Weekend of Feb 2-3 Update
As Friday's storm system dies down, the weekend will bring more benign weather to the region. Wraparound snow behind the storm will become lighter & more intermittent in the Saturday predawn hours, but many roads & sidewalks will remain slick. Just a bit of very lt snow or freezing drizzle will be around Saturday morning, and may return later Saturday evening into early Sunday. High pressure should "squish the clouds" just enough to bring some Limited Sun by Sunday afternoon. Saturday will still have some wind chill in the air; Sunday will be tranquil. An approaching area of low pressure and its warm front will bring rain showers into WNY during Monday, although there's a chance they could briefly be mixed w/wet snow at the outset. A downslope breeze Monday night will cause temps to rise later in the evening into Tuesday, when Sct Shwrs & a possible Tshwr will be accompanied by a high closer to 50. A second storm will form along a cold front trailing from the first low pressure system. This system will intensify Tuesday night as it moves toward us, bringing a slug of soaking rain later Tuesday night, turning to a quick burst of snow Wednesday morning, when temps will fall thru the 30s, along with quite Gusty NW winds. At this point, it appears winds will not be properly aligned for a High Wind event.
Again, with our vigorous La Nina in progress, and a Positive/Warm Phase NAO, cold weather will arrive in "shots" and extended periods of colder than average temperatures will be unlikely. The average storm track, however, will favor above average precipitation.
Again, with our vigorous La Nina in progress, and a Positive/Warm Phase NAO, cold weather will arrive in "shots" and extended periods of colder than average temperatures will be unlikely. The average storm track, however, will favor above average precipitation.
posted by Don Paul at
11:06 PM
11 Comments:
Let me tell you... sounds like we're getting a well deserved break in the weather department! Ahhhhh... we'll see how long this lasts... haha!
JB Is Going Extreme With The Blowtorch Here Is What He Said In His Blog............
""I see the number in DC for Tuesday on the GFS has gone up from the 52 yesterday to 65 now... way till you easterners get a load of whats coming."
Don........Is JB Hinting At A Major Warmup
There is some light freezing drizzle mixing with snow flurries tonight, so there will certainly be a few slick spots on roads. Just be sure to use caution. The reason for this is because there are a few upper level disturbances nearby, but no major accumulations are expected. There may be a more significant period of freezing rain during the first half of the day on Monday with a surge of mild air riding on top of cold air at ground level. The frozen precip will then change to plain rain later Monday into Tuesday with temps soaring into the 50s. It's February, and at this time highs typically average in the mid 30s. La Nina has a tight grip going into late winter. I'm not surprised the groundhogs were so fickle today! Phil saw his shadow...said there'd be 6 more weeks of winter, while Dunkirk Dave didn't see his! Go figure... this is a testament to our roller coaster winter season so far... just having some fun on this 2nd day of February...
MB--
Any big storms on tap... or in the offing? Or are we in a "slow" period as far as the weather goes? Any cold snaps in sight... besides the one we're expecting in the middle of this week? Thanks!
I just want to know if Dapper Don saw his shadow!
Nick: There is a system pushing in Monday/Tuesday. As I mentioned earlier, there's a significant warm up in the works with a wintry mix changing to rain on Monday and a chance of showers and t-storms on Tuesday. It will turn windy with highs in the 50s on Tuesday, but I don't believe the winds will be of the severe magnitude they were this past Wednesday. There is a quick cold shot by midweek, followed by another uphill mild ride with a wintry mix taking shape on Friday. Other than that, over the next two weeks, I am counting on generally above normal temps along with above average precipitation.
Superbowl Fans: The weather in Phoenix for the Pats/Giants matchup features a few showers and a chance of a t-storm with falling temps through the 50s into the 40s. It'll also be rather windy with SW winds increasing from 15-25. I only wish the Bills were playing in that game!
NASA Photos Reveal Mercury Is Shrinking
WASHINGTON — The first pictures from the unseen side of Mercury reveal the wrinkles of a shrinking, aging planet with scars from volcanic eruptions and a birthmark shaped like a spider.
