Owner: WX-Man's Perspective URL:http://www.wx-man.com/blog Join Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2007 22:10:56 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: A weather blog covering all types of weather, a little weather education, links of interesting weather stories and stories on climate change. Site statistics:Click here
JET-TV’s Winter Weather Preview Special 2007-11-09 20:45:27
JET-TV’s JET Pinpoint team of meteorologist will release our 2007-2008 winter weather forecast for Erie and Northwest Pennsylvania on Wednesday Nov. 14th at 7:30pm. If this blog is any indication, the demand to know what to expect this winter is still high. (**Personal Note: Thanks to all those who visit and who have visited WX-Man.com and increased the average daily hits to over 1200 per day.) During our special you will learn more about winter weather advisories and how and why the National Weather Service issues these advisories. Also when you see a winter storm watch or a warning you will know what it means and how you should respond and prepare for winter weather’s worst. We explore the temperature extremes we see here in Erie, and we look at Erie City and County school districts and learn on how they determine whether or not classes should be canceled for the day. Then we release our 2007-2008 Winter Weather Forecast.
Once the show airs on Wednesday you will be able Read more:Preview
, Special
More Winter Weather Forecast or 2007-08 2007-11-09 13:25:35 (Disclaimer: WX-Man.com does not endorse any particular winter weather forecast. Long-range forecasting is a challenge and these types of forecasts have their limitations even for the best meteorologist. One should view any long-range forecast as a guide or trend of what could happen based on the information and data available at the time of the forecast. WX-Man.com is not responsible or liable for any damages or losses due to inaccuracies from any long-range forecast posted on this site.)
I keep compiling winter weather forecasts for 2007-2008 and from various locations and sources. So here are a few more:
AccuWeather.com Blog, Dr. Joe Sobel, USA Weather Expert: La Nina And Our Upcoming Winter
Now that it has turned colder there is a lot of interest in what the coming winter will bring. Long range weather forecasting is a tricky business but we have learned a lot about it over the past couple of decades. One thing we have learned, that seems intuitively obvious, is that the winter w Read more:Forecast
Recaping ‘07 Election Day Storm 2007-11-07 17:16:21
(Snow Downtown Erie, Nov. 6th 2007 - Trisha Neudorff)
The snow began to fall early Tuesday morning and it was a heavy, wet dense snow. Combine that with the fact that most of the trees still had their leaves and we had very strong gusty winds of 30 to 40 mph. All this together put excessive weight and stress on trees and power lines which caused trees and limbs to break and power lines to snap and come down. This left 15,000 homes and business with out power at the peak of the snow event. As of Wednesday evening there are still people without power across the region and crews are continuing to work to get the lights and heat back on.
The total for this snow event was 3.5″ out at the Erie International Airport. Downtown Erie where I live there was 2.5″ at its peak. You go out to Wattsburg and French Creek, NY there was a foot of snow. Summit Twp, in Erie County, had 11″; Edinboro around 4″ and Meadville with 2″.
The winds are expected to become more southe Read more:lsquo
, Election
, Storm
, Election Day
Season’s First Snow Causing Major Problems 2007-11-06 15:43:25
Road closings, Power Outages, slick and hazardous roads have been the rule for most of the day thanks to the first snow and lake effect snow of the season. The first snow storm of the season is always tough. The ground is still relatively warm so that is always a challenge when it comes to forecasting accumulating snow. Not to mention that this event starting nearly 12 hours earlier than what had been anticipated.
The biggest problem with this snow has been the power outages. I mentioned this yesterday in my post that with the leaves still on the trees and a heavy wet snow (Which is common with early season snows), combine that with gusty winds you get excessive weight and stress on power lines and tree limbs, and this is what’s causing most, if not all, of the power outages. At times the snow has been so intense that there have been thunder and lightning associated with it, this is also known as “Thunder Snow.”
I have been asked by numerous people today if they shou Read more:Season
, First
, Major
Wet Snow + Gusty Winds + Leaves = Bad Situation 2007-11-06 10:57:01 The combination of heavy wet snow, gusty winds and leaves still on the trees this late in the season has set up a potentially dangerous situation across the region Tuesday into Wednesday. Here is a state I saw from one of the local weather offices:
…TREE AND POWER LINE DAMAGE IS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT FROM AN EARLY SEASON LAKE EFFECT SNOW EVENT…
HEAVY WET SNOW MIXED WITH RAIN AT TIMES IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THIS AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT IN THE SNOWBELT EAST OF CLEVELAND. SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED WHICH WILL ACCUMULATE ON TREES AND POWERLINES. IN ADDITION WESTERLY WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED.
