Rainbow!

Yesterdays rainbow in Plymouth was amazing! Its kinda hard to tell from this photo.. But it was actually a triple rainbow!

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Last Full Day at ABC6!

Today is my last full day of interning in the Weather Center of ABC6. I am working with Steve Cascione and the focus of today is mainly on making sure that my final DVD broadcasting the weather comes out the way I want it to. As of right now the forecast is looking very nice so it should make for good conversation in terms of what I will be saying on camera.

I have learned a lot about how to present yourself on camera over the past month or so working with the chroma-key. Today will be my 4th and final DVD and after reviewing the past 3 DVD's I really have been able to critique myself and learn about what works and doesn't work when forecasting for the general public. This has certainly been a very exciting process and I really appreciate all of the help I have received from the ABC6 team especially Fred Campagna and Steve Cascione.

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Well, seeing as how this is my last official day in the ABC6 Weather Center, it would only be fair if I gave you all a final ABC6 Forecast.

For tonight, temperatures expected to dip into the low 70's which is still fairly warm for the evening hours. So expect a warm night tonight. Winds will be very light and variable.

Tomorrow will turn out to be a very nice day. Mostly sunny with a high of about 80°. The winds will start off light and increase as the day moves on coming from a Southerly direction.

Overnight, some increasing clouds with a possible pop up shower to start off the morning of Friday. However, the showers will not linger on Friday. The rest of the day the sun will manage to break through, giving us a mainly nice day. High temperature will be 83°. There will be a Northwest wind of about 5-8mph.

The rest of the weekend will be very nice as well. Dry conditions are certainly in the cards for us with temperatures in the upper 70's. But to start off the week on Monday though, there will be some showers and possible thunderstorms throughout the day. But do not worry this system will be very short lived and should clear out completely, making Tuesday a drier day.

That's what you're in for over the next couple of days... Now for the Tropics!

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Nothing too active going on in the Tropics right now. There is a wave in the Caribbean however, that the National Hurricane Center is calling for about a 10% chance of tropical cyclonic formation. But by the looks of things, the conditions are not very favorable.

Although things have been nothing more than average in the tropics this Hurricane season, do not forget that 80% of named storms during the Hurricane season occur between August-October. So the National Hurricane Center is certainly getting ready for the more active part of the season to come. And as always tune into ABC6Hurricane.com for the latest on Tropical Weather!

It's been great working in the ABC6 Weather Center and I hope you all have enjoyed my forecasts!

Working with Steve for the next two Wednesdays!

Today I am working in the Weather Center at ABC6 with Steve Cascione once again, Fred is out today. I will be mainly focusing on making one last DVD of me broadcasting the weather. Things are certainly getting down to the wire but I have gained a lot of experience and everyone has been so great in helping me to get the most out of this internship.

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Now for the weather forecast...

Today the current temperature in Providence is 86°. Winds are coming out of the North/Northwest at about 7mph. It has just been a gorgeous day! The humidity is down, so we are finally seeing some relief from the heat in the RI/SE Mass area. And the weekend is looking to be about the same in terms of drier air.

Tonight, temperatures will dip into the lower 60's because of the low humidity that we are experiencing. So the night should be cooler.

Tomorrow expect a mostly cloudy day with temperatures at about 78°. The winds will start off from the Northeast in the morning and throughout the day, shift into a Southeast direction. However, the wind speeds will be light and variable throughout the day.

The next few days will be very nice and dry temperatures expected to be in the upper 70's. The cooler/drier air will bring about some relief from the humidity for most of the weekend. The humid will not start to kick in until about Sunday. When the clouds roll through later on that day so will the humidity. And to start off next week we are expected to see temperatures in the lower 80's with chances of showers and thunderstorms late Monday into Tuesday.

That's the latest from the forecast of ABC6!

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Update in the Tropics,

Tropical Depression 5 is in effect as of right now. Max sustained winds are about 30mph and the storm is moving at a very slow pace of about 12mph in the Northwest direction.

Things are not looking too favorable in terms of the storm becoming Tropical Storm Danielle. There is not exactly a clear center of circulation, and it looks as if the storm may weaken within the next day or so. However, to be on the safe side, there are still Tropical Storm advisories in effect for most of the areas of the Gulf Coast. The main concern with this Depression is the heavy rains and dangerous lightening going on with all of the squalling weather around the gulf coast. Floods are of concern over the next day or so as well associated with TD5.

So, once again we may not have a major Hurricane on our hands.. But don't forget that next weeks/2 weeks starts the real height of the season. We will be keeping an eye on TD5 as well as the other Tropical Waves to come!

Thursday Thunderstorms

Here in the Weather Center at ABC6 we are once again tracking some thunderstorms on the radar. One of the convective cells that we kept an eye on for the Northern RI, especially Woonsocket area proved to produce rainfall rates of almost 4in. per hour! Thats a lot of rain!

We are currently at a temperature of 83° in Providence, but the humidity is just gross. It feels more like 93° and earlier it felt like 97°! Once again we have winds coming out of the West/Southwest at about 10mph. For the rest of the evening there will indeed be some chances of showers and thunderstorms so stay tuned to ABC6 for the latest updates! The storms should be gone by about 10pm this evening but we cannot exactly rule that out just yet.

For the rest of the weekend forecast into the beginning of next week,

we are looking at Friday to have a chance at showers once again. Yesterday we were calling for drier air on the way to our area, but now it looks as if we might be getting a few pop up showers here and there. Best chance for that around noon into the afternoon hours tomorrow. A high of about 87° for tomorrow with a wind shift from today. Winds will be out of the Northwest at about 7-10mph once again. As the evening rolls in, the overnight lows should dip into the mid 60's. This will be because of that dry air mass thats going to move into our area. Because of this drier air, the weekend will stay dry as well, with some relief from the heat.

On Saturday, we are looking to start of the day cooler, with temperatures in the lowers 60's. The day will continue to stay dry and nice with a high of about 80°.

The drier air associated with that high pressure system will continue to dominate our area into Sunday as well. A high of about 82° with a light breeze coming out of the South/Southwest.

