Florida Cold Brings Expected Freeze Threat Overnight

January 5, 2010 – Don’t be fooled by this picture, it’s been in the mid 50’s all day here in South Florida, and freezing temperatures are expected later tonight. The picture shows a misleading scene of a nice warm looking sun with coconut palms, but cold northwesterly winds continued to filter in well below normal cold weather for not only South Florida, but the entire state. Late afternoon hours on Tuesday had a range of temperatures from the lower 40’s in the Florida Panhandle, to the mid and upper 40’s in Central Florida. Even at 3pm, the temp in Key West, FL was 59°F.

The National Weather Service in Miami, FL issued earlier this afternoon, a Freeze Warning for metro Southeast Florida counties that include Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. Temperatures are expected to fall near or at the freezing mark in the western suburbs of South Florida. Further north into Central Florida, there are Hard Freeze Warnings in place, as tonight’s low’s are forecasted to fall below 32°F for many hours. This will likely produce crop damage, and make for dangerous cold conditions for residents.

This will make for the third cold night in a row, and the coldest of the week in Florida. More possible arctic weather is on the horizon for Florida next week if the computer forecast models pan out.

Related Florida 2010 Freeze Posts: Florida Freeze Continues Tonight – Video and Pictures

Mayon Volcano Video Explosions Lava Cascades Legaspi

December 24, 2009 – Once again fellow Storm Chaser James Reynolds fed me in some of his latest Mayon Volcano video footage from Legaspi City, Philippines. There are some beautiful scenes of explosions and lava cascades during the early morning hours of Christmas Eve. He continues to capture some beautiful imagery of the volcano and share it will us.

Be sure to visit James’s personal website for all his work at: Typhoonfury.com

Related Mayon Volcano Video: Volcano Mayon Video From Chaser James Reynolds

Volcano Mayon Video From Chaser James Reynolds

December 24, 2009 (Philippines time) – James Reynolds continues to monitor the activity with Volcano Mayon. Early in the morning of Christmas Eve, more smoke plumes and lava could be seen running down the side of the volcano. This is a short one minute update from James, as the internet services are slow in the area. You can view the previous video update from him below.

December 23, 2009 – Fellow Storm Chaser James Reynolds, also known for his great Typhoon chasing in the western Pacific, recently left for a Volcano Expedition and traveled to Legaspi, Philippines. This latest video just sent in from him last night, is of the Mayon Volcano not to far from Legaspi where he and press have setup.

A special thanks to James Reynolds, for sharing this great event with us, and allowing Weatherzine to share the video with our visitors as well. We will be continuing to monitor his updates over the coming days, and also to see what Volcano Mayon might do next.

Related Volcano Mayon Video: Mayon Volcano Video Explosions Lava Cascades Legaspi

Typhoon Nida Monster Swells For Surfers In Guam

November 29, 2009 – Slow moving Typhoon Nida has been producing very impressive clean and large swells along the western coast of Guam. Surfers and body-boarders have been cranking out some major surf sessions the last 24 hours, and the swells could increase a little more into Monday.

Jim Edds remains on the Island of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean, on his two month typhoon expedition. These were the latest scenes from Guam on Sunday.

Support Team Weatherzine Organ Donation Miracle Walk

November 11, 2009 – Please join Team Weatherzine, and myself Jeff Gammons, in my efforts to support Transplant Foundation, Inc., in this years Miracle Walk / Run in Miami. As many of you know, I received a lifesaving kidney transplant back on Easter Sunday April 12, 2009. I would not be living a more normal life, and feeling great if it wasn’t for my organ donor. Please help me spread awareness about how important organ donation is, and support our team this weekend.

Team Weatherzine has 15 people walking in this weekends event. Our Team goal to raise for this years event is $1000.00. We have already raised $767.00, but still trying to reach our goal before this Saturday.

Two ways you can make a contribution online: You can make a donation towards Team Weatherzine as a whole, or your welcome to sponsor me. Please chose a link below that will take you to the Miracle Walk events website.

