SeCAPS at South Alabama
Chuck Doswell in the hat
This past weekend I went down to the University of South Alabama in Mobile for their 8th Annual Southeastern Coastal and Atmospheric Processes Symposium (SeCAPS). It was very similar to the symposium I was a coordinator for at MSU, but they did not have any speakers to talk about the broadcast side of weather.
Panel Discussion
Despite that, I still heard some great talks. Speakers consisted of professors at Texas A&M, Florida State, and the University of Alabama. There were three presenters from weather service offices in Louisville, New Orleans, and Birmingham as well as representatives from the NOAA National Data Buoy Center and NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center. The final speaker was Chuck Doswell, a man who needs no introduction in the meteorology world. He is considered one of the world’s best researchers when it comes to severe weather. I have been required to read several of his papers for some of my classes.
Doppler at NWS Mobile
A few other people, mostly juniors and a first-year Masters students, and I took a school van down to Mobile Friday after class (I was a bit dismayed to find out it was not the van I went storm chasing in last summer!) and went straight to the first session on campus. Two of my favorite talks were about the 2009 Louisville flood that affected the Kentucky Derby and a talk on space weather.
Official rain gauge at Mobile
We found a semi-sketchy hotel to stay in that night (after passing up on a fully-sketchy hotel) and made our way back to SeCAPS the following morning. There were two sessions on Saturday: one before lunch and one after lunch! One of my favorite things was actually the panel discussion where a majority of the featured speakers were all on stage. We students provided the questions/prompts.
NWS Office Mobile
Lunch was a great experience…and not just because of the great shrimp and crawfish etouffee I had. 
I sat at a table with Alan Sealls, chief meteorologist at a TV station in Mobile, and Chuck Doswell, the world-renown researcher. I picked Alan’s brain about a lot of things and didn’t say much to Mr. Doswell because of intimidation. (I wasn’t the only one.) I also got to talk with John Gordon, Meteorologist-in-Charge at the Louisville NWS office. He told me he was a hurricane hunter for fifteen years and gave me the information to the guy that does the hiring for that. I will be calling soon to see what the possibilities are of me becoming a pilot for the hurricane hunter in the near future. It was be AMAZING to combine my passions for aviation and weather in that capacity! Networking=Success.
Where it all goes down!
The guy who gave us a tour...at the machine that goes out to weather radios!
We finished Saturday with a tour of the NWS office in Mobile. This was not in the original plans, but one of the students from MSU struck up a conversation with a guy that works there, and he offered to take us by the office. It was really cool to see how watches and warnings are issued and just how everything runs. The NWS and on-air meteorologists have a strong connection. It was nice seeing whom we rely on so much. (It also confirmed that I belong on TV…not working with the National Weather Service! I greatly respect them, but it’s just not my niche.)
We left from there to go back to Starkville (not before stopping at a Buffalo Wild Wing’s to watch Mississippi State basketball beat Tennessee in Knoxville for the first time since 1999) and got there near midnight. All in all, it was a great weekend. I made several contacts and learned a lot about operational meteorology. The pictures you see scattered about are from South Alabama and the NWS Mobile office.
The phone on the right is connected to the White House! The middle picture is of a workstation, and the picture on the right is the laptop that processes the information received from the RADAR.
No, this is not from this past weekend but deserves to be posted. It was taken the day after the big February 9th snow event.
Click on any picture above to enlarge it!
More Snow this Winter!
Cold temperatures will follow us through the end of the week with a very good chance of getting some measurable snowfall late Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Some locations could see 2-3 inches of snow, but I think 1-2 inches is the best average. (Amounts will decrease to the south.) The event should end with some freezing drizzle early Thursday morning. Watch the webcast below for more details. And check out the picture below that!
Oh, and how about those Packers?! I have been a Brett Favre fan for quite a while (and therefore Packers fan), so I was excited they won the Super Bowl last night. To show my support, I wore my jersey I got when I was in about the 3rd grade. Yes, still fits.
Tricky Forecast!
