New York City television market selected as The Weather Channel's first HD STAR test area

For those of you who rely on The Weather Channel to find detailed information on your local current conditions and forecasts know that its high definition channel made its debut on June 2nd. Being able to see The Weather Channel HD with all the visual eye candy for graphic presentations (yes, including all the maps) in that crystal clear picture is a dream come true for all the weather junkies.

What maintains a relatively high viewership is an important feature on The Weather Channel. It is the Local on the 8s segment. Here is where you can see your local current conditions and forecasts you need on the 8s of every hour. But you've only been able to see it on the original standard definition (SD) channel.

Fans of the HD feed to The Weather Channel are in for a serious treat. You think you loved the live segments on there? Get ready soon for another feature that you will enjoy. It's TWC HD's version of the Local on the 8s coming to a local cable system near you.

On Thursday, it was a privilege for Cablevision customers in the New York City metropolitan area to have been selected as the first to see a "beta testing" launched in debuting the new HD WeatherSTAR version of Local on the 8s.

What is a WeatherSTAR, you ask? To quote what is posted at Wikipedia:

WeatherSTAR refers to the technology used by The Weather Channel (TWC) to generate their Local Forecast segments (currently known as Local on the 8s) on cable TV systems nationwide. The hardware takes the form of a computerized unit installed at the headend of a cable TV company which receives, generates, and inserts local forecast and other weather information, including weather advisories and warnings, into TWC's national programming.

Now that you understand what a WeatherSTAR is, this test run is not for any specific localized location... yet. Right now, this is a new HD WeatherSTAR being tested where everyone across the entire metropolitan area will see the same information. This means someone in Islip, New York is seeing the same thing right now as someone in White Plains, New York. Those in New York City and Newark, New Jersey, it's the same deal. For the SD feed of the Local on the 8s, you have your own localized conditions and forecasts (such as within the same county), not the entire metropolitan area.

For me, this is great. Those of you that watch The Weather Channel often and enjoy the Local on the 8s segment's presentation for what it provides, you will like the potential of the HD version. Someone in cyberspace has recorded video clips of it. Note that this person mistakenly said in his or her YouTube video clip information that it debuted yesterday and is not the case. It was Thursday as I mentioned.

Here is a sample of HD WeatherSTAR test as seen by yours truly and other Cablevision customers in the New York City metropolitan area. It's from yesterday. A number of new features are shown and the graphic look much resembles the new graphics we see on the live segments ever since the debut of The Weather Channel HD.



My favorite part, you ask? The separate forecast maps of each part of the metropolitan area showing New York City, the Hudson River Valley, Long Island and central New Jersey. Hopefully it will stay.

Just to let you know, this is just the test so far, not the final product. The official launch of your local HD version of Local on the 8s is coming very soon, sometime during the fourth quarter of 2008.

The Weather Channel set to debut new HD studio

For dedicated viewers and even all those weather junkies that watch The Weather Channel, this is an exciting time. If you love to see all the bells and whistles that the latest broadcasting technology brings, you are in for a very big treat tomorrow morning.

June 2nd will be a milestone day in the 26-year history of The Weather Channel, the first-ever cable network on television to broadcast weather news and information 24 hours per day and every single day of the calendar year. When the clock strikes 7:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time, the network will go live for the first time from their brand spanking new high definition studio with Your Weather Today, one of The Weather Channel's most watched programs. It is expected that meteorologists Marshall Seese and Heather Tesch will do the honors as the first on-camera meteorologists to bring the latest weather news from their new digs.

"The Weather Channel revolutionized how weather was presented when we launched in 1982 and we are about to do that again in 2008," Ray Ban, The Weather Channel's executive vice president of programming and meteorology had declared.


The Weather Channel HD on DirecTV as of October 1, 2007

As I had mentioned in a blog entry last fall, The Weather Channel HD made its debut on September 26, 2007 as DirecTV carried the network's national forecast information and two programs shot and aired in high definition with Epic Conditions and WeatherVentures. By January 6th, the smash hit magazine show When Weather Changed History became the third to air in HD.