Do not get too used to the dry weather though, by Monday we may have a chance at a spot shower or thunderstorm once again. Nothing too severe however, things should clear up and just be partly cloudy on Tuesday. The beginning of the week will bring about temperatures in the mid 80's.

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Colin is back up to a Tropical Storm!! Sustained winds are about 45mph with gusts just under 60mph. The storm has a Northwest track of about 20mph. Warnings are out for Bermuda, and be sure to keep updated on the TS Colin Advisories to come!

Lets start off in the tropics...

Tropical Storm Colin was very short lived. Many "tropical weather-loving" people are saying that Colin was somewhat of a disappointment. As of right now the system does not have a closed surface circulation and wind shear is certainly against the storms odds as well. But if you look at the storms projected path, I think that there could be some chance of re-strengthening. The storm will still be over warm waters over the next couple of days, and if the storm moves away from the area of wind shear with a decent amount of circulation, I think Colin could re-generate. The National Hurricane Center as of right now is still surveying the storm and is calling for a 20% chance of re-generation into something tropical. The airborne Hurricane Hunters are also picking up areas of Tropical Storm force winds in the Northeast portion of the storm... This will certainly be something to watch well into this weekend.

On another note in the tropics, there is another strong tropical wave coming off of the Coast of Africa right now so whether or not Colin regenerates, there will certainly be more active weather in the tropics to come!

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Right now the temperature in Providence is at 87° but with the heat index it feels more like 91°. The heat has just been extremely oppressive across the board. If you take a look at our wind direction, that will explain a lot in terms of where all of this heat and humidity is coming from. There is a strong South/Southwesterly Wind present in our RI/SE Mass area. This wind is coming from exactly where all of these high temperatures are across the Northeast region of the US. Today it was 100° in Louisville, which felt more like 111° with the heat index! It's no wonder why we are so hot and sticky even in our own area.

The humidity will persist overnight. The low temperature tonight will only get down to the mid 70's which is still very "high" for an overnight "low".

Tomorrow we will once again see a very sticky day. High temperature calling to be about 86°. The winds will be out of the South/Southwest again tomorrow. Still some winds of about 10mph which is a decent breeze, but certainly not as breezy as today. There will be some showers tomorrow and a threat of some possible thunderstorms as well. The morning will be fairly dry but once you get to about 1pm, the showers will probably roll through quickly. And then we will see another threat around 4/5pm into the evening as well.

On Friday though, some dryer air will come into our area, bringing about a much nicer weekend. I will give you the full weekend forecast tomorrow from my internship work in the ABC6 Weather Center.

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Aurora Borealis?

I'm sure some of you may have heard about the solar activity that has caused a strong solar storm. This is usually associated with the hype of the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. There has been much talk about possible activity reaching our latitudes for last night and tonight. Unfortunately the night will once again be pretty hazy and not so ideal for Northern Lights viewing. But even so, I think this solar forecast was a little over-interpreted, so do not be too upset people of RI and SE Mass...

For the update on this solar activity visit http://www.universetoday.com/

And for now, here's a nice picture of the Northern Lights from the shores of Lake Superior

TODAY is living proof of YESTERDAY'S forecast!

Well today certainly turned out to be what the ABC6 Weather Center was calling for. Showers began in the early hours of this morning and continued to the early afternoon. Around 1pm this afternoon there were still a lot of lingering clouds, but the sun proved to break through by 2:30 and the temperature peaked today at 87° in Providence. Tonight the overnight lows are expected to dip into the mid 60's, if the dewpoint temps decrease more drastically over the evening hours, we may even get a little cooler than that.

Tomorrow, we will be under that high pressure system that I had mentioned Yesterday. This high pressure will also bring about some drier air to give all of us some relief from the humidity. Things will certainly be a little comfier on Friday and Saturday, Sunday is looking ok as well, but we cannot exactly rule out a pop-up shower here and there for the RI and SE Mass area. Only time will tell about that.

The official temperature and wind forecast for the weekend...

Friday, a high of 81. Winds light and variable. Mainly out of the North for most of the day then a Sea Breeze will kick in shifting to a Southerly wind by about 5pm. Overnight temperatures expected to maybe even dip into the upper 50's because of the low dew points and humidity.

Saturday a high of 80, it will also be another gorgeous day. Some clouds rolling in but they will be associated with fair weather. The winds will be mainly be out of the South once again at about 5mph. Overnight low calling for about 63°.

On Sunday, still a decent day, some patchy fog in the morning hours with a few more clouds than Saturday sticking around. A high of about 80. We cannot completely say that it will stay dry all day. There is a slight possibility of some pop-up showers in parts of Southern RI.

The start of next week also is not looking quite pleasing. Patchy fog and mostly cloudy throughout most of the day, the high will be 78°.

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More interesting info to come in the Tropics.

A Tweet from the Northeast Quadrant today indicated that a project called PREDICT which stands for the Pre-Depression Investigation of Cloud Systems in the Tropics will run from August 15th to about September 30th to study Hurricane Genesis. To find out more info on what the project entails, there is a great video on Northeast Quadrant's Blog. Be sure to check it out! And as always, I will keep you posted with these new findings in the Tropics as they come.

Right now it's pretty quiet out there. However, the National Hurricane Center is currently looking at two systems for tropical development. At the moment they both are only at a 10-20% chance of forming into anything significant.

That's the latest from the Weather Center at ABC6!

Back in the Weather Center with Fred Campagna

As of today, we've been under a high pressure. A hot, humid day and pretty gusty at times.. although it didn't quite hit 90, it certainly felt like it with the heat index. Winds were out of the South/Southwest at an average of 15mph for most of the day. Right now in Providence the temperature is at 85° with party cloudy skies. Overnight temperatures will be in the low 70's.

For Tomorrow, expect showers early. As the day moves on, there are chances for a spot thunderstorm as well. Best chance for precipitation is late morning/early afternoon. By late afternoon things should clear up slightly, leaving the rest of the day partly sunny with a blend of clouds. Winds tomorrow will be out of the Southwest once again with sustained winds at about 8mph.

