Pattern Not Encouraging for Some Time to Come

Great astronomy info in Mike's thread below, by the way.

The overall pattern for much of next week and the following week shows extensive troughiness for much of the central and eastern US, which will favor above normal precipitation and below normal temps. As previously mentioned, that doesn't mean every single day will be Wet & Chilly (oftentimes, approaching short waves bring brief warmups before they pass), but it does mean we're done with the 70s for the foreseeable future. Mother's Day precip as of this posting looks to be holding off until late in the day. This is the time of the year where "blocky" patterns are climatologically favored. If you're in the bad portion of the block, you're out of luck. Normally I wouldn't mention what the GFS shows too far out in mid-Spring. However, it's consistently showing upper level low pressure which would keep us Chilly and possibly Wet NEXT weekend. Most of this one, fortunately, will be dry--until Sunday night, when things go way down hill.

Star Gazers Bedazzled

Now that the winter shade of gray is breaking, there are numerous opportunities for our viewers to observe the heavens on clear nights.

The Ferguson Planetarium at Buffalo State College is offering a couple planetarium programs through the month of May. Learn about the spring nighttime sky in, “Nights of the Vernal Bloom”, Friday’s at 8:00 PM and Saturday’s at 3:00 PM. A second show, “Dawn of New Horizons” is a presentation on NASA’s space probe missions. That show
is scheduled on Friday’s at 9:00 PM and Saturday’s at 4:00 PM. Following the Saturday 4:00 PM show, telescopes will be set up to view the solar disk through June 12, 2008. For information call (716) 878-4911.

The Penn Dixie site in Blasdell offers a number of public viewings of the night sky during the year. One such program is scheduled for Saturday, May 17, 2008 beginning at 7:30 PM. Telescopes, with filters, will be available to view sunspots and solar flares before sunset. Mercury, Mars, Saturn and the Beehive Cluster M44 will be visible after sunset. More information is available at (716)627-4560 or on http://www.penndixie.org/ .

One of the best spots to take in the heavenly wonders in western New York, is at the Beaver Meadow Audubon Center located off Rt. 77 in North Java, where, because of the limited light pollution, you can view the planets and other features of the cosmos on the first and third Saturday of each month through September. The telescopes are provided through the generosity of the Buffalo Astronomical Association. Call (585)457-3238 for more information.

The Martz Observatory in Frewsburg, New York, just acquired a new 24” robotic telescope and occasionally offers public viewing nights. Look for such information on their web site at http://www.martzobservatory.com/ .

Our Canadian neighbors, the St. Catharines chapter of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is holding a solar disk observation on Saturday, May 10 from 11:00 until 2:00 PM at the Fairview Mall in St. Catharines and in the evening, will host a “Solar System Walk”, at Firemen’s Park. Check out their web site for more at, http://www.astronomyniagara.com/ .

Of course most of these events are weather permitting, but WeatherWatch4 will take care of that part, with the very latest forecast 24-7.

1st Full Week of May to Offer Springlike Changes

First of all, the bumpy cloud pics to the right are not too often seen here in WNY. They're called Mammatus clouds, associated with the anvil cloud that extends from a decaying cumulonimbus (storm cloud). These were taken around sunset by Mike Schwab of Orchard Park after the storms rolled through Saturday evening. Cool shots, Mike!

As we head into the 1st full week of May, a noticeble springlike change will occur with temps rebounding into the 60s for much of the upcoming week after a chilly finish to the weekend. A ridge of high pressure will keep WNY dry with plenty of sunshine to start out on Monday. A clipper developing across the upper midwest will deliver the chance for a few hit or miss showers and isolated t-storms by Tuesday afternoon. More dry time moves in early Wednesday, but daytime heating could cause the atmosphere to destabilize, generating a few pop-up PM showers and t-storms. Local weather will likely turn even more active later Thursday into Friday as a more important spring storm lifting out of the central plains takes aim on the region, bringing widespread showers and t-storms. However, the track of this system is still uncertain, yet bears close watching.

Post Frontal Rainbow

These pictures were submitted courtesy of Barb from Medina.

It was a beautiful sight last night around 7pm in many parts WNY. I cannot make out a double rainbow from these pictures, but I know a lot of people reported a double rainbow closer to the Buffalo metro.