MM News

Yesterday’s MM kids class went great! We learned all about fire weather, made tornadoes in a jar, and then went outside to see my fire tornado. It was a great class and I hope all the kids enjoyed it as much as I did! We thank TCAT for being wonderful sponsors and being so very good to us!

I also went out to Stone Elementary earlier in the day to speak to summer schoolers about the weather. That was also a very good class filled with some very smart and excited kiddos!

Weather Headlines 

The pleasant weather continues

Rain chances return by the weekend

Watching a developing tropical storm in the Gulf

Meteorologist Mark’s Wx Vlog 

Seven-Day Forecast

Daily Forecast 

Today & Tomorrow: Mostly sunny and pleasant. Low humidity will make it feel very nice.

Friday: Partly cloudy skies. Humidity increases a bit. Hot and humid by the afternoon.

Saturday: Partly cloudy, with a chance for a shower or storm.

Sunday – Tuesday: Partly to mostly cloudy, with scattered showers and thunderstorms.

Hay Weather Forecast

Meteorologist Mark’s Wx Concerns

Almanac for Yesterday

Tropics 

Now, we’re down to one system to watch and that’s the one that has always had the most interest to us. The system will move very little today and is still hugging land. However, the system is expected to pull north tomorrow and should become a tropical depression by Thursday night. As it moves north, it will likely become a tropical storm and directly impact the coasts of northeast Texas and all of Louisiana. Other impacts will be felt all along the northern Gulf Coast, as far east as the Florida Panhandle. Heavy rainfall and gusty winds are the main threats, though dangerous rip currents will effect the entire coastline of the Gulf of Mexico.

Sun & The Moon

Planting by the Moon in June

On This Day in Wx History

1944 – A tornado in Sioux City, Iowa, traveled an odd course. It spun in one place for about twenty minutes, made a U-turn, traveled southeast for about three miles, then traveled south, east, north, and finally east again.

I can relate. If I were a tornado I would be this tornado. (haha)

Yesterday’s National Temperature Extremes

High:  124° at Death Valley, California

Low:   28° at Peter Sinks, Utah 

Wednesday Weather 101

The largest forest fires or wild fires can create their own weather. As the heat from the fire rises, surrounding air rushes in to replace that rising air. This can create very gusty winds for neighboring areas (sometimes damaging) that may encourage the fire to spread even farther.

As all that heat rises into the colder atmosphere above, it eventually cools to condense and form clouds. These clouds may grow to such a height to become a thunderstorm, producing rainfall (usually black with ash) and cloud to ground lightning. That lightning could start even more fires. Clouds that form in this manner are called pyrocumulus clouds. When clouds produce precip, we add “nimbus” to their name (Latin origins).

Today’s Tennessee Weather 

If you like sunshine and low humidity, you’re going to love the forecast for this Wednesday! A beautiful June day is in store for our region. Be sure and get outside if you can!

Tonight’s Tennessee Weather 

Clear and starry skies await us for our Wednesday night. Be sure and check out that Crescent Moon in the western sky after sunset, as well. Overnight lows fall comfortably into the 50s and for many of us, with 60s expected across the west. Notice that 49-degree reading expected for Kingsport!

Tomorrow’s Tennessee Weather 

We have yet another picture-perfect June day in store for the state on Thursday! With lots of sunshine, afternoon highs will range from near 90 degrees in the west, to near 80 degrees in the east. Humidity levels remain low for Thursday, but that begins to change on Friday.

Drought Monitor

The drought monitor is updated each Thursday.

Weather SnapShots

Mark DeBruin (@mark_debruin) snapped this amazing picture of a supercell in Deerfield, Kansas on May 24th. What a shot, Mark!

NASA Nerdology 

The Crescent Earth, as seen by the Apollo 17 astronauts. Just incredible….

You all have a great day and keep lookin’ up!

Join TCAT and become a sponsor today! Your money will go toward science education outreach in the Upper Cumberlands. Thank you!

Note: To offer support to Meteorologist Mark and his educational outreach programs, please consider giving via  https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meteorologistmark. If you can’t give, no worries! Just keep following and tell your friends! 

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MM News

I’m headed out to Stone Elementary this morning to talk to some summer school kiddos about the weather! I can’t wait to tell them all about the coolest science there is! 🙂

I’ve had a couple of cancellations, and that means there are some seats still available for this evening’s fire tornado class! Registration is required and that form can be found at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdohiaR1Slm0CYWnwhQSi8w0LyY51aAO91OJpffFSabw3FOqQ/viewform

Weather Headlines 

Pleasant June weather for the next few days! (Enjoy it!)

Next rain chance arrives Friday night/the weekend

Watching the Gulf of Mexico for a tropical storm

Meteorologist Mark’s Wx Vlog 

Seven-Day Forecast

Daily Forecast 

Today and Wednesday: Mostly sunny and pleasant. Low humidity will feel very nice!

