Good morning everyone!  Hope you had a great weekend.  A lot of folks are cleaning up after that Nor’easter (formally tropical storm Ida) left its mark from North Carolina up into New Jersey.  Some of the pictures are pretty amazing, and this storm will certainly be remembered for years to come.

Meanwhile, for the rest of the country, a  storm moving across the central U.S. will bring rain over the southern plains, through the Mississippi Valley and into the southeast.   Where it’s cold enough for snow, we’ll see a few inches pile up over parts of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska.   This system is forecast to stall, and bring more wet and wintry weather to the same areas.  Winter weather and flood advisories are posted along the storm’s path.  Meanwhile, another strong system will impact the Pacific Northwest with very heavy rain through tomorrow night as well as very strong winds for Washington and Oregon coastline. 

If you’re watching the Space Shuttle launch, weather shouldn’t be an issue with mostly sunny skies and 76 degrees.  Winds will be out of the NNW.

(Photo from AP:  The space shuttle Atlantis sits on the launch pad under cloudy skies Monday morning Nov. 16, 2009 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Six astronauts are scheduled to lift off this afternoon on an 11-day mission to the international space station)

And, in weather-related news, this story got my attention this morning…what’s up with everyone trying to pull a fast one on mother nature?  I just don’t think any of this cloud seeding is going to work in the long term.

In funny-related news, I was in such a rush out of the  apartment this morning, I didn’t realize until I got into work that I had a huge ring around my mouth of dried toothpaste.  How embarrassing!   I should’ve taken a picture.  HA

JD

Don writes:

Picture with heron gives an idea of amount of island that is normally there. The other taken a few minutes ago (yesterday) and rain not expected till tomorrow night

Good morning everyone!

Happy Friday…and to our friends along the coast, we’re hoping everyone is ok after this nasty nor-easter (formally Tropical Storm Ida) eventually moves outta here!   Some areas have picked up close to a foot of rain – especially along the border of coastal North Carolina and Virgina.  Strong winds gusting up to 50 mph will continue with a risk of power outages all along the Delmarva and into New Jersey.  Winds will move up the coast into Long Island and coastal New England tomorrow.  Coastal flooding, beach erosion and high waves will continue to impact the region over the next 24 hours especially during high tide. 

Meanwhile, I thought I would post Tony’s comment from this morning since his description is first hand!

Sorry, JD, I didn’t take any pictures. It was more of an experience than any dramatic pictures. Basically the trees were leaned to the sides blown by a perpetual wind for almost three days. The rain did not stop. Our car doors and front doors were blasted open when we cracked them even a little bit. You couldn’t use an umbrella because it would just break. We have some trees and tree limbs down around town though I didn’t see any of the trees. My friend works at Fort Monroe and waded to his car. When he opened the door, the water flooded into his car. Most of the flooding is on the south side in VA Beach, Norfolk, and surrounding towns and communities. Almost all the schools and military bases are closed today, though ironically there’s no reason for the kiddies not to go to school today because the storm has finally moved on. By the way, there were probably two dozen times when the gusts were so bad that the house creaked and shuddered, causing us to look at each other just a bit apprehensively. Quite frankly, I’m surprised one of our trees wasn’t knocked down. We clearly got hit by some very powerful gusts. Some water came in on the side of the house by the siding and windows, but not really much other damage. Roads are generally clear and we never lost power. I actually went to a meeting last night but we lost power at the building, and I just packed up, went home, and curled up with the family and a couple of books. Whew! That’s over.

Tony

Well written Tony!  You should write books on weather events ! LOL! 

jd

(Photo courtesy of AP: A couple of Oak Orchard, Del. , residents move through the flooded streets on Friday, Nov. 13, 2009. Remnants of Tropical Storm Ida pounded the East Coast on Friday, flooding coastal areas in New Jersey after slamming the Carolinas and Virginia.)

In other weather news,   we have a pair of storms will affect the northwest and Rockies heading into the weekend. Rain wind and snow will spread into much of the west with some of the higher elevations seeing a foot of snow or more.

If you have any pictures (hint hint Don and Tony!) of the weather in your area, you can email them to me at janicedean70@yahoo.com, and I’ll get them on the blog!

JD

Interesting article out of China…with some debate on their recent “artificially induced” weather…

Check it out HERE

Snow-covered bicycles are seen parked along a street in central Beijing, on November 10. Chinese scientists artificially induced the second major snowstorm to wreak havoc in Beijing this season, state media said, reigniting debate over the practice of tinkering with Mother Nature.

(AFP/Frederic J. Brown)

Good morning everyone.

A rainy day at Arlington as we remember our military veterans.  In other parts of the world, it’s known as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day (which is what I grew up calling it in Canada).   Watching the ceremonies right now it seems fitting sometimes to see grey skies and rain.   What’s left of Ida is the cause of today’s gloomy atmosphere, and unfortunately the Midatlantic up and up the east coast will remain unsettled for the rest of the week as the low associated with Ida moves off shore and hangs out while a non-tropical low southeast of Bermuda may get absorbed by the coastal storm.  No doubt the combination of these two systems is going to bring a powerful storm just off shore, so we’ll have to monitor things closely.   Heavy rain, strong winds, rip currents and beach erosion will be the story from the Outer Banks to Long Island.    Heavy rain will cause flooding in this region with some areas  seeing upwards of 6 inches.

On the other coast, we have some rain and snow entering the picture from Northern California up into Washington and Oregon.  Up to an inch of rain and over a foot of snow could pile up in the Cascades.

