All you need to know about weather on the plateau!
Tropical Storm Franklin has just been upgraded to a hurricane by the National Hurricane Center. Hurricane Franklin becomes the first hurricane of the 2017 hurricane season. The storm is currently located in the southern Gulf of Mexico in the Bay of Campeche. Franklin is expected to make landfall on Thursday on the east coast of Mexico. It will be no threat to the US.
We are on the brink of having our first hurricane of the Atlantic season! Tropical Storm Franklin is churning in the southern Gulf of Mexico with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, which is only four miles per hour short of hurricane strength. We are expecting him to reach hurricane status by noon today. Incidentally, maximum sustained winds are calculated by taking the average one-minute wind speeds. Gusts are those winds experienced in 3-5 second intervals. Franklin is headed west and should make landfall in Mexico later tonight. Another area of concern is out in the Atlantic. That storm will be Gert. The models continue to indicate a threat to the Carolina coast for next week. When storms hit over there the clouds try to come over the mountains and can give us spectacular looking clouds! Another side-effect of Carolina storms is that we’ll be on the backside of the storm, where the north winds blow, which would lead to more below normal temps for the end of next week.
As for now, we’ll have to contend with more showers and storms. I don’t think coverage will be all that great today, but it may pick up tonight as an old frontal boundary drifts back toward us from the south. Tomorrow looks wet, so be sure and plan on that. Showers and storms continue right on through the weekend and into early next week. At least the clouds and showers keep us from getting too hot. Our highs will only be around 80 for the next week.
I’ll keep an eye on the tropics and an eye on our eclipse forecast. I will tell you this about the day of the eclipse….so far the models are not painting a good picture. It’s still too early to know anything for sure, but the models are suggesting that we will still be in this pattern of cloudiness/showers on the day of the eclipse. That can certainly change. I’ll keep you posted.
It looks we’ll get a break from the rain today. The front that brought us rain yesterday has sagged to our south, taking the deepest moisture with it. The front is still close enough that we could see an isolated shr or storm this afternoon, esp south of I-40. By tomorrow, the front throws a bit more moisture our way and we should see scattered showers and storms at any point during the day. That forecast holds true right on through the weekend and into early next week. As of now, Thursday looks to be the wettest day of the week, but scattered showers and storms can happen anytime, day or night, in this kind of pattern. Highs each day will be in the mid to upper 70s, with lows in the low to mid 60s.
Next week looks continued unsettled, with a possible tropical system thrown in as well. As of now, and things can certainly change, it looks like we may have a tropical system impacting the Carolinas and throwing moisture all the way over to us. It’s something to watch as models have been consistent with this forecast. I’ll keep an eye on it! If you, or anyone you know, has travel plans to the Carolinas next week, pay attention to the forecast.
We’ve seen a bit of an usual August so far, but it’s not the first time August has been unusual! On this date in 1989, a total of 99 cities across the central and eastern US recorded record low temperatures. Mt Mitchell, NC was the coldest spot in the nation on this date, with a morning low of 35 degrees! On this date in 1882 a ship on Lake Michigan reported being covered with six inches of snow and slush, and snow showers were reported along the shores of Lake Michigan. That’s weirdly cold even by their standards! Most of our records here in Crossville for August are for heat, but ever once in a while we have a cooler-than-average August, like the one we’re having now. What does that mean for the fall and winter? I’ll have more on that later on!
If you were needing rain, this is your week! The radar shows that we will not be hard pressed for showers and storms today, so if you have to head out for anything be sure and take that umbrella. Every day this week brings a good chance of showers and storms. Those showers will keep our temps below normal limits, with highs each day in the mid to upper 70s. Lows at night will fall into the low to mid 60s. The driest day of the week looks to be tomorrow, but we still can’t rule out an isolated shower or storm. Rain chances continue right on through the weekend. The good news is that we aren’t expecting any widespread severe weather this week, just showers and typical summer-time storms. Just always be mindful of that lightning!
The tropics have heated up a bit this morning, with a new tropical storm that has been named Franklin. It will hang out in the Caribbean before making landfall in Mexico and then heading back into the Gulf of Mexico. The storm should then hit the east coast of Mexico as a strong tropical storm or weak hurricane. We’re still watching a disturbance farther out in the Atlantic. It doesn’t look to develop into anything of concern until later this week and into the weekend. I’ll keep an eye on it!
I was looking at the records for today and we had better be thankful that this isn’t August of 1930! That was a scorcher of a month! In fact, during this week of 1930 Middle TN had one of the worst heat waves we’ve ever had. Even places on the plateau were in the 100-105 degree range! Nashville hit 111 degrees! That was one hot week and a far cry from what we’ll see this week!