Friday we will be back under a high pressure once again, it will stay semi muggy though. The Mid-Atlantic States however, will experience a passing cold front that may move through to our area by Saturday. Any showers will most likely stay to our South but we cannot rule out a shower or two especially in parts of Southern RI. Once the cold front passes through our area later on Saturday, the air may become a bit dryer, leaving us with the best chance to get some relief from the muggy conditions the rest of this weekend.

I will have the full, updated forecast for you Tomorrow afternoon in the Weather Center.

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Update in the Tropics

Nada! The National Hurricane Center is not currently picking up any waves of potential tropical weather at this time.

For those Meteorologists that have predicted an above average Hurricane Season in terms of topical activity, they may just be left a little disappointed. All we have seen so far was Hurricane Alex at the very end of June, and of course Bonnie, which did not even reach Category 1 Hurricane strength. As we know, Bonnie was a short-lived Tropical Storm. If you take a look at NOAA's Tropical Cyclone Climatology, you may be disappointed considering the average activity for a normal Hurricane Season reports that at least 2 named storms occur by Aug 1st. As of right now, "average" is just the case, nothing more. Although August is just around the corner, indicating the heightening part of the Hurricane Season, I do not think the Tropical Weather will be will be much more significant than an average August month.

Comfy day!

The humidity certainly has subsided! This is the first day in a long time that I have actually seen dewpoint temperatures shaded in the "Comfy Zone"!! The high today in Providence was 85° and that is just what it feels like that out there in the Rhode Island area today. This is not only because of low humidity, but also because it has been pretty gusty out there today. Average winds were out of the West/Northwest at about 15mph gusting to up to 28mph!

For tonight, overnight lows in the 60's because of the low humidity, temperatures are sure to drop tonight. The wind direction will stay the same as a Northwest wind, but the gusts will die down a little to more like 5mph by midnight.

Tomorrow should be very nice as well, the high for Tomorrow at about 84°. Winds will be out of the South/Southwest 8-12mph. Overnight on Friday though, the humidity will set back in. We've got a warm front associated with a low pressure system moving in towards our area, maybe causing some showers or pop up thunderstorms into the evening, mainly after 8pm.

The weekend will bring about some hot and humid weather for sure! Sat and Sun are both expected to have highs in the lower 90's. Winds will be out of the South/Southwest on both days around 5-10mph (some a little gustier at times). Sunday night however the winds will shift to the North/Northwest.

As for showers and thunderstorms, later on Saturday into Sunday morning we will see another good chance for showers and some possible thunderstorms. Sunday is when the cold front from the same low pressure system will finally catch up to us.

The beginning of next week though, should bring about some relief to the heat. Temperatures expected to be in the mid 80's on Monday and Tuesday, the humidity unfortunately though, will persist.

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Tropical Update

We do indeed have Tropical Depression 3 on our hands. Hurricane Hunters just came back from their flight into the storm and reported that even though there is room for development into Tropical Depression Bonnie, it may not happen until late, late tonight, or Friday. Conditions are however favorable for this Tropical Storm to develop. There is an upper level high pressure that will drive this storm North/Northwest (unfortunately into the direction of the oil spill). But as of right now, there is no indication of the storm developing further into a Hurricane from a Tropical Storm.

TD3 currently has max sustained winds of 35mph gusting to about 45mph. The path of the storm is Northwest at about 15mph.

(image thanks to wunderground.com on Twitter)

Latest Update!

As I published the previous post, the ABC6 Weather Center received word from the National Weather Service in Taunton that a strong thunderstorm cell is in the process of entering the Northern RI area. Parts of Smithfield, Burriville, Pascoag; mainly those areas are on the lookout for some severe and extremely gusty thunderstorms the warning is also extending more towards Providence as well (as we speak). Max gusts of about 60mph have been reported as the storm moved over Connecticut. Some trees were reported to be knocked down into roads, and there has also been some quarter sized hail recorded.

Northern RI will be in this warning until about 6pm. A severe Thunderstorm Watch is still in effect for most of RI until 8pm this evening. Be sure to take precautions and stay inside! This is the latest from the ABC6 Weather Center!

Another shot at thunderstorms?

For today and tomorrow I am working with Meteorologist Steve Cascione while Fred Campagna is out for a few days. My work with Fred will continue next week!

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Severe Thunderstorms!!??

Since earlier this morning the National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until about 8pm this evening. RI until recently was not involved in this forecast, but was still calling for pop up showers and thunderstorms as we entered into the late afternoon/evening hours. Exactly half an hour before I made my way to the ABC6 Weather Center however, the National Weather Service did indeed extend their Severe Thunderstorm Watch to the RI area. I was very excited when I first arrived and met up with Steve. However, a little lesson about RI was shared with me and put a sort of damper on my hopes for a severe storm in my area. Steve explained to me that because of the Narragansett Bay, when we experience winds/strong winds coming from the South, that will actually stabilize conditions around the RI area and cause the storms to dissipate. He then explained that if RI was to experience strong thunderstorms, we would need a strong Westerly wind to keep the atmosphere unstable. So far this day has been very informative.

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Today in Providence the high temperature (which is also the current temperature) is 87° but with the oppresive humidity that we have been experiencing, it feels more like 90°. Right now a warm front is passing through the area followed by a trailing cold front. Ahead of the cold front is where we are seeing these strong, gusty thunderstorms popping up which puts us into the Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 8pm this evening. The cold front however, is not expected to reach our area until later tonight, most likely after midnight. This will lead to possible showers for RI through to Thursday morning. Overnight lows expected to be in the upper 60's to low 70's.

For Tomorrow, a great beach day! Temperatures will reach the lower 90's because of a pretty gusty North/Northwest wind of about 10-15 mph. in our area.

Overnight the temperature will dip into the lower 70's. A more extensive forecast for the expected story weekend weekend weather will come when I am in the ABC6 Weather Center tomorrow afternoon!

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And for the Tropical Update...

