It appears there is no end in sight for what many consider to be the worst drought the state of Georgia has endured in decades. We've seen numerous aerial views of large lakes that supply water for the 5.5 million Atlanta metropolitan area residents drying up. It is so bad that Lake Lanier (located about 25 miles north of downtown Atlanta) is in record low territory with only about 80 days left of available drinking water.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalist Rhonda Cook reported yesterday that governor Sonny Perdue declared a state of emergency for most of the state and is looking for federal aid from President George W. Bush to help in relief efforts. About 85 counties in the southeastern United States has been severely affected by this drought.
Metro Atlanta already has a watering ban in effect and given that the drought continues to worsen with the lack of rainfall, violators are subject to very stiff penalties and even jail time if caught.
About 3.2 billion gallons of water flow out of lakes in northern Georgia every day. Then we see why Governor Perdue expressed an even greater sense of urgency than ever before since the drought began.
As Halloween approaches, there is an apparent dispute between Georgia state officials and United States government agencies over the priority of releasing any remaining water down the Chattahoochee River to the Gulf Coast in northern Florida to maintain endangered wildlife. Georgia officials are asking the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Department of Fish and Wildlife reduce releases of water from Lake Lanier to that region until at least March 1, 2008. Whether or not a lawsuit filed in federal court in Jacksonville will force the two federal government agencies to honor that request remains to be seen.
At the same time, Alabama officials have complained that Georgia is withholding too much water from Lake Alltoona from its neighboring state to the west. With a dwindling water supply across the entire region of the country, the louder and more intense the squabbling expects to get as desperation to conserve rises.
Perdue began to make his rounds on local and national television networks to put the pressure on President Bush to take action. Earlier today, he took his message to Cable News Network airwaves this morning on CNN Sunday. He hopes that Georgians will take the necessary steps to save as much water as possible. State officials set up the Conserve Water Georgia web site to educate and advise its citizens how to act accordingly.
The National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Georgia (a southern suburb of Atlanta) issued a comprehensive report on how brutal this exceptional drought has been in northern Georgia this year. In their October 16th update, Atlanta is barely above the record lowest annual rainfall. Through October 15, 2007, only 24.68 inches of rain has fallen this calendar year. The all-time record low in the same period was 23.14 in 1931. Since 1971, Atlanta has averaged 50.2 inches per year. Goes to show how really bad this drought really is.
Just a small bit of good news would be that Mother Nature might provide a miniscule of relief during the next two days in Atlanta as rain is in the forecast. Tomorrow (Monday) is more likely to receive steadier rain than Tuesday, but they'll take as much as they can get right now. No doubt about that.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The Weather Channel tests new "Local on the 8s" design
With the addition of The Weather Channel HD two weeks ago, the network has another change viewers will expect to see in the coming days.
If you are loyal viewer of The Weather Channel, many have seen its local forecast segments evolve over the years with the use of weather data retrieval systems (WeatherSTARs) by local cable company headends (centralized television signal processing and distribution centers that provide the cable channel transmissions to the viewer's cable boxes). This WeatherSTAR data is received, processed and used for current weather conditions and future weather forecast information to be seen by viewers six times per hour. The local forecast segments at the present day are called the Local on the 8s, considering they are shown on the 8s of every hour on The Weather Channel.
The current weather data retrieval system is known as the IntelliSTAR. It is the fifth generation of the WeatherSTAR that has been in use by local cable headends since March 2004. As The Weather Channel continues to make changes to its overall presentation of current weather and forecast information to viewers, one change that is expected to be completed by next summer is a modified visual makeover to its Local on the 8s graphics pages.
Whether or not this is what is in store for a rumored new sixth generation WeatherSTAR unit or just a temporary visual makeover prior to a complete redesign overhaul is not known. But either way, viewers are expected to see this change in the Local on the 8s graphics pages this month.
The Weather Channel ran a beta test of this new IntelliSTAR on October 9th at 3:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time for three cable headends in the United States. Viewers in South Bend, Indiana; Lincoln, Nebraska and Penn Hills, Pennsylvania (an eastern suburb of Pittsburgh) were able to see this test live. For those that missed it, Matt (tpirfan28) at TWC Classics recorded it from his location in the South Bend area and presented it to fans of The Weather Channel just hours later. Reviews have been mixed so far.
