Author: Meteorologist Mark

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Main Threats

Today-Wednesday: Heavy downpours could lead to localized flash flooding. Be especially careful if out driving and caught in one of these downpours.

Summary

Showers and storms have settled in across the plateau and they will be with us through at least Wednesday. We won’t see rain all the time, but it will certainly be scattered about.

We may need to be a bit mindful of storms on Tuesday, as a strong cold front gets closer. A large section of the Midwest has now been outlined in a slight risk for severe weather for Tuesday. Models are showing parameters for us that could lead to some strong storms, so I’ll be keeping an eye on that.

Tropics

The tropics continue to be active. We now have Tropical Storm Kirk out in the southern Atlantic. That storm will track westward over the coming week and we’ll certainly be keeping an eye on Kirk.

The remnants of Florence continue to move back around toward the Carolinas. Surely she won’t regenerate into another storm, but it wouldn’t be unprecedented if she does.

Other disturbances will just need to be watched. We are in the peak of hurricane season, so everything needs to be monitored.

Records

The summer of 2005 featured one of the worst hurricane seasons imaginable. That was the year Katrina hit. That was also the year we had so many storms we ran out of alphabet letters and had to start using the Greek alphabet.

On this date in 2005, we had made it to the Rs for storm names; Rita. The category 3 hurricane slammed into the Gulf Coast along the Texas/Louisiana border at Sabine Pass. Maximum sustained winds were 120 mph. A storm surge of 15 feet completed flooded out that coastal year. Sugar cane losses were estimated at 300 million dollars! Farther east, in New Orleans, an eight-foot storm surge damaged levees that had been repaired following Katrina.

On a different note…

On this day in 1983 an incredible windstorm, associated with a downburst, struck the Kaibab National Forest just north of the Grand Canyon. Two hundred acres of forest were leveled and completely destroyed. Damaged timber could be found scattered across an additional 3,300 acres! Interestingly, most of the trees were snapped at 15-30 feet off the ground.

You all have a good Sunday!

Main threats

Today-Sunday: Just be aware that any storm that develops will be capable of very heavy rainfall, which could drop visibility to nearly zero if you’re out driving.

Summary

A slow-moving, washed out cold front has sagged into Middle TN. This will act as a trigger mechanism for showers and storms today, tonight, and tomorrow. Not all of us will see rain today, but the ones who do could see some gully-washers. The heaviest rain looks to stay just west of the plateau today, but that could easily expand our direction later on.

Showers and storms will continue to be scattered about the area on Sunday.

A much stronger cold front will move in Tuesday night and bring the chance for more rain and storms. Some of these storms could be strong as the front moves through.

The airmass behind this front will feature our first fall-like temps of the year. We may even see highs in the 60s by this time next week.

Tropics

The tropics are indeed becoming active again. Thankfully, nothing is of incredible concern at this point. The closest area to monitor is the disturbance off the Carolina coast. Believe it or not, this is actually some of the remnants of Florence trying to make their way back around. Hopefully, that won’t redevelop into anything.

Other disturbances will need to be watched over the next week or so, and I’ll be doing just that!

Records

As you all know I’ve been saying, fall-like weather is on the way. On this day in 1983, fall-like weather was here! We were only 33 degrees here in Crossville on the morning of September 22, 1983! That is some frost-on-the-pumkin weather, folks! Even Nashville was down to 36 degrees. That is the coldest September morning low ever recorded for Crossville.

During this week in 1989, Hurricane Hugo was quickly losing strength as it crossed South Carolina. However, the storm was still a tropical storm as it moved just west of Charlotte at around 7:00 a.m. Winds at Charlotte reached 69 mph, with gust just shy of 100 mph. At one point, 80% of the city of Charlotte was without power.

Hurricane history was made on September 22, 2005 when Hurricane Rita reached category 5 status in the Gulf of Mexico. Cat 5 is the strongest rating we have for a hurricane. When Rita reached this status it was historical because this was the first time in recorded history that two cat 5s had been in the Gulf in a single season. Hurricane Katrina had been a cat 5 while in the Gulf just four weeks earlier. Both storms weakened below cat 5 status before making landfall.

You all have a great weekend!