It’s been a messy, rainy day all across Central and North Mississippi. The big question for the week has been whether or not some snow will mix in with the rain tonight into tomorrow morning. The webcast below (actually recorded yesterday afternoon) should give a little insight into what I am thinking.
In short, any frozen precip that falls around the Golden Triangle will not cause an traffic problems as surface temps will be above freezing. Farther to the north in places like Pontotoc and Tupelo, accumulation is more likely but is still not overly impressive right now. Believe it or not, we will see a lot of sun tomorrow and highs will be in the mid to upper 40s. This is definitely not favorable for any snow that does accumulate tonight.
Review of the Big Snow Event
Don’t forget to look at the pictures below the post!!!
It has almost been two weeks since our impressive snowfall on January 9th and 10th. As soon as I saw the first snowflakes fall in Starkville Sunday afternoon, I grabbed my camera and recorded some video and pictures and sent that to The Weather Channel. I followed the event the whole day on radar, skycams, and TV stations that were covering it. Towards the end of the night, I was definitely wishing I was back home in Pontotoc.
Grandparents' Frozen Fountain
A relatively warm layer aloft helped a lot of the snowfall to fall to the ground as sleet in Starkville. Compared to snow, sleet is very dense, so it was just too hard for us in Starkville to get significant snowfall out after that. It used up a lot of our resources for snow, I guess you could say. Many forecasts were originally for Central Mississippi to receive 4-8 inches of snow, but the average was about 3 inches.
Snow was plentiful far to the north, though. I became a little annoyed when I saw Starkville was drying out and my hometown was going to be experiencing heavy snow for the next hour or so. Then I regretted not going home for the weekend! I couldn’t stand not being with my family during such a big event, so I ended up driving back to Pontotoc the next morning (Monday). In hindsight, I should have taken a must different route. I was one of the first to travel the snow covered roads between Okolona and Pontotoc, so I had to blaze my own trail–often driving in the middle of the road or even on the left side. (Don’t worry, I passed a total of two cars on the drive.) Normally, that stretch takes me about 25 minutes. It took me close to 40 that day!
I did make it home in good condition, though, and Mom, Amy, and I walked to my grandparents’ house (less than a mile away) for homemade soup! We enjoyed being outside the rest of the day and got a chance to build snowmen representing Mississippi State and Ole Miss–mine and my sister’s schools. They were actually featured in the Pontotoc Progress and on The Daily Journal’s website. When I left home this past Tuesday morning, the 18th, there was still some snow left, but it’s probably depleted by now as afternoon highs this week have been in the 40s.
There is a chance for some wintry precipitation at the beginning of the next week, but I will have a webcast on that later today!
Mine and Amy's MSU and Ole Miss Snowmen
Grandparents' Backyard
Birds are confused!
Winter Wonderland!
Me Being Artsy
Mom & Amy. My snowball in the middle of the sign!
Our neighbor's creativeness. (He's a tennis coach.)
Penny Chasing Our Neighbor's Dog
Relief from the Cold
After a snowy start to the week and a frigid midweek, we have a few days of “warmer” temperatures to look forward to. Check out the video below for more details.
Wild Winter Weather Weekend!
It looks like the Deep South could see the highest snow totals Sunday night into Monday that it’s seen in several years. Watch the video below for more details!
New Years Forecast
It’s time for one last post to wrap up 2010 here at WeatherWill. It’s been a great first year “in business” and I look forward to continuing this project in 2011. Since my first post on January 22nd, WeatherWill his seen over 10,000 visitors! (So even though most of you haven’t signed my guestbook, I know you’re there! Ha.)
New Years Eve in North Mississippi
Despite seeing a white Christmas less than a week ago, we will experience above average temperatures as we end 2010. On average, Tupelo is at 51 degrees this time of year, but, with the help of southerly winds, we will see temperatures reach the uppers 60s on Friday. Unfortunately, it will not be the prettiest of days. Look for mainly overcast skies with rain beginning in the afternoon. The strongest (and most widespread) thunderstorms won’t come until Friday evening. High winds will be the main threat, but we will also see some heavy rainfall and even the possibility for an isolated tornado; therefore, it’s not at all out of the question for severe weather tomorrow evening/night. I would recommend having those New Year Countdown parties inside!