Barring some additional last-minute design modifications or a delay in implementation, The Weather Channel is expected to launch these new graphics changes to the Local on the 8s forecast segments on October 16th, as reported by Tyler Tomasino, one of the web site administrators at TWC Classics, a comprehensive fan site dedicated to The Weather Channel's classic years (1982 to 1999).
If you are loyal viewer of The Weather Channel, many have seen its local forecast segments evolve over the years with the use of weather data retrieval systems (WeatherSTARs) by local cable company headends (centralized television signal processing and distribution centers that provide the cable channel transmissions to the viewer's cable boxes). This WeatherSTAR data is received, processed and used for current weather conditions and future weather forecast information to be seen by viewers six times per hour. The local forecast segments at the present day are called the Local on the 8s, considering they are shown on the 8s of every hour on The Weather Channel.
The current weather data retrieval system is known as the IntelliSTAR. It is the fifth generation of the WeatherSTAR that has been in use by local cable headends since March 2004. As The Weather Channel continues to make changes to its overall presentation of current weather and forecast information to viewers, one change that is expected to be completed by next summer is a modified visual makeover to its Local on the 8s graphics pages.
Whether or not this is what is in store for a rumored new sixth generation WeatherSTAR unit or just a temporary visual makeover prior to a complete redesign overhaul is not known. But either way, viewers are expected to see this change in the Local on the 8s graphics pages this month.
The Weather Channel ran a beta test of this new IntelliSTAR on October 9th at 3:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time for three cable headends in the United States. Viewers in South Bend, Indiana; Lincoln, Nebraska and Penn Hills, Pennsylvania (an eastern suburb of Pittsburgh) were able to see this test live. For those that missed it, Matt (tpirfan28) at TWC Classics recorded it from his location in the South Bend area and presented it to fans of The Weather Channel just hours later. Reviews have been mixed so far.
Barring some additional last-minute design modifications or a delay in implementation, The Weather Channel is expected to launch these new graphics changes to the Local on the 8s forecast segments on October 16th, as reported by Tyler Tomasino, one of the web site administrators at TWC Classics, a comprehensive fan site dedicated to The Weather Channel's classic years (1982 to 1999).
October 8th heat dominates the eastern United States
A tale of two seasons couldn't have been more evident so far this month than what we've seen to date. The main jetstream divided two opposite air masses with a trough in the west bringing early autumn snows to parts of eastern Idaho and the high elevations of northern California while heat typical of July conditions baked the eastern half of the nation, most notably the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States. A total of 73 weather reporting sites had records tied or broken on Sunday while 64 also had the same for Monday.
How extraordinary was this warm weather event in the east? I've experienced temperatures in the 70s in my area for a December day, but Monday's high temperature of 90° at Coleman A. Young International Airport in Detroit was a record for October 8th and was the latest 90° day ever recorded there. Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington recorded back-to-back 90°+ temperatures for Monday and Tuesday. By reaching 89° on Monday, Philadelphia International Airport wiped away an October 8th record that stood 120 years! Simply remarkable.
In Central Pennsylvania, new records were set in Harrisburg and Williamsport on Monday, but were well short of the highest temperature recorded in October for their respective locations as mentioned in their National Weather Service forecast office news release. Both locations reached 89° on Tuesday and were new records for October 9th.
But in Bluefield, West Virginia, a new October record was set for the second straight day with a high temperature of 88° on Monday, eclipsing the old mark of 86° that was reached just the day before.
Here is a select list of high temperatures across the northeastern United States for Monday. 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.
Locations in New York City are shown in boldface text.
Locations that either tied or broke records are shown in red text.
