Look for the clouds to stick around for at least another day before sunshine becomes the dominating feature for the end of the week. Our pesky blocking pattern will finally shift to the east early this week and allow high pressure to dominate. In addition to clearing skies, southerly flow finally returns by the end of the week making for a spectacular beginning to next weekend with highs in the middle forties under sunny skies. Conditions stay dry until southerly flow taps into gulf moisture on Sunday and gives us a chance for showers.

As of today, it has been 89 days since we have broken the 45 degree point here in Rockford. If we manage to make it to Friday without breaking 45 degrees, this will be the 2nd longest stretch under that temperature on record.

Posted under rain

A magnitude 8.8 earthquake has rocked Chile early this morning. Authorities are already reporting hundreds dead and many more injured. The quake struck at 12:34 am Central Time and occured 60 miles northwest of  Chillan, Chile. A Tsuanmi warning is in effect for much of the pacific coast tonight as waves continue to propegate away from the epicenter.

-AB

Posted under earthquake/tsunami

I have received numerous calls and e-mails concerning “Project: Tornado 2010.” We are in the planning stages right now but are setting our sights on late April and early May. Last year our weather team got the chance to see more than 5,000 students and teach them about the power of severe weather and what to do to stay safe.

We’ve got a lot of details yet to come but I wanted to give a heads’ up that it’s coming soon!

Some important dates:
“Project: Tornado” begins April 29th and ends May 26th.
Enrollment for school administrators and teachers will occur the week of March 15th. All requests must come in via E-Mail to weather@wrex.com beginning the morning of March 15th until all slots are filled. I will have more information on the process here on the blog next week.

While it will be ‘first come first serve,’ we are hoping to visit new schools and see new faces this year. So if “Project: Tornado” didn’t touch down at your school last year, we’re hoping it will this year!

More to come everyone!

Posted under Project: Tornado

It is now the snowiest month on record for New York City’s Central Park. 35.9″ of snowfall fell in the month of February which beats the previous record from March 1896!

Posted under snow

We have mentioned through the past couple of days about the storm system that has been non-stop for people on the East Coast. This system, which is almost a stand still storm, has caused so many problems; I have no idea where to start. Between the flight cancellations, to road closures, and power outages, this Nor’easter is refusing to slow down.
Nor’easters are relentless storms that have a constant feed of moisture coming in from the ocean. As this moisture wraps around the low, it encounters cold-arctic air. This is not your everyday fluffy snow, this is wet, heavy (meaning weight and snowfall rate) snow. So far this storm has dumped 36” in Stramford, NY, 26” in Tuxedo, NY and 20+ inches scattered around Pennsylvania. New York’s Central Park has received 17 inches… so far.
Besides snow, this storm has also produced a 91 mph hurricane forced wind. The minimum for a CAT 1 hurricane is 74 mph. A 60 mph wind gust was measured in Long Island all the down to Massachusetts.
Almost 700,000 homes and business are without power in the Northeast. The area with the most power outages is New Hampshire with 237,000. To put that into perspective, the state has a population of 1.3 million. New York has 220,000, Maine- 130,000 and Massachusetts is around 90,000.
The only thing we are getting from this storm is a cloudy weekend and a few snow showers. I will take that any day then a full-force Nor’easter. Have a great weekend everyone!

Posted under weather

One of my good friends who lives in the St. Louis put this on his Facebook page ”

“[I'm] probably the only person that wishes some of the snow that has hit everywhere else would come here. We have been mostly avoided all winter and I want one good snow.”

That got me wondering how much snow has fallen in the St. Louis area and how that compares to places around the country. Here in Rockford, we have seen 50.4 inches of snowfall this season while St. Louis has seen only 14.5 inches! Philadelphia is one of big “winners” for snowfall with an apocalyptic 73.1 inches while other surprisers are Oklahoma City and Dallas-Ft. Worth with 20.4 and 15.8 inches respectly.

So Aaron we’re steering some snow your way because we’ve had enough of it! -ES

Posted under snow

I keep hearing that we should have had a few 40° temps in the month of February.  Most of us are wondering where they went, or why didn’t they show up.   So I decided to do some digging and see what the weather was like here in Rockford a year ago.  And to my surprise, we had some crazy weather that day, well actually that whole week.

