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Headlines
Rain & Storms for Wed-Thurs
Heavy rainfall is possible
Areawide 1-2 inch rain amounts, with locally higher amounts possible
Turning cooler by the weekend
Meteorologist Mark’s Vlog in a Flash
48-Hour WX
Seven-Day Forecast
Daily Forecast Summary
Today: Partly to mostly cloudy. Mild. Chance for overnight showers.
Wednesday – Thursday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Heavy downpours are possible.
Friday: Partly to mostly cloudy. Cooler.
Saturday – Sunday: Partly to mostly sunny. Cool.
Monday: Sunny and cool.
Meteorologist Mark’s Severe Wx Concern
Threats
While widespread severe weather is not expected, one or two storms on Wednesday and Wednesday night could be on the strong side. I’ll keep an eye on it for you.
On This Day in Wx History
1962 – An early-season winter storm over New England blanketed northern Maine with 7 to 16 inches of snow, and southeastern New England with up to 3 inches of snow. Worcester, Massachusetts, received a record 4.7 inches of snow.
Almanac
Yesterday’s National Temperature Extremes
High: 96° Falcon Lake, Texas
Low: -22° at Yellowstone Gateway, Montana & Peter Sinks, Utah & at Daniel, Thermopolis, Canyon Village, and Ten Sleep, Wyoming.
Tropical Outlook
Zeta has weakened into a tropical storm, as it moves over land this morning. The storm will quickly restrengthen into a hurricane once it emerges into the warm waters of the southern Gulf of Mexico today. The storm will then make landfall along the northern Gulf Coast as either a strong tropical storm or cat 1 hurricane. Thankfully, the storm looks to stay just south of our region, keeping the heaviest rainfall and strongest storms south of our region as well.
Today’s National Wx Hazards
Cold, arctic air continues to sink into the central and southern plains today. That cold air is mixing with precip across the southern plains to create an absolute wintry mess of freezing rain, sleet, and snow. Meanwhile, wildfires continue in California, while Zeta moves into the Gulf of Mexico. What an active October day!
Tomorrow’s National Wx Hazards
Wintry precip continues for the southern plains, while heavy rainfall and gusty winds with Zeta move inland across the Southeast.
8 – 14 Day Outlook
Warm and dry air continues to look like the dominant weather for the US for much of next week and into that next weekend.
Temperature
Precipitation
Weather Shots
“Thousands have been evacuated due to new fires sparking in California today. The Santa Ana winds have caused chaos around Irvine, California. Here’s a look at some people evacuating earlier today,” Weather Nation. It just looks so apocalyptic.
NASA Nerdology
Big news came out of NASA yesterday!!!
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon! This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places. There’s not much of it, but there is definitely water there!
As a comparison, the Sahara desert has 100 times the amount of water than what SOFIA detected in the lunar soil. Despite the small amounts, the discovery raises new questions about how water is created and how it persists on the harsh, airless lunar surface.
“Prior to the SOFIA observations, we knew there was some kind of hydration,” said Casey Honniball, the lead author who published the results from her graduate thesis work at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in Honolulu. “But we didn’t know how much, if any, was actually water molecules – like we drink every day – or something more like drain cleaner.”
