I finally got out on the links this morning.  What a beautiful day and I didn’t do too bad either.  I have to get used to the new driver Santa got me for Christmas, and the wind really didn’t help the cause.  It was just great to get out.  Wow was the course dry though.  Pam Warnke also talked me into going outside for my forecast at 6.  I have to talk Channel 9 management into building a sweet weather deck…lawn chairs…a grill…the whole deal.  Wouldn’t that be nice?!?  Instead we got kind of creative.  I started main weather on camera outside.  Then as they switched camera shots I quickly walked inside through a studio door and went to the weather wall.  I then finished my weather segment at the news desk.  I almost got lost, but it was fun.

The official March numbers won’t come out until later tonight.  But I added up some numbers, including the temperatures so far today, and it looks like we will end up having the 4th warmest March on record in Wausau.  The mean temperature will be somewhere around 38.5 degrees!!! 

I thought it would be fun again to play a game I just made up called “HA We’re Warmer Than You.”  Tonight let’s head out west.  The forecasted high temperature tomorrow in Los Angeles is 64, Phoenix 61, and Las Vegas 60.  The forecasted high temperature for Wausau is 73….Take that!!!!

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

Posted under Records, Spring

A few facts tonight, no jokes.

1) We will go down as the first March EVER that we had no recorded snowfall

2) We will be in the top 5 warmest March’s in history

3) It is likely we will be breaking records across the area tomorrow

4) We need rain, fire danger is high, pollen count is high

On those topics we saw warm temps today breaking past the 70 mark all across the board.  This will stick around for the next couple days until eventually we will see a front move in here and bring us a drop in temps and our first chance of rain, even a thunderstorm possible.  Although we may want to keep the warmth and sunshine ( I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a fan ) if we don’t see rain we are going to continue to see issues in the fire level and pollen count.  I have been amazed at how many people have been mentioning allergy issues, myself included.  Anyways enjoy the sunshine while it lasts, take advantage before the change comes this weekend. 

Here are the records for April 1st and April 2nd:

Wausau  71, 1945     76, 1963

Marshfield  78, 1986   77, 1963

Stevens Point   79,1991   78, 1963

Wisconsin Rapids  76, 1945    79, 1963

Rhinelander  72, 1945    72,1999

Antigo    70, 1945   74, 1963

Merrill   73, 1925      75, 1963

Will have to see how many we can break!

Ever wondered how late snow fell or how early? Then check out my next wonder piece.  It is the facts about the latest snowfall and earliest snowfall on record in the Wausau area. 

Have a wonderful night, enjoy the warm temps! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Records, Spring, Winter Weather

I was going to review some of the latest anthropogenic global warming (AGW) news in today’s blog post but its pretty boring because there isn’t much new. Basically: the planet, the environment, and all living things are doomed, and it is all your fault. A simplification for sure, but I am trying to add some humor.  So, do your best to save energy and promote cleaner alternatives.

Actually, one story did catch my eye – eating less meat might not have much of an effect on AGW. This appears to be one of those mistakes that have been popping up lately in some AGW reporting and calculations (like the Himalayan glaciers and the Amazon rain forest hyperbole). According to air quality expert Frank Mitloehner of the University of California Irvine, the way greenhouse gas emissions from meat and milk production was calculated by the UN was different than what was used for grain and vegetable production. The meat/milk calculation included all contributions from the life cycle of meat/milk production (such as the carbon contribution from fertilizers, transport, equipment, etc) whereas the calculation for vegetables/grains did not. Meat/milk production still produces more greenhouse gases than vegetable/grain production but the previous calculation over-estimated the contribution by nearly 1 order of magnitude.