We have been looking at 97L for the past few days. As of yesterday, the big hype was that it may develop into a TD or a TS by today/Thursday. However, as we have seen today, 97L has been disrupted by the mountainous topography of Hispaniola, causing this wave to become disorganized. Therefore, conditions for this storm strengthening are not exactly favorable. We will keep a watch on this wave however, but The Weather Channel this morning has explained that although 97L may not turn into much, the "pipeline" across Africa is showing lots of activity, making conditions very favorable for Tropical Weather over the next week or so.

Today!

Computer is back in business... for now anyway!

It's been a cloudy, cloudy day for Providence, current Temperature is at 78°. This is actually the first day of "relief" or lower temperatures that we've seen in awhile. Looking at the dew points though, you would never know it. Dewpoints for Providence and most of RI are in the upper 60's to the 70's which would certainly put us in the "oppressive" range in terms of discomfort from humidity. But when you go outside you just do not feel it! The clouds have certainly had something to do with the reason behind all that.

Overnight temperatures will get a little cooler to upper 60's to low 70's. But tomorrow will certainly warm up to upper 80 degree temperatures, we may continue to stay dry but we can't rule out a shower or spot thunderstorm for later on into Friday evening or over the next two days for that matter. There are a few disturbances going on in the Great Lakes Region causing a lot of severe weather for that area, but if it continues to move into our area we only need to expect a spot shower or thunderstorm, nothing too major. Hopefully things will stay to the North of our area to make it a dry weekend.

Mild will definitely be the trend over the next couple of days. Overnight lows will be in the upper 70's which is not necessarily ideal for night time. We may even see yet another heat wave in our area if the temperature reaches 90° for Tomorrow. We are calling for 94° on Saturday because of that West, Southwest wind that we will experience, and on Sunday the high should be about 92. So, will we see another heat wave? The forecasted temperature for tomorrow is just slight of 90 at 89°, so we shall see!

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Update in the Tropics

There is an area off the coast of Africa right now that the National Weather Service is looking at in terms of possible tropical cyclonic formation. However, right now it's not too much to look at, they are only calling for a 10% chance of this. But it is important to make mention of that fact that we have currently broken out of El Nino conditions and now there is the talk of La Nina. La Nina makes for good conditions in terms of tropical weather and Hurricanes, and that's just what we have been calling for from the beginning. So expect a lot of active tropical weather to come!

From 7-14

*Note:

Computer was down Yesterday due to technical issues, however I did manage to write a word document post to add later.. so as of Wednesday, July 14th, this is what I had...

We’ve had a rainy Wednesday so far, a Flash Flood Warning in effect until 4:30pm for Providence County and in Attleboro MA, and a Flash Flood Watch is in effect until 6pm for the same area. By taking a look at the radar, the storm tracker has picked up showers moving into the area. And for awhile now those showers have appeared to be somewhat stationary, yet moving very slightly towards Southern RI. The heavier rain is expected to hit the Southern RI area over the next hour or so. There have also been some “yellow colors” showing up on the radar, but there have been no signs of thunder. That simply means that there are torrential downpours occurring in those areas, not necessarily a thunderstorm. In fact, there has been no indication that a thunderstorm will occur within any of the flash flood areas for this evening, just a lot of heavy rain. Some of the rainfall rates have been estimated to be falling at 1.90in/hr, that’s almost 2 inches of rain per hour! In Smithfield (my hometown), 3.6 in. of rain has been recorded by about 4:45 pm this afternoon! This is more than the whole state of RI usually sees in the whole month of July! You can see just how intense these rainstorms have been over the past 24 hours.

Temperature currently in Providence is at 72°. The winds indicate a warm front that passed through our area. The wind direction in Northern RI is recorded as a NW wind, and as you move into Southern RI, the wind shifts to a South, to South Easterly wind in some areas. This is a textbook example of a Warm front and it just happens to be shown even in the small state of RI.

Over the next few days Temperatures will indeed warm up a little. On Thursday, some clouds early in the morning then we’ll see some sun as the day moves forward, the high for that day expected to be about 84°. On Friday, temperatures will are expected to be in the upper 80’s and eventually hit 90 by Saturday. Sunday is looking the same in terms of the 90 degree temperatures. Will there be another heat wave for July? That might just be so! ….More updated information will come from the Weather Center Tomorrow afternoon.

Broke Out of the Heat Wave!

Well the Heat Wave only lasted 4 days, which gave us some relief, but it is still pretty muggy out there for most of RI. The temperature is currently at 84 in Providence but with the heat index, Providence and most of RI is feeling temperatures in the upper 80's rather than the lower to mid 80's that the actual temperatures are. Right now we are experiencing winds coming out of the South Southwest at about 10mph.

Although the Temperature for Providence is currently at 84°,

The Heat Index shows that it feels like 88°. The Heat Index takes

into account the Temperature and the Dew Point/Humidity Levels

in order to determine what it really "feels like" out there.

(Image thanks to ABC6)

The Tropical update consists of Tropical Depression 2 (TD2) which is located slightly inland over the Texas/Mexico boarder. TD2 has winds of about 35mph and gusts of 40. The track of this Tropical Depression is currently moving Northwest at about 15mph. However, I do not foresee the strength of TD2 lasting much longer as it has already hit land and should soon dissipate.

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Weekend Forecast!

Friday expect patchy fog in the morning with temperatures around the mid-upper 70's to start off the morning, winds will be calm. There is a slight call for a stray shower in the morning hours around RI but after that breaks out, things will soon clear up to a high temperature of about 86° and conditions will continue to be muggy. We will also experience Southerly winds of about 7-10mph.

Saturday however is where RI will experience the best chance of precipitation. High Temperatures for that day will be about 85°. Showers and Thunderstorms could roll through as early as 3pm but the best chance of storms are more likely to be in the evening hours with heavy rain expected after midnight. Conditions will continue to be humid with overnight lows in the 60's.

On Sunday, Patchy Fog in the morning 50% chance of showers throughout the day with a high temperature in the mid 80's.

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!

Over the past few days, the Northeast has been under a serious High Pressure system causing a heat wave. This heat wave has stayed prominent even into today with slightly cooler temperatures at the coasts. Providence's high temperature for today hit 92. The winds started off this morning from the North Northeast, and over the course of the say has shifted to South Southeast at about 9mph. Overnight temperatures will cool into the upper 70's which is still pretty high for overnight temperatures and the winds will calm as the night progresses.