THE RECENT MILD WEATHER HAS DELAYED THE NORMAL TREE DEFOLIATION THUS LEAVING TREES MORE VULNERABLE TO EXCESSIVE LOADING OF SNOW AND SLUSH. THE HEAVY SNOW WILL LIKELY BRING DOWN MANY TREES AND POWERLINES… BLOCKING ROADS AND CAUSING POWER OUTAGES.
If you have to be traveling today please use extreme caution. It takes awhile Read more:Winds
Four Letter Word Starting With -S- Part 2 2007-11-05 15:00:20 Last week I mentioned (in Four Letter
Word Starting with -S-) that we could get our first shot of snow this week around the 8th of November. Looks like that cold air will get in here a little earlier.
An area of low pressure will move into the region this week bringing with it the coldest air of the season. It will start out in the Northern Plains & Upper Midwest with very strong gusty winds. There are already numerous wind advisories for this region and in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and parts of Northern Wisconsin we are seeing winter storm warnings and lake effect snow advisories.
Of course this blast of winter will not be isolated to locations mentioned above. It will move into our area late Monday Night, through the day Tuesday and the cold will linger for the remainder of the week.
As the cold air moves over the relatively warm lake waters (Nov 5th Water temperature for Lake Erie near Erie, PA was 50 degrees) this sets up the first lake effect snows for the season.
Fo
Fall Back: Don’t Forget It’s This Weekend 2007-11-02 16:06:48
Standard time resumes early Sunday morning at 2:00 a.m. Clocks will need to be set one hour earlier before you go to bed. In case you forgot, the federal government extended daylight-saving time by four weeks, starting this year. It was all part of the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
Clocks now spring forward on the second Sunday in March instead of the first Sunday in April and fall back on the first Sunday in November instead of the last Sunday in October.
The change was meant to conserve energy by reducing the use of electric lighting. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the temporary extension of daylight-saving time in 1974 and 1975 saved 10,000 barrels of oil a day. Advocates say savings today could be 10 times greater.
Enjoy the extra sunlight while you have it. And remember to turn your clocks ahead March 9. Also check the batteries in all your smoke detectors…
Read more:Weekend
Lake Effect Snow Update 2007-11-14 17:03:50
(Graphic from AccuWeather.com)
The mild temperatures of the past few days (Mon-57, Tues-54 & Wed-61) will come to an end as a cold front moves through later this evening. The return of very cold winter-like air means the return of Lake Effect snow. Initially, the precipitation will fall as rain across the region, but by the early morning hours on Thursday the rain could mix or even change to snow in some of the higher elevations ESE of Erie and the lake shore. These cold temperatures will be brisk courtesy of some very gusty winds.
(Graphic from AccuWeather.com)
Of course if this change over does take place early it could mean a rough go for some of you Thursday morning. Right now, it is looking like the city of Erie will see mostly rain with a rain/ snow mix into Thursday afternoon. By Thursday Night into Friday the precipitation looks to change over to all snow as we head into the weekend. For a complete and detailed forecast for the Lake Effect snows and amounts expected the Read more:Update
Late Season Foliage 2007-11-13 23:12:50 It is the middle of November and if you’ve driven around the region and through out the east coast you’ve noticed that many of the trees still have their leaves and some of those leaves are still green. If you think that leaves being on the trees this late into the fall season is unusual you would be correct, and not alone in noticing the late foliage season.
During a typical fall, starting in September and October, the rate of daylight decreases more rapidly and cooler weather begins to move in, this causes the trees to stop producing chlorophyll, which makes the leaves green. The chlorophyll then begins to break down and the leaves begin to change color. (This is a very simple explanation of what takes place)
The Fall of 2007 was different. The day length got shorter as usual, but temperatures during the month of October did not get as cold as we tend to see on average. (In fact it was the second warmest October for Erie in Record) These warmer temperatures prevented the Read more:Season
, Foliage
More Lake Effect on the Way… 2007-11-12 19:25:53
Enjoy the brief warm-up we have been experiencing. Cold air will make another return by the end of the week and this could mean the snow flakes will fly once again. Cold, Canadian air will move out of the north and sweep across the Great Lakes Thursday into Friday with gusty northwest winds. Our lakes are still relatively warm so lake effect will be possible. This could linger into the weekend, but it is still way to early to tell but I definitely think we will see some snow by weeks end.