Somerset, New Jersey… 92°
East Brunswick, New Jersey… 91°
Edison, New Jersey… 91°
Fair Lawn, New Jersey… 90°
Hawthorne, New York… 90°
New Brunswick, New Jersey… 90°
Kennedy Int'l Airport… 90° (75° in 1990 and 1949)
Newton, New Jersey… 90°
North Arlington, New Jersey… 90°
Somerville, New Jersey… 90° (86° in 1931)
Teterboro, New Jersey… 90° (82° in 2004)
Trenton, New Jersey… 90° (84° in 1894)
Belleville, New Jersey… 89°
Bridgeport, Connecticut… 89° (78° in 1990)
Greenwich, Connecticut… 89°
Harrison, New Jersey… 89°
Hawthorne, New Jersey… 89°
Montgomery, New York… 89°
Newark, New Jersey… 89° (85° in 1931)
Brooklyn, New York… 89°
LaGuardia Airport… 89° (82° in 1990)
Paterson, New Jersey… 89°
West Point, New York… 89° (83° in 1931)
Whippany, New Jersey… 89°
Andover, New Jersey… 88°
Islip, New York… 88° (77° in 1990)
Jersey City, New Jersey… 88°
Long Beach, New York… 88°
Newburgh, New York… 88° (84° in 1990)
New City, New York… 88°
Norwalk, Connecticut… 88°
Ringwood, New Jersey… 88°
Shirley, New York… 88°
Sussex, New Jersey… 88° (86° in 1963)
Union, New Jersey… 88°
Wayne, New Jersey… 88°
Blairstown, New Jersey… 87°
Farmingdale, New York… 87° (84° in 1963)
Central Park… 87° (86° in 1931)
Oakland, New Jersey… 87°
Oceanside, New York… 87°
Parsippany, New Jersey… 87°
Ramsey, New Jersey… 87°
White Plains, New York… 87° (82° in 1963)
Babylon, New York… 86°
Charlottesburg, New Jersey… 86° (tied with 1963)
East Haven, Connecticut… 86°
Hackettstown, New Jersey… 86°
Hempstead, New York… 86°
Port Jervis, New York… 86° (84° in 1943)
Centerport, New York… 85°
Danbury, Connecticut… 85° (84° in 1963)
New Fairfield, Connecticut… 85°
New Haven, Connecticut… 84° (tied with 1990)
Bridgehampton, New York… 83° (80° in 1931)
High Point, New Jersey… 82°
Carmel, New York… 81°
Westhampton Beach, New York… 81° (75° in 1997)
Montauk, New York… 80°
Among those high temperatures listed above, here are those that either tied or set new records for the month of October. The old records are listed in parentheses.
Kennedy Int'l Airport… 90° (88° on October 6, 1997)
Teterboro, New Jersey… 90° (tied with October 5, 2007)
Bridgeport, Connecticut… 89° (86° on October 6, 1997)
LaGuardia Airport… 89° (tied with October 10, 1949)
Islip, New York… 88° (86° on October 7, 1997)
Farmingdale, New York… 87° (86° on October 6, 1997)
White Plains, New York… 87° (tied with October 10, 1949 and October 6, 1959)
Since this heat spell has gripped large part of the country, I'm providing some interesting temperature statistics for the entire northeastern quadrant of the United States (includes Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky). I've also thrown in a few locations from coastal New England and the extreme northern tier to show you the drastic difference between there (much cooler peak readings) and the major metropolitan areas to the south and west. This list only consists of National Weather Service reporting stations.
