7Stormteam Weather Blog

Happy Spring!

Sunday is the first day of March, and although it may feel like a blast of winter with the cold and gusty north winds, it is actually the first day of spring!  Now you may be wondering, I though spring arrives in late March, after the vernal equinox.  We’ll you are right on that!  So what am I talking about wishing everyone a happy spring?  We’ll I haven’t lost my mind, but I am using a different calendar, of sorts.  While astronomical spring will arrive on Friday, March 20^th 2009 at about 6:43am (go ahead set your alarms to celebrate!), meteorological spring begins on March 1^st every year.  Meteorologists typically talk about astronomical seasons to the general public, but as scientists we like to use our own seasonal calendar.  There is a valid reason for doing this.  Climatic data fit into similar categories when it comes to seasons.  Picking three months of the year and clumping them into a season makes it easier for research efforts around the world.  So our spring months are March, April, & May.  Then June, July, & August make up summer, typically the hottest months of the year shown by climatology.  Autumn is filled with September, October, & November.  And finally winter is December, January, & February, typically the coldest months of the year on the meteorologist calendar.  So yes, we do get to celebrate spring about three weeks earlier than the astronomical calendar folks, but the weather doesn’t always cooperate with our man made calendars and seasons as we can feel today with this un-spring like weather!  I hope you learned something today!  Happy Spring!

By the way, on another note we have had several dry months as of late.  Since the beginning of 2009, the area has fared below average in rainfall.  Lake Charles is nearly seven inches below average in rainwater for the year to date.  Here’s a quick look at the latest US Drought Monitor, which puts our area in an abnormally dry to moderate drought.  Just stay conscious of your water usage in the months to come.

-Meteorologist Jeff Jumper

Happy Mardi Gras!

Fat Tuesday will be perfect... at least when it comes to the weather forecast! Temperatures will start out chilly in the 40's early and then warm up by mid morning in the 50's. By the time the Krewe of Krewes parade rolls late afternoon it will be warming up to near 70 degrees. Plenty of sunshine with a few clouds in the afternoon but no rain is expected. It looks like great weather to "pass a good time!"

Have a Happy Lundi & Mardi Gras!!!

Saturday Evening Update:

Thanks to a stalled surface front near SWLA, we are dealing with numerous showers and thunderstorms this Saturday evening.  Some of these storms are producing moderate to heavy rainfall.  The storms will continue to develop and move to the northeast at about 20-35 mph this evening and overnight tonight.  The frontal boundary is providing the lift at the surface to fire up the storms, while the upper level energy is present to sustain these storms.  Some of the storms could turn strong with the main threat being heavy rains, which could reduce visibility.  Other threats include some strong winds as well as small hail.  Of course, lightning is a very dangerous threat in any thunderstorm.  The timing looks like this.  The evening hours through midnight to about 3am look like the prime time for showers and thunderstorms to develop and move across the area.  Anyone could see showers and storms producing rainfall of around an inch an hour, if not greater amounts in the heavy downpours.  From roughly 3am through daybreak, the showers will be diminishing and moving off to the east.  A few isolated showers will remain after daybreak.  By noon or shortly after on Sunday the skies will clear and the sun returns.

 

-Meteorologist Jeff Jumper

Severe Weather Awareness Week

Louisiana is observing Severe Weather awareness week during this second week in February. We use this time to eduacate people about the dangers of severe weather and how to be prepared for it.

There are several types of severe weather including; tornados, hail, high winds, flooding and lightning. Here in the south our severe weather "season" starts as the transition of winter to spring begins. Typically the spring is when we see the most severe weather outbreaks mostly because cold and warm air battles more than during the other seasons. The atmosphere is always trying to stabalize itself. As it is doing so there is an energy build up. This increase in energy is released through strong storms.

There are plenty of things you and your family can do to ready yourself for severe weather. The most important is knowing what to do in a weather emergency. All of these different elements can happen very quickly and with little to no warning.

Friday, on 7 News Sunrise, find out how you can get prepared. We are taking weather on the road to the National Weather Service in Lake Charles. We will be talking about Severe Weather Awareness week and we'll also be taking a look at what happens behind the scenes at the NWS. In particular, the launch of a weather balloon. That all happens beginning at 5 am Friday!