Let’s take a look:

Averages    High: 37°   Low: 20°

Feb. 25th 2009-    According to climate records, we started off that morning with overcast skies, south winds around 10 mph and temps in the mid 30s.  Throughout the day we warmed up very quickly to the lower 50s with a few spots of sunshine.

Now if we rewind back to the beginning of that week on Monday, we started off with a low of 2° and warmed up to a high of 24°… sound familiar.

After the 50s on the 25th, a well defined storm system came through and gave us thunderstorms on the 26th and then snow showers on the 27th – 28th.   On the 26th, temps went from the mid 40s with t-storms to the lower 30s and freezing drizzle that night.

Oh, and ten years ago today we had a very early 70° temperature (which set a record high).

Crazy Rockford Weather!!!

Posted under weather

1-2 feet of snow has fallen in upstate New York today as an area of low pressure moves into the region. Models are slightly retrograding this storm back east with time, enough that I have put some clouds in the extended for the weekend timeframe. Should this thing creep back far enough to the west, it’ll keep us cloudier (and colder) and also could bring us some snow showers.

Because this scenario is quite a rarity, I am going to be more optimistic with more sunshine and “warmer” temperatures in the outlook. In the meantime, watch out on the roads this evening as another inch of snow is coming down! -ES

Posted under weather

Over a hundred area residents attended a storm spotter seminar this evening at the Chicago/Rockford Int’l Airport this evening. Meteorologist Jim Allsopp from the National Weather Service in Chicago put on a fascinating presentation that shows people what is threatening and what is not when it comes to severe weather. Spotter training classes cover severe weather hazards including thunderstorms and tornadoes. This includes the general structure and movement of severe thunderstorms, identification of important storm features, and safety concerns. Classes last about 2 hours, are free, and open to the public. A big “Thank you!” to everyone who attended. It was great to see some familiar faces and also some new spotters. The more trained eyes we have on the skies, the better off we will all be!

Here are additional dates/places/times you can attend the free seminars from the National Weather Service:

DIXON, ILLINOIS
March 25, 2010
7:00-8:30pm
Dixon Public Safety Building
220 South Hennepin Avenue, Dixon, Illinois
Contact: 815-284-3365

WHITESIDE COUNTY, ILLINOIS
March 9, 2010
6:30-8:30pm
Erie Fire Station
807 9th Avenue, Erie, Illinois
Contact: donna.dubberke@noaa.gov

MONROE, WISCONSIN
March 22, 2010
1:30-3:30pm
Green County Justice Center
2841 Sixth Street

JANESVILLE, WISCONSIN
March 23, 2010
1:00pm-3:00pm
Rock County Health Care Center
3530 North County F

CLINTON, WISCONSIN
March 23, 2010
6:30-8:30pm
Clinton Fire Department
145 Ogden Avenue

ELKHORN, WISCONSIN
March 25, 2010
1:30-3:30pm
Walworth Co. Health & Human Serv. Bldg.
4501 County NN East (Use East Entrance)

ELKHORN, WISCONSIN
March 25, 2010
6:30-8:30pm
Walworth Co. Health & Human Serv. Bldg.
4501 County NN East (Use East Entrance)

FREEPORT, ILLINOIS
March 30, 2010
1:30-3:30pm
Highland Community College, Building H, Room 201
2998 West Pearl City Road
Contact: donna.dubberke@noaa.gov

FREEPORT, ILLINOIS
March 30, 2010
7:00-9:00pm
Highland Community College, Building H, Room 201
2998 West Pearl City Road
Contact: donna.dubberke@noaa.gov

Posted under severe weather

Who would’ve thought after a missing out on a record snowfall in the winter of ’07/08 we’d see two more winters with above-average snow? We’re way above the average of 35 inches and with the quick 2 inches of snowfall early Tuesday we’re now up to 50.4 inches for the season.

We may see another inch (or two) in spots overnight tonight before a quieter weather pattern takes shape for the rest of the week. A large area of low pressure will work up the East Coast and stall out which will block anything from working into our neck of the woods. This should allow for some sunny days and warming temperatures. A weak front will move down sometime Sunday but moisture will be very limited. -ES

Posted under snow