But now, it won't just be magazine shows you get to enjoy. It is all the live weather forecasts you want to see in crystal clear high definition. In order to made this happen, it took $60 million of funding and 18 months to construct the 5,000 square foot HD studio that was build adjacent to The Weather Channel's main office building in northwest Atlanta. One of the great features of the building addition itself is that it has gone "green" as many ecoactivists like to say. Stephanie Robbins of TV Week reported on August 27, 2007 while the studio was in its middle phase of construction, it was certified by the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) organization. Among the "green" initiatives The Weather Channel has taken include landscape irrigation being provided by an underground storm water retention pond, volatile chemicals used at a low level such as paint and 50% of the disposable items used at the new building addition will be sorted and hauled from the site to recycling centers. Also, The Weather Channel plans to reduce fossil fuel emissions, plant new trees and conserve energy at the site. This week's episode of Forecast Earth (dated May 31st) previews the new HD studio and explained these "green" steps in further detail.


Evening Edition promo (video courtesy: The Weather Channel)

The first two live shows that will be in high definition are Your Weather Today and their prime time and late night program Evening Edition (while the weekday edition will make its HD debut tomorrow, the weekend version will air on June 7th). Over the next several weeks and months, the transition of all of The Weather Channel's live shows to HD format will be completed. The first of the next shows to make the switch will be Weekend View on July 12th as meteorologist Kelly Cass announced during yesterday morning's show. I always found their original ad campaign shown in Flash video format to be interesting surrounding its launch on October 1, 2005. Any live on-location camera shots shown on Abrams & Bettes: Beyond The Forecast (now will be extended to a two-hour show starting tomorrow) will also be in high-definition. On-camera meteorologists Stephanie Abrams and Mike Bettes will still be in their standard definition (SD) studio for now as no date of their switch to full-time HD has been announced.

All new HD programming at The Weather Channel will be in 1080i HD format, the highest quality picture available on television today. When makes this extra special is the new studio features a large set designed ideally to HD screens. In this May 19th press release by PR Web, the camera angles and lightning will immediately catch the viewer's eye. But the eye candy of them all is a massive 37-foot long video projection wall that will show a ton of weather graphic maps and statistical data pages as well as huge radar views of active weather zones across the United States. That screen alone cost a whopping $400,000. Other studio features include computers embedded in the anchor desks, nine HD cameras and a circle-shaped desk console that can rotate nearly 360 degrees. The anchors must figure out directions such as where to stand and which camera to look at. For even these seasoned veteran TV personalities, it is almost as if you're going on television for the first time in your career.

The expense of going HD is high, but John Mansell, a senior analyst with Kagan Research LLC told Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer Kristie Swartz it has to be done to keep a high viewership as the future of television continues its transition to high definition.

"Every network recognizes that if they have an HD version of that channel, they are going to have higher ratings for that channel," Mansell said. "Higher ratings translates to higher ad revenue as well as the potential to charge cable and satellite operators a higher fee to carry the station."

Alan Breznick, an analyst at Heavy Reading, a technology and media research firm in the Washington, D.C., area wondered why it has taken The Weather Channel as long as it did to add an HD channel.

"High definition is become more and more the norm. The networks have gone that way, the sports networks have gone that way already, the movie networks have already gone that way," Breznick said. "I am surprised that the Weather Channel hasn't already done that."

The Weather Channel's standard definition channel is in 97% of cable television households in the United States. Just because it is one of the most widely available networks where you can tune in for your weather needs, it doesn't mean it will be immune to ratings drops if it doesn't remain competitive. This certainly includes having an HD feed for an increasing audience with HD televisions.

"If you don't go HD, you're basically left at the starting blocks," Leichtman Research Group president Bruce Leichtman had told Swartz. "There are so many other networks that are already there, if you're not there, you're conspicuously absent."

The Weather Channel had began heavy promotion of their HD channel within the last month with at least five different promos that have aired throughout the month of May. They have also aired Local on the 8s introductions featuring TWC HD. If you go to the official web site of The Weather Channel, you will find a really impressive look at what is in store. But if you want a highly in-depth look at the new HD studio, you can get a full virtual tour of it.

Those OCMs that work on the two HD-ready shows have been rehearsing for several weeks to get completely prepared for tomorrow. In addition to Seese and Tesch, meteorologists Paul Goodloe, Alexandra Steele and Jim Cantore who host the weeknight Evening Edition in prime time have also been doing their practice runs. Joel Topcik of Broadcasting & Cable published an excellent article yesterday to provide a behind-the-scenes look. A video clip of one of those unscripted rehearsals can be found at the Broadcasting & Cable multimedia page.