The National Weather Service in Taunton, MA issued a Heat Advisory at 10:30 this morning and will be in effect until 7pm this evening for most of Rhode Island except for Block Island Newport and Bristol counties. A Heat Advisory is issued when high temperatures are experienced in addition to high humidity to result in a heat indices of 100° or higher.

Hopefully we will be able to break out of this heat wave as of tomorrow. Slightly cooler temperatures are expected although we may see some lower 90° temps further inland in RI. The forecast high for RI however is 87° and the humidity will still be pretty high. Winds again will be out of the South Southeast at about 8mph.

Friday looks about the same with a high temp expected to be 87°

Saturday however looks like our first chance of relief in terms of the precipitation kind. A low pressure system will pass through the area in the late afternoon to the evening on Saturday which will bring about a few showers into our area.. We will take a better look at this in Tomorrow's Forecast.

4th of July Forecast

Flood Damage from Alex in Mexico

(Image thanks to EarthSky on Twitter)

Alex hit land as a Category 2 Hurricane, but now it has dissipated to just a tropical storm.. The main focus in here today is the 4th of July Forecast and he possible heat wave that will come of it.

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Today was a lot like Yesterday. Dry and comfy with temperatures in the mid 70's, the high today in Providence proved to be 74. Tonight things will stay comfy for the most part with temperatures falling once again into the mid 50's overnight. We also saw a pretty breezy day today with winds around 12mph. Overnight the winds will die down a little to about 6mph coming from the North/Northwest.

For Friday, a Northerly wind, once again making the day pretty breezy with wind speeds of about 8-11mph, as the evening rolls around the winds will become variable between 2-6mph. Temperatures should warm up a little to about mid to upper 70's, for a low, mid 60's.

On Saturday our "warm up" begins, temperatures will reach about 84degrees on this day, the SW winds will vary between 6-12mph may become a bit gusty at times.

And for the forecast everyone has been waiting for, the 4th of July. And yes, everyone will get what they wish for on the 4th (a cookout day!). Temperatures will hit the lower 90's for sure, a little cooler towards the coast, so a little relief to the heat for the Bristol Parade. There will be a Westerly wind of about 9mph.. So everyone enjoy the holiday!

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Sunday will only be the beginning for a Heat Wave to be experienced in RI as well as all the way down to the Mid-Atlantic States. Expect Temperatures on Monday in RI to be about 93. Tuesday will really heat up to about 95, and Thursday 94

Warm, Comfortable Day! ...News on Alex

Currently the temperature in Providence is 77degrees. Humidity is only at 38% and wind speeds are about 12mph which makes it extremely comfortable out there. By about 9pm tonight the temperature should cool down to about 66 and overnight, temperatures are expected to drop even as low as the mid to upper 50's! A little cooler out there but certainly some relief to the heat wave we experienced just a few days ago.

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Normally after talking about the current conditions, I would do a "few day in advance" forecast. However, I feel that the forecast would be more relevant for when I am in the Weather Center tomorrow, considering the fact that it will be one day closer to the 4th of July Weekend (and I know that everyone's going to be wondering if Sunday will bring "cookout worthy weather"... More on that in the forecast tomorrow). For now, I feel that it only appropriate to discuss the hype with Hurricane Alex. With it's less than 6 hour approach to landfall, everyone is constantly updating what the deal is with this June Hurricane.

Well in fact, Hurricane Alex is the first June Hurricane occurrence since 1995! This Hurricane is very unique in the sense that it has CAT 1 force winds, but it's low pressure of about 959mb is CAT 3 worthy! The latest on the National Weather Service's Hurricane Advisory shows that Alex is nearing CAT 2 strength as it approaches landfall. As I said before, the Pressure readings as of now is 959mb and is continuing to drop. The winds are sustaining at about 90mph with gusts reaching 150mph!

Alex is moving Northwest at about 13mph and will reach landfall in less than 6hrs according to the ABC6 Stormtracker RADAR.

Current Public Advisories are up to 21 (the latest) stating that Hurricane Warnings are in effect for the South Coast of Texas / around the area of the Rio Grande. Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect for Baffin Bay, TX to Cabo Rojo in Mexico. Rainfall is expected to produce 6-12in over NE Mexico, flash floods and mud slides are certainly not out of the question because of this. In terms of winds, they will certainly produce a strong storm surge, raising the level of the water by up to a max of 6ft. above ground level.

This is the latest from the NWS public advisories.

If you would like information on how to prepare for such Hurricanes, visit: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/intro.shtml

Thunderstorms?

Everyone in RI has had the "hype" of a thunderstorm on their minds. The line of storms that were first being looked at earlier today proved to put Bridgeport CT into a state of emergency, but as they continued on to RI, the storms quickly weakened and produced nothing more than a few showers off the coast of Southern, RI.

latest threat on the radar 6pm

The next threat we are looking at in the Weather Center is currently over Worcester County.. these storms could effect our Northern RI area, but even this threat is looking pretty weak, so there is also the chance that we may not see any of these storms at all.

Storms or not, we will finally be able to get rid of this hot and humid air overnight. By about 9pm, Temperatures can be seen in the upper 70's to low 80's, and overnight into Friday the temperatures will start off at about 65° but quickly increase to about 80°. Winds will start off Northerly and switch to a Southerly wind over the course of the day. Wind speeds at about 3mph.

Saturday looks to be a great beach day! Temperatures in the lower 80's but dry, not humid. Low temperatures expected to dip into the low 60's overnight. Possibly a shower or thundershower late afternoon into the evening. Winds will be coming from the South Southwest at 10mph.

Sunday looking to be partly cloudy with some sun. Upper 70's to low 80's expected here for temperatures. Monday, expect some thunderstorms in our RI area, but these storms will quickly pass to bring about a nicer, dry mid week.

This is the latest from the forecasting in the

Weather Center of ABC6!

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Interested in the damage that occurred in Bridegeport? There's some great footage on ctpost.com --> http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Storm-clobbers-Bridgeport-region-535832.php

It's that time of week again!

