Enjoying The Mid December Warmth, Midwest Snow Storm

Mad Rush To Get Things Done -

Well, were all moving into that last weekend before Christmas, and things have been pretty busy for me trying to get last minute things completed. Not only that, but I’m still also trying to get over my Laryngitis that really to a lot of ummph of me the last week. Loosing my voice and the tickle in the throat was bad, but also was the drained feeling. At least the weather has been outstanding this week helping me feel better, with temps running in the upper 70’s to lower 80’s, along with moderate humidity levels. Very nice! This fine weather has really helped to move the recovery process along nicely, and hope to be back into full gear just in time for the upcoming Christmas week gatherings. No one likes to be under the weather for Christmas right?

The Florida Christmas Temperature Flip-flop -

It’s funny that a month and a half ago, back in October, we had our first really cool snap of the season. From about that point on, it remained cool, with several cold weather events to following all through November and into the first week of December. Here we are now nearing the fist day of Winter and looking at above warmth for this week, and Christmas looks to be in the 70’s. Hoping for at least a cool weekend next weekend as we will be hosting our annual post-Christmas party and everyone always loves the fireplace lit. We’ll have to see how the forecast pans out the next several days.

Midwest / Northeast Ice and Snow Storm -

It’s not too bad here when looking at this mornings national winter radar view, and seeing the widespread ice and snow storm raking through the upper Midwest and moving into the Northeast states. Now that looks like a big cold freezing mess that I’d want nothing to do with. Can’t complain too much down here in December.

Feeling Better Now And The Warm Weather Returns

I’m Rebounding Nicely From The Laryngitis -

A nice warm start to the week on Monday, and yes, the forecast calls for a extended period of above temperatures through the remainder of the week. I’m still dealing with my run of Laryngitis this morning and I’m beginning to get my voice back, although very horse and rough sounding. One thing that is helping is all the warm air and moisture that has returned on the nice southeast breezes the last 24 hours. This should remain like this the rest of the week as we sit under a ridge that will deflect all those cold fronts well north of the Florida border for this week. All the cool dry air from last weekend just made my stuffy head and soar throat worst at times. Today is beautiful outside with morning temperatures rising nicely into the upper 70’s with dew points near 70F. Should see some lower 80’s by afternoon, so I will defiantly be spending some time under the sun in the next few hours and step away from the computers. Might even try to give a go at some lawn work today since it’s so nice out and we did have a little rainfall a few days ago, and the lawn is nice an green. A few weeks ago after all that record cold weather we had, my lawn was brown and dead looking. Not the way we like to see our year round lawns here in Southern FLorida that for sure. Yeah thats right, we still have to cut our lawns here in the winter about ever other week or so, unlike the 4-6 times a month in the summer.

Getting Back Out There Capturing The Fluid Sky -

Once I get my full strength back and get rid of the blah feeling, I’d like to get back into shooting my time lapse winter clouds scenes as noted in a pervious post. We’ve had a few rounds of southern tracking storm systems over the last two weeks, and I wonder if this will continue as we move into the winter months. It makes the weather a little more interesting with the southern tracking low’s out of the Gulf here in Florida, with some chances of severe weather to chase and shoot, and just to have something change it up a little. NOAA is calling for above normal temperatures and below normal rainfall for here in Florida from December through February’09. We’ll see how this pans out now that were well into December and this is the only first bout of above warmth.

Nevertheless…. Here’s to a active weather winter season for the south. Now, I must get off the laptop and head outside for some outstanding weather and continue to rest my voice.

Stratocumulus Clouds Preventing Geminid Meteor Shower Viewing

No Meteor Shower For You -

I know many were looking forward to viewing this year annual display of the Geminid Meteor Shower, but extensive cloud cover here in Florida is making it very hard. Breezy northeast winds off the Atlantic Ocean, along with cooler air over the warmer waters, is producing a significant stratocumulus cloud deck. This low-level cloud deck layer extends over much of the western Atlantic and Bahamas and spreads westward over almost the entire Florida peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. The breezy northeasterly winds are helping to continue a steady flow of clouds inland over Florida making for any meteor viewing pretty poor. Further north into northeast Florida not only do you have the low-level clouds, but also seen in this IR satellite imagery, upper-level highs clouds have been moving into the region. Florida defiantly is not the place this weekend to be viewing any meteor showers.

PRESSURE GRADIENT ALONG THE FLORIDA EAST COAST WILL SUPPORT BRISK WINDS ALONG THE COAST THE REMAINDER OF THE NIGHT. IR SATELLITE LOOP SHOWING MARINE LAYER STRATOCUMULUS EXTENDING WELL EAST INTO THE ATLANTIC.