You can also chat live with me on the kplctv.com weather page about severe weather and any other questions that are on your mind about the ever-changing weather in SWLA!

Severe Weather & Rain Threat is Over

All of the showers have moved out of SWLA. The threat of severe weather is long over. Skies will be clearing as the day progresses and the sun will come out later. Temperatures have cooled down a bit behind the front and falling tonight into the 40's.

Line of Showers Moving Through

A line of showers with occasional lightning is moving through this morning. This is the weather we have been anticipating. Most of the storms have weakened to nothing more than some rain and gusty winds. We are still watching this system as it moves in but nothing looks close to the severe threshold.

A tornado watch remains in effect for Beauregard, Allen, and Vernon parishes until 6 am Wednesday morning.

Stay tuned for the latest.

Tornado Watch 2-11-2009 1:15 am

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma has issued a Tornado Watch for the following parishes: Allen, Beauregard, Evangeline, Rapides and Vernon and is in effect until 6:00 am. A Tornado Watch means that there is the potential for thunderstorms to produce tornadoes and that you should remain alert to changing weather by watching KPLC and or monitoring NOAA Weather Radio. If any thunderstorm is spotted with a tornado or one is detected by radar the National Weather Service will issue a Tornado Warning. If a Tornado Warning is issued that is when you will need to go to your safe place. Hopefully you already know where your safe place is, this is something you should plan for in case it happens. A Quick rundown of safe places include: basements, bathrooms, interior closets, and a small interior room. Once in your safe place you should protect your head in case there is falling debris and stay tuned to KPLC, turn the volume on the TV up so you can still hear; or take your NOAA Weather Radio with you. This will let you know when the threat has passed and thus when it would be safe to come out of your safe place. Obviously a mobile home or a vehicle is not safe places to be in any strong wind; so you will need to find another location to be safe. As I have mentioned all day long the atmosphere has one of the big ingredients necessary for tornado development and that is wind shear. The winds are increasing in speed has you get above the ground and those winds are also turning from south at the ground to southwesterly several thousand feet above the ground. This is the big reason this tornado watch has been issued; thankfully we still are not in a perfect severe weather setup. Stay tuned to KPLC severe weather can develop very quick and with little notice so stay alert. The line of storms is likely to begin crossing the Sabine River around 3 am in Vernon Parish; moving into the Lake Charles area by 5 am and into Lafayette after daylight. Here is the latest wide view of the radar; you can see the line of storms as it is marching our way…

Severe Weather 2-10-2009 (9:30 pm update)

Earlier I showed you some impressive supercell thunderstorms producing tornadoes over Oklahoma. Well those storms have transitioned to a more linear nature. This means the damaging wind threat has increased but the widespread tornado threat has decreased. However these linear storms still can produce tornadoes, it is just not quite has likely has the individual supercell thunderstorms. This image is from the Norman, Oklahoma radar just as it was earlier this afternoon; you notice the storms lined up east of Oklahoma City. We showed video on the earlier newscasts of this tornado that was captured from a local TV station helicopter. Yes they actually chase the tornadoes with helicopters! The pilots of those choppers are experience in chasing tornadoes and of course know quite a bit about meteorology. Plus the use of high quality cameras allows them to zoom in from a safe distance; still there are risks. Flying debris is an issue as is strong inflow winds that can pull a helicopter toward the thunderstorm. Next time there are tornadoes near Oklahoma City I encourage you to watch their live streaming coverage, it is nothing short of amazing and cool from a meteorological standpoint. I always enjoy watching Gary England at KWTV; he really knows his stuff!!! This image shows the same line from the above image as it extends southward into the Dallas area. As I am writing this at 9:15 pm I see that a new tornado warning was just issued for Tarrant County for a thunderstorm northeast of Fort Worth moving east at 50 mph! Remember at night tornadoes are even more dangerous because they cannot be seen plus more people are asleep and may not know about the potential danger. NOAA Weather Radio is the perfect solution for this. For more information on NOAA Weather Radio locally click here. This image is from the New Braunfels radar just outside of San Antonio; this shows the southern extent of the line of storms that goes all the way into Oklahoma. This means the line of storms is almost due west of us here in Southwest Louisiana; but it is still almost 300 miles away. These means this line of storms will not reach us until well after midnight, maybe even closer to daylight Wednesday morning. I still think our chances of severe weather are low; but boy the wind shear over us is very impressive! The winds just a couple thousand feet are screaming at nearly 70 mph; if you look outside you will notice the clouds just above the ground racing north because of these strong winds. Again everything for severe weather is not in place; that is why I still do not look for widespread severe weather. However I cannot rule out an isolated severe thunderstorm or two; with strong gusty winds being the primary threat although if a storm can get strong enough a tornado could develop. Stay tuned to KPLC through the night for the latest information if any watches or warnings are issued we will let you know.