Charleston, West Virginia… 93° (92° in 1931)
Danville, Virginia… 93° (88° in 1962)
Huntington, West Virginia… 93° (92° in 1939)
Louisville, Kentucky… 93° (91° in 1939)
Bowling Green, Kentucky… 92°
Evansville, Indiana… 92° (90° in 1939)
Parkersburg, West Virginia… 92° (88° in 1939)
Washington (Dulles Int'l Arpt.)… 92° (85° in 1982)
Baltimore-Washington Int'l Airport… 91° (88° in 1931)
Cincinnati Int'l Airport… 91° (tied with 1939)
Indianapolis… 91°
Lexington, Kentucky… 91° (90° in 1939)
Paducah, Kentucky… 91°
Roanoke, Virginia… 91° (86° in 1962)
Washington (Reagan Nat'l Arpt.)… 91° (88° in 1931)
Allentown, Pennsylvania… 90° (81° in 1943)
Alpena, Michigan... 90° (82° in 2003)
Charlottesville, Virginia… 90° (tied with 1916)
Columbus, Ohio… 90° (89° in 1939)
Detroit (Coleman A. Young Int'l Arpt.)… 90° (89° in 1939)
Lynchburg, Virginia… 90° (89° in 1941)
Williamsport, Pennsylvania… 90° (81° in 1949)
Atlantic City, New Jersey... 89° (83° in 1990)
Fort Wayne, Indiana… 89° (tied with 1939)
Jackson, Kentucky... 89° (82° in 1997)
Philadelphia… 89° (84° in 1887)
Poughkeepsie, New York... 89°
Reading, Pennsylvania… 89° (82° in 1990)
Richmond, Virginia… 89°
Toledo, Ohio… 89°
Bluefield, West Virginia… 88° (82° in 1997)
Cleveland… 88° (tied with 1939)
Dayton, Ohio… 88° (87° in 1939)
Flint, Michigan... 88° (84° in 1949)
Grand Rapids, Michigan... 88° (83° in 1949)
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania… 88° (85° in 1916)
South Bend, Indiana… 88° (85° in 1949)
Wilmington, Delaware... 88° (tied with 1941)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Int'l Airport… 87° (78° in 1990)
Blacksburg, Virginia… 87° (80° in 1997)
Georgetown, Delaware... 87°
Pittsburgh… 87° (86° in 1916)
Youngstown, Ohio… 87° (84° in 1949)
Beckley, West Virginia… 86° (81° in 1997)
Mansfield, Ohio… 86° (79° in 1997)
North Canton, Ohio (Akron-Canton Regional Airport)… 86°
Salisbury, Maryland… 85°
Erie, Pennsylvania… 84° (81° in 1916)
Norfolk, Virginia… 84°
Windsor Locks, Connecticut… 84°
Elkins, West Virginia… 83°
Marquette, Michigan... 83° (81° in 2003)
Rochester, New York... 83°
Binghamton, New York... 82° (76° in 1993)
Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania… 82° (79° in 1949)
Syracuse, New York... 80° (tied with 1993)
Buffalo… 79°
Albany, New York... 75°
Providence, Rhode Island… 75°
Worcester, Massachusetts… 70°
Watertown, New York... 71°
Glens Falls, New York... 64°
Boston… 59°
Houlton, Maine… 59°
Caribou, Maine… 58°
Concord, New Hampshire… 58°
Burlington, Vermont… 57°
Millinocket, Maine… 57°
Portland, Maine… 53°
Bangor, Maine… 50°
The unseasonably warm temperatures weren't just confined to the United States on Monday. North of the border in southern Canada, Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto had its highest temperature recorded at 89° while in Hamilton it peaked at 86°.
But the true autumn weather is moving into the northeast as we speak. A backdoor cold front that advanced southwest from New England brought temperatures down to the 60s by late afternoon yesterday in New York City while Philadelphia remained in the 80s. The anticipated cold front that moved through from the west this morning has brought in the cooler air moving down from the northwest. In Minneapolis, the heart of the cold Canadian air arrived yesterday with peak readings only in the low 50s thanks to a trough settling into the northern tier of the country. As Mark Mancuso of The Weather Channel explains, the northeastern United States will get a taste of that by Friday and into Saturday as high temperatures may not reach 60°, more typical of November weather.
How extraordinary was this warm weather event in the east? I've experienced temperatures in the 70s in my area for a December day, but Monday's high temperature of 90° at Coleman A. Young International Airport in Detroit was a record for October 8th and was the latest 90° day ever recorded there. Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington recorded back-to-back 90°+ temperatures for Monday and Tuesday. By reaching 89° on Monday, Philadelphia International Airport wiped away an October 8th record that stood 120 years! Simply remarkable.
In Central Pennsylvania, new records were set in Harrisburg and Williamsport on Monday, but were well short of the highest temperature recorded in October for their respective locations as mentioned in their National Weather Service forecast office news release. Both locations reached 89° on Tuesday and were new records for October 9th.
