WELCOME TO THE SEVERE WEATHER TEAM 9 WEATHER BLOG

Greetings everyone and welcome to the Severe Weather Team 9 Weather Blog. If you have a passion for weather, you've come to the right place.

We'll use this forum to discuss Ohio Valley weather in greater detail and answer as many weather questions as possible. You can send in your questions to weather@wtov.com.

JULY 1, 2009: WHERE DID JUNE GO?

It’s already July! June is in the books, and it certainly was not a hot month. Our 89 degree high on June 25 was the closest we’ve been to 90 degrees so far this year. The monthly average high temperature of 78.1 degrees was nearly two degrees below the normal June average high temperature of 79.8 degrees.

Low temperatures came in right at the expected value of 58.2 degrees last month, so I guess only the days were cooler than usual. Our coolest night came right at the start of the month, with a low of 44 degrees on June 1. We did not set any record highs or lows during the month.

There were some very wet and stormy days in June, but not everyone shared in the heavy rains. Our rain gauge recorded 2.16 inches of precipitation, well below the average of 3.71 inches. The year to date total through June 30 stood at 15.94 inches of rain and melted snow, 2.85 inches below the average of 18.79 inches.

As for those stormy days, we had eight days with severe thunderstorms in the area and five days with flooding rains. The most severe weather came on June 17, when the area was under ten tornado warnings, fourteen severe thunderstorm warnings, and nine flood warnings.

E-mail your weather questions to weather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Kevin Carter .

JUNE 30, 2009: PAST INDEPENDENCE DAY WEATHER

Rain on Independence Day is almost just a common around here as fireworks! Since the year 2000 there has only been one year in which it did not rain on Uncle Sam’s birthday, and that year was 2005. You would think the odds are in our favor of having a dry holiday to even things out