It's Wednesday! Once again I am here at ABC6 Providence with Fred Campagna. Things are quiet in terms of the weather as of now, a little muggy, temperature is currently at 83° winds are coming from the West/Northwest at about 7mph. Overnight, the winds are expected to be a lot calmer while the temperatures will stay quite warm. Even at midnight, temperatures are expected to be around 73° and continue to linger in the low 70's into the early hours of the morning.

Thursday is looking fairly active! It may prove to be an interesting Thursday afternoon in the ABC6 Weather Center!

Forecast for Thursday... Temperatures in the high 80's, will most like even hit 90° to make for a very hot and humid day. Thunderstorms are expected to be active in the mid to late afternoon as a cold front passes through the area, some storms may be severe. I will do a more in depth discussion of these storms tomorrow as they are being tracked. Over night as the cold front passes through, things will dry up and cool down. Temperatures will dip into the mid 60's over night into Friday. Very excited for what is in store tomorrow afternoon!

The rest of the forecast into the weekend I will be sure to post tomorrow as well!

Thursday June 17th

Got a great weekend ahead of us I must say once again!

Today has been mostly cloudy, sun breaking through at times with temperatures in the 70's. However, over the rest of the day into the evening the clouds will start to clear out creating some radiational cooling, temperatures are expected to dip into the lower 60's tonight.

Friday will be a gorgeous day! Temperatures in the high 80's! Fingers crossed about maybe even hitting 90 degrees, but the forecast as of now is about 87-88degrees, a little cooler as you get towards coastal areas. The winds will begin in the morning coming from the NW at about 5mph then switching to SW as the day continues on, the wind speed should remain constant.

Saturday will also be very nice! At first the temperatures looked as if they were going to climb higher than Fridays, however by taking the wind and other variables into consideration, the temperatures are looking to stay in the mid to upper 80's but nothing really higher than that. Still going to be a beautiful, clear day though!

Sunday should be nice for Fathers Day, Temperatures will cool slightly to lower/mid 80's. A little muggier. Some showers expected to move through the area in the afternoon but they are expected to quickly pass and dry up through to the evening as it is looking right now.

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In terms of severe weather.. The major area of concern was around the CO and ND area. It has been updated by the WXchannel Twitter account that a tornado was confirmed in Grand Forks, CO and moving toward Emerado, ND ...Take a look at this image from weather.com!!

According to the Storm Prediction Center, there have been 12 Tornado reports just form today.. a lot of active weather going on across the US, but as for our area in RI, things are looking very nice!

A nice weekend in store for RI finally!

Weather Obs before I went to the ABC6 station: Today we experienced some cooler temperatures this morning in the upper 60's. The sun soon broke through the early morning clouds to bring some sunshine, warming the temperatures up to the mid 70's. As the day progressed, clouds continued to roll in once again making the afternoon slightly overcast.. temperatures continued to stay in the mid 70's range.

Forecast before the internship: some showers after dinnertime (5-6pm). Expecting some tuinderstorms to move into the area.. Temperatures will dip into the upper 50's/low 60's.

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Once inside the ABC6 studio, I began to take another look at the models in order to create a revised forecast for the day into the weekend. Currently at about 5pm, a shower quickly passing through the Providence area.

For the rest of tonight, Showers possible, but we probably will not see any rain until after midnight into the early hours of the morning. Forecasting for the temperature stays the same at upper 50's to low 60's overnight.

On Thursday, some clouds early making conditions overcast. However, throughout the rest of he day the sun will break through. Temperatures will reach the upper 70's continuing to stay warm throughout the weekend.

As for Fri-Sat The temperatures will continue to climb and reach the upper 80's maybe even a chance of hitting 90 on Saturday, very ideal for the very beginning of summer! Low temperatures on Fri and Sat will be in the mid 60's so there will be cool but dry nights. It will not be until Sunday that we may see another chance of precipitation, possibly a thunderstorm later on that day.. We will see more of that however Tomorrow

Thursday June 10th

Got into ABC6 at 3pm... Started looking further at the weekend forecast as it was a little tricky to tell whether or not Saturday and Sunday would be dry... There were also Severe T-Storm and Tornado warnings over in Western Conn. as you can see in the image above thanks to ABC6.. Fred and I distracted ourselves looking it only to find that the path of these storms would not be affecting our RI area.. but was still interesting to watch!

For the rest of the day... Temperatures Currently at 64, with the approaching showers, the temperatures are expected to drop slightly to about 61 and for tonight expect temperatures in the upper 50's.

Over the weekend... Friday is looking nice, dry, partly cloudy with Temperatures in the 70's. Saturday is slightly tricky, if the system stays to our north... most of Saturday will be dry but muggy, with temperatures that could potentially reach the upper 70's. Possible showers later in the evening for Saturday as well. Sunday is looking at showers with chances of Thunderstorms throughout the day with Temperatures in the low to mid 70's.

Continuing !!

I have decided.. "Why end this blog just because my Web Expressions class is over??" My blog is about weather and I am continuing to learn new things everyday. In fact, I have an internship with ABC6 Providence this summer working with Chief Meteorologist Fred Campagna on Wed and Thurs afternoon/evenings. I figured that my blog would be a great opportunity to document my internship experiences.

As of right now, I just finished my third day (meaning I'm on to my second week at the internship). I'm still observing and learning the forecasting process that Fred uses for his broadcasts.. but all in all it's going very well!

Now that I have decided to continue my blog, I am also seeing this as a good opportunity to maybe "write up" my own "forecasts" on here as well as sharing my experiences.. I figure it might be a good way to help me prepare for actually presenting a forecast in front of a camera (once I start working on my forecasting DVDs).

Well, that's about all for now.. tune in!

Last Post for the Semester!

I wanted to end the semester by giving a forecast for the graduating seniors. Many of the seniors (knowing that I am a Meteorology Major) have asked me to give them a forecast for their graduation ceremony on Saturday. This is mainly due to the fact that if it was to rain, they have to move the ceremony inside of Silver and they only get 4 tickets.