Read more:hellip
Autumn Photos of New England 2007-11-12 14:54:46 On Halloween I published a post asking for fall pictures, a few of you have been kind enough to send me some. Now that my schedule has eased and become more stable I decided I would catch up by posting some of the pictures that were sent to me. The first set of Pictures I am going to post come from Jeff Folger of Vistaphotography. Here is his email:
I grew up in Erie and joined the service in “81” (I lived off Gore Rd.) So maybe next year you can email me and if I’m blogging once again for Yankee Magazine (www.yankeefoliage.com/blog) you can follow along with that. Be sure to send me a few from Erie that you took. My sister would also love to see them.
Jeff Folger, Vistaphotography
Salem MA
www.vistaphotos.net
www.vistaphotos.net/blog
Photos: (Click Image to enlarge)
Read more:Autumn
, England
, New England
This Day in Erie Weather History, Nov. 12th 2007-11-12 10:37:18 (Note: This is a republish of a previous post from Nov. 13, 2006)
When it comes to weather this day is one of my favorites in Erie weather history, the daily record high is 71 and the record low is 18 and all of this happened in one day, November 12, 1911.
Outside of the daily high and low, I could not find any other information on the type of weather Erie saw that day. Luckily this even took place over a large portion of the United States between November 11-12 1911.
On November 11, 1911 (remembered easily for now as 11/11/11), the afternoon temperature in Oklahoma City reached a record high for the date of 83, before plunging 66 degrees to a record low of 17 at midnight that evening. Both daily temperature records remain unbroken and untied 96 years later.
Record high and low temperatures occurring on the same day are rare, but they do happen. A search of local records from around the United States shows no less than 18 such pairs currently on the record books at various observing st Read more:History
GO BOILERS BEAT THE HOOSIERS 2007-11-17 17:43:20 FINAL GAME UPDATE: IU kicks a game winning field goal with 0:30 seconds left and then with a final ditch effort Purdue fumbles away the ball and IU wins and wins back the Old Oaken Bucket.
GAME UPDATE 3: 1:53 left in the game, Purdue and IU are tied at 24. IU has the ball Purdue 45… Boilers need a stop. This has not been fun have had to monitor the game from ESPN game track…
GAME UPDATE 2: 6:15 left in the 4th, Purdue has brought the game with in one possession. 24 -17. GO BOILERS BEAT THE HOOSIERS….
GAME UPDATE 1: 11:29 left in the 3rd and Purdue is down 24 - 3. Ugh. Then again the way the Boilers have played all season I shouldn’t be surprised but it still stings. You don’t like losing a rivalry game. Just as the Michigan Fans.
I don’t normally stray from the topic of weather, but I have a lot of other interests outside of meteorology. One of those is college football. My alma mater is Purdue University, home of the Purdue Boilermakers. I spent
Friday’s Lake Effect Snow 2007-11-16 09:06:20 Cold air has settled in and most of the morning Lake Effect Snows and in some spots sleet have been taking place across the region. The good news is this event will not be as bad as what we saw around election day. Also the snow doesn’t seem to be as wet and heavy, although most trees still have significant foliage on them it shouldn’t cause as many problem as last week.
When traveling today just give yourself plenty of time to get to your destination and when on the road travel at a reasonable speed given the weather conditions around you and plenty of stopping distance between you and the other vehicles on the roadways.
You can get the complete and detailed JET Pinpoint Forecast on YourErie.com. For the only local Doppler on the internet check JET Pinpoint Doppler. You can visit WX-Man.com Advisories for the latest Watch/Warning information. If you have a snow amount you want to report please report any snow amounts in the comment section or to wxman.com A-T gmail (do Read more:Friday
AccuWeather.com Updates Winter Forecast for 2007-08 2007-11-15 15:38:14 JOE BASTARDI’S UPDATED ACCUWEATHER.COM WINTER FORECAST
The AccuWeather.com long-range center continues to drive home the point that a very warm winter is on the way for much of the nation, especially east of the Rockies - a forecast given to Joe Bastardi Energy Pro™ and private clients at the start of summer. Joe Bastardi, chief long range meteorologist for AccuWeather.com, warned of a reversal in November - that the areas receiving the endless summer in October would be noticeably colder this month relative to normal and probably even below normal in many areas.
The recent cold in the East and Great Lakes area is consistent with the original Winter Forecast
, released in October, which called for seasonable winter weather at the beginning and end of the winter with the warmer temperatures dominating what is climatolgically the coldest part of the season.
