - Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Lee [IL] till 6:00 PM CDT

2:09pm - Storms appear to be making a bow over Eastern Lee County. This storm will move into DeKalb, for areas mainly south of Hwy 64. If you're in Lee, Paw Paw, Creston, Malta, and Shabbona, take shelter.

2:01pm - Mount Morris [Ogle Co, IL] fire dept/rescue reports TSTM WND DMG at 01:41 PM CDT -- limbs down and crops blown over. also heavy rain and a lot of lightning.

2:00pm - Flood Advisory (FLS) for Boone, De Kalb, Lee, Ogle, Winnebago [IL] till 5:45 PM CDT

1:55pm - NWS Chicago "we are receiving tree damage reports from Dixon."

1:10pm - Severe Thunderstorm Warning until 2:45 for Lee and Ogle Co.

T'storm Watch through 8pm

UPDATE as of 12:30pm: A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for the entire viewing area through 8pm this evening. A strong line of storms is currently moving across the Mississippi River. This line of storms will bring with it strong, damaging winds on the leading edge as well as brief, heavy downpours. These thunderstorms should reach the Rockford area shortly after 1:30pm. -ADAM


Storms currently over Eastern Iowa (at 11:25am) will race into Northern Illinois through 1pm. Storms will have the capability of producing damaging straight-line winds through the late-afternoon hours.

As Adam mentioned the threat for severe is there. Hail probabilities appear pretty low as our atmosphere remains pretty warm and moist.

The amount of clearing that takes place during the 11:30-1:30 timeframe will determine the severity...more clearing=more instability.

Updates from Adam and myself through the day... -ERIC

Damaging Winds Possible Later Today

We have recently been upgraded to a moderate risk of severe weather by the SPC. Small hail is possible, but this severe weather event will mainly consist of damaging winds in excess of 60 mph. A stationary front currently extends from Omaha to Milwaukee. This is the exact line of which these storms will take. A cluster of thunderstorms is dumping heavy rain on western Iowa right now. The skies should remain dry across the Stateline this morning, but this afternoon could be a different situation. -ADAM

Rainfall of Historic Proportions

At first thought you might think that the title of this entry is an exaggeration, but take a closer look at the graphic on the left. This graphic shows the five wettest months of all time in Rockford since records began in 1906. As of 7am this morning we have received 13.15" of rain this month. That puts us less than half an inch behind the all time record, which was set 20 years ago. As you can see in the graphic to the right, that record could fall by this time tomorrow as more heavy rain is in the forecast. It is simply amazing.

Even though the Flash Flood Watch has been lifted in Winnebago, Ogle, Boone, and McHenry counties we are not in the clear just yet. Our flash flooding concerns for the entire Stateline viewing area will remain elevated through Friday night. -ADAM

EXCLUSIVE SEVERE WEATHER INFO

9:40pm - Sandwich [De Kalb Co, IL] emergency mngr reports TSTM WND GST of M45.00 MPH at 09:39 PM CDT --

9:33pm - Urban and Small Stream Flood Advisory for Ogle County until Thursday 1am.

9:00pm - Trees and powerlines down in the Lena area.

8:50pm - Severe Thunderstorm Warning for De Kalb [IL] till 10:00 PM CDT

8:46pm - Polo [Ogle Co, IL] law enforcement reports TSTM WND DMG at 08:25 PM CDT -- trees down on power lines.

8:30pm - Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Lee [IL] till 9:30 PM CDT

Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Ogle [IL] till 9:15 PM CDT

8:28pm - Freeport [Stephenson Co, IL] trained spotter reports HEAVY RAIN of M1.30 INCH at 07:45 PM CDT -- 1.30 inch rain fall in the past hour. some low lying street interections covered in water.

8:15pm - Storms over Ogle County may produce pea sized hail within the next half hour. Large hail does not appear likely with these storms. The freezing level (32°) within the clouds is way up at 15,000 feet! As hailstones fall from there they are in a +32° environment...and melt.

8:00pm - Freeport [Stephenson Co, IL] trained spotter reports HEAVY RAIN of E1.00 INCH at 07:45 PM CDT -- 1 inch rain fall in the past hour. some low lying street interections covered in water.

7:58pm - Janesville [Rock Co, WI] law enforcement reports FLASH FLOOD at 07:45 PM CDT -- street flooding in janesville. 4 inches of water flowing over county road a west of town.

7:57pm - Evansville [Rock Co, WI] law enforcement reports FLASH FLOOD at 07:45 PM CDT -- roads under water.

7:55pm - No reports of severe weather thus far. Heavy rain threat will continue for areas south of US20.

6:55pm - Reports of funnel clouds over Lanark, Illinois. NWS is monitoring the situation and don't expect any of them to reach the ground. Should doppler radar show any additional rotation, a warning could be issued.

6:36pm - Flash Flood Statement (FFS) for Green [WI] till 10:30 PM CDT

6:20pm - This storm complex will produce 1-3 inches of rainfall along the stateline through 7:30. Areas affected: Warren, Orangeville, Cedarville, Durand, Rockton, Roscoe, South Beloit, Beloit, Clinton, Sharon, Walworth. Flash Flood Warnings will likely be issued for the northern tier counties of IL by 8pm.

6:16pm - Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Dane, Green [WI] till 7:00 PM CDT

5:18pm - Storms in Lafayette County have prompted a Tornado Warning Watch out if you are right along the stateline...particularly Warren, IL.

4:48pm - Storms right now may produce some pea to marble sized hail in the northern portion of Jo Daviess Co. Other strong storms over Green and Northern Rock Co. may produce hail and 2 inches of rain. Storms will gradually work into the RFD area by 6:30, 7pm.