So my friends here it is.. my final post (for this semester at least) and your forecast: On Saturday, expect mostly sunny skies with a high of 73. There may be a few cumulus clouds in the morning and sporadically appearing in the late afternoon. There shouldn't be rain, the weather graphs that I have been observing are only picking up a very slight chance maybe around 10-20%. So in terms of graduation, I would say that the seniors should be all set and do not have to worry about giving out only four tickets! :)


..This class has been great, I've really enjoyed learning the different aspects of Web Expressions (especially the blogging). And I think that I will even continue to use this blog in the future, it definitely gave me a chance to express myself. THANK YOU :)

Vortex2

Many people who watch the Weather Channel know about Vortex2. Vortex2 (for those who don't know) is a group of people that in a nutshell.. chase tornadoes. The chase is well worth it though, for years many brave meteorlogists have been studying this crazy weather phenomena in order to figure out how it works, and how they can better forecast the conditions in which these "vortexes" occur.

Getting back to Vortex2, many "big names" on the Weather Channel such as Dr. Greg Forbes and Jim Cantore are involved (to name a few). So if you watch the Weather Channel at all, you would see these two as very important people. Well, funny thing is that one of Plymouth State's very own undergraguate students got the opportunity to work/study with Vortex2 over the summer! His name is Eddie Dixon, he is also a CA in Pemi this year I believe and he's a very well known person on campus. If I pointed him out to a PSU student, chances are, he/she would know who he is. So Eddie was a very lucky one to work over the summer on these Tornado projects and he also got to meet these "big names" on the Weather Channel. He also got to meet Dr. Wakimoto, the "tornado guy" that I mentioned in a previous post about the Northeastern Storm Conference I attended earlier this semester.

So whats actually going on in the world of Tornadoes right now you ask? Well, yesterday there was a huge multi-vortex Tornado outbreak. You can catch all the lateststories on weather.com right now. However, I would like to add in a link to a video and article written about Dr. Greg Forbes himself. The article explains the past and recent events of tornadoes and just how tremendous they really have been. We're off to a crazy start in terms of severe weather this spring! Forbes Tornado Article

Volcano!!

As of noontime on April 15, many flights were canceled due to the erupting and active Eyjafjallajökull Volcano in Iceland. As many of you know already, this is the second time this volcano has erupted in a short month. There are many crazy and interesting stories going around but one of the most interesting stories involves the majestic volcano lightning that has been occuring frequently. So what makes volcano lightning? It's not a thunderstorm or a thundercloud...

I was watching the weather channel last night (4/19) and Dr. Greg Forbes (severe weather expert for the Weather Channel) had a great excerpt explaining exactly how this phenomena occurs. Probably the most interesting feature about this volcanic lightning has to do not with the normal lightning strikes that we see in a normal everything thunderstorm, but the tiny, sparks of lightning that people can see through the cloud of ash.

Basically, a cloud of volcanic ash has a lot of different active particles moving around (this is what sets this type of cloud apart from a regular cloud that is merely made up of water and ice particles). So these particles of ash and such are actively moving around and will sometimes collide or slide against each other. Sometimes, the activity is enough to separate the positive and negative charges of these particles, and the impact of this occurring will cause an electric charge (lightning). Forbes describes this as an example of the static you receive when taking off a sweater during the wintertime because of dry air. And finally, what causes the small "sparks" of lightning? Well, depending on how far away the charges split from each other will determine how large the bolt of lightning will be. So the small lightning sparks are a result of oppositely charges particles that did not travel far away from each other.

As I said, the video from weather.com does a really good job of explaining the same concept I had just mentioned. If you would like to further investigate this definitely visit the sire. Also, check out these pictures from Boston.com, they are a little different pictures, more of the volcano erupting instead of lightning. It also had a cool article to go along with it. http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/icelands_disruptive_volcano.html

Climate Change Study by NASA

I was just on NASA's Twitter Feed, and it mentioned something about a study on climate change that is being put together for launch in the near future. It is basically a study on the big picture in terms of climate change. Instead of simply studying the varying levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, this mission will focus on the intervals in which energy enters and escapes earth's atmosphere. With this knowledge, we will be able to understand how the earth actually reacts and regulates when these smaller aspects of climate change (such as an increase in CO2 levels) occur. NASA will take very precise and accurate energy measurements from space with the hopes to spell out a few decades worth of information and evidence to further help climate forecasts and predictions in the future.

The article that I accessed through Twitter to receive this information is actually very interesting and goes into much more detail. If you're interested.. go to http://climate.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=280

2010 Northeastern Storm Conference

So I've mainly been updating you all on severe weather events... But I also said in my first post that I would try to update everyone on my day to day life as a Meteorology Major. Well now's the time to do that because this past weekend I attended a conference with all other Meteorology Majors around the Northeast from an assortment of schools that offer Science and Meteorology.

The conference was in Saratoga Springs, New York this year (last year it was in Springfield, MA). It was a really nice location, there was a lot of activity going on during the day.. and you got the benefits of "New York Bagels" and "New York Pizza" without dealing with the hustle and bustle of the people living in the City. But anyways, The Northeastern Storm Conference is put on every year by Lyndon State College in Vermont. It takes place one weekend every year in March and gives Met. Majors such as myself the opportunity to either present or just observe various presentations in terms of research, projects, etc. concerning Meteorology. Lyndon State also invited various professionals from all over that have applies Meteorology to their life in their jobs. And then of course on the Saturday night of the Conference, there is a banquet for everyone that attends the conference. The banquet consists of a 3-course meal and a guest speaker during dessert.

This year the guest speaker was Roger M. Wakimoto who is an expert in Tornadoes. In fact, he was a student of the famous Ted Fujita (the man who created the Fujita Scale to measure Tornado damage). Roger Wakimoto was honestly one of the best speakers I've ever seen. He talked a lot about how he got to where he is today in terms of his college studies, graduate school, how Ted Fujita became his mentor, etc. He showed all of us a powerpoint presentation about the different time periods in his life. One of the most interesting slides that he presented was an acutal video of a plane flying around a tornado to study and survey it. What made it so cool was the fact that he was actually in that plane at the time! So clearly this is a daring man dedicated to his work and research with tornadoes. He also gave sort of a tribute to Ted Fujita which was really nice, and he had explained how his life goal was to follow in his footsteps and mentor others as Ted had for him. Roger Wakimoto was a very inspirational speaker there was a standing ovation given to him by every single person that attended that banquet. And after listening to him, I knew that Meteorology is truly what I want to continue to study for the rest of my career.