Main Threats

Today-Sunday: Showers and storms will be capable of torrential downpours of rain. Be prepared for significantly reduced visibility if you’re out driving in one of these.

Summary

We’ll see our rain and storm chances increase today in the heat and humidity of the afternoon and evening. Not everyone will get wet, but the ones who do see storms could get some real gully-washers.

Those rain and storm chances increase over the weekend with an approaching weak cold front. The front is weak, but we’re so hot and humid that it doesn’t take much at all to trigger showers and storms. Again, not all of us will get wet, but those of us who do could get some hefty downpours of rain.

The activity may slack off on Monday, as we find ourselves between systems. But the next cold front should move in here Tuesday night and bring widespread showers and storms to the plateau. This front will usher in fall-like weather for the end of the week and into the weekend. I think we could use a break from this crazy summer-like heat!

Heck, we may even have some highs in the 60s by this time next week! That means we would have lows in the 40s!

Tropics

Things may be about to get very busy again. There are now multiple areas to monitor. The one closest to the East Coast has formed in the wake of Florence. It is not all that unusual to see this happen, so we’ve been eyeing that area. We’ll just have to watch and see where that goes. Hopefully it’ll stay away and let recovery efforts continue, but there is a chance (albeit small) that it could develop into something and move into areas already devastated by the flooding from Florence.

The red-shaded area will become Kirk. We’ll have to watch that and see where it goes. It should go out to sea.

Two other areas of interest are in the southern Atlantic. They both need to be watched closely. The one closest to Africa is expected to become Leslie sometime over the next few days. At this time, there are no immediate threats to the U.S., though the one east of the Carolinas may change that over the next few days. Stay tuned.

Records

Here’s a bit of a bizarre tale for ya. On this day in 1894, an Iowa twister picked up a heavy chicken house that measured 16 x 16 feet in area. Now, that alone isn’t all that unusual. I see destroyed chicken houses in storm reports quite often. But this twister didn’t destroy this chicken house. In fact, it simply picked it up, threw it up into the air, and then wedged it between two trees. The farmer had to climb the tree to see if the chickens were alright. Sure enough, they were still setting on their nest, as if nothing had happened.  Oddly, the storm didn’t even break a single window in the chicken house. Just another day in the life an Iowa chicken, I suppose.

On a much different note……..

This is a somber date for South Carolina. Today is the 29th anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Hugo, the most powerful hurricane in modern history to strike the state of South Carolina. The powerful cat 4 hurricane roared ashore at around 11:00 o’clock in the night. A storm surge of 20.2 feet rolled in, destroying beaches and taking several lives. Shrimp boats were found a half of a mile inland. It was an incredible storm that no one who lived through has forgotten.

But, let’s step back a bit to the Christmas of 1988.

An aspiring little Meteorologist Mark had decided that he wanted a 13″ black and white tv for Christmas. Why only 13″ and black and white? I have no idea. I had two little brothers and maybe I knew I was too mean to them for Santa to ever give me anything more than the bare minimum in tv requests. But, how could I get this request to Santa and be absolutely sure he would get the message? Sure, mom and dad had promised me they would make sure he knew. I trusted them, I really did, but this was REALLY important and I had seen them make mistakes. They weren’t perfect. (sorry mom, haha).

Then, out of nowhere, Santa showed up at our house a few weeks before Christmas. I was ecstatic! I couldn’t wait to tell Santa in person what I feared would be lost in a letter, etc. He was going to hear it straight from me!

I jumped right up in his lap and I let him know loud and clear that I wanted a 13″ black and white tv. I don’t remember what his response was, but I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that I was going to get that tv for Christmas. The message had been delivered to THE MAN himself.

Christmas finally came (remember when it seemed to take forever?) and guess what was under the tree? I knew the moment I saw that box that Santa had come through for me! I tore open the wrapping paper as if that box contained a priceless treasure and sure enough, there she was! Lord, she was beautiful! I was over the moon; the happiest kid in the whole wide world!

Mom and dad let me set the tv on my dresser and I loved having my own room with my own little tv. My brothers had to share a room and I never knew how they lived in those conditions (ha). I was four when Kevin was born and 5 when Jeff was born, so I was just old enough to know they were the biggest interruption to my perfect life that I could ever imagine. They tore up my toys, ripped up my books,….they were awful. But, I had my own room with my own tv and I was happy as could be…so long as they didn’t come in, of course.

