Month: July 2019

As for our local weather, weatherTAP’s RadarLab shows a now stalled out “cold” front just to our west. This is setting off showers and storms but they remain mostly along and south of I-40. That trend should continue for the rest of the afternoon.  That red line you see on the left of the image is the forecast track of Barry.

Speaking of Barry….

In a press conference this afternoon, emergency management officials said that all flood gates will be closed to the city of New Orleans for the first time in that city’s history. The Mississippi River is normally at about 6-8 feet this time of year. Today, it is at 16 feet and that is due mostly to record flooding in the Midwest this past spring.

Evacuations are not being strongly encouraged because Barry remains a tropical storm. They still haven’t learned that the water is what kills, not the wind. An odd lesson to have not learned for a city that sits mostly below sea level. It is truly an unbelievable situation but one that doesn’t surprise me too much.

When I worked for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency we had to help New Orleans evacuate for Hurricane Gustav. This was several years after Katrina. It was an absolute nightmare. I could tell you stories all day. It quickly became apparent that nothing had been learned from Katrina.

Let’s just keep these folks close to our hearts. I know some of them can’t afford to evacuate and that really is sad. Let’s just hope and pray the flood walls and gates don’t fail. That the pumps don’t malfunction. That the Mississippi River doesn’t come over the walls (which would be a first for the city). That people don’t try to leave in the middle of the storm (what a mess that would be!).

I just read that the National Guard is sending 300 buses to New Orleans in case an evacuation is decided upon. What a disaster. The rain is already falling. It would be so dangerous/foolish to wait and evacuate in the middle of the storm.

Aren’t you glad you live in Tennessee? We should be very proud to have the best emergency management agency in the country? I worked there and I can tell you that’s the truth! Don’t take that for granted.

Barry remains a strong tropical storm, with winds of 65 mph. The storm is expected to be a minimal hurricane when it makes landfall Saturday morning.

Here is the latest water vapor imagery. At times, the amount of vapor is off the scale and can’t even be measured. Some locations in Louisiana are forecast to receive at least two feet of rainfall.

 

As of the 10:00 update, hurricane hunters report that Barry has now strengthened to 65 mph. Hurricane strength is 74 mph. He’s looking much better on satellite now, too. Landfall is forecast for tomorrow morning in Louisiana.

Weather Headlines

–Watching Barry in the northern Gulf of Mexico

–Barry to bring scattered showers and storms for our region for several days

Main threats

No significant threats in sight. If, however, Barry’s track comes closer we could be looking at heavy rainfall. Right now, that looks to be a low-end threat.

Summary

The “cold” front that we’ve been so anxious to see cross our area is hung up on the plateau this morning. That’s why you see the low cloud cover and fog. The big question is whether or not it will make it over the plateau, especially with an increasing influence of Barry that could try to push it back northward at any time.

Because this front is hanging out with us today, we can’t rule out a shower or storm, especially south of I-40. This also calls into question the drier air we had hoped for. I think you folks up around Livingston and Byrdstown will feel that relief, while the rest of us may not. So goes July in Tennessee and fronts coming to the plateau….

Then, all of our attention will turn to Barry and which way he decides to track. As of this morning’s 7:00 a.m. update, the storm is now packing winds of 50 mph, so he didn’t strengthen much at all last night. In fact, he looks very “messy” on satellite. The track continues to take it up the Mississippi River (not good for the flooding already occurring there) and then up into the Ohio Valley through the first half of next week. That would keep us on the favorable side for scattered showers and storms, but far enough from the center to spare us severe weather and major flooding issues.

It is important to note that Barry’s forecast path could change, and any deviation to the west or east would have big impacts on our weather. Stay tuned.

Pictured below is Barry on infrared satellite, looking quite disorganized, despite having strengthened to 50 mph.

WeatherTAP WeatherFACT

The largest hurricane ever recorded was actually a typhoon. That storm was nearly half the size of the United States, measuring at nearly 1,400 miles in diameter! The storm was called Typhoon Tip and occurred in 1979. At one time, the storm had the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded within a storm, as maximum sustained winds howled to nearly 200 mph. The storm tracked over Japan but had thankfully weakened substantially by that time.

Pictured below is Typhoon Tip at its maximum intensity on October 12, 1979.

Records

Today is a hot one in the record books, folks. On this day in 1914 Byrdstown had a record high of 101 degrees. On this day in 1930 Clarksville hit 110 (this was a historic heat wave for Tennessee). Then, on this day in 1980 the temperature at Livingston hit 108 degrees, setting their all-time record high.

Almanac

Yesterday’s record high: 93 (1980)

Yesterday’s record low: 49 (1963)

Today’s record high: 97 (1980)

Today’s record low: 51 (1975)

Today’s sunset: 7:58

Tomorrow sunrise: 5:34

Today’s day length: 14 hrs 24 mins 33 secs

Tomorrow’s day length: 14 hrs 23 mins 29 secs

One year ago today

The high was 86 degrees, after a morning low of 66. No rain fell.

News

Don’t forget that we will have an astronaut visiting Crossville on Sunday! He has flown four shuttle missions and is coming to tell us about those experiences. Admission is free. Stone High School will be hosting this event, which begins at 3:00.

Dr. Apt has performed space walks and has even visited the MIR space station. There will be a limited number of autographed photos of him, as well as a door prize of his book with pictures he has taken in space.

Be sure and come out and look for me!

I’ll leave you with some pictures I took yesterday evening, as the sun was setting and storms were approaching. It was an absolutely beautiful sight and my phone doesn’t do it justice at all. It was interesting watching the sky change colors by the minute. FYI, all of these pics were taken from what will someday be my front yard (when the house gets built). See why I don’t want any trees blocking my view of that sky? Wow….

You all have a great day!

Storms are really started to show a weakening trend as they interact with the plateau. Sometimes storms strengthen when they reach us, and sometimes they fall apart. They’ve done both today, making the forecast a challenge.

Lightning activity has dropped off, as well. It looks like many of us may not even get any rainfall this go around. However, until that “cold” front pushes through we still can’t rule out more development. As I state earlier, the Storm Prediction Center has now removed us from the marginal threat of severe weather and now has us only in the “general t-storm” risk. You all have a good evening!

I’ll have a full update in the morning, which will include the latest on Barry! The next update is due at 10:00 but I don’t foresee any major changes to the intensity or track forecast.