Weather Headlines
–Showers return for Friday
–A strong storm system will bring rainfall to the area beginning Sunday. Total rainfall amounts through Tuesday will likely be in the 1-2 inch range
–The best headline of all is the glorious reappearance of the sun this morning! I snapped this pic as I headed out for work this morning.
Main threats
No widespread hazardous weather is expected for the next seven days.
Summary
The sun has returned! That will help warm us to around 50 degrees. As I type this, I notice that we are already warmer than we have been for the past two days!
Thursday is looking very, very nice. Try to get outside and enjoy it.
Friday isn’t looking too terribly bad. It will be cloudier and there will be some showers around, but they won’t amount to much at all. Just dust-settling showers.
Saturday looks good. That’s another day to try to get outside. After Saturday, the weather takes a downhill turn. A very strong storm system will begin moving in on us by Sunday. That system will bring widespread rainfall to the area for Monday and Tuesday.
That system will swing an arctic cold front through here by Tuesday night. As of now, it looks like all the moisture will be gone by the time the cold air arrives. I’ll keep an eye on that.
Also, as of now, next week looks dry after Tuesday. Temps will be below normal. Normal highs for this time of year is 50 degrees.
Almanac
Baldwin’s 7-Day forecast
Records
On this day in 1982 the city of Crossville recorded a high temperature of 72 degrees. This set a new record high for the month of December.
A cold front blew through Livingston, Montana on this day in 1972. When I say it blew through, I mean it literally blew through! Wind gusts to 70 mph sent temps tumbling from 52 degrees to 18 degrees in only 20 minutes!
Wednesday’s Weather Word of the Day
Graupel: Soft, small pellets formed when supercooled water droplets freeze onto a snow crystal. Also called “snow pellets” or “soft hail”. These frozen pellets are very fragile and generally disintegrate when handled.
I’ve seen graupel form with thunderstorms (as very small, soft hail) and I’ve seen it with wintry weather. It is often very white in appearance, due to the frozen nature of the pellets.
NASA Knowledge
Today, at 11:51 CST, the SpaceX Falcon 9 CRS-19 will launch from Kennedy Space Center. This is another resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The cargo includes science experiments, supplies, and equipment. An imager will provide better information about Earth’s surface (ie. soil, vegetation, snow, etc). Another experiment will test malting barley in a microgravity environment. This could provide a unique source of nutrition on long-duration space flights. Another item will improve communication between satellites. Another experiment will work to understand how fire spreads in microgravity. They’ll also be receiving materials that will help test bone and muscle loss in microgravity. Yet another piece of equipment will help test for leaks on the ISS. There’s just so much that goes up on these launches!
You can watch that launch live by going to https://www.spacex.com/webcast.
News
The biggest weather news today is the big storm spinning onto the coast of Southern California today. It will bring valley rains and mountain snows.
Wx Hazards Across the Nation
You all have a great day!