Perigee Full Moon As Seen From Southern Florida

Last night the brightest and largest moon of the year made itself into the night sky. I waiting on my front patio for it to rise above the eastern horizon on a cold clear sky evening. Soon after sunset, you could see a bright glow coming from the horizon and shortly after, a monster of a full moon lifted into the night sky. It was very impressive, and I wish I had better lens’s with my digital camera to get closer shots, but I worked with what I had. It was super bright, and very vivid, with a hint of orange to it’s color at first. I tried to shoot a time lapse, but I have been feeling under the weather lately, so I only shot a few pictures and then headed into the house. I came back out late into the night around midnight, and it was so bright out, you could clearly almost drive with no headlights. It was wild! Big full moon overhead like a big light bulb in the sky. Very impressive indeed.

Why The Moon Is So Large and Bright -

This full moon event is known as a Perigee Moon, and is brighter and larger since the moon’s orbit is an ellipse with one side 50,000 km closer to Earth than the others. The best time view it is when the moon was near the eastern horizon, as it will look it’s biggest then. There are some great pictures on Spaceweather.com that make mine look very amateur.

 

Related Moon Posts:

• Perigee Moon Show Tonight, Geminid Meteor Shower Tomorrow 

Under The Weather With Little Talk From Me This Weekend

• Perigee Full Moon As Seen From Southern Florida

Storm Chasing With Sore Throats, Lots of Memories -

The sore throat I had on Thursday and yesterday was severe indeed. It reminded me of a chase trip back in 2002 I believe, when we were in New Mexico chasing upslope LP Supercell storms. It was just the three of us, Chris Collura, David Cornwell, and myself. David came down with a severe sinus/cold infection, and somehow Chris came down a few days later with a extremely severe sore throat. I remember him saying when we were staying outside of Carlsbad in a motel 6, “I had bad dreams last night of monsters trying to rip my head and throat off”. I’m sure Chris remembers this vividly. LOL That’s how I felt the last few days. This last cold front to blast into the region also has made it like New Mexico here if we were west of the dryline. It’s once again super dry, and all that beautiful moisture has been scoured out once again. Doesn’t help with my sore throat and trying to keep it moist.

Kersten and JJ In Tonight’s Holiday Parade -

So, this morning I’m just taking it easy, having some warm coffee and talking little. Kersten is at work helping to decorate her jobs float in this year Christmas parade which is tonight, and Kersten and JJ both will be apart of riding the float this evening. If I feel up to it, I’ll walk some of the parade route to shoot video and pictures of them on the float and other scenes of the Holiday season. At least I don’t need to use my voice for anything.

A Longer Period of Warmer Weather On The Way? -

There is good news on the horizon though, at least for me. The extended forecast computer models (GFS), show a warming trend that will last possibly over a week or so once things begin to modify from this last cold front. Actually, winds are already veering out of the northeast, so modification is slowly underway now. All of November, and here in December we have been well below normal for temperatures, with even some record low temps recorded in late November. I wouldn’t mind the cold weather so much if it didn’t get so dry. I’m a creature of moisture, and I need my high dew points and humidity.

Perigee Moon Show Tonight, Geminid Meteor Shower Tomorrow

Other Space Weather This Weekend To Look Out For – Geminid Meteor Shower

With all the great sky conditions this weekend, why not have some more space weather to explore and enjoy on these chilly Florida December nights. The annual December Geminid Meteor Shower is expected to peak on the 13^th and 14^th, when Earth passes through a stream of debris from a extinct comet. With our bright moon over the next few nights, it will help reduce the amount of visible meteors from 100/hour down to about 20-30/hour. The best time to begin watching is Saturday night the 13^th around 10 pm local, through until dawn the next morning. Skies here in Florida should once again be clear and great for meteor shower watching, so pack up the family and head outside tomorrow night for some space weather fireworks in the night sky.

Share your encounters with any of this weekend space weather expected here in the comment section of the post. We’d love to see your perspective!

Related Weatherzine Perigee Moon Posts:

• Perigee Full Moon As Seen From Southern Florida

What To Do With Todays Weather? Squall Line Poof!

Lazy By The Radar Loops -

Been busy posting updates to today’s squall line moving through the state. Now here on the personal blog, you can see me hanging out watching area radars and the progress of the squall line that I will now likely not chase. Why? Well, like many times in the past, all the good wind fields pull out and lift northward before it reaches southern Florida. Also, we lost good heating today due to a ton of debris canopy clouds from the once potent squall line over the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Florida is seeing some good widespread rainfall now, but any thunderstorm action is limited. Really nothing to chase today, but maybe some decent time lapse scenes on the backside of the pre-frontal boundary and wind surge to move in from the Gulf later.

Outside of this personal blog section on Weatherzine.net, you can also read my other posts covering active weather by clicking on the above sub-categories. Off to get some lunch as the rain falls outside.

Related Posts:

• Southern Tracking Low Pressure Brings Storms To South FLorida
• Squall Line Storms Moving Into Florida with Active Tornado Watch

Southern Tracking Low Pressure Brings Storms To South Florida

Rainfall On The Way This Afternoon -

Impressive southern tracking low pressure storm, but luckily for Central and South Florida this afternoon, the once potent squall line moving ashore the Florida west coast is now less organized. Cooler shelf waters off the Florida west coast helped to weaken the line of strong convection earlier this morning, and the debris clouds and rain from earlier has now spread out ahead of the line also helping to stabilize things even more. There is little heating taking place with the thick cirrus deck overhead making it very overcast and keeping instability in check. Only isolated stronger embedded storms are possible now the pre-frontal trough tracks through the Sunshine state.