Donate Towards Team Weatherzine

Donate Towards Jeff Gammons

I will be listing everyone’s participation with our team, along with all of our sponsors. I want to thank you all in advance for your support, and look for a follow up blog post after the event.

Thank You – Jeff Gammons

Hurricane Ida Ongoing Chase Updates

November 8, 2009 – Currently en-route to the Florida Panhandle for Hurricane Ida chase. It’s not known if she will remain fully tropical at the time of nearing, and/or making landfall along the Northern Gulf coast. But, I decided it would be a close enough call to justify making the trip, plus, this being the only possible hurricane landfall of the 2009 season. Nevertheless, there will be likely strong winds and heavy rains regardless if she’s a true tropical cyclone, or transitioning into a extratropical system.

LIVE UPDATES BELOW: I will update this blog post throughout my chase to make it easier on me. So refer back to this page for further updates on the road, and watch for new video updates in the right side video player. Thanks – Jeff Gammons

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Update: 11/11/09 9:42am ET - Back home in South Florida after our 36 hour chase to Pensacola Beach for Tropical Storm Ida. I’d have to say the most impressive part of Ida, had to be the very large waves about 12 hours before she reached the coast. I will be posting pictures and video in the coming day or two, and I’ll post a link to them here. Otherwise, this is the last update on this page concerning Ida.

Update: 11/10/09 8:50am ET – A very disorganized Tropical Storm Ida, made landfall along the Alabama coast just to our west, with 45mph winds. The winds are onshore here now in Pensacola, and the Gulf is extremely rough. Were going to get some breakfast down stairs, and then head back down to the water for some last minute video and pictures. After that, back on the highway eastbound, and then south towards home in South Florida. I’ll post a Tropical Storm Ida picture gallery once back home of the last 24 hours of our adventures here in Pensacola Beach.

Update: 11/10/09 12:31am ET - Tropical Storm Ida continues to weaken, remains just offshore the Alabama and Florida coasts. In the last two hours, we have started to receive low-end tropical storm force winds, along with very heavy rainfall here on Pensacola Beach. A heavy band of rain on the northern side of Ida, has been stationary dumping 2-3 inches of rain and hour. The winds have also become more sustained with embedded gusts, but nothing to impressive. Going to get a few hours of sleep, and get up once the onshore flow takes over here on the beach.

Update: 11/9/09 6:36pm ET - We’ve taken the last few hours to relax here on Pensacola Beach in our 3rd floor room at the Hampton Inn beachside. There are thunderous crashing waves just out the window, and the winds are becoming a little more sustained. Looking at radar, some of the last few scans maybe show that Ida may be beginning to make the north-northeast turn towards the Alabama / Florida border. I will be heading out on foot in the next hour, as she looks to make landfall sooner than first thought. It should be a interesting next 6-8 hours here in Pensacola Beach.

Update: 11/9/09 12:02pm - Kersten and I have been around Pensacola Beach, FL the last several hours shooting (AS SEEN ABOVE) some video and pictures of the large swells. Went out to the end of the Pensacola Beach pier to shoot impressive large waves pounding the coastline. Tropical Storm Ida continues to weaken, but still expecting Tropical Storm force winds this evening and heavy rains.

Update: 11/9/09 4:47am ET - Passing Crestview, FL in the Panhandle. Ida Satellite looking much weaker, and looks like cooler water and wind shear are now slowly weakening her as expected. Still en-route though.

Update: 11/8/09 10:40pm ET - Passing central Florida northbound. Learned that Hurricane Warnings now active along the northern gulf coast.

Update: 11/8/09 8:37pm ET - I have departed South-Central Florida, and currently on the road towards the Florida western Panhandle.

Update: 11/8/09 7:19pm ET - Everything is packed and ready to go. Having dinner and then heading out northbound towards the Florida Panhandle.

