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Meteogram Madness!

meteogramHere’s a look at a typical meteogram that our team uses to forecast temperatures. Each line represents a computer model. The green line is the NWS forecast and the black dots are the observed values from today.

You can see the opportunity of a 56° afternoon one model gives us for Sunday afternoon. Also of note, the only two models that go out to Thanksgiving are pointing toward high temperatures in the low 30s! Yikes!

Posted under cold blast, weather

This post was written by Eric Sorensen on November 20, 2009

Creepy.. but so beautiful

Rocket trail 1I love sharing cool pictures, so I have some more to share.  This is really a eerie but cool sight to see.  As if rocket launches weren’t spectacular enough, sometimes viewers are treated to a special light show when rocket trails are illuminated by high altitude sunlight. Called twilight phenomena, these giant colorful doodles in the sky leave us wondering… how are these formed??
rocket trail 2These twilight phenomena or twilight effects occur when the unburned fuel particles in the rocket trail and water condense, freeze and then expand in the thinner upper atmosphere. Because rocket trails extend really high into the stratosphere and mesosphere, they can catch high altitude sunlight long after the sun has set. The small exhaust particles diffract sunlight and produce pink, blue, green and orange colors, making the twilight phenomenon all the more spectacular.

Happy Weekend Everyone!!!

Posted under weather

This post was written by Cyndi Kahlbaum on November 20, 2009

Like a bad houseguest…

…low pressure is finally exiting the building!

1221


Five days of cloudy, drizzly, and rainy weather comes to an end tomorrow

. The problem with this exiting low pressure is the fact that we’re not drying the atmosphere out in a quick enough fashion. This will lead to fog development tonight and thick cloud cover for the first half of Friday. Dewpoints will eventually drop Friday afternoon to allow some patchy sun to work in.31

The weekend looks to be pretty nice. Make plans for that because some wons backward is in the outlook for Wednesday. (I’m just not ready to type that word yet.) -ES

Posted under cold blast, weather

This post was written by Eric Sorensen on November 19, 2009

In coming!

15818864Yesterday, Nov. 18th, something exploded in the sky above the western United States. Witnesses in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho say the fireball “turned night into day” and issued shock waves that “shook the ground” when it exploded just after midnight Mountain Standard Time. The fireball was so bright it actually turned the sky noontime blue.  Although the fireball appeared during the Leonid Meteor Shower (we could not enjoy that… thanks to the cloud cover), it was not a Leonid. Infrasound recordings of the blast suggest a small asteroid hitting Earth’s atmosphere and exploding with the energy of 0.5 to 1 kiloton of TNT. WOW!!

Check out this link from our NBC affiliate KSL-TV in Utah… this is sooo cooool. They caught it on tape.  Amazing!!!   http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8714738

Posted under weather

This post was written by Cyndi Kahlbaum on November 19, 2009

And the sun sets in the South… what!?!

polar-twilightIf you live in the Arctic/Polar Circle then that is what you are experiencing right now…sun rising in the south and setting in the south only an hour later.  Sky watchers around the Arctic Circle enter the long polar night when the sun doesn’t rise at all. How long this period lasts depends on your latitude. In northern Norway, the sun won’t be back until the end of January 2010.

A common misconception is that the shortest day is totally dark at each point where the midnight sun occurs inside the polar circle. In places very close to the poles this is true, but in regions that are located at the inner border of the polar circles where midnight sun is experienced, this is not true. Due to twilight, these regions experience polar twilight instead of the polar night.

midnightsun12The opposite of Polar Twilight is Midnight Sun.  The midnight sun occurs in the summer months at latitudes north and nearby to the south of the Arctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. Given fair weather, the sun is visible for a continuous 24 hours, mostly north of the Arctic Circle. The number of days per year with potential midnight sun increases the farther poleward one goes.

So I guess everyone in Norway is saying “Goodbye sun, see you in 2010.”

Posted under weather

This post was written by Cyndi Kahlbaum on November 18, 2009

Next week’s system: not all rain.

winterPutting money down on a forecast a week out based on global computer models is not a task I’d advocate, however there are some signs out there that there will be a bout of winter next week.

