The Weather Channel HD makes its debut

The long-awaited debut of The Weather Channel HD arrived on Wednesday as DirecTV customers became the first to see it on the air. This is despite September 2007 being an original target time of its launch as reported by Shirley Brady of Cable360.net dating back to March 7th. My thoughts were it would've coincided with The Weather Channel's second season of Epic Conditions and the debut of WeatherVentures on October 1st (this coming Monday).

Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable reported even earlier this year back on February 19th that DirecTV would be the only carrier to date to provide the new high definition channel at its launch, but other cable and satellite providers will soon follow in adding TWC HD to their channel lineups. DirecTV is in the middle of a major overhaul of offerings of adding 21 new HD channels with not all of them regularly available on cable television, so this was already in their plans to add TWC HD here in very late September.

In the coming months, additional HD programming on The Weather Channel will be added, but not all live programs will be in the new format until their new HD studios now under construction are completed in 2008.

At the start of this summer, Alain Hernandez (TMBtD) at TWC Classics created and posted on YouTube three beautiful concepts he designed for an IntelliSTAR HD he would like to have seen made on The Weather Channel. This takes full advantage of the 16:9 high definition aspect ratio screen.

IntelliSTAR HD day concept
IntelliSTAR HD evening concept
IntelliSTAR HD concept (version #2)

And now, here's the real thing!

As another forum member at TWC Classics, TWCFan gives fans a sneak peak at TWC HD from its debut on Wednesday with four You Tube video clips. You will be amazed by the new graphics makeover and layout. Keep in mind that this is the satellite feed of TWC HD and not of those from any upcoming new STARs covering local areas.

TWC HD debut #1
TWC HD debut #2
TWC HD debut #3
TWC HD debut #4

September 26th record warmth in northeastern United States

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry about a warm first week of autumn, it ended up being a record-setter in many locations across the northeastern United States on Wednesday. High temperatures from Virginia in the southern part of the region to West Virginia on the west side to Maine on the north side soared well into the 80s and even some low 90s in a few spots.

Boston along with Washington's Dulles International Airport and Windsor Locks, Connecticut ended up with the highest peak readings as it reached 93° at all three reporting stations. But only one of them did not set a new record for September 26th. Boston's Logan International Airport record high temperature for that date of 95° set way back in 1881 will remain intact for at least another year.

Among the National Weather Service reporting stations in 13 states that had their daily almanac information available, 23 listed temperatures that either tied or set new records for September 26th.

Temperatures will finally cool down to seasonable levels by late today and into the upcoming weekend with peak readings in the 70s in most locations across the northeast and even some 60s will be found in the northern sections of upstate New York and New England.

Here is a select list of high temperatures across the northeastern United States for Wednesday. Locations that either tied or broke previous records are highlighted in red.

First, I have a combined list from the National Weather Service and Weather Underground reporting sites in the New York City metropolitan area as compiled by Kevin K at TWC Classics. The Weather Underground reporting sites do not always provide almanac information that would list the old records (they're in parentheses), so they're left off this list when I show their high temperatures.

North Arlington, New Jersey... 92°
Harrison, New Jersey... 91°
Hawthorne, New York... 91°
Midland Park, New Jersey... 91°
Somerville, New Jersey... 91° (90° in 1970)
Trenton, New Jersey... 91°
Belmar, New Jersey... 90° (82° in 2005)
Danbury, Connecticut… 90° (87° in 1958)
Fair Lawn, New Jersey... 90°
New York City (LaGuardia Airport)... 90° (89° in 1958)
Montgomery, New York... 90°
Newark, New Jersey... 90° (tied with 1958)
New Brunswick, New Jersey... 90°
Paterson, New Jersey... 90°
Jersey City, New Jersey... 89°
New City, New York... 89°
West Point, New York... 89°
Caldwell, New Jersey... 88°
Newburgh, New York... 88° (85° in 1984)
Port Jervis, New York... 88°
Sussex, New Jersey... 88° (87° in 1970)
Andover, New Jersey... 87°
New York City (Central Park)… 87°
Charlottesburg, New Jersey... 87°
Ramsey, New Jersey... 86°
Centerport, New York... 85°
Sandy Hook, New Jersey... 85°
White Plains, New York... 85°
Carmel, New York... 84°
Bridgeport, Connecticut… 81°
New Haven, Connecticut… 81°
Bridgehampton, New York... 80°
New York City (JFK International Airport)… 80°
Farmingdale, New York... 79°
Islip, New York... 79° (tied with 1998)
Oceanside, New York... 79°
Shirley, New York... 78°
Westhampton, New York... 77°
Montauk, New York... 76°
East Hampton, New York... 75°

And elsewhere across the northeastern quadrant of the United States (National Weather Service reporting stations only):