I think I published this poem last year.  It’s something I associate with Veterans Day because we used to say it out loud in class as kids.  We also used to sell little plastic poppies to wear on November 11th to commemorate the day of remembrance.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm

(From the AP:  poppies placed in a fountain to mark the 91st anniversary of the end of World War I on Armistice Day in Trafalgar Square, London, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009. Tens of millions of civilians and soldiers were killed during what was labeled the Great War between Germany and allied nations France, Britain and its former colonies, including the United States, Australia and Canada)

A horrible tragedy for El Salvador, as the death toll rises to at least 130.    Thousands of people are living in shelters, and many areas are without electricity and water.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, this event was unrelated to Ida.  A tropical disturbance off the cost of El Salvador on the Pacific side was the main weather event that caused this horrific flooding.  This is the second deadliest weather disaster in that country’s history with the first being Hurricane Mitch back in 1998.  Just goes to show you – it doesn’t have to be a hurricane or even a tropical storm to cause massive destruction.  This system was just a low off the coast.  President Mauricio Funes has declared a national emergency.  And the worst part of this story?  At least 49 of the dead are believed to be children.  I’m trying to hold it together just writing this.  Please say a prayer for those in need today.

A woman cries over the coffin of Carolina Ayala, 15, who died during flooding in Verapaz, El Salvador, Monday, Nov. 9, 2009. Mud and rock slides caused by rain-fueled floods killed at least 124 people throughout El Salvador and left about five dozen missing, authorities said.  Photo couresy of AP.

Good morning everyone.  Came in to do Fox and Friends to cover Ida’s landfall, and am trying to stay awake since I have a bit of a sleepless night.  Matthew was up a lot, and I had a hard time getting back to zzzzzz’s  when I knew the alarm was going to go off at 3:30!  So I read a magazine and cleaned the apartment at around 2am!  Crazy.  Surprisingly, I’m doing ok, but I know the crash is coming soon!!!

So Ida is pretty much done.  The storm made landfall this morning on Dauphin Island, Alabama as a tropical storm.  It steadily weakened as it moved over land, but the rainfall is still pretty impressive over the southeast.   A widespread swath of 2-3 inches will fall from Alabama up into the Carolinas with some localized amounts of 8 inches still possible.  We could also see a few tornado warnings east of the center of the storm throughout the day.   What’s left of Ida is forecast to head offshore, and redevelop into a coastal low, however it doesn’t look like it will affect anyone in a big way as High Pressure moves into the northeast and keeps things quiet for the next few days.

In other news, the month of October was the THIRD COLDEST on record, and the WETTEST in the 115-years! ….Interesting….Hey Al Gore!  Take note, Dude!

Ok, off to get some coffee…and some cereal…maybe some toast…and bacon…HUNGRY!

jd

Hi everyone

We’re full steam ahead on Tropical Storm Ida which is weakening thankfully as it barrels towards the Gulf Coast.  I expect the system to make landfall overnight somewhere between Mobile and Pensacola.   Ida’s legacy will be heavy rain over an already soaking southeast.  4-8 inches of rain will fall causing some major problems as Ida moves inland.  There are indications that Ida will move across into the Atlantic again this week, and become a strong nor’easter for the northeast coast…so we’ll be talking about this storm for much of the workweek.    You can see the latest track HERE  (The National Hurricane Center will update this information every couple of hours as the storm gets closer to land.

Meanwhile, right around the time Ida was a tropical storm, we had a tropical disturbance on the west coast of Central America that killed 124 people (so far) with dozens missing in El Salvador.  I think a lot of the news wires were blaming these deaths on Ida, but that’s not accurate as Ida only really affected Nicaragua and Honduras.   Pacific moisture was pulled into the mountains of El Salvador, and therefore major flooding affected residents in this region.   Hopefully we won’t see a death toll like this from Ida.

I’ll check in a little later to give you another update, and say hello!

JD

Hi everyone.

It’s hard to watch the news right now, isn’t it?  I don’t really know what to write when it comes to the tragedy at Fort Hood.  It’s inexplicable why things like this happen.  I feel like I’m walking around with dark clouds over my head when I see updates about this horrifying event.  Even though I work in the 24 hour news business,  I think I might just have to turn off the tv set this weekend to focus on spending time with my family.  God Bless those in uniform whose job is to protect us and try to make this world a better place.  On days like today it’s hard to be optimistic…I can’t imagine what those families are going through in Texas today.  My heart weeps for them. 

In weather news (I know that’s a horrible transition – I just don’t know how to move on gently…so forgive me)  I’m still keeping a close watch on Tropical Depression Ida that is now going to move into warmer waters of the Southwest Caribbean, and over the weekend is forecast to strengthen back to a tropical storm.  From there, it looks like the path will lead the storm through the Yucatan Channel and into the Gulf of Mexico.  Where it goes from there, we’re not very certain of.    I don’t think we’ll be dealing with a hurricane, but maybe a strong tropical storm.   At this point, Florida looks like it could be the landfall location next week.    If you live along the Gulf Coast, probably a good idea to keep an eye on Ida.

If you’d like to keep track of the tropical updates, you can head HERE , and I will keep track of things on the blog as well.

I hope everyone has a good weekend.  We’re going to head out to the USS New York at some point either Saturday or Sunday.   I can’t wait to see the ship in person, and Sean is really excited to bring Matthew on board.  I’ll make sure we take more pictures to share with all of you!

Take care everyone,

JD