Cantore simply was in awe with that huge projection wall. This despite knowing it'll take some getting used to working in the new studio.

"That is a monster wall," he said to Topcik in an interview. "There's going to be some times when Cantore's pointing to Alabama and he really means to be pointing to North Carolina."

However, not all of us will get to watch The Weather Channel HD immediately. Besides DirecTV customers, those that have Dish Network, Charter, some Comcast and Time Warner Cable systems can access to the HD debut program tomorrow morning. Other cable companies are soon to follow in the weeks and months ahead to carry The Weather Channel HD. One of those that notably doesn't as we begin June is Cablevision. They haven't added a single HD channel since December 20, 2007 with ESPN 2 HD.

Undoubtedly, Ban is excited with what this addition of The Weather Channel HD will be for the future of the network.

"We are going to raise the bar with a next-generation display which translates to a more dramatic viewing experience. Just as we introduced and grew around-the-clock weather, we now take ownership of a totally new way of presenting weather. Continuing in our path as innovators, we will move viewers forward into the HD era of weather presentation," he explained.

Local weathercaster John Bolaris returns to Philadelphia

This may have been long time in its development, but one of the most well-known on-camera meteorologists along the Interstate 95 corridor has left his roots for a second time to return to a place he enjoyed living and working for over a decade.

John Bolaris made his on-air debut at WTXF-TV in Philadelphia on Tuesday after spending the last five years working just 90 miles to the northeast up in New York City. Usually those who watch local television newscasts or the weather junkies might keep up with these happenings of OCMs' comings and goings, right? Well, I may qualify as one of them.

Rumors were swirling during the entire autumn season about Bolaris' future. As early as September 12th, Michael Klein of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported where Bolaris might be headed. Klein stated in his article that Bolaris dropped a hint during a radio appearance on the Preston & Steve show on WMMR-FM that day in which he said, "Right now, I can't say I can tell you this: I should be hanging with you guys soon."

But on November 1st, it became official. Klein reported that Bolaris was hired to become their chief meteorologist at Philadelphia's FOX Television station.

WTXF-TV would not post the announcement on their web site until December 19th. Bolaris had even taped a few teaser promos to prepare viewers for his return to the local airwaves as a well-known weathercaster in the City of Brother Love. He evidently expressed his true love for Philadelphia and how he couldn't contain his excitement in moving back and working there again as he did for 12 years at WCAU-TV from 1990 to 2002. Many loyal WCAU-TV viewers expressed their sadness to see Bolaris leave and wished him well on his last day at the station five years ago. Now those that want to see Bolaris regularly again will have to tune to another Philadelphia newscast.

The 50-year-old Bolaris previously worked at WCBS-TV in New York City from December 9, 2002 until last month as his five-year contract was not renewed by the station. WCBS-TV had already started going in another direction with their weather department as they began a partnership with The Weather Channel and hired new OCMs to their staff. Bolaris was the chief meteorologist at WCBS-TV until the station brought in Lonnie Quinn last April to be in that role and Bolaris was relegated to mainly weekend status. Once WCBS-TV had also added former NBC Weather Plus meteorologist Elise Finch and three months earlier done the same in bringing in former KCBS-TV meterologist John Elliott from Los Angeles to do weekday morning and midday duties, the writing seemed to be on the wall for Bolaris that he was no longer going to get his regular airtime at WCBS-TV.

Bolaris' first tour of duty at WCBS-TV was from 1985 to 1990. I certainly remembered him on New York television at the time and after he came back to the Big Apple in 2002. One weather term I always remembered him say was his reference to thunderstorms as "thunderboomers".

For the past four months, Bolaris had looked to leave his hometown for a second time to a place he felt very comfortable going to. His tenure at WCAU-TV (NBC 10) that ended on November 27, 2002 was one that had an impact on his weathercasting career. In an interview that aired on that very day, Bolaris told former colleague and current WCAU-TV news anchor Renee Chenault-Fattah that the events of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was a calling for him to pursue his dream to be a weathercaster in New York City. For the next five years, he was able to live it.

As the events of the past several months unfolded and where he wanted to go next became clear, the transition of moving from New York City just down the New Jersey Turnpike back to Philadelphia was in his mind very easy and a no-brainer of a decision.