• SPC-MCD#2449

TRAILING PORTION OF THE CONVECTIVE LINEAR FEATURE CONTINUES TO WEAKEN ACROSS FL AS PRIMARY LARGE SCALE HEIGHT FALLS BEGIN TO SPREAD INTO GA/CAROLINAS. WHILE AN ISOLD STRONG TSTM MAY STILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS ECNTRL/SRN FL DURING PEAK HEATING….. WIDESPREAD SVR WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED. PRE-CONVECTIVE LINE SFC WINDS ARE PROGGED TO GENTLY VEER WITH TIME AND INSOLATION WILL BE TEMPERED BY MID/HIGH LVL CLOUD CANOPY…BOTH LESSENING THE THREAT FOR SVR STORMS.

Severe Threat Decreasing With Lack Of Instability -

With the lack of any good forcing as the winds begin to veer unidirectional, and little instability to work with, it’s not looking like a major severe weather event this time around. Expect gusty winds and heavy rains as the pre-frontal trough boundary moves through between midday over central Florida and into the evening hours over southern Florida. We welcome the rains, and the latest radar trends show a decent amount of widespread precipitation moving across the state. Looks like everyone will see some rainfall, which is very needed here in the dry season.

Cooler Weather To Return To Florida Friday / Saturday -

Once the cold front moves through late overnight and into Friday, much cooler temperatures once again will move into Florida on a stout northerly wind flow. Friday night into Saturday morning look to be the coolest before winds veer around to the east and a warming trend returns into next week.

Weatherzine Related Article Posts:

• Squall Line Storms Moving Into Florida With Active Tornado Watch

Hurricane Charley DVD Super Holiday 2008 Sale, $5.00!

Weather and storm enthusiasts, here’s a special deal for you this holiday season.  Get your own copy of the award winning Hurricane Chaser DVD, “Hurricane Charley – Friday The 13^th, 2004 – Punta Gorda, FL”. This classic DVD was released in 2004 after the category 4 hurricane struck southwest Florida, and is on a very special sale while supplies last for only $5.00, plus shipping (U.S. sales only). That’s right only five bux for a very impressive Storm Chaser look into the eye of a dangerous category 4 hurricane with 6 different camera angles throughout the film. This DVD won best Documentary at the International Miami Film Festival in 2005, and is defiantly worth adding to your DVD collection whether you’re a hurricane enthusiast or just lived through Hurricane Charley.

Once supplies are gone, this DVD will never republished, so get your copy today. We must make room for new upcoming releases and all remaining Hurricane Charley DVD’s must be sold before the new year. Just choose the Buy button below, and order through Paypal. Once their gone, the order page will be removed. This DVD makes a great Christmas or Holiday give to that someone you know that is crazy about the weather.HURRICANE CHARLEY – FRIDAY THE 13^TH 2004 – PUNTA GORDA FLORIDA

 

Ride along with 6 Storm and Hurricane Chasers as they intercept the eyewall of deadly category 4 Charley. See daylight category 145mph winds slam into the small coastal town, and watch these six Videographer try and ride out the storm on the streets of ground zero. Some of the most impressive hurricane footage ever captured during daylight.

• Poly-wrapped Case
• DVD-5 Quality – Plays In All DVD players.
• 80 Minutes – 4:3 standard Definition.
• Produced by” BNVN and Weathervine Storm and Hurricane Chasers.

 BUY NOW $5.00

Squall Line Storms Heading Into Florida with Active Tornado

 

Currently, Tornado Watch #950 is covering a large portion of the state of Florida this morning, as a potent squall line is racing towards the west-central Gulf coast. Embedded in the line of storms that run south to north, are isolated rotating storms that could produce stronger straight-line winds, and possibly a tornado or two as it moves ashore later this morning. Further east later today, if any daytime heating can take place, so stronger cells could develop and increase the tornado threat once again before the window of best wind dynamics lifts out to the northeast. Currently on IR satellite imagery, you can pick out a nice comma-head low pressure storm system over Louisiana racing eastward along the I-10 corridor. Actually, on the backside of this low, there is snow accumulation possible over the next few hours in central LA… Very interesting!

Also per early a.m. satellite loops, the strong squall line runs from western tip of Cuba to the south, and runs northward into the Florida Big Bend region, The strongest forcing along the line looks to be along a decent bulge to come ashore between northern Tampa Bay to Ft Myers, and this is also well noticed on the latest radar loops out of Tampa showing the strongest cells. It will be interesting to see if the strength of the line can hold together after moving ashore in the next few hours, and will be Chaseable by midday.

« Previous Page — Next Page »