But in Bluefield, West Virginia, a new October record was set for the second straight day with a high temperature of 88° on Monday, eclipsing the old mark of 86° that was reached just the day before.
Here is a select list of high temperatures across the northeastern United States for Monday. 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.
Locations in New York City are shown in boldface text.
Locations that either tied or broke records are shown in red text.
Somerset, New Jersey… 92°
East Brunswick, New Jersey… 91°
Edison, New Jersey… 91°
Fair Lawn, New Jersey… 90°
Hawthorne, New York… 90°
New Brunswick, New Jersey… 90°
Kennedy Int'l Airport… 90° (75° in 1990 and 1949)
Newton, New Jersey… 90°
North Arlington, New Jersey… 90°
Somerville, New Jersey… 90° (86° in 1931)
Teterboro, New Jersey… 90° (82° in 2004)
Trenton, New Jersey… 90° (84° in 1894)
Belleville, New Jersey… 89°
Bridgeport, Connecticut… 89° (78° in 1990)
Greenwich, Connecticut… 89°
Harrison, New Jersey… 89°
Hawthorne, New Jersey… 89°
Montgomery, New York… 89°
Newark, New Jersey… 89° (85° in 1931)
Brooklyn, New York… 89°
LaGuardia Airport… 89° (82° in 1990)
Paterson, New Jersey… 89°
West Point, New York… 89° (83° in 1931)
Whippany, New Jersey… 89°
Andover, New Jersey… 88°
Islip, New York… 88° (77° in 1990)
Jersey City, New Jersey… 88°
Long Beach, New York… 88°
Newburgh, New York… 88° (84° in 1990)
New City, New York… 88°
Norwalk, Connecticut… 88°
Ringwood, New Jersey… 88°
Shirley, New York… 88°
Sussex, New Jersey… 88° (86° in 1963)
Union, New Jersey… 88°
Wayne, New Jersey… 88°
Blairstown, New Jersey… 87°
Farmingdale, New York… 87° (84° in 1963)
Central Park… 87° (86° in 1931)
Oakland, New Jersey… 87°
Oceanside, New York… 87°
Parsippany, New Jersey… 87°
Ramsey, New Jersey… 87°
White Plains, New York… 87° (82° in 1963)
Babylon, New York… 86°
Charlottesburg, New Jersey… 86° (tied with 1963)
East Haven, Connecticut… 86°
Hackettstown, New Jersey… 86°
Hempstead, New York… 86°
Port Jervis, New York… 86° (84° in 1943)
Centerport, New York… 85°
Danbury, Connecticut… 85° (84° in 1963)
New Fairfield, Connecticut… 85°
New Haven, Connecticut… 84° (tied with 1990)
Bridgehampton, New York… 83° (80° in 1931)
High Point, New Jersey… 82°
Carmel, New York… 81°
Westhampton Beach, New York… 81° (75° in 1997)
Montauk, New York… 80°
Among those high temperatures listed above, here are those that either tied or set new records for the month of October. The old records are listed in parentheses.
Kennedy Int'l Airport… 90° (88° on October 6, 1997)
Teterboro, New Jersey… 90° (tied with October 5, 2007)
Bridgeport, Connecticut… 89° (86° on October 6, 1997)
LaGuardia Airport… 89° (tied with October 10, 1949)
Islip, New York… 88° (86° on October 7, 1997)
Farmingdale, New York… 87° (86° on October 6, 1997)
White Plains, New York… 87° (tied with October 10, 1949 and October 6, 1959)
Since this heat spell has gripped large part of the country, I'm providing some interesting temperature statistics for the entire northeastern quadrant of the United States (includes Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky). I've also thrown in a few locations from coastal New England and the extreme northern tier to show you the drastic difference between there (much cooler peak readings) and the major metropolitan areas to the south and west. This list only consists of National Weather Service reporting stations.