WCAU-TV has made out just fine for the last 5 years since Bolaris' departure from the station as their chief meteorologist is currently Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz. Now both him and Bolaris will be in the same television market in a friendly competition for viewers in the Lower Delaware River Valley. Schwartz has been at WCAU-TV since 1995.

Many Philadelphians may remember Bolaris' coverage of the January 7, 1996 blizzard while at WCAU-TV in which an all-time record 30.7 inches of snow fell, but his very inaccurate forecast of a similar storm that was expected to paralyze the city on March 5, 2001 had made headlines. The storm never lived up to that prediction, so much so that he actually received death threats from local viewers. In order to turn what his critics say was a low point in his broadcasting career into a positive, he made reference to that "storm of the century" that was never-to-be in one of his FOX 29 promos previewing his arrival.

Bolaris' first appearance at WTXF-TV (FOX 29) was during their 5:00 PM newscast on January 8th. He provided his first weather forecast from the streets of downtown Philadelphia (known as "Center City" to the locals), then was in studio to do a partial forecast segment and later did a full report. Good timing for his first day at WTXF earlier in this week as Bolaris was able to discuss the record high temperatures being set with readings well into the 60s.

With Bolaris now back in Philadelphia, many of his loyal viewers will get to once again see his weather reports on a full-time basis. With this winter only a few weeks old, he has a chance to forecast big snowstorms again. As he lightheartedly said, he has the more advanced technological tools to nail down those predictions. A possible nor'easter might bringing some rain or snow to Philadelphia late on Sunday and into Monday, so he'll surely be busy keeping an eye to the sky.

Georgia governor declares drought emergency

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.

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).

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.

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

Phoenix sets new all-time annual record for most 110° days

It was bound to happen because it was only a matter of time.

Phoenix finally set a new all-time record yesterday for the most 110° days in a single calendar year. It became official at 5:05 PM Mountain Standard Time when Sky Harbor International Airport recorded its high temperature of 113°, marking the 29th time this year it has been at least 110°. It surpassed the previous record of 28 days in 1979 and 2002. It also tied the record high temperature for yesterday's date (113° in 1981).

While the southern Great Plains and southeastern United States have grabbed the headlines this summer (triple-digit heat in both regions, flooding rains in Texas and Oklahoma and the severe drought in the southeast such as in Alabama), Phoenix has quietly stayed out of the spotlight for the most part. But today, it is worth mentioning this very interesting record.

Here is where 2007 stands now amongst the hottest summers in Phoenix with days of 110° or higher. The National Weather Service has not updated its data posted on their Phoenix forecast office site yet, so I don't have the new annual frequency of 110° days listed by decade for you right now.

Top 10 years with highs of 110° or greater at Phoenix

1. 2007*... 29
T-2. 1979 and 2002... 28
T-3. 1936, 1974, 1985, 1989... 27
8. 2003... 26
T-9. 1981 and 1995... 25

*through August 29, 2007
The all-time monthly record is in June 1974 and July 1989.


To put this in perspective, this is not yet the hottest summer on record in Phoenix based on the average temperature in a meteorological summer season (June 1st to August 31st). At the same time, here are the top four all-time single day record-high temperatures for Phoenix as provided by KPHO-TV (you can see it in the video clip).

1. 122°... June 26, 1990
2. 121°... July 28, 1995
3. 120°... June 25, 1990
4. 118°... July 27, 1995

And here is some local coverage of the new annual record for most 110°+ days in a year. The KNXV-TV links are video clips.

Arizona Republic (August 30):
Tired of the 110° days? It could be worse.

East Valley Tribune (August 30):
Hot-weather records stuck on "replay"

KPHO-TV (Phoenix) (August 30):
New heat alert on heels of record
Crunching the numbers (video clip)

KSAZ-TV (Phoenix) (August 30):
Record heat by day, lightning by night
Working through heatwave no picnic
Coolidge schools closed

KPNX-TV (Phoenix) (August 30):
See video clips from home page:
"Record heat"
"Phoenix breaks all-time record for most days above 110 degrees"
Record heat continues for your Thursday

KNXV-TV (Phoenix) (August 30):
Hot in Phoenix? The understatement of the summer.
Is this the hottest summer ever?

Hurricane Katrina two-year anniversary arrives

Today's date is somber reminder of what major weather event impacted our country by significant proportions.