Thursday: Continued dry and sunny, but humidity increases a bit.

Friday: A bit more humidity. Mostly sunny. Rain possible overnight.

Saturday – Monday: Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Very humid.

Hay Weather Forecast

Take note that next week’s outlook features above-normal precip chances, as it looks right now.

Meteorologist Mark’s Wx Concerns

Almanac for Yesterday

Tropics 

The tropics remain very active for this time of year! Tropical Storm Bill is packing winds of 50 mph, as it moves northeast and away from the U.S.

The system in the Gulf bears watching, as it will likely be our next named storm. It will impact the northern Gulf Coast of the U.S. Areas from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle are watching this very closely. Regardless of where this makes landfall, and regardless of intensity, enormous areas of real-estate will likely see heavy rain from this system. The good news is that this system is not expected to become a hurricane.

Thankfully, the system nearest Africa is struggling and may never become a storm.

Sun & The Moon

Planting by the Moon in June

On This Day in Wx History

1952- The temperature at Nashville climbs to 100 degrees — the earliest date ever for a 100-degree reading in the Music City.

Yesterday’s National Temperature Extremes

High:  118° at both Death Valley & Stovepipe Wells, California

Low:   24° at Peter Sinks, Utah 

Twister Tuesday

The deadliest tornado in world history was the Daulatpur–Saturia tornado in Bangladesh on April 26, 1989, which killed approximately 1,300 people. In the history of Bangladesh at least 19 tornadoes have killed more than 100 people each, almost half of the total for the rest of the entire world. Poor housing and dense populations are mainly to blame.

Today’s Tennessee Weather 

It’s a picture-perfect June day across Tennessee! Lots of sunshine and low humidity levels will make for a very pleasant day. High temps will range from near 90 degrees in the west, to near 80 degrees in the east.

Tonight’s Tennessee Weather 

The sky will be clear and starry and accompanied by a beautiful Crescent Moon tonight! Temperatures will be quite comfortable for this time of year, leading some to even sleep with the windows open!

Tomorrow’s Tennessee Weather 

On Wednesday, we’ll repeat what we did on Tuesday! Another absolutely beautiful day is in store for the region once again, with sunny skies, low humidity, and comfortable afternoon temperatures. Enjoy this while it lasts! Summer’s heat and humidity will be back sooner than later!

Drought Monitor

The drought monitor is updated each Thursday.

Weather SnapShots

A beautiful thunderstorm and shelf cloud seen late last month from McGregor, Minnesota. Photo courtesy of Sarah Johnson.

NASA Nerdology 

During this week in 1919, John “Jack” Alcock and Arthur Brown departed on the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic. They flew in a Vickers Vimy biplane from Canada to Ireland.

You all have a great day and keep lookin’ up!

Note: To offer support to Meteorologist Mark and his educational outreach programs, please consider giving via  https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meteorologistmark. If you can’t give, no worries! Just keep following and tell your friends! 

Please feel free to “Follow” me on Social Media!

Facebook @meteorologistmark

Twitter @meteo_mark

Instagram @MeteorologistMark

First of all, the National Hurricane Center has now labeled an area of low pressure off the North Carolina coastline as a tropical depression. It will likely become Tropical Storm Bill later today or tomorrow, as it moves out to sea.

Another area of low pressure in the southern Gulf of Mexico continues to slowly organize and will likely become Tropical Storm Claudette later this week. Areas from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle are watching this system closely, as it drifts north. That system will probably increase our rain rain chances this weekend and bring up humidity values dramatically.

Finally, I wanted to share some interesting satellite imagery with you this morning. Satellite picks up more than just clouds, as we can see here. Notice that black smoke in northern Illinois? That’s smoke from huge chemical plant fire in Rockton, Illinois. According to the local news, “The fire started around 7:30 a.m. Monday at Chemtool Incorporated, located in Rockton. The company manufactures fluids, lubricants and grease products which are distributed worldwide.” Evacuations have been underway of neighboring areas. Not a good Monday morning for those folks and we sure hope everyone is OK.

You can also see how the surface winds are from the north, while winds higher up (where the clouds are) are out of the northwest.

MM News

I still have a few seats left in the Meteorologist Mark kid’s class for tomorrow evening! Class begins at 4:00 and is free. The topic is fire tornadoes and we’ll even be making a fire tornado outside! Registration is required and that short form can be found at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdohiaR1Slm0CYWnwhQSi8w0LyY51aAO91OJpffFSabw3FOqQ/viewform. See you there! Class is capped at 20 students.

Weather Headlines 

A pleasant week

Low humidity will feel nice this week

Watching a system in the Gulf and on the Atlantic Coast (the tropics are active!)

