The plane used by NOAA to study hurricanes, and now winter storms. Image from NOAA.

A Gulfstream twin-engine turbo jet used to study hurricanes will be put to work to help forecast winter storms this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  

In an article published Jan. 12^th, NOAA says the jet will be flown around the North Pacific Ocean in January and February.  It will deploy sensors to “collect information where the jet stream and moisture from the ocean interact and breed potentially powerful winter storms that impact North America several days later.”

On board the aircraft meteorologists will be looking at a host of atmospheric conditions.  Included in their laundry list are wind, pressure, temperature and humidity levels.

In the article, National Centers for Environmental Prediction Capt. Barry Choy says that comparing the information gathered with the sensors with satellite imagery “significantly enhance[s] four-to-seven day winter weather forecasts.” 

NOAA uses the plane to study hurricanes during the late summer and fall seasons.  Its selected flight path will be to the east and west of Hawa’ii where the plane is currently stationed and as far north as Alaska. 

To read the article in its entirety and to see photos, log on to: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/20120111_g4hawaii.html

Posted under Arctic climate, Environment, forecast, Hurricanes, International Weather, Nature, new media, Oceans, Science, Seasonal Items, Severe Weather, Storms, Weather and Health, Weather History, Weather NEws, World Weather

Here is an amazing statistic… Charlottesville, Virginia received more rain today, 2.73″,  than received from January 1st to March 5th, 2.58″!  They cut there rainfall deficit in almost half in just one day.  This is all thanks to one met I follow on twitter.

And they were not the only ones. Check out this picture showing almost two inches across Virginia.   Cities across the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast received from one to two inches of rain with high elevations and cooler spots receiving snow.  Through tomorrow some locations will see from a foot to a foot and half of snow, included in this will be Syracuse, N.Y. and Burlington, Vt.  This snow will be added on to the 43 inches that fell in Burlington in February, making it the snowiest Feb on record!

Most areas saw mild temps this weekend with extensive melting of the snowpack from Penn through New England.  Combine the melting with the extra snow/rain and flooding is possible across the Northeast later this week. 

This evening there was also a Tornado Watch issued for southern Virginia. There is the potential for severe storms from North Carolina to Delmarva.  At 8:30 pm there were no warnings on the map. 

Closer to home…we will see light snow overnight and Monday.  The potent storm for us moves in Tuesday overnight and will continue on Wednesday.  This storm has the potential to bring up to a foot of snow in parts of North Central Wisconsin.  Latest model runs keep the snow falling from Midnight Wed to Midnight on Thur.  It is a storm we will be keeping a close eye on!

Have a great night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Snow Totals, Weather History, Weather NEws, Weather Safety, Winter Weather

Hey everyone ! It has been a while since I posted because I was on a vacation out east.  One side of my family lives in the Boston area so I went out to visit.  I had a great trip and really enjoyed spending time with the fam.  It was really interesting watching the weather out there and especially how it compares and affects the local.  They saw a significant winter storm on Tuesday and this one was extremely different then the storm last week and the winter storm they saw just after Christmas.  Those storms produced from a foot or two of snow.  The storm on Tuesday produced snow totals from 3 to 6″ but they saw a change over to sleet and freezing rain then eventually just rain.  This caused more issues because of the ice. 

One thing I noticed most was the lack of space to put the snow.  There banks are so terribly high it was extremely difficult to see around them at some points.  Most of the main roads are clear but side roads and especially side walks are snow and ice covered.  In some towns and for the Pats game they actually melted the snow to remove it.  Unlike us, where we can go an entire month without hitting freezing, they usually get a thaw which helps with the ice.  It was very common to hear, “all we need is a thaw”.   Another difference is that they get massive snow storms then stay dry for days.  During the previous storm they were already mentioning tomorrows storm.  They could see another half a foot of snow!  Several town are close if not over their snow removal budget, unfortunately they still have a few more months of winter.   

Tonight the cold will be our story.  Wind Chills will dip to 25 to 35 below zero.  This means if you are outside from 15 to 30 minutes you could be exposed to frostbite.  Here are a few tips:

~Wear warm loose fitting layers, no tight fitted clothing.  Have extra clothes in case any piece gets wet.

~Cover ALL extremities: hat, gloves, scarf.  Make sure to cover even your face.

~Keep your body moving, even if it means simply wiggling your toes.

So how do we calculate the wind chill? Here is the formula

Wind chill temperature = 35.74 + 0.6215T – 35.75V (**0.16) + 0.4275TV(**0.16)

If that seems complicated how about we just use the wind chill chart :  As you can see even the slightest wind makes it feel 10 to 20 degrees cooler. First find the temp on the top row and then the wind from the left hand side.

Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Community, forecast, Freeze, Seasonal Items, Snow Totals, Weather NEws, Winter Weather

Lately it seems we can’t win with the weather.  I wish we could either see snow or rain but recently it has been the wintry mix and freezing rain which has made for some real problems on the roadways!  I went to the Packer/Vikings game in the Twin Cities this past weekend, I have to admit I was not complaining about being indoors when outside there was freezing drizzle and rain everywhere. 

We must have seen a dozen or more cars and even semis flipped over and in the ditch on our drive to the game.  It was quite a mess in Minnesota.  There were over 450 accidents with over 75 injuries, some of them fatal. As I wrote on Saturday night freezing rain is the most dangerous winter condition to drive in because it forms s glaze on the roadways. 

We are going to see the possibility of another round of snow/ice/rain as we head into tomorrow.  Right now it seems that it will start as snow then change over to a mix or rain by late Wednesday into the overnight and then change back over to a snow event by Thursday morning.  Like we saw on Sunday, roads will become slick especially if we see the mix and freezing rain.  The biggest problem will be how fast temps will warm and how much of a change over we will see.  I think the Northwoods will luck out and just see snowfall, this will be mainly from highway 8 to the north.  From the Dells to the south we will see some ice but I think it will stay as mainly liquid precip.  The point is be careful if you have to drive late tomorrow into the evening and overnight.   Make sure to check road conditions! We do not want to see a scenario like they did Sunday morning in the Twin Cities.  Because of the wintery mess we do have a Winter Weather Advisory in effect from 6 pm Wednesday through 3 am on Thursday.

Here is a few pics from the Pack ! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under forecast, Freeze, Weather NEws, Weather Safety, Winter Weather

Well I have been gone for a few days, I was on a trip to Boston to visit my family and then had my days off here enjoying skiing and playing hockey!

When I flew out last week it was when we had a thick layer of low stratus deck clouds.  It was really neat because within a couple minutes we flew through the deck and then it was nothing but sunshine.  I took this picture out the window.  We kept trying to explain last week if we could just break the cloud deck we would see the sun and warm up way more than what we were reaching.  

While I was in Boston we saw a storm that brought quite a mess to the Northeast.  The system started first with rain then turned over to snow and back to freezing rain.  This is a picture off the balcony at my Grandmas.  I have to saw it was BEAUTIFUL! The wet snow stuck to all the branches and driving through the area was breathtaking.  Here is also a picture of what the rental car was buried under! It was a pain to clean because the top layer was freezing rain and we had to break the ice off to clear all the snow.  Others around the town I stayed in, Chelmsford, dealt with the storm in a different way, they lost power!  The freezing rain broke branches and froze on power lines.

Sunset on the flight back.

Have a great night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Travel, Uncategorized, Viewer pictures, Winter Weather