Severe Weather Possible 2-10-2009 (updated 3pm)

A significant severe weather is taking shape just to our northwest. The strong southerly winds we are seeing here are feeding warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico into the Southern Plains. This moisture and warmth are combining with very favorable upper level winds to allow severe to develop and this threat will grow tonight. As of 3 pm there have already been tornado watches and warnings issued; and one possible tornado near Oklahoma City as produced damage. This is a radar image of the Oklahoma City area from 3 pm showing strong thunderstorms in that area. The storm located just north of the city of Edmund produced a tornado in the suburbs of Oklahoma City and likely still was at the time the image was captured. This is likely just the first of many severe weather events. This image shows the areas that the storm prediction center has outlined for the potential for severe weather. The area shaded in orange is the area of moderate risk for severe weather; and the area most likely to see severe weather over the next 12 hours. The area in yellow is the area in a slight risk for severe weather, that means about a 10% chance of severe weather occurring. You will notice that we here in Southwest Louisiana are in the yellow shaded area, meaning a slight risk of severe weather will exist through the early morning hours of Wednesday. For us here in SWLA we will miss the worst of the severe weather as it will slide northeastward from around the Dallas area. Shreveport may very well see some severe weather on a widespread and damaging basis tonight. If you have friends or family in that area, or anywhere in the moderate risk area from above, call them and make sure they are aware of the situation. I think there is enough energy in the atmosphere over us to allow one or two thunderstorms to approach and possibly exceed severe levels. If this occurs a tornado could form, because we have significant wind shear in the atmosphere; and this can lead to tornado development. I must stress that the chance of this is very low, likely less than a 5% chance; but a chance is there nonetheless. Remember tornadoes at night are the worst because you cannot see them and many times you may be asleep and not even know of the threat coming your way. We here at KPLC will be here through the night tonight and we will be on the air if there are any watches or warnings issued. However if you are asleep you may not see our warning to you; to solve this problem you need a NOAA Weather Radio that will wake you if a warning is issued. Most area electronic stores carry them; make sure you get one with SAME technology. This allows you to program it to alert you for warning for just your parish and not the entire area. If you live in Vernon Parish you probably do not want to be wakened for a warning in Cameron Parish; the SAME technology will prevent this if you program the radio for only Vernon Parish warnings. For more information on this severe weather threat stay tuned to KPLC, WWW.KPLCTV.COM. And for a more detailed graphical explanation check out the video weather forecast on the homepage in the video player. For the latest radar images for your parish click here.

Happy Weatherperson's Day!

Taken from the NWS.

 

History of National Weatherman's Day:

 

Today, February 5, is National Weatherman's Day, commemorating the birth of John Jeffries in 1744. Jeffries, one of America's first weather observers, began taking daily weather observations in Boston in 1774 and he took the first balloon observation in 1784. This is a day to recognize the men and women who collectively provide Americans with the best weather, water, and climate forecasts and warning services of any nation.

Many of us take weather information for granted. Turn on a light switch, you get light. Turn on your television or radio, or check a web site and you get the weather forecast. It’s easy to forget that around the clock, dedicated meteorologists and weathercasters are vigilantly creating forecasts to help you plan your day, and issuing warnings to help keep you safe.