Charleston, West Virginia… 93° (92° in 1931)
Danville, Virginia… 93° (88° in 1962)
Huntington, West Virginia… 93° (92° in 1939)
Louisville, Kentucky… 93° (91° in 1939)
Bowling Green, Kentucky… 92°
Evansville, Indiana… 92° (90° in 1939)
Parkersburg, West Virginia… 92° (88° in 1939)
Washington (Dulles Int'l Arpt.)… 92° (85° in 1982)
Baltimore-Washington Int'l Airport… 91° (88° in 1931)
Cincinnati Int'l Airport… 91° (tied with 1939)
Indianapolis… 91°
Lexington, Kentucky… 91° (90° in 1939)
Paducah, Kentucky… 91°
Roanoke, Virginia… 91° (86° in 1962)
Washington (Reagan Nat'l Arpt.)… 91° (88° in 1931)
Allentown, Pennsylvania… 90° (81° in 1943)
Alpena, Michigan... 90° (82° in 2003)
Charlottesville, Virginia… 90° (tied with 1916)
Columbus, Ohio… 90° (89° in 1939)
Detroit (Coleman A. Young Int'l Arpt.)… 90° (89° in 1939)
Lynchburg, Virginia… 90° (89° in 1941)
Williamsport, Pennsylvania… 90° (81° in 1949)
Atlantic City, New Jersey... 89° (83° in 1990)
Fort Wayne, Indiana… 89° (tied with 1939)
Jackson, Kentucky... 89° (82° in 1997)
Philadelphia… 89° (84° in 1887)
Poughkeepsie, New York... 89°
Reading, Pennsylvania… 89° (82° in 1990)
Richmond, Virginia… 89°
Toledo, Ohio… 89°
Bluefield, West Virginia… 88° (82° in 1997)
Cleveland… 88° (tied with 1939)
Dayton, Ohio… 88° (87° in 1939)
Flint, Michigan... 88° (84° in 1949)
Grand Rapids, Michigan... 88° (83° in 1949)
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania… 88° (85° in 1916)
South Bend, Indiana… 88° (85° in 1949)
Wilmington, Delaware... 88° (tied with 1941)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Int'l Airport… 87° (78° in 1990)
Blacksburg, Virginia… 87° (80° in 1997)
Georgetown, Delaware... 87°
Pittsburgh… 87° (86° in 1916)
Youngstown, Ohio… 87° (84° in 1949)
Beckley, West Virginia… 86° (81° in 1997)
Mansfield, Ohio… 86° (79° in 1997)
North Canton, Ohio (Akron-Canton Regional Airport)… 86°
Salisbury, Maryland… 85°
Erie, Pennsylvania… 84° (81° in 1916)
Norfolk, Virginia… 84°
Windsor Locks, Connecticut… 84°
Elkins, West Virginia… 83°
Marquette, Michigan... 83° (81° in 2003)
Rochester, New York... 83°
Binghamton, New York... 82° (76° in 1993)
Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania… 82° (79° in 1949)
Syracuse, New York... 80° (tied with 1993)
Buffalo… 79°
Albany, New York... 75°
Providence, Rhode Island… 75°
Worcester, Massachusetts… 70°
Watertown, New York... 71°
Glens Falls, New York... 64°
Boston… 59°
Houlton, Maine… 59°
Caribou, Maine… 58°
Concord, New Hampshire… 58°
Burlington, Vermont… 57°
Millinocket, Maine… 57°
Portland, Maine… 53°
Bangor, Maine… 50°
The unseasonably warm temperatures weren't just confined to the United States on Monday. North of the border in southern Canada, Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto had its highest temperature recorded at 89° while in Hamilton it peaked at 86°.
But the true autumn weather is moving into the northeast as we speak. A backdoor cold front that advanced southwest from New England brought temperatures down to the 60s by late afternoon yesterday in New York City while Philadelphia remained in the 80s. The anticipated cold front that moved through from the west this morning has brought in the cooler air moving down from the northwest. In Minneapolis, the heart of the cold Canadian air arrived yesterday with peak readings only in the low 50s thanks to a trough settling into the northern tier of the country. As Mark Mancuso of The Weather Channel explains, the northeastern United States will get a taste of that by Friday and into Saturday as high temperatures may not reach 60°, more typical of November weather.
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