So, the night Hurricane Hugo hit was the September after the Christmas that I had gotten my tv.  It was getting close to bedtime but I begged mom to let me stay up and watch Hugo make landfall. She said it was ok but that I should go to bed as soon as it does. Sweet! I was so happy.

As the hours ticked by, the hurricane was nearing shore. I was mesmerized. I watched reporter after reporter trying to report live from the beaches, bent in the wind and beaten by the blowing sand and water (this was back when that kind of coverage was real. haha). I couldn’t get enough of it. I may have just been 10 years old but I was completely captivated by the coverage. This was the most incredible thing I had ever seen!

We didn’t have cable or satellite, so we didn’t have The Weather Channel. This was such a historic hurricane that most (if not all) of the major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) were doing live coverage of Hurricane Hugo as it neared the coast and made landfall. If only such events were so rare today, right?

So, there I sat that Thursday night on my bed…Indian style… in my footed pajamas….in the dark, with my room illuminated only by the light of my 13″ black and white tv…. watching the reporters scream into the howling winds and torrents of rain that Hugo was bad…..real, real bad.

If I wasn’t hooked on weather by then I sure had been snagged now.

It’s a night I’ll never forget and I’ll always be grateful that mom and dad let me stay up and watch it. After that night, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that weather would be my life.

Seriously, though, my brothers were awful (haha). Just sayin’.

They’re alright now, though. 🙂

You all have a great day.

Main Threats

Today: Heat and humidity in the afternoon/evening

Summary

We will see continued partly cloudy skies today with only a slight chance of an afternoon shower/storm. Look for those storm chances to increase a bit for Friday and continuing for the next several days after that. It won’t rain on everyone, but there should be some scattered storms around, mostly in the heat of the afternoons/evenings.

A front will sag into our neck of the woods for Sunday and that may increase coverage of storms. That front will hang around through the middle of next week, until a stronger cold front sweeps through, bringing with it a fall-like air mass for the end of the week and weekend.

Tropics

There’s still not a whole lot going on. We’re just keeping our eyes on a couple of disturbances. One is way out in the Atlantic and has about a 40% of becoming a storm. It will likely pose no threat to the U.S, though. The next named storm will be Kirk.

The other disturbance is down in the southern Atlantic and shows little chance of becoming anything. Never the less, I’ll monitor it.

Records

The peak of hurricane season occurs on about two weeks either side of September 10th. So, it makes sense that there are so many hurricane records these days.

On September 19, 1926, for instance, a hurricane slammed Pensacola, Florida with wind gusts to 152 mph. The storm had impacted Miami on the 18th. The hurricane became very powerful before arriving in Pensacola, where it produced winds in excess of 100 mph for four hours! Winds were 75 mph or greater for 20 hours! Folks, that was a heck of  a hurricane!

It was on this day in 1989 that Hugo was making his way across the Atlantic. Tropical Storm Iris was in his way, though. It was on this day that Hugo would overcome Iris and cause her to weaken and move away. Hugo would later become one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever impact the eastern seaboard of the U.S.

Changing the subject….

You want to cool off? Well, on this day in 1983 the temperature at West Yellowstone, Montana fell to six degrees BELOW zero. Six below zero on the 20th of September! Whew….that is cold!

News

You may hear about some rough weather well to our north today. Parts of Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are expecting a widespread severe weather outbreak later on today. That threat spreads to the Northeast tomorrow, as a mainly damaging wind threat. If you know anyone with air travel plans tomorrow the storms in the Northeast may wreck havoc with flight delays, etc.

Speaking of flight plans and crazy weather….

How would you like to be landing and see this out your window? This occurred Monday as a plane was landing at Richmond’s airport in Virginia. They looked off to the side and saw a developing tornado! Florence spawned at least 13 tornadoes across Virginia that day.

Wish me luck as I head over to the UT Experiment Station to help out with Ag Day during my lunch. I was so honored to have been asked to help out with this. They will be busing in third graders from all the county schools to teach them all about agriculture. Of course, there’s a weather aspect to all of this, and this is where your very own Meteorologist Mark comes in! Maybe I’ll even get some of them to thinking about meteorology as a career….

You all have the best day.