After we just finished watching Dean march across the Caribbean Sea and slam into Mexico last week, today marks the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall on the Gulf Coast region of the United States.

I still remember where I was when Katrina struck New Orleans and especially the Mississippi coastline. The catastrophic devastation has made the recovery effort a daunting, but not impossible task for the region. Headlines have ranged from the failing levees flooding 80% of New Orleans to damage of the Louisiana wetlands to near-total destruction of cities such as Biloxi and Gulfport. But Katrina's large wind field as it reached the Gulf Coast undoubtedly had effected other cities such as Lake Charles (later more impacted by Hurricane Rita) and Mobile. On August 29, 2005, I was visiting one of my closest friends in the Long Island town of Lake Ronkonkoma, New York and had recorded onto VHS tape three time periods of coverage from The Weather Channel, including the moment Katrina made landfall. So in the future, if you see any video clips from that tape, the current conditions site is from Islip, New York instead of the site for my own local coverage area (White Plains, New York).

Most of the post-Katrina attention has been on New Orleans where devastation is well-documented. The massive failure of the levees flooded out the city, especially The 9th Ward section with the most visible damage. Some residents that had no means to evacuate the city took refuge in the Louisiana Superdome, a venue that suffered significant damage to its roof (just look at the aerial photos and video from after the storm). The New Orleans Police Department has had their hands full dealing with widespread crime in the weeks and months since Katrina hit (they still don't have a headquarters building). The federal government early on failed to implement an effective gameplan to help in the recovery effort and many critics blame those running the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA's mismanagement in providing swift and immediate aid to especially those desperately in need of assistance still is even discussed today. Even how New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin has managed the rebuilding process has been well-scrutinized and criticized for especially how slow the process has been and what steps have yet to be met to insure a full recovery for the Crescent City. One skeptic that I heard make such statements in which he has his doubts New Orleans ever will is Glenn Beck. He had coverage to ask the question if the Crescent City can be a viable place to live anymore. Regardless of what Beck thinks, the levees are being rebuilt slowly but surely, however New Orleans remains extremely vulernable to another hurricane only two years removed from Katrina. About two-thirds of the original 455,000 population have reportedly either stayed throughout or returned within the last 24 months. For visitors that come to New Orleans, there is a company that daily gives a three-hour tour of the city called "Katrina Tours" to show first hand the devastation Katrina caused and the progress New Orleans has made in the rebuilding process.

However, we have seen signs of promising progress to a point where even their two major sports franchises have made a commitment to remain in New Orleans. The Saints made a trimuphent return last fall to a renovated Superdome and defeated the Atlanta Falcons before a national television audience. The main theme of this game was to celebrate New Orleans' rebirth. Meantime, the Hornets return to New Orleans full time this upcoming NBA season after spending the previous two in Oklahoma City and will even host the 2008 NBA All-Star Game next February.

In Biloxi and Gulfport, notable progress has been made as businesses are re-opening and numerous rebuilding projects have given those that are deeply involved a sense of optimism for the region. From new hotels to casinos to bring in revenue to downtown revitalization plus the rebuilding of neighborhoods, those along Mississippi's Gulf Coast region have reason to believe again in where they call home. Their two-year anniversary observance today will provide them a look back at what residents are recovering from.

President George W. Bush paid a visit to New Orleans today for the two-year anniversary events. Despite the mismanagement and ongoing challenges the city faces today, Bush said New Orleans is now in better shape than at this time two years ago (of course it is, Katrina was battering the city at the time) and expressed his hope for full recovery.

While I was quickly surfing the internet during my lunch hour, I see that The Times-Picayune has a special archive section of articles from August 29, 2005. It is definitely worth checking out.
I'm unsure if I'll be tuning in to The Weather Channel tonight for coverage on the Katrina anniversary, but I'm sure those that did two years ago remember the 2005 Hurricane Katrina theme music played during the "Local on the 8s" forecast segments. The Mets-Phillies and Red Sox-Yankees series are of higher interest to me tonight. I cannot post a direct link to Steve Arnold's full-length song to provide a reminiscent look back at memorable sounds we heard on The Weather Channel that day because it would for me be illegal to do so online. I wouldn't be surprised if Jim Cantore (my all-time favorite TWC meteorologist), Jeff Morrow, Mike Seidel and Stephanie Abrams are all on location at the same places they were during Katrina. I expect the lovely Julie Martin to also provide live reports from New Orleans, too.

