Every year we worry if our travel plans will be foiled by big weather...nothing worse than spending Thanksgiving day sleeping on an airport floor. Has this happened to any of you?
Well this year is looking pretty good! The only trouble spot I see is around the great lakes, and mostly the western lakes...Chicago, Green Bay, maybe Minneapolis and Detroit. The storm that's bringing all the snow in the Pacific northwest will slowly move to the great lakes area by Wednesday, but will be a much weaker version of it's current self. So any delays there will be pretty minimal. That's a good thing. It looks like a pretty good travel time this time around!
Here's a few pics of today's show. Nothing makes me happier on the show than wild animals...and today we had some good ones!
Ainsley in for Alisyn today.
My radar map. This storm moves up the east coast today thru Tuesday.
Albino Python...This one was found in the Florida swamps, dumped by somebody who couldn't handle it as a pet.
Some pretty crazy weather continues across parts of the country. Washington and Oregon have been pounded this week with flooding rains, heavy snow with avalanche threats and a few dams in precarious positions. Saturday will bring a brief break, before another system comes in on Saturday night. Areas of the northern plains have been enjoying crazy warm temps again...but it looks like that will change this week as the storm moving into the pacific northwest will arrive in the the Dakotas by Monday night/Tuesday bringing some winter and snow.
Thanksgiving travel coming up...It doesn't look that bad on Wednesday, except around the great lakes....wind, cold, rain and snow...always means travel delays. Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit all seeing a few problems, but I have to say, it could be much worse. This won't be a powerhouse storm by any means.
But things look to get interesting about 8-10 days from now, with some cold air hitting a lot of the eastern 2/3 of the country...I say get out and enjoy the mild conditions now if you can...It won't last!
The transition from fall to late fall hits me every year. Early fall is energizing and invigorating followed by late fall...where I just want to sleep and hibernate. Anyone else notice this rythm in your life? One of the things that fascinated me about weather, even as a kid, was how our moods were so in tune with the weather and seasons.
So as we transition from fall-to late fall-to Holidays and winter... Here's my picture transition. (oh but don't think there won't be more fall pics coming!)
A report just came in from Reuters that there were 91 people killed in El Salvador from Hurricane Ida. They expect that number to rise as rescue workers are now exploring the hardest hit areas. This is the most fatalities from any tropical system this year.
Ida not only has regained hurricane status, but has reached Category 2 strength with winds at 100 mph. Things certainly look a bit interesting along the central gulf coast for Monday night/Tuesday. But this is an interesting storm. A broad area from Florida through the central gulf will see a very windy day tomorrow, not just from Ida's approach, but from a strong pressure gradient between a strong high pressure area over the mid Atlantic and Ida. This will drive a lot of water into the eastern coast of Florida as well as into the Mississsippi coastline and Plaquemines Parish of Louisianna.
Ida won't cause huge storm surge and I don't think there will be very significant wind damage. But some areas of the central gulf will see 5-7" of rain, which will cause some flooding. This is the latest 5 day Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF) from the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC). This is their forecast for how much rain will fall across the US in the next 5 days. All the forecasted precipitation from Louisianna through North Carolina is due to Ida.
After the calm hurricane season, I certainly wouldn't have predicted a November hurricane in the gulf, especially one that would turn out to be the deadliest of the season. Crazy. Certainly sad.
October seemed nuts with record snow, cold, heat, rain and floods. Now November is here and things couldn't be more calm. But check out Ida! The late season Tropical Storm is back over
water and re-strengthening in the western Caribbean. Ida slowly passed over eastern Nicaragua and Honduras this week and could've been much worse had it tracked 100 miles west--to the more mountainous region. While there was a significant damage to the eastern coastal areas of Nicaragua, they were certainly spared from what could have been a much deadlier scenario. Keep Reading...
So with the month of October now over...folks in St. Louis are ready for the rain to be over too. 12.38" of rain fell in the month of October making it not only the wettest October on record, but the 4th wettest month ever! #mce_temp_url#
Enjoy the much needed break. Looks like things will be mostly dry and comfortable for the next week.
Last week I posted the story about Moscow's Mayor and his plan to keep Russia's capital snow-free this winter to minimize snow removal costs. Now meteorologists in Beijing are using the same method to increase snowfall to help with ongoing drought. Good idea? Or bad?
Here's my thoughts on this. I think this is a very complicated issue that is going to become a much bigger problem over the next few years. I grew up in Arizona where the Colorado River cuts through the Grand Canyon. There are ongoing legal battles about who has rights to that water. Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California all have legitimate needs. In the 1960s, a hydroelectric dam was built upstream from the Grand Canyon at Glen Canyon to create Lake Powell. I've spent a number of weeks water skiing on the lake and hiking around the area and it's a specatularly beautiful lake. The dam also destroyed what had been a spectacularly beautiful canyon. There are some other looming problems associated with Glen Canyon Dam #mce_temp_url# that will have to be addressed in the near future.
Damming, irrigation, canals, logging are all done with the best of intention and often with great benefits, but there are almost always negative consequences that follow. Cloud seeding adds a new element to man's tinkering with nature. Personally, I'm not comfortable with it. What are your thoughts?
My folks are in town visiting from Arizona. So I've rented a car and we're headed to the Catskills and the Finger Lakes region for some Fall Hiking, Driving and Exploring. With the two nor'easters a week ago, snow, wind, rain and general crazy October weather, I think we're probably a couple weeks late. It's hard to plan a fall trip when vacation days and plane tickets are involved.
So what are your favorite Fall hikes? Drives? Also, send me pics to the link on the side and I'll get them posted on here for everyone to see.
This is the rainiest October on record in St Louis. 8.55" of rain breaks the old record set in 1919 of 8.52". So far, it's also the 3rd coldest October. Enjoy today, because the rain returns tomorrow and things look unsettled for most of the week....probably another 1-2" by weeks end. Thanks Marianne for the picture of your nice fall day. Take advantage!
Things certainly look a bit interesting along the central gulf coast for Monday night/Tuesday. But this is an interesting storm. A broad area from Florida through the central gulf will see a very windy day tomorrow, not just from Ida's approach, but from a strong pressure gradient between a strong high pressure area over the mid Atlantic and Ida. This will drive a lot of water into the eastern coast of Florida as well as into the Mississsippi coastline and Plaquemines Parish of Louisianna. 
Ida won't cause huge storm surge and I don't think there will be very significant wind damage. But some areas of the central gulf will see 5-7" of rain, which will cause some flooding. This is the latest 5 day Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF) from the 
cuts through the Grand Canyon. There are ongoing legal battles about who has rights to that water. Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California all have legitimate needs. In the 1960s, a hydroelectric dam was built upstream from the Grand Canyon at Glen Canyon to create Lake Powell. 
I've spent a number of weeks water skiing on the lake and hiking around the area and it's a specatularly beautiful lake. The dam also destroyed what had been a spectacularly beautiful canyon. There are some other looming problems associated with Glen Canyon Dam 
This is the rainiest October on record in St Louis. 8.55" of rain breaks the old record set in 1919 of 8.52". So far, it's also the 3rd coldest October. Enjoy today, because the rain returns tomorrow and things look unsettled for most of the week....probably another 1-2" by weeks end. Thanks Marianne for the picture of your nice fall day. Take advantage!