One problem I see with relying on grains for the diet of the world’s population is that it isn’t a very nutritious diet. Grains are cheap and taste good but IMO, are a net negative for long term health. The traditional vegetables (and some fruit) are where you get the most nutrients with the least health drawbacks – but they are also more expensive and carbon intensive. Organic meat, dairy, and eggs, also contain most, if not all of the essential nutrients required by the human body. The trouble with pushing a vegan diet on the world’s poor is that they will only be able to afford the worst “vegetables” – the grains, and they will be put at risk of missing essential proteins. In more advanced countries, vegans can plan their diet very well and purchase every supplement needed to maintain health. If nutritious vegetables and fruit were less expensive, then I could see promoting more vegetarian consumption around the world.

Space News:

More interesting to me is space exploration, and the potential of human travel to Mars has captured my attention in recent years. In order to learn how to cope with such a long lonely mission through space, a mock space ship has been created in Russia and a mock 520 day mission is about to occur. Previously, a mock 105 day mission took place. 6 astronauts were locked in the “ship” for 105 days! Now 6 astronauts are going to be locked in the capsule for 520 days, although 3 lucky “astronauts” will be able to “leave” for a mock landing on the Martian surface for 30 days halfway through the mission. Does anyone think they could sit in an enclosed environment like a small spaceship for 520 without going crazy? I think I could do it, although it would be tough. Mental stimulation would be the key. If there was enough to do each day, it would be much easier. When reading the article, I had to wonder if the crew will be made up of equal numbers of men and women (or “couples”), because…well…some types of physical activity could help pass the time. Then again, I don’t know too many couples who could be together every day in a tiny space for 520 days without some friction, lol!

In other Mars exploration news, the Mars Science Laboratory – a nuclear powered robotic rover named “Curiosity” - continues to get ready for its big trip in 2011. It has been plagued with some cost overruns and now a glitch has been discovered in the nuclear power source. This shouldn’t delay the launch too much, and it seems like a good move to use a nuclear power source this time around as it will not be subject to dust storms like solar panels would be. There have been a lot of discussions about what Curiosity should or should not do. The main thing I would like to see is video from the red planet – enough with the still pictures already. It would also be nice if the rover would move a little faster than Spirit and Opportunity. Opportunity has been on Mars for 7 years and yet has only traveled 12 miles – talk about a snails pace. A nuclear powered rover should be able to cover a lot more ground and make many more discoveries.

Have a nice Wednesday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under AGW, Climate Change, Space

Ever thought you could create the conditions of a fire and burning embers or of a category 4 hurricane, well these people are trying!

Inside a huge warehouse they are going to reenact mother nature to try and improve building structures and codes.  The Institute for Business and Home Safety is working with Insurance companies to recreate conditions to help improve housing and to show why adding extras to your house could help save it from damage.  It is all happening outside of Richburg, South Carolina.  They are focusing on wind, fire, rain and hail- the elements that cause a billion dollars worth of damage every year.  It is the only place on the planet that can recreate weather events and test them on real scale houses in side a big box.  So how much does this cost? 30 million dollars.   

Going back to the storms in North Carolina that hit on Sunday I watched this video today and was in shock by the story.  This family was literally thrown into a pond in their trailer on Sunday night.  It shows careful you have to be when you are dealing with tornadoes or severe storms.  Thankfully the father and three kids made it out alive with help from neighbors.

Close to home it was very windy today, gusts being reported as high as 40 mph.  For some of the reports you can check out this list.

Have a great night, enjoy the nice warm up! But please NO BURNING!

Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Fire, Natural Disasters, Severe Weather

Talk about interesting timing, just yesterday I shared an article about using UAVs for assisting weather data collection and today a new article has been published at Technology Review highlighting this same effort. Take a look at the article here. NASA will be using the 3 Global Hawks outfitted with 11 different instruments to collect data from the atmosphere – including the upper atmosphere. Given that the UAV can fly for 30 hours, it can examine far flung locations over the oceans and over the arctic.

NASA is also spending money on new rocket and jet engine technology. They recently awarded 50 million in contracts to various rocket companies around the U.S. in order to develop more efficient methods of launching payloads into space and to develop “greener” rocket and jet engines. One of the companies that received grant money was Orbital Technologies of Madison, WI. I have lived in Madison and visit a couple times a year, yet I was unaware that there was a rocket company based there. Looking it up on Google Maps I see that I have driven by the building many times in the past. Doh! They do development and testing of rockets. I wonder if they perform the tests in Madison, or if they have a test facility in another part of the country.