Boston… 93°
Washington (Dulles Int'l Airport)… 93° (92° in 1986)
Windsor Locks, Connecticut… 93° (88° in 1920)
Danville, Virginia… 92°
Bangor, Maine… 91° (88° in 1930)
Philadelphia… 91°
Allentown, Pennsylvania… 90° (tied with 1970)
Charleston, West Virginia… 90°
Charlottesville, Virginia… 90°
Concord, New Hampshire… 90° (88° in 1920)
Georgetown, Delaware... 90°
Hartford... 90°
Portland, Maine… 90° (84° in 1961)
Poughkeepsie, New York... 90°
Reading, Pennsylvania… 90°
Williamsport, Pennsylvania… 90°
Albany, New York... 89° (tied with 1920)
Atlantic City, New Jersey... 89°
Blacksburg, Virginia… 89° (86° in 1970)
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania… 89°
Lynchburg, Virginia… 89°
Providence, Rhode Island… 89° (tied with 1930)
Washington (Ronald Reagan National Airport)… 89°
Huntington, West Virginia… 88°
Baltimore-Washington International Airport… 87°
Bluefield, Virginia… 87° (85° in 1998)
Glens Falls, New York... 87°
Millinocket, Maine… 87° (86° in 1920)
Parkersburg, West Virginia… 87°
Roanoke, Virginia… 87°
Houlton, Maine… 85° (76° in 1937)
Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania… 85° (81° in 1970)
Wilmington, Delaware... 85°
Pittsburgh… 84°
Beckley, West Virginia… 83° (tied with 1998)
Burlington, Vermont… 82°
Elkins, West Virginia… 82°
Caribou, Maine… 81° (74° in 1994)
Worcester, Massachusetts… 81°
Rochester, New York... 80°

Welcome to the first day of autumn

I've been waiting so long for this day, it is not funny.

While it has been a relatively tolerant summer for me here in the New York City metropolitan area than most other places in the country, I'm so looking forward to the new autumn season.

At 5:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time this morning, the autumnal equinox arrived. For the Big Apple, they had 12 hours and 7 minutes of daylight between sunrise and sunset. Usually during each of the two equinoxes per year, daytime and nighttime are very close to equal.

As for the weather, following a fall preview during most of the last ten days for the northern half of the United States, the east coast will see the opposite of what has been felt. This time above normal temperatures into the 80s is forecast. New York City might even see mid to upper 80s by Tuesday or Wednesday.

I had a feeling that after the below normal peak readings in the 60s during most of the last 10 days, this would happen with the warmer weather. Earlier today was picture perfect. Not a cloud in the sky, low humidity and temperatures in the 70s.

Manitoba tornado in June was Canada's strongest ever

The June 22nd tornado outbreak in southern Manitoba made headlines across Canada and caught the attention of even the American media. Why, you ask?

When powerful tornadoes struck three towns in the province, many weather observers knew this wasn't what Manitobans have been accustomed to. It turns out they were right. While Brandon and Pipestone in the western portion of the province dealt with their fair share of tornadic activity at the start of this summer season that's about to close, the small prairie town of Elie ended up receiving a direct hit by an F-5 tornado. Environment Canada announced on Tuesday that this particular tornado that touched down just under 30 miles west of Winnipeg was the strongest ever on record in Canada.

Media coverage on this story has made it to the forefront today as Global Winnipeg aired a nice feature on this story last night to give viewers a look at how Elie residents are recovering from the storm. It is video clip #30305 under Tuesday's video lineup. Today's edition of the Winnipeg Sun showed the headline "Destructive Elie twister called Canada's fiercest ever" while today's Winnipeg Free Press featured their news headline "Elie tornado strongest in Canadian history".

It will certainly not be the last time we may hear about powerful tornadoes in Manitoba. Remember that this region of the country is very flat as the Canadian Prairies is a northern extension of the Great Plains in the United States. What happened nearly three months ago happened to be the most potent twisters to touch down in the country. I still remember the destructive tornado that hit Edmonton twenty years ago. Even one edition of The Weather Channel's Storm Stories series featured it.

Hurricane Humberto soaks coastal Texas and Louisiana

In a surprise turn of weather events, we saw an unorganized area of showers and thunderstorms over the eastern Gulf of Mexico rapidly develop into a minimal hurricane during the last 48 hours. As the storm system moved west-northwest toward the southeastern Texas coast, Hurricane Humberto gained strength faster than any other tropical cyclone on record.

Humberto became a hurricane less than an hour before making landfall around 1:00 AM Central Daylight Time near High Island, Texas (northeast of Galveston) at its peak wind speed of 85 miles per hour. This is the first Atlantic Basin hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Hurricane Wilma did on October 23, 2005 at Cape Romano, Florida.

I was definitely inpressed with its rapid development. I keep a close eye on the weather regularly and when on-camera meteorologists at The Weather Channel reported on Humberto, I was thinking this came out of nowhere. Before I knew it, it was a tropical storm and when I went to bed, it was a hurricane. At first, I thought Houston would be seriously affected, but Humberto ended up staying to the southeast and making an impact on Galveston and points east. I still remember Hurricane Rita like it was just yesterday when it caused serious damage to cities such as Beaumont and Port Arthur in Texas as well as Lake Charles in southwestern Louisiana.