Some of the 1,213 photos taken by NASA's Messenger probe and unveiled Wednesday help support the case that ancient volcanoes dot Mercury and that it is shrinking as it gets older, forming wrinkle-like ridges. But other images are surprising and puzzling.
The spidery shape captured in a photo is "unlike anything we've seen anywhere in the solar system," said mission chief scientist Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The image shows what looks like a large crater with faint lines radiating out from it.
Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, has often been compared to Earth's dull black-and-white moon. But the new photos, which reveal parts of Mercury never seen, show the tiny planet is more colorful and once had volcanic activity.
With the help of NASA high-tech enhancement, Messenger photos showed baby blues and dark reds.
"It has very subtle red and blue areas," said instrument scientist Louise Prockter of Johns Hopkins University, which runs the Messenger mission for NASA. "Mercury doesn't look like the moon."
The last time a NASA spacecraft went to Mercury was Mariner 10 in 1975. It took pictures of just 45 percent of the planet.
Messenger, which will do a couple more flybys of the planet before going into a long-term orbit, already has taken pictures of another 30 percent of Mercury, Prockter said. The rest will be seen eventually.
Planetary scientist Robert Strom, who was part of both the Mariner 10 and Messenger teams, said, "This is a whole new planet we're looking at."
And Prockter noted "there are some features we haven't been able to explain yet."
Example No. 1 is what scientists are calling "the spider." It is in the middle of a basin formed billions of years ago when space junk bombarded an infant Mercury.
Mariner had only seen part of the crater. When Messenger took a look with sharper cameras and a better angle, it photographed this odd central plateau jutting up, about half a mile high with dozens of tiny ridges radiating out.
It is as if "something is pushed up," said MIT planetary scientist Maria Zuber, who is part of the science team.
Prockter guessed that it could be remnants of a volcano. Other scientists think the leg-like features could be the same ridges seen all over Mercury.
First seen in the 1970s, the ridges now seen more widely provide evidence that Mercury is contracting, the scientists said.
Scientists had theorized that as the core of Mercury cools, it contracts and the whole planet shrinks. That was even a 19th Century theory for why Earth had mountains, but one that later proven wrong, Solomon said. But with Mercury that seems to be the case. As the planet shrinks, a bit of crust is pushed over another, forming what Prockter calls "wrinkle ridges."
Besides having what looks like the leftovers from volcanoes, Mercury has at least one crater that seems to be filled with what would be that planet's version of lava, Prockter said.
NASA launched the $446 million Messenger on its nearly 5 billion-mile mission in 2004. It will fly by Mercury two more times, this October and September 2009, before settling into orbit around in 2011. Messenger will take pictures, measure the planet's tenuous atmosphere, hills and valleys and unusual magnetic field — Mercury is the only solar system planet other than Earth to have a magnetosphere.
Quirky Mercury is one of the bigger question marks in the solar system, probed not nearly as much as Mars, Jupiter, Venus or Saturn.
Strom, a retired University of Arizona scientist who worked on Mariner 10, said that as he awaited Messenger's flyby earlier this month, "I couldn't sleep at all. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve."
Only he had to wait 30 years for his presents. It was worth it, he said: "What I saw was astounding to me."
Credit to comcast.net.
Don ...this is a GREAT Blog! Can't beleive that you write as much as you do...but I love it. I never did make it to Detroit on Friday, as you predicted...runways were closed most of the day. Oh well, so I stayed back in WNY instead...could've been worse! I will continue to enjoy your blog. Come on SPRING!
AWWW yess, Patriots lost and the weather will get interesting. Perfect week.
marinecore, definitely a good Sunday. I grew up w/the NY Giants, and even had a flunky-type job at their home games in the radio booth at Old Yankee Stadium. HUGE upset, with this Cinderella team which came from behind against odds in all 3 playoff victories, and then in the ultimate matchup--ferocious a defensive performance as I've ever seen.
I'm a big fan of Tom Brady's (got to see him play--usually behind Drew Henson--at the U of Mich when my daughter was an undergrad there), and it's hard to imagine the crushing disappointment after dealing w/the Giants' will-not-be-denied performance. If the Giants had lost as expected, I would have been happy for Brady. But this was MUCH better!
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