Meteorologist Mark’s Wx Vlog 

Seven-Day Forecast

Daily Forecast 

Today: Mostly sunny and hot. Lower humidity will make it feel much better than days past.

Tuesday – Wednesday: Lots of sunshine and lower humidity will make it feel quite nice!

Thursday: Humidity begins to increase a bit. We remain dry and sunny.

Friday: Humidity increases a bit more. We remain mostly dunny and dry.

Saturday – Sunday: Mostly cloudy, with scattered showers and thunderstorms.

Hay Weather Forecast

Forecast Discussion

Some of you may be wondering why I had to increase today’s high temperature to 85 degrees. That’s hot!

The thing to keep in mind is that drier air is moving in from the north. Dry air heats up very efficiently, but it doesn’t feel nearly as hot as humid air. Then, at night the drier air cools more efficiently than humid air. Moisture holds on to heat and keeps air warmer. It’s like in the desert. You have scorching hot afternoons but the humidity is really low, making it feel less oppressive. Then, at night it gets downright chilly because the dry air can’t hold on to the heat very well.

Think about our humid days. The high temperature may just get to 80-85 degrees but it feels so much hotter when that humidity is high. Then, at night the moisture in the air retains the heat, giving little relief.

Let’s enjoy the lower humidity this week. We all know …..it will be back!

And with that, I must cue the Arnold.

Meteorologist Mark’s Wx Concerns

Almanac for Yesterday

Tropics 

My goodness, how quickly things have escalated! We now nearly have a tropical storm off the coast of North Carolina! That system is moving northeast and away from the U.S. The system of most interest to us is the one in the Gulf of Mexico. That system is expected to become a tropical storm this week, as it slowly moves north and northeast. It will likely increase our rain chances this weekend and early next week, though heavy rainfall does not look likely at this time. The heaviest rain should stay to our south. However, this is many days away and things could change, so stay tuned. At the very least, if you have travel plans to the Gulf Coast the end of this week to the weekend, you need to pay close attention.

Then, we have another area of low pressure off the coast of Africa. We’ll track that as it moves westward this week.

Is this June or August? It’s too early to be this crazy in the tropics!

Sun & The Moon

Planting by the Moon in June

On This Day in Wx History

1903 – The Heppner Disaster occurred in Oregon. A cloudburst in the hills sent a flood down Willow Creek, and a twenty foot wall of water swept away a third of the town in minutes, killing 236 residents and causing 100 million dollars damage. A cloudburst occurs when a storm rapidly weakens, sending much of its water falling to the earth.

Yesterday’s National Temperature Extremes

High:  116° at Death Valley, California

Low:   24° at Peter Sinks, Utah 

Monday Sun Day

With a diameter of 109 times the size the Earth, the Sun makes a really big sphere! You could fit 1.3 million Earths inside the Sun. Or you could flatten out 11,990 Earths to cover the surface of the Sun. That’s big, but there are some much bigger stars out there. For example, the biggest star that we know of would almost reach Saturn if it were placed inside the Solar System! Space….it’s so big!

Today’s Tennessee Weather 

It’s another hot day in Tennessee, but I have some good news! The humidity will be dropping through the day! That will make it feel much more comfortable than the hot and humid days we’ve seen over the past week. So, while highs will be around 90 for many of us, the drier air will make those warm temperatures feel much less oppressive.

Tonight’s Tennessee Weather 

As drier air continues to filter in from the north, overnight lows will fall into the low to mid 60s. Starry skies will make for some excellent night skywatching!

Tomorrow’s Tennessee Weather 

The drier arrives Monday and the slightly cooler air arrives to go with it on Tuesday. Though temps warm into the low to mid 80s for most, that northerly breeze and low humidity level will make it feel quite nice!

Drought Monitor

The drought monitor is updated each Thursday.

Weather SnapShots

I took this picture of some mammatus clouds yesterday evening. These clouds are rounded patches that hang beneath a cloud (often associated with thunderstorms). Mammatus are a rare example of sinking air that condenses. Normally, sinking air dries out. These are able to form because ice crystals are falling from the cloud. Before the sinking air can dry, the ice crystals melt and form water droplets, which then evaporate as they sink. The process forms these pouches of clouds. The lower the water droplets get before evaporating, the lower these pouches will hang.

NASA Nerdology 

Stunning panorama of astronaut Harrison Schmitt exploring the surface of the Moon during Apollo 17! (Credit: NASA)

You all have a great day and keep lookin’ up!

Note: To offer support to Meteorologist Mark and his educational outreach programs, please consider giving via  https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meteorologistmark. If you can’t give, no worries! Just keep following and tell your friends! 

Please feel free to “Follow” me on Social Media!

Facebook @meteorologistmark

Twitter @meteo_mark

Instagram @MeteorologistMark