Humberto is now just barely a tropical depression with sustained winds of 35 miles per hour and is now well inland near Alexandria, Louisiana. Hopefully this rainmaker will move east over the drought-stricken areas of the southeastern United States, most notably Alabama.

Felix became second category 5 hurricane to strike Central America in last two weeks

We were less than two weeks removed from Hurricane Dean when a new tropical cyclone formed in the central Atlantic Ocean six days ago. In the blink of an eye, Hurricane Felix was born during the overnight hours of September 1st as the storm passed through the southern Windward Islands and into the Caribbean Sea over the holiday weekend.

At an amazing rate, Felix rapidly intensified into a dangerous category 5 hurricane within the next 48 hours. Fortunately for people in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, they were spared Felix's wrath. Instead, Felix took a more southern storm track and made landfall in Punta Gorda, Nicaragua (in the Mosquito Coast region just south of the Honduras border) early yesterday morning. At the time of landfall, sustained winds were at 160 miles per hour and a central pressure of 929 millibars. The Weather Channel reported last night that for the first time since weather records have been kept, the Atlantic Basin saw two category 5 hurricanes make landfall in the same year. So remember 2007 for Dean and Felix making history in that regard.

Over a foot of rain has fallen is some areas of Felix's path, including Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Felix has weakened to a tropical depression at this point, but damage from flooding and mudslides will undoubtedly be devastating for the region. The original predicted storm track was to take Felix closer to where Dean struck in Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula region of Mexico. The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore filed reports from Belize City yesterday in anticipation of Felix's arrival, but fortunately for him the storm stayed to his south.

As I watched just a little bit of Hurricane Felix coverage on The Weather Channel (and I mean just a little), the network did not go all out as they have in the previous two years. My best guess would be that this particular storm did not have any impact at all on the United States, so why should they have bothered anyway? For a change, they made the right call here. No overhype, just enough coverage to keep us informed of its track and landfall. I was annoyed at one point during the weekly planner segment when Sharon Resultan gave us a nationwide forecast for the next several days. The master control operators had to stick a "Hurricane Felix coverage continues" graphic on top of the mainstay lower third weather information black bar along with a current satellite/radar pop-up. This really crowded the screen and that had me yelling at the TV for them to remove it.

Felix came at the same time Hurricane Henriette has been wreaking havoc in northwestern Mexico. Henriette has been dumping heavy rain and at least tropical storm winds on the southern portion of the Baja California peninsula and continues to track northward toward the mainland coastline. The hurricane-strength wind field is quite small at a radius of only 15 miles. Unlike Felix, this storm system will affect the southwestern United States with rain from Henriette's remnants later this week.

Southern California's Labor Day weekend heat wave cause deaths and power outages

The second major heat wave of the 2007 calendar year had its grip on southern California over the Labor Day weekend and the holiday itself was a real scorcher. As mentioned in my Los Angeles weather report from Monday, the northern and eastern areas of the region saw temperatures climb well above the century mark. Closer to Los Angeles itself, readings rose to at least 15° above normal for this time of year. Many residents had to flock to the local beaches to escape the heat, but as many as 25 people weren't so lucky as that many have reportedly died as a result of the extreme weather conditions (16 of them in the Los Angeles metropolitan area alone). At one point, there were as many as 60,000 customers without power during the peak of the heat wave on Monday. So much for a nice 226th birthday present for the "City of Angels", huh? Very hot temperatures and power outages to make some even more miserable. Thanks, Mother Nature!

Here are the most notable high temperatures from Monday:

Chino... 111° (new record)
Ontario... 110°
Corona... 108°
Fullerton... 108°
Van Nuys... 108° (new record)
Riverside... 108°
Burbank... 106°
Pasadena... 106°
Long Beach... 103° (new record)
downtown Los Angeles... 99°
Santa Ana... 99° (new record)
Hawthorne... 96° (new record)
Culver City... 90°
Santa Monica... 90°
Torrance... 89°
Los Angeles International Airport... 88°
Santa Barbara... 86°


Since this was a very unusual hot spell even for sunny and warm southern California, the local media took notice with their coverage of the second major heat wave of 2007. Note that a few of the hyperlink titles are slightly outdated, but I made them available to show their relevancy from Monday and yesterday besides today's headlines.

KCBS-TV (Los Angeles)
(September 3):
Extreme heat bakes Southland on Labor Day weekend

(September 5):
25 Southland deaths may have been heat-related


KABC-TV (Los Angeles)
(September 3):
Southern California residents try to stay cool

(September 5):
Extreme heat blamed for more than a dozen deaths


Los Angeles Daily News (September 4):
Heat wave blamed in 12 deaths

Los Angeles Times (September 5):
Heat blamed in the deaths of 16

Orange County Register (September 5):
More than 6,500 in O.C. still without electricity

KNBC-TV (Burbank, CA) (September 5):
Thousands still without power after extreme heat wave