Sadly, I did not see any money being allocated to Ad Astra Rocket Company – the one developing the plasma rocket engine. Seems this round of grant money is for earth orbit and atmospheric travel. Ad Astra is more focused on deep space travel. Which brings me back to my favorite rant – shouldn’t NASA be focusing on other planets rather than earth?

Present Weather

It still looks like we will break the record for the least amount of snow during the month of March. The old record was 0.10 inches in March of 1973. March of 2010 will go down in the record books with no snowfall officially in Wausau. No snow in March is an amazing record for our part of the country. Slightly less interesting but on the horizon is the potential for a record high temperature on April 1st. No foolin’. The old record on Thursday is a very vulnerable 71 set back in 1945. Right now I am forecasting 72.

The best part of the forecast is that rain is looking more likely on Friday night and Saturday. I am upping the chance to 50%. I know that rain might not be welcome for many people  on Easter weekend – but it should be. We are suffering from a rainfall deficit right now.

Have a good Tuesday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under forecast, Records, Space

The DNR is now enforcing a no burning regulation for all North Central Wisconsin until further notice.  The DNR says we’ll likely need at least a quarter inch rain before they will issue and activate burning permits again.  To check the current fire danger near you, here is a link to the DNR website.  Newline 9′s Colby Robertson also did a story today on the fire situation and the eyes above watching for the fires.

This week, all the elements will come together to create dangerous fire conditions.  Most of us have had zero snowpack for a few weeks now.  And we have also seen very little rainfall.  This has caused the normally dead and dry winter brush to be extra dry.  As the temperatures rise this week and the winds pick up, the threat for wildfires will rapidly increase.  Starting tomorrow, winds will gust over 30 mph.  There is currently no Fire Weather Watch or Red Flag Warning for the area but that could change.

It is very important these next few days to follow the no burning rule.  Also use common sense when it comes to things like cigarette butts.

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

Posted under Drought, Fire

North Carolina experienced what spring can mean, Tornadoes.  A large storm system swept the state last evening creating quite a mess in many different areas.  This morning the National Weather Service had to go check out 5 spots where tornadoes had been reported last night.  While I was working last night I know there had been over 11 reports of the twisters.  All in all the tornadoes ripped along a 150 mile path through the state. 

So far only one tornado has been confirmed and that was the one near High Point, NC.  There were 3 injuries and no fatalities.  It was an EF3 with speeds of 138 mph.  Damage was extensive, over 200 homes along the path of the tornado.  One upper half of a home was completely removed from the storm! 

There were other reports of injuries from the storms but I have not seen any fatalities from the tornadoes. 

For more of the storm summaries you can check out this site.

FOX8, a local station also has very neat pictures of the damage from the twister. Including a video of the actual tornado that hit High Point!  It is worth checking out. 

For coverage of the storms check out this article and this one has a video attached.

Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Severe Weather, Spring

I often write about the latest and greatest technology when discussing alternative energy, general science, and space travel, but what about the science of observing and forecasting the weather itself. Earlier this month I mentioned the launch of a new GOES satellite – GOES-P (Now GOES 15). The latest satellites are of course more advanced but they could still use some help in sensing the atmosphere. After all, there is only so much data you can gather from 22,500 miles above the surface of the planet. Thankfully, robotic planes are coming to the rescue and fill in some of the gaps – the gaps not only left by satellites but from weather balloons as well. Unmanned Aeriel Vehicles (UAVs) have been around a while but up until this point had been to expensive for regular use in gathering weather observations. I would tend to think these could be used for hurricane investigation as well. Why put human lives at risk flying into hurricanes, when we have autonomous planes?