The Northeastern Storm Conference was both interedting and a great getaway weekend. I learned a lot and met many people from other schools that are in the same boat as me.. taking (and struggling with) the same classes as I am. Overall one of the best experiences I could possibly have at this point in my college career.

Off the Richter!!

Chile.. 8.8 in magnitude earthquake! Unheard of right?? ..Wrong! The area around Chile is extremely active and has been for years. According to the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), Coastal Chile has experienced 13 events of earthquakes at magnitudes 7.0 and higher since 1973. This isn't exactly a long period of time, so you can clearly understand how active this area really is. In fact, the tectonic plates around Chile move at 80 millimeters per year.

Even though a few millimeters doesn't exactly seem like a lot in terms of movement, towards the inner core of the Earth, it really is. When tectonic plates move, there is a series of compression and shearing that takes place between the plates. This activity then causes waves to generate and move towards the surface of the earth, therefore resulting in an earthquake.

The Image above is a graph of seismic activity. You can clearly see where the recent "hot spots" are in red, as well as any locations of activity over the past five years in pink. Contrary to what most understand, there has been a lot of activity going on over the years!

Short But SWEEEEET!!!

Keeping in mind how I described measuring precipitation especially when it comes to forecasting for snow.. here is a look at the latest QPF (Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts) for Tuesday-Friday of this week!!

Snow Totals

Here is an image for the snow totals that have been recorded as of today. This was created by our own Plymouth State Weather Center.. you can visit our website at http://vortex.plymouth.edu ...It's actually a really good source for weather, we have updates for current weather and forecasting, as well as archived data and maps that can date back for awhile! You can pretty much get any information in terms of the weather that you're looking for from this website. I myself use it a lot in addition to the traditional weather.com and noaa.gov

Now, when you are reading this, please remember my last post about how to determine snow totals when given precipitation in inches (it might make this a little easier to understand). :)

Snowflakes Keep Fallin' on my Head

Hello all!

Snow is finally being predicted for the Plymouth State area!! Now the big question.. "Will classes be cancelled??!!" The answer my friends is no, not very likely. I am sitting here at 11:30 at night hoping the same thing, but after looking at the models, the odds just do not look good. Meteorologists are predicting about 1-3in. and sadly, I have to agree with them.

However, I would like to take this opportunity to inform those that may not know about the liquid to snow equivalent ratio. This will help all of you amateur meteorologists (such as myself) out there to predict snowfall amounts.

So Basically, on average the liquid to snow ratio is about 10:1. This means that if 10inches of snow falls, it will melt into 1 inch of actual liquid. So if a weatherman is saying 2.4 inches of precipitation is possible, and that precipitation just happens to be snow, you can expect about two ft. or so coming your way!! Although, if you would like to get more technical about all this (and I know you do), sometimes you may have to take into account the properties of the actual snowflakes and the surrounding environment. Below are brief explanations and ratios of what I mean by this...

Wet Snow/Above Freezing Temp: Wet snow can be about 50% ice and 50% liquid, it is a little more dense than the average snowflake. This mixed with an above freezing ground is what causes snowfall with no accumulation.

Wet Snow/Freezing Temps: (Properties of snow same as above) Only this time with the freezing ground temperatures, snow can accumulate. However, since the snow has a higher liquid content, the ratio is smaller.. 5:1

Dry Snow: This property of snow has no liquid to it whatsoever. It is purely a snowflake of ice crystals. This type of snow is much less dense than the above snowflakes. With this type of snow occurring, the surrounding ground temperatures will definitely be below freezing. The type of snowfall events are usually the small, heavy-falling snow showers. This boosts the ratio up to more than 10:1.. in extreme cases (such as recent events in Washington and Baltimore), the ratio's could be 20:1 or even 30:1! Unfortunately for the kids, dry snow is not very sticky, so snowballs are not exactly an option :(

I hope this was informative to you all.. for more information visit www.theweatherprediction.com ..Happy Forecasting!!

I'm Dreaming of a White... February??

Unless you've had no access to the news over the past week or so, you know exactly what's been going on in the Washington/Baltimore area with snow. These cities that have not seen more than a simple dusting over the past few years, now have been bombarded with snow snow snow!

Snow began to fall on February 5th. The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for the Washington Baltimore area on this day. Snow had continued to fall over these areas even as recently as yesterday (Feb 11th).
....So what exactly is going on with these storms?

The Northeast Quadrant at Blogger reported that the atmosphere has developed the perfect conditions for Nor'easters (a large cyclonic storm created by an extreme low pressure system). These storms got the name Nor'easter because of the fact that they mainly are formed toward the East Coast of the United States. Low-pressure systems have a counterclockwise "flow" and are associated with rising air parcels. High-pressure systems however, produce sinking air with a clockwise "flow". In order for a Nor-easter to form, the two, opposite pressure systems collide, and the genesis of a Nor'easter begins. The storm gradually starts to spin and move northward/northeastward along the coast (the storm usually follows the leading path generated by the upper level jet stream). All of this, along with shockingly low surface temperatures, are the cause of what seems like endless snowfall events.

If you would like to see some interesting coverage of the events from the snowstorms (since Plymouth, NH has not seen any interesting activity lately) weather.com is the place to go!

First Of Many

This is my first blog..

Basically my goal is to look up and research current weather phenomena. I will try to make it seem more interesting than just a week long forecast. For example, if there is a huge snow storm about to hit New York, I may discuss that rather than Plymouth, NH's current weather conditions. This blog will be both informative and interesting for those that enjoy weather, and even for those that may just want to know a little more about the weather.

I am a Meteorology Major here at PSU, so in addition to weather updates, I may also discuss certain topics going on in my class that may seem interesting and easy to follow for any reader.