(more…)
Travelers Not ‘Giving Thanks’ to Mother Nature 2007-11-21 16:49:28 A strong cold that stretches from Texas through the Ohio Valley and Lake Erie into Northern New York along with an associated low pressure system located in Indiana as of 5pm EST on Wednesday will continue to cause travel problems and weather woes for the rest of the day and into the Thanks
giving Holiday…
Severe weather is developing along the frontal boundary from Eastern Texas, through central Arkansas, and into extreme western Kentucky and more is likely tonight into the south as the front continues to push south and east. The Storm Prediction Center has issued severe thunderstorm and tornado watch boxes for the areas mentioned above.
Out ahead of this front temperatures are in the 80s, 70s and 60s, but behind the front temperatures drop nearly 20 to 30 degrees into the 40s and 30s. This significant drop in temperatures is causing rain to change over to snow. Heavy snow, falling at rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour, is occurring over Iowa this afternoon and evening. This will c Read more:Travelers
, lsquo
, Giving
Holiday Travel & Thanksgiving Weather 2007-11-20 13:39:49 Wednesday is considered to be the busiest travel day of the year. AAA expects that a record 38.7 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home over the five days beginning Wednesday, with roughly 80 percent of those trips by car. Meanwhile, the Air Transport Association forecasts that approximately 27 million passengers will fly over 12-day period that began on November 16.
WX-Man.com Travel
Information:
Check out the current Flight Delay Maps from AccuWeather.com, Weather.com and USAToday.com. | Erie ERI Airport: Live Arrivals | Erie ERI Airport: Live Departures | Intellicast Highway Conditions
Unfortunately, it appears mother nature will be causing some travel woes over the next few days through parts of the country. A strong cold front will continue to cross the mid-section of the Nation into the Northeast through the busiest travel day on Wednesday and into Thanksgiving
. Showers and storms along this cold front will stretch from Vermont, through the Great Lakes and Ohi Read more:Holiday
WX-Man.com 2007-2008 Winter Weather Forecast 2007-11-26 13:30:45 Sorry for the delay, but I finally organized my thoughts for the 2007-2008 winter weather forecast for Erie and added Central Indiana, using Indianapolis as my focal point. Please note, and you will see me mention this through out my forecast, I do not consider myself a long-range forecaster. This is my second attempt at a winter forecast. I feel I did “O.K” last year but again my experience in this area limited me. My forecast combines the information I have found in other winter forecasts, my knowledge of weather and past weather data during years with similar climate and weather features called analogs.
Here is the WX-Man.com Winter Weather Forecast
for 2007-2008 for Erie, PA and Central Indiana
Lake Effect Returns to the Region 2007-12-03 14:14:14 Just how crazy has the weather been over the last 36 hours. Well At 6pm on Saturday the temperature was 26° F, It changed over to light snow around 11pm Saturday/ 12am Sunday. Then a sleet/ freezing rain mix until about 7am before becoming rain and temperatures beginning to rise. By 11pm on Sunday the City of Erie had received nearly an inch of rain and the temperature had it the high for the day at 52° F. Then the cold front moved through, very cold air was ushered in as well as very strong gusty winds and the temperature has dropped 20 degrees since last night and it will continue to get colder.
The cold and snow we are experiencing is still associated with the same storm system that blanketed and blasted parts of the Midwest and Northern Great Lakes with snow and ice over the weekend. As it heads out into the Atlantic, in its wake is very cold blustery air and very strong gusty winds. There are numerous wind advisories out for our area into early Tuesday morning as winds will gus Read more:Returns
Winter Storm Brings Snow & Ice 2007-12-01 17:14:26
We have been monitoring a winter storm moving out of the Midwest and into the Great Lakes Saturday Night into Sunday Morning. Eventually into the Northeast. This storm system plastered a wide area of the Midwest with snow and ice, making highways slick and hazardous.
The National Weather Service posted winter storm and ice warnings across parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, the eastern Dakotas, Illinois and northern Michigan. Here in NW Pennsylvania and NE Ohio Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for the possibility of snow, sleet and freezing rain late Saturday night into early Sunday morning. Before changing to all rain later in the day Sunday as temperatures are forecasted to be in or near the 40s.
The good news about this storm is that the nastiest of the weather takes place during the overnight hours. This should limit the accidents out on the highways. The ice and sleet could lingering into the afternoon out into the Chautauqua/ Allegheny region.