On the more personal level, digital weather stations are coming of age as well. If you are a weather aficionado with a couple hundred bucks to spare, you can get hooked-up real nice with a highly functional weather station. Hard to decide which one to buy? Thankfully WIRED recently reviewed several full featured models - check it out.

If you had one of those fancy weather stations this month of March you would have seen warmer than normal temps . Now that the weekend has passed and warmer temps are again on the way, it is inevitable that we will set a record for the least amount of snow in Wausau during the month of March. The amount of snow will be zero – not even a trace. It is the only March in the history of Wausau weather records without at least a trace of snow. The old record was 0.10 inches set in 1973.

Have a nice Monday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under forecast, Science

So I was siting here trying to think about what to write tonight.  I just got done having a conversation with the guys in production ( they do all the stuff you don’t see on TV!) about the NCAA brackets.  I have to say I am proud for all the teams that have made it and of course for my team, the Spartans, but wow what a shocker!

  We have a list of everyone who has filled out brackets only one person has anyone left still in the tournament as their winner! That team is Duke.  I think a few us still have maybe one or two teams in the final four but I don’t believe I have ever seen so many people who picked wrong, just like me.  That goes to show what a different year it has been in the tournament.  If Duke doesn’t make it and doesn’t win then we will have nobody that picked the correct team here at work! Guess we will see what happens.

On a few different notes more related to weather.  We saw a mild and dry weather but I was looking around Florida and found this article by the NWS office in Tampa.  Anyone I talked to, especially snowbirds, mentioned how cold a winter it was in the sunshine state.  When I was looking through this article I realized just how cold- for some cities it was the coldest winter EVER recorded.  If it wasn’t the coldest it was at least in the top 4.  Most places were in the top one and two!  That to me is just amazing.  Most of the records date back at least a 100 years if not more.  To make it more easily to understand normal averages for winter are in the mid to upper 60′s, the average this winter was close to 55, about 10 degrees shy of normal!  I guess this was not the year to take a trip to Florida for the winter.

On a little different note, here is a picture of the sandstorm that China dealt with last weekend.  A Sahara sandstorm made it all the way there causing air quality issues across the country.    For more information on the sandstorm and how it affects peoples health you can check out this article.

Quick note on the forecast: there is a storm system that has been staying to the west for the Thursday/Friday time frame.  Because of the scenario I was keeping it out of the forecast.  Models may now bring in close enough that we could see a light shower possible on those two days.  I will keep watching it, we surely could use some rain and have seen hardly any the entire month of March.

Have a great work week! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Drought, Science, Spring, Travel, Weather History, Winter Weather

I was reading through the previous few posts and I have to say they have mentioned some great highlights.  1) We really need rain ad there is almost none in the forecast ( We haven’t see any snow all of March!)  2) We are going to see a big warm up this week which means we could go down for one of the warmest March’s in history, just how warm we get this week will depend what number we will sit at.  I would not be surprised to see 70′s on the board, talk about starting off April on a warm note.  Our pattern stays very quiet until next weekend when there is the possibility of seeing a shower.  Like Justin mentioned in his previous blog we all enjoy sunshine but sometimes we need to get rain.

When I got in today I was looking through our email and someone emailed in a link to view live streaming cams of different wildlife.  I thought it was interesting so I took a look and there is one with live eagles, one in Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, all over the US.  There are over 10 cams. If you are into wildlife it is worth checking out! I think looking at the Bald Eagle’s Nest is pretty interesting.     

Today was Earth Hour, at 8:30 pm local time people across the world shut off their lights for an hour.  According to the article:

“Earth Hour demonstrates the determination of the world’s citizens for a better, healthier world,” said Earth Hour Executive Director, Andy Ridley. “It brings together cities, communities, businesses and individuals on the journey to positive action on climate change.”

Here is a link to the actual site of Earth Hour 2010.  They have some near pictures and videos of people and cities around the world shutting off their lights.

Have a great night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Here is a pic of a tour group that visited me earlier this week!

Posted under Drought, Environment, Science, Spring