Overall, it is a tough day for many that were affected by Hurricane Katrina, but at the same time it reminds us how much we need to continue moving forward in the rebuilding process. The hope and resilence needs to be there if places such as New Orleans, Biloxi and Gulfport are to fully recover and possibly stronger than before Katrina caused widespread destruction.

Dean makes second landfall and soaks central Mexico

The Weather Channel, Accu-Weather, NBC Weather Plus, CNN, FOX News Channel and local stations provided viewers plenty of coverage on Hurricane Dean throughout the week and even more so on Wednesday.

Dean made its anticipated second landfall around 11:30 AM Central Daylight Time on Wednesday as a category 2 hurricane in Tecolutla, Mexico. The storm regained some strength after moving across the Yucatan Peninsula with peak winds around 100 miles per hour. The good news coming from this entire weather event was that there was less damage than many observers (including me) expected given the strength of the storm. Much of that can be contributed to where both landfalls occurred in remote areas where the population was small. If anything, the south shore of Jamaica can make claim to having the most damage with toppled trees and power lines and some buildings in Kingston now in need of repair. There was also some flooding and mudslides on Jamaica's east side.

This storm lasted 10 days, caused $3.8 billion of damage so far and to date and has resulted in 37 deaths (as of August 24th). In its final hours as a tropical cyclone, Dean simply drenched central Mexico with heavy rain over the Sierra Madre Oriental more than anything else. Mudslides have also been a major concern across the region. Rain from Dean didn't spare the largest metropolis in North America of 8.7 million residents. Some Mexico City neighborhoods had to deal with sewage canal overflow and as a result homes suffered flood damage.

And by the way, Carl Parker... you may want to clarify your source next time you state a statistic on The Weather Channel. You made reference to Greater Mexico City as the second-most populous metropolitan area on earth. Last time I checked, as of 2006, the New York City metropolitan area is ranked #2 with over 21.9 million and the Mexican capital region at #3 with 19.4 million. The Tokyo-Yokohama region is #1 in the world at nearly 35.2 million people. But regardless of my argument (true or not), this former hurricance affected many people in central Mexico.

The question remains, will the remnants of Dean affect the United States? There's no definitive answer to that, but if that is the case, the possibility some of Dean's moisture may move northward into the southern portion of the country. Texas certainly doesn't need it as that state is still recovering from Erin.

Tuesday's 59° high in New York City equals their lowest August high temperature

As mentioned in my previous blog entry, it was a very unseasonably cool day in the Big Apple on Tuesday. So much so that it turned out to be the coldest August day on record for Central Park.

Tuesday's high temperature which occurred at 2:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time was only 59°. That set a record for the lowest high temperature for August 21st which previously was 64° in 1999, but it wasn't for the entire day (overnight low of 53° in 1922). But the bigger story was that it tied the all-time record for the month with the lowest high temperature set in 1911.

This weather story was certainly talked about on the local newscasts such as at WCBS-TV's web site showing the headline, "Arctic August: NYC sets record for coldest day". Arctic August? That's quite a stretch. Long Island Newsday had a nice clever headline, "August heat takes a chill pill". For nearly a week, that dose of weather medicine lasted much longer than your average cold medicine can provide... ya know, those that claim it can for 24 hours?

It certainly did not feel like summer outside, but instead was a true autumn preview. What happened on three days ago is typical for November 1st, not August 21st. While I personally cannot wait for fall to arrive, summer weather will return today as it will be back in the mid 80s this afternoon. Five straight days of below normal temperatures made New Yorkers feel spoiled compared to our friends down south.

unseasonable cool and damp conditions in northeastern United States

For the past four days, the northeastern United States has seen unseasonably cool temperatures and at least for today, it is damp as well. As I posted earlier today in my August 21st report, raw conditions can be felt in the New York City metropolitan area with rain and readings only in the upper 50s to low 60s. It sure felt like a fall preview around here.

This rare occasion where the jetstream is parked to the south in the mid-Atlantic region and a stationary front down there as well, refreshing Canadian air has filtered into the region. We are at least 20° below normal for a typical day in the second half of August (normal high temperature at Central Park is 82°). However, summer will make a big comeback by the upcoming weekend with temperatures around 90°. For now, rain will remain in the forecast through the rest of today and tonight before conditions improve for tomorrow in New York. While the threat of showers and thunderstorms are possible on Thursday, it will be warmer as readings will return to normal in the low 80s.