4:39pm - Flash Flood Warning (FFW) for Dane, Dodge, Green, Jefferson, Lafayette, Washington [WI] till 10:30 PM CDT

4:34pm - Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Dubuque [IA] and Jo Daviess [IL] till 5:30 PM CDT

Flash Flood Watches now in effect

The entire Rockford metropolitan area is now under a Flash Flood Watch. Areas of heavy rain will be possible during the next few hours for areas north of the stateline. 1-3" rains will be possible there. Additional thunderstorm activity is expected this evening and overnight for the metro. 2-4" of rainfall will be possible under the biggest storms. -ERIC

New weather watch may be needed

Storms have grown in coverage across Southwestern Wisconsin through 3:30pm. A few storms may produce hail this afternoon in addition to torrential rainfall amounts. If storms continue to strengthen, a Severe Thunderstorm Watch will be issued. We have two inches of precipitable water in the atmosphere...an indication of the type of rain that may fall today. -ERIC

What do you really want?

No, I'm not talking about sunny 70° weather! As you can tell, we are sprucing up things here on the Weather Blog. So, I've got a few questions for you: Do you take advantage of the weather links on the right side of the page? Do you have any cool weather websites that we should put in our link-list? What sort of things would you like to see on our blog? What don't you like about the blog so far? Finally, what did you have for lunch today? ;-)

Adam, Candy, and I enjoy the blog's ability to get us connected with you. Let's make this the best it can be! Thanks!!! -ERIC

The Waiting Game

Thunderstorms have developed in a large cluster over northwest Iowa. These storms are moving rather slowly and are not posing much of a severe weather at this point. We are sitting right along a stationary front, which is where most of these storms will move along. Later this afternoon a few storms are possible, but it looks like the widespread storms and heavy rain will once again be a nocturnal event later tonight. Due to this potential a Flash Flood Watch continues to run for Jo Daviess, Stephenson, and Carroll counties. The rest of the area could be placed under a watch once the storms become more imminent. For the time being we will just be sitting in these sticky conditions playing the waiting game. -ADAM

Severe Thunderstorm Watch

Update as of 4:15am: The strong thunderstorms have moved out of the viewing area. Most areas picked up between .2"- .5" of rain. Light rain showers will continue sporadically over the next few hours. The majority of the showers will move through our southern Wisconsin counties. The threat for severe weather is done... for now. -ADAM

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for Green and Rock County until 3am. Click on the Storm Prediction Center's website for more information. Damaging winds in excess of 65mph are likely across South Central Wisconsin through the end of this watch. Storms will be a little delayed getting into the Rockford metro. Storms will be likely after 2am for the northern tier counties of Illinois. -ERIC

New weather watch may be needed

Storms will continue eastbound into Southwestern Wisconsin by 1am. The Storm Prediction Center may issue a new Severe Thunderstorm Watch upstream of watch #635 before 1am. The bow echo over NE Iowa will continue to accelerate to the east and near Green County by 2:30am or so. The new Severe Storm Watch would be needed for damaging wind gusts coming from the bow echo. Additionally, extremely heavy rain has been reported in North Central Iowa Tuesday evening. Doppler radar is estimating 3-5 inches of rainfall in a 3-5 hour timeframe. Heavy rainfall in the order of 1-3 inches is expected in the Rockford metropolitan area...mainly along and north of US Highway 20.

Meteorologist Adam Painter and I will update the blog with new information as the storms approach the area. 13WREX will also have our radar on the screen constantly should the flooding threat increase. -ERIC

Jetstream plays a role in thunderstorm development

Even the most veteran Meteorologist will tell you that weather forecasting is complicated. I have fifteen years of experience and I still haven't figured out half of why the atmosphere works (and don't expect to in my lifetime). The majority of our weathercasts are consumed by temperatures, dewpoints, winds, and fronts; all of which happen right at the surface of the earth. However, to put together an accurate forecast you must always look up! For instance, today's weather was dominated by a section of jetstream that was slowing down. Meteorologists call this an "exit region." Usually we see pretty tranquil weather under an exit region and this was the case today. But by tomorrow we'll be under an "entrance region" of the jetstream. This will act like a vacuum cleaner high in the sky. Clouds will be allowed to grow tall; the tallest of which will produce thunderstorms.

The Storm Prediction Center has a severe weather potential out for parts of the Missouri Valley tonight. A few of these storms will be near the Mississippi River by midnight and then into our area for Wednesday. Severe weather will be possible here with a tiny chance in the morning...and a more organized batch of big storms for Wednesday afternoon and evening. -ERIC

Humidity - Get Used to It

Dew points are in the low 70s this afternoon, which is typically classified as the oppressive zone. It certainly feels steamy outside, but where is all of this moisture in the atmosphere coming from? We have two sources working against us right now. Southerly winds are bringing in massive amounts of moisture off of the Gulf of Mexico in several layers of the atmosphere. Also, with the recent rainfall the soil is soaked and some of that moisture is evaporating into the air each day. These two factors will cause our humidity levels to be quite uncomfortable through the rest of the work weeek. I can hear my air conditioner humming from here... -ADAM

Heavy rain approaching the Mississippi River

Update as of 4:22am - The showers in eastern Iowa have weakened significantly and are moving very slowly. The showers this morning should generally be light to moderate and scattered in nature. -ADAM

Torrential downpours will work into the far western sections of the WREX-TV coverage area by 2:30am. While these storms appear to be weakening somewhat, there still could be some 1"/hour rains (especially over Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Carroll, and Whiteside County). Showers can be expected in the Rockford metro around the 4:00am timeframe.

Additional heavy rain is possible Tuesday night into Wednesday. Adam Painter will have more on this prospect later this morning. -ERIC