Late Season Tropical Storm Ida Forms Southwest Caribbean

November 4, 2009 – Tropical Storm Ida organizing in the southwestern Caribbean Sea this afternoon. A recent reconnaissance flight into the Tropical Depression, found winds that have now increased into the moderate Tropical Storm force range. Tropical Storm Ida has winds of 60mph with higher gusts, and slowly moving west-northwest around 6mph. Visible satellite loop trends throughout the day, have showed a fairly organized system, with nice banding of deep convection. I’m surprised that recon found an already impressive 60mph tropical storm with a pressure reading of 996mb. What would we do without solid data from recon missions.

A lot is up in the air about the future track and strength of Ida. If she continues to slowly track a little more west-northwestward, she will remain very close to the Nicaragua coastline, and is forecast to move inland overnight and on Thursday. This would significantly affect the strength, and sustaining of a organized system, especially once it moves fully over land. Right now I’m more focused on it’s future track over the next 48 hours, while interacting with Central American. It is forecast to track out into the western Caribbean and slowly re-intensify.

Models are in agreement in bringing Ida northwestward into the western Caribbean Sea, and possibly the Gulf of Mexico as well. It’s way to early to know for sure if Ida would even make it that far north with some of the land obstacles ahead of her. I’m watching very closely as this late season Tropical Storm is positioned south of Florida in November. It will be interesting to track and see what she does into this weekend. Stay tuned!

Halloween Weekend Miami Beach Pumpkins and Footaball

November 1, 2009 – It’s so hard to believe it’s already November. At least for me, and Kersten said the same thing, the year has flown by so fast. We closed out October this past weekend starting off with a very nice and relaxing early lunch in Miami Beach. Kersten and I decided after taking care of some business, that we had the time to head down to South Beach along Ocean Drive for a walk and a bite to eat.

We walked Ocean Drive, and walked along the beach enjoying a fantastic late October day. It felt more like late Summer with a easterly breeze off the water and temperatures in the upper 80’s. We ate at Ocean’s Ten on a sidewalk table, enjoying drinks and food as we people watched. I shot a nice series of photographs along the beach and then we headed back north for home. Defiantly worth investing the few hours.

Halloween was also a warm and sunny day, and we pretty much lounged around the house watching horror movies and eating some junk food. Later in the afternoon we started to carve up our pumpkins for the front patio deck. By sunset, Kersten was off helping JJ get ready in his costume, while I setup the table outside with our pumpkins. We only had about 23 Trick-or-Treaters, so the evening went fairly fast. Ended the day with another movie and some burgers.

Sunday was pretty much a full day of sports for me. I watched the Miami Dolphins – Jets game, and about passed out in the 4th quarter. I was happy to see Miami pull it out at the very end for a win on the road, and to sweep the Jets. Now, as I type up this post, I have the World Series on behind me ending a great weekend.

Hope everyone has a great first week of November, because it won’t last long. These next 60 days will fly by, and we’ll all be ringing in the New Year.

Storm Chasers Jim Edds James Reynolds Typhoon Mirinae

November 1, 2009 – My good friend and chase partner Jim Edds from Pensacola Florida, along with fellow Typhoon Chaser James Reynolds, sent me in the latest incoming video scenes from Typhoon Mirinae to recently hit the Philippines. They filmed in and around the city of Manila during the duration of the Typhoon. Jim said the locals were friendly, and even had to give him a helping hand at one point when he found himself stuck in a hole as seen in this video update.

This has been Jim’s third Typhoon chase in the last month. He ventured out to the West Pacific Ocean in early October to chase / intercept Typhoons, after the Atlantic 2009 Hurricane Season remained very slow likely due to a developing El Nino. Jim plans to return the Florida sometime at the end of November or into early December once the season out there comes to a close.

Note: Most of the video shot in this segment are from James Reynolds (Typhoonfury.com). I need to edit the overlay credit on the video. Great work, James!

People Ready For Typhoon Lupit In Aparri Philippines

October 21, 2009 – Storm Chaser partner Jim Edds, is now on the ground in the city of Aparri, which is located on the northern coast of the Philippines. He is there to intercept and document Typhoon Lupit, which is forecast to track across the northern mainland coast. These are some images from the area once he arrived yesterday of local residents preparing for the storm. Expecting more updates over the next few days from him.

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