Low pressure will eject out of Wyoming into the Central Plains. Attendant moisture will then move in out of the Gulf. Both Climatology and model consensus suggest that it’s still too early for a whopper. However some flakes of snow will be in the outlook for Tuesday. Keep tabs on this with us through the week!

Posted under rain, snow, weather, winter storm

This post was written by Eric Sorensen on November 17, 2009

Look its a UFO… or is it???

lenticular-clouds-over-mountains1Here are some funky looking clouds, that are not seen very often here in Illinois.   But if you have lived near mountains, then you have probably seen these before.  Enjoy

Lenticular Clouds are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form at high altitudes, and are perpendicular to the wind direction. Lenticular clouds can be separated into altocumulus standing lenticularis (ACSL), stratocumulus standing lenticular (SCSL), and cirrocumulus standing lenticular (CCSL).

lenticular_cloud_e_sierra_2They form from stable moist air that flows over a mountain or a range of mountain.  If the temperature at the crest of the wave drops to or below the dew point, moisture in the air may condense to form lenticular clouds.  As the moist air moves back down, the cloud may evaporate back into vapor.   The clouds have been mistaken for UFOs because these clouds have a characteristic lens appearance and smooth saucer-like shape. 

Posted under weather

This post was written by Cyndi Kahlbaum on November 17, 2009

First Thanksgiving forecast

tendayWhere did November go? We’re just ten days from Thanksgiving. Eleven to the crazy day known as Black Friday!

We’re beginning to get an idea of what the weather will be like leading into Thanksgiving. First, our cut-off low pressure system will be slow to exit the area, and won’t likely do so until Thursday night.

On the up-side, Friday-Sunday will be delightful! Temperatures will rise into the lower 50s, which is more than five degrees warmer than normal. Unfortunately, a new system will affect the Upper Midwest a week from today. It’s way too early to get exact on this system, but some rain or snow mix may be possible Tuesday into Wednesday.

Posted under weather

This post was written by Eric Sorensen on November 16, 2009

In 3…2…1… We have liftoff!!

Space ShuttleNASA fueled space shuttle Atlantis this morning (Monday)  for an afternoon liftoff to the space station, despite the cloudy skies. Local forecasters gave the thumbs up for acceptable weather.

The six astronauts woke up just before dawn, also at that time fueling the shuttle got under way well . Three hours later, the external fuel tank were full and the countdown right on track.  Atlantis is loaded with big spare parts for the International Space Station. NASA wants to stockpile as much equipment there as possible before the shuttle fleet is retired next year.

The 11-day flight will keep the astronauts in orbit through Thanksgiving. They will unload nearly 30,000 pounds of pumps, tanks and other spare parts, as well as science experiments. Three spacewalks will be conducted to carry out the work and get a jump on the next shuttle flight.

This is NASA’s last shuttle flight of the year and among only six remaining.

So as soon as our cloud cover leaves maybe we’ll be in-store for more flybys… Space Station and Atlantis.  We’ll have to wait and see.

Posted under weather

This post was written by Cyndi Kahlbaum on November 16, 2009

Powerful Low Dumps Snow in Colorado, Rain for Stateline

11Overnight snow squalls have marked the arrival of a winter storm in Colorado. Bands of heavy snow that fell late Saturday blanketed parts of the Front Range in a very short span. Up to a foot of snow fell in the foothills and suburbs west of Denver with amounts ranging from 4 to 8 inches across the rest of the metro area and onto the eastern plains.

Highway accidents mounted as a result of the weather, the Colorado State Patrol closed I-70 in both directions between Floyd Hill and Morrison for a few hours but reopened it early Sunday.

The Colorado Department of Transportation says all of its snowplows are out but are having difficulties keeping up with the storm.

This system is the same that will move closer to the Stateline through the start of the week. It will stall out to our southwest and pump up mild temperatures and lots of moisture giving us daily chances of rain before moving to the northeast late in the week.

Posted under weather

This post was written by Aaron Brackett on November 15, 2009