UPDATE: due to the Read more:Storm
, Winter Storm
WX-Man.com Announcement 2007-12-12 16:43:11 Many of you may already know this from reading either Erie Blogs (note: I disagree with Dennis’ description of Rochester) Jack Tirak’s Erie Media-Go-Round, and of course my lovely bride Trisha’s blog, that we are moving to Rochester, NY at the end of the year because I have been hired as the new Morning Meteorologist at WROC channel 8. This is a great step professionally and personally and I am very excited.
Right now this is not “good-bye” you still have to put up with me for 3 more weeks, but leaving Erie, although from the first day I started at JET-TV I knew this would someday happen, is still hard to do. As Trisha mentioned in her blog, this has really been our first real home for the last 5 years. We have made so many friends and the people and viewers have been great. One thing for sure is people in Erie love to talk about the weather and they really pay attention and if they like or dislike something they let you know.
I will tell you I am not sure Read more:Announcement
Parade of Storms = Snowy Thursday 2007-12-12 15:38:48 For the past several days, going back to last weekend. There has been a “Parade
of storms” moving out of Texas and the Gulf States into the Northeast. Most notably was the damage from ice storms earlier in the week through Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power and causing widespread damage. We only had the threat of ice and freezing rain Saturday night into Monday Morning. Since then here in Erie and most of region just saw rain on Tuesday.
These series of storms have been riding along the Jet Stream, which could be considered a very fast moving highway of air that guide and steer storms across the United States and even the world. This “Parade of Storms
” is not done yet.
The next storm moves into the lower Great Lakes and the Northeast. We have a Winter Storm Warning for Erie, Crawford Counties in Pennsylvania from 5am to 6pm Thursday
as well as Chautauqua County in New York. Winter Weat Read more:Snowy
Norad Tracks Santa 2007 2007-12-23 16:06:48 Clock is counting down for Santa
’s big ride. If you want to track Santa on is journey just click the image…
I love this site. I have worked every Christmas eve since I have been in TV. I use this site to show where Santa is. I remember being a Kid and watching the TV weather and they would show the location of Santa. It was also good to get Kids to go to sleep. So if you'd like to track Santa you can go to the NORAD Track Santa Site:
PA Severe Weather Awareness Week: Severe T’Storms 2008-03-12 04:51:58 Thunderstorm Safety
Severe thunderstorms are defined by the National Weather Service as downdraft winds in excess of 58 miles an hour and/or hail 3/4 inch in diameter or greater. Since 1986, severe thunderstorm winds have killed 310 people and injured over 4000 nationwide.
Severe thunderstorm safety rules…
The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma issues a SEVERE THUNDERSTORM [...] Read more:Awareness
, Storms
PA: Severe Weather Awareness Week 2008 2008-03-11 09:47:32 Severe Weather Awareness
Week 2008
March 10-14, 2008
(NWS State College)
We have Severe Weather every year. Even last year (2007), which was a VERY dry Spring and Summer, we still managed to get over 700 separate reports of damage, tornadoes, or large hail in the Commonwealth. See a graphic of ALL the (Convective) Severe Weather Reports for [...]
Winter Storm Recap. 2008-03-10 16:00:53 I want to take the time to once again thank Ray Petelin, WSEE Meteorologist for agreeing to be a guest blogger. I look forward to more items Ray may add to this site and keeping up with updating the people on interesting weather happenings.
Of course this weekend saw its share of interesting weather. Most notably [...] Read more:Storm
, Recap
, Winter Storm
Erie’s Winter Climbing The Charts 2008-03-10 07:47:14 (Webmaster note: I just want to thank and welcome WSEE Storm Team Meteorologist Ray Petelin for being a guest blogger on WX-Man.com. Now that I am no longer in Erie, it is nice to have the weather perspective for Erie covered.)
As much as we like to complain about the snow in Erie, I have found [...] Read more:Charts
Winter Storm Brings Icy Concerns. 2008-03-04 08:51:48 After a nice taste of spring like weather reality sets back in Tuesday into Wednesday morning. A complex winter storm will move through Pennsylvania and into New England. This will spread a mixture of precipitation across the region. My main concern with this storm is the potential icing threat for the northern tier of [...] Read more:Storm
, Winter Storm
Butt Kicking Cold = More Snow 2008-02-28 11:29:08 The snow amounts we forecasted for this past winter storm were very close and I have to say it was a successful forecast. My Chief Meteorologist at WROC has a great write up on our stations blog about the past storm here. You can also see some of the snow amounts for locations around Rochester [...] Read more:Kicking
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