The National Hurricane Center is investigating a possible tropical low forming off of the Carolina coast tonight.

There is a slight chance this could develop as it tracks southwest across the northern Florida peninsula bringing generous rains. Texans are actually hoping for some sort of tropical system as much of the state is dealing with a significant long-term drought.

The spaghetti plots show this moving into the Gulf of Mexico by this weekend. We’ll continue to follow it! -ES

Posted under weather

11:30am – With the cold front approaching, and the light showers/clouds in place, today’s severe threat appears limited at best. Areas east of Rockford will see the best severe potential later today as heating has been maximized with sunshine all morning. Light rain will remain likely through the afternoon with a slight chance for a thunderstorm.

Strong storms are possible today as a surface low passes to our north. Extending south of the low is a modestly strong cold front. As the front slides east toward the Stateline area, showers and thunderstorms will likely form. Warm, moist air is in place ahead of the boundary which will interact with the forcing near the ground.  As of right now, the main threat appears to be strong straight line winds with these storms as they form.

This morning, rain showers and a few thunderstorms occurred ahead of the front. As the boundary approaches, storms may re-fire early this afternoon but there is also the possibility that the front may pass east before the “cap” breaks. This would mean that light showers would be all that we see here in the Rockford area. Unfortunately, this will have to be a wait-and-see kind of event as we track the frontal passage through the late morning and early afternoon.

-Aaron

Posted under severe weather

With the month of June just around the corner, let us look into the future a bit and see what we can expect for the first full week of June. We have jumped into high gear temperature wise. It seems like we went from one extreme to the other with our afternoon highs. Today as we hit the upper 80s and lower 90s and a 7-day that stays above average, it looks like we will do the same thing entering June. Last June we never hit above 90 degrees, but that could change heading into June 2011. The Climate Prediction Center is giving us an outlook of above average temperatures for the start of June. In addition, it looks like that trend will continue as we look at precipitation.

Posted under climate/climate change

Check out the parade happening now in downtown Rockford on our Skywatch! Other parades happening around the city include:

Roscoe – 11:00am

Belvidere – 9:30am

Pecatonica – 2:00pm

Posted under weather

Temperatures will climb to near record territory later today as weather some 20 degrees warmer than yesterday moves into the Stateline. High pressure has created a complete lack of clouds over the region which will combine with southerly winds to give some impressive warmth later. As a cold front moves into the area tomorrow, we will see a chance of some stronger storms in the early afternoon.

Remember to drink plenty of water today if you are outside celebrating the holiday or exercising. Don’t forget the pets as well, especially if they have to be outdoors.

-AB

Posted under heat wave, weather

Attention all super early risers.  If you want to see the last time Space Shuttle Endeavour will ever fly side-by-side with the International Space Station, you need to get up very early in the morning. The shuttle will undock tonight around 10:55 CDT and plans to land on June 1st.   The two times that are given, are the best time we will have to see the flying pair.  We will have clear enough skies to see this, so set your alarms and enjoy the sight!

Posted under space

Rockford Lutheran's Dugout

We had an interesting day of weather.  It started out with a severe thunderstorm watch issued at 8:55am for a severe line of storms moving ENE at 40 mph.  The main line of storms started to move more easterly and passed through Whiteside, Lee, Ogle and DeKalb County.  This massive storm complex was also producing torrential rainfall with totals nearing 3 inches in some places.  With the main part of the squall line passing just to our south, most of us thought we were in the clear and soon the rain would quiet down as well.  However, after the rain ended, strong-gusty winds picked up behind the heavy rainfall.  Here is what happened.  What we experienced was a wake low.  A wake low is an area of low-pressure that sometimes forms behind a squall line that has stratiform rain behind the main line of storms. However, there can also be a pocket of high pressure that forms because of the rain-cooled air.  With these two pressures close to each other, it can cause strong-gusty winds behind the main storm complex.  Rockford Lutheran School experienced these gusty winds.  The wind was clocked at 46 mph by the the automated observation system at Rockford International Airport.

Posted under weather, weather geek

 (5:18:56 PM) nwsbot: LOT: 1 Ese Amboy [Lee Co, IL] cocorahs reports FLASH FLOOD at 11:45 AM CDT — low areas including fields flooding with 2 to 3 feet of standing water. the green river out of its banks in the amboy area.

(11:31:33 AM) nwsbot: LOT issues Flash Flood Warning for De Kalb, La Salle, Lee [IL] till 5:30 PM CDT

(11:29:59 AM) nwsbot: LOT continues Severe Thunderstorm Warning [wind: 70 MPH, hail: 1.00 IN] for De Kalb, La Salle, Lee, Livingston [IL] till 12:15 PM CDT

(11:28:56 AM) nwsbot:

(12:11:50 PM) nwsbot:

Posted under severe weather

As of Today, 2011 has tied the record for deaths from tornadoes in a single year. So far, 519 people have been killed by tornadoes and there is still an entire month of tornado season to go. This number unfortunately will continue to grow and will become a new record, due to the number of people that are still missing from the deadly tornado in Joplin, MO. The record that has been tied is from 1953.  There have been 59 killer tornadoes this season. EF0 = 1, EF1 = 3, EF2 = 14, EF3 = 22, EF4 = 11, EF5 = 4 and EF? = 4 (these tornadoes have not been ranked).

Posted under tornado, weather

We are in-store for a heat wave to rush into the Stateline area just in time for Memorial Day.  We have a building low-pressure system to our Northwest by Monday along with a strong high-pressure system down along the Southern East Coast.  This combination will cause a surge of warm air North and bring a taste of summer for our holiday.  Temperatures will likely reach into the upper 80s and lower 90s thanks to our breezy South winds.

Posted under heat wave, weather