What is in store as we close out August? I still cannot believe September is around the corner. I have to admit it has been a better summer than we average here. It could be a lot worse, just go to Memphis with their just-broken streak of 8 straight days of record-high temperatures of at least 100° (August 9th to August 17th) where only one of them didn't set a new daily record.

Hurricane Dean grazes Jamaica, then slams into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula

As Erin drenched Texas and Oklahoma, the first hurricane of the 2007 season developed into a nasty storm as it made its way across the Caribbean Sea over the last four days.

Hurricane Dean developed into a category 4 storm packing winds closest to its concentric eyewall of over 140 miles per hour as the eye passed 50 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica late Sunday. Dean flooded the capital city and some building damage was reported. The country's power company turned off electricity on Sunday in anticipation of a direct hit from Dean. Heavy rain that fell north of Kingston triggered mudslides in the mountainous portions of the country.













Dean then set its sights on the Yucatan Peninsula as it progressed on a generally westward track and strengthened into a category 5 storm, the highest rating on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The popular resort city of Cancún was spared the worst of the damage as Hurricane Dean made landfall early this morning near Costa Maya, Mexico, just north of the Belize border. Dean became the first category 5 hurricane to make landfall since Hurricane Andrew did so on August 24, 1992 in Homestead, Florida where winds were at 165 miles per hour and at 920 millibars of pressure. Cancun was devastated from Hurricane Wilma two years ago and had just been recovering back to pre-Wilma conditions when Dean beared down on the Yucatan Peninsula over the last 24 hours.

But Chetumal wasn't as lucky with the city of over 150,000 residents having lost power and took the brunt of 165 miles per hour winds being close to the eye of the storm. Dean is now making its way across the southern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula this afternoon. Thanks to the flat landscape, Dean has maintained above minimal hurricane-strength winds at 85 miles per hour as of 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time and is expected to move into the Bay of Campeche tonight. The hurricane may briefly regain strength as at least a category 2 storm before making a second landfall tomorrow possibly near Tampico, Mexico.

Erin floods Texas and Oklahoma, Dean not likely to do the same

Just when we thought this would be another extremely quiet hurricane season for the Atlantic basin, it has finally gotten active. As Hurricane Dean formed in the central Atlantic Ocean, a tropical disturbance organized into a tropical depression one week ago in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. It later became a minimal tropical storm as it approached the Texas coastline.

As it turned out, Tropical Storm Erin made landfall just north of Corpus Christi, Texas during the overnight hours last Thursday (August 16th) and produced flooding rains to rain-soaked southern and western Texas and later in Oklahoma over the following three days. The last of the remnants of Erin developed into severe thunderstorms and even tornadoes to eastern Nebraska last night.

Prior to Erin's arrival, Corpus Christi already received a record rainfall total of over 18 inches of rain last month and nearly 33 inches for the entire year, so area residents hoped Erin wouldn't cause any serious flooding this time around. But Corpus Christi lucked out with just .18 of an inch of rain from the tropical storm as the bulk of the precipitation ended up being north of the area.

Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport had daily record rainfall for last Thursday and ended up with a storm total of 2.92 inches. However, other parts of the city such its southwest side received as much as 9 inches and flooded many streets and major highways. San Antonio didn't fare much better as Erin caused some serious flooding in parts of that city as well. While San Antonio International Airport received only .06 of an inch of rain last Thursday, the San Antonio River had overflown its banks from South San Antonio toward the Gulf Coast from 8 to 18 feet above flood stage.

Erin marched northwestward into the western half of Texas bringing more heavy rain to areas that didn't need it. The remnants of this storm then moved into Oklahoma over the weekend and flooded out central and eastern parts of the state with over 9 inches of rain. For Saturday, Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City received a record 3.82 inches of rain for that date while locales well to the east such as Kingfisher, Oklahoma had significant flooding thanks to the Cimarron River overflowing its banks.

Neither of these two states will have to be seriously concerned with Hurricane Dean at this point as the forecast track takes that storm well south of the region into central Mexico. But for right now, Texans and Oklahomans have a massive cleanup job ahead of them.