Rain chances will linger around for Saturday morning, but most places will stay dry after noon. With northwesterly winds, high temperatures will drop to the upper 50s. However, we will get to see more sun than on Friday. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday look to stay rain-free, and we will get to see a good deal of sunshine. Daytime highs will range from the upper 40s to mid-50s, respectively.
Gator Bowl in Jacksonville
Heading to Jacksonville to watch the Mississippi State Bulldogs take on Michigan? I’m heading out in a few hours! It looks like those of us that will be on the East Coast will have better luck at missing the rain on New Year’s Eve. After some morning fog, high temperatures will reach the lower 70s under mostly sunny skies. Cloud cover will be more prevalent on Saturday, but highs will be a touch warmer: lower to mid 70s.
After again seeing some fog Saturday morning, it does appear that we will stay dry during game time. There is a slight chance for rain later in the night, though. Cloud cover will build in Saturday evening leading to mostly cloudy skies for Sunday, and as of now, rain for Sunday looks to be isolated. Daytime high will be closer to 70s degrees.
GO DAWGS!!!
Grandparents' Backyard on Christmas Day (Pontotoc)
Grandparents' Front Yard on Christmas Day (Pontotoc)
Fickle December
Fountain in my grandparents' backyard.
For a while it may have seemed like it would be another southern December wearing shorts and flip-flops. The average high temperature for the first four days of the month in Tupelo was 59 degrees! We reached 65 on the fourth.
Canada has been kind enough to lend us some cold air, though, so morning lows between December 6th and 14th were mostly in the middle 20s and even teens! We even got to see a few snow flurries on Sunday, the 12th. It wasn’t enough to build a snow man, but I suppose many of us will take what we can get! High temperatures that day were in the middle 40s, so the snow just refused to stick around. (Pun intended.) But we did plummet to 14 degrees on on the 14th. And that led us to the 15th….
The picture to the left is from my grandparents’ backyard. Morning lows around the freezing mark allowed for the fallen precipitation to freeze. (Hence the term freezing rain.) Many kids woke up to school being cancelled on the 15th due to the weather conditions–and for good reason. Several bridges were iced over causing numerous wrecks around North Mississippi and Alabama. A few people also told me about family members falling while going outside, resulting in a couple of trips to the hospital. Highs on the 15th and 16th actually got back up to 59 and 60 degrees, respectively, so any icy patches soon melted.
It’s often said that if you don’t like the weather in this area, stick around for a little while. That holds true to this coming week as we will be on a warming trend. High pressure will remain over our area tomorrow, allowing daytime highs to reach the upper 40s. As it moves off to the east, we will see temperatures hit the middle 50s on Monday to even lower 60s on Tuesday! Just for some perspective, the average high for this time of year is around 42 degrees.
Rain chances do come into play as a cold front comes through the Southeast on Tuesday. Morning lows will be in the mid 40s, so there is no chance of another freezing rain event! As high pressure builds back in on Wednesday, we will see cooler temperatures–upper 40s to lower 50s–through the end of the work week. We will contend with some more chances for rain Friday as a warm front heads our way. However, a strong cold front will follow behind it sometime between Friday afternoon and Saturday. Though it’s still a week away, it’s not out of the question to forecast some snow flurries Christmas Eve or Day, as daytime highs do not look to budge out of the 40s. (And I think that’s being generous!)
Sun, Sun, Sun!
Below is my morning webcast from WCBI as well as the discussion. I also have a great picture sent in from Oxford of the snow event last week!
Sent in from Leah Whitt in the Grove at Ole Miss
We’ll continue to see frigid nights and cool days through Friday as our weather stays nice and quite for at least the next few days. In fact, the weather across the entire country is fairly tranquil with only a few spots expected to receive precipitation today–mainly the Northeast and Northern Rockies.
We’ll continue to see a warming trend and ample sunshine through Friday. Temperatures will climb nicely into the upper 40s today after seeing morning temperatures settle into the mid 20s.
Tonight will be fairly cold again with lows dipping into mid 20s under clear skies.
While the remainder of the week will stay relatively cool, we’ll see a gradual warm up through the weekend. Expect highs in the low 50s Thursday, then the upper 50s Friday.
Enjoy the weather over the next few days because we’ll see rain and clouds return this weekend. Saturday looks cloudy with some scattered showers around, but Sunday will probably be the wettest day. We could even see a few thunderstorms Sunday afternoon as our next weather system moves in.
Some rain will likely linger into Monday, and temperatures will drop a good bit too as some cold air moves in early next week.
50s On The Way!
I recorded a webcast on campus today, but apparently YouTube doesn’t like the length of it and is having a hard time processing it. I also have two more great pictures to post from Oxford this morning. (For some reason they aren’t showing up on my phone anymore, so I am getting the sender to resend.) Stay tuned for both of those! Until then, here is a brief discussion on what to expect for the remainder of the week. And YOU are more than welcome to send in photos from your neck of the woods.
Sent in by Tara Morgan in Auburn, MS.
A large area of northern counties saw nice accumulations of snowfall last night. There were reports of it snowing as early has 10 P
M in Lafayette County. Most places (i.e. the Golden Triangle!) just saw rainfall out of this system. Come daybreak, icey porches and steps were the main concerns here in Starkville and surrounding area. And altho
ugh there was an inch or so of snow in Pontotoc and neighboring counties, roads remained clear. They were simply too wet from rainfall to allow any accumulation.
Cold air was in place for today as was high winds–gusts up to 25 mph. So the windchill factor kept things feeling like they were in the upper 20s and lower 30s. Northern counties got another round of snowfall this afternoon thanks to a trough that came though. And from this, we here in the Golden Triangle saw a few flurries.
It became cloudy as the day progressed, but we could see some clearing tonight. Temps will dip down to the mid 20s. I know that sounds cool, but I have some great news….
'System that came through last night producing snow accumulation for northern counties.
Daytime highs will be climbing throughout the week. Tomorrow I am expecting temperatures in the low to mid 40s (okay, nothing to brag about), Wednesday looks to be in the upper 40s, and Thursday, well, here it comes: temperatures will lurk in the lower to middle 50s! Not enough for you? Friday is going to be our “warm” day with temperatures hanging around the mid 50s. Okay, so it’s still not summer, but at least we get away from daytime highs in the 30s and 40s!!
The other good news is that we will be dry for the rest of the work week. We will also see some clearing. Clouds will be broken tomorrow–peaks of sun here and there–but Wednesday is shaping up to be quite nice with wall-to-wall sunshine.
Rain really doesn’t come back into play until Friday night into Saturday morning. There is also a chance for rain come Sunday. Cloud cover will come back into the picture towards the end of the week as well.
I hope to get my webcast uploaded soon, but if not within the next hour or so, I will be at WCBI tomorrow morning, so look for one about mid-morning!
- RT @eastwx: What a situation. It's not often you see a guy disappointed with himself for scoring the go-ahead TD in the Super Bowl.
- I would prefer for the Giants to win, but that was an impressive drive by the Patriots #SuperBowl
- Wait...the #SuperBowl is today?
- Great worship experience tonight with @StevenCurtis @joshwilson @AndrewPeterson ... I'd love to have lunch with you guys one day.
- I'm so glad that for once it's raining on a weekend morning so I can sleep in to it.
- Late but yay Fri! @lauravelasquez @wdtn_jamie @MetTaraHastings @WeatherKait @amysweezey @TravisKoshko @ginger_zee @Kristin_Walls @wxsarah
- You jest, but I had fun! RT @mista_dodd: @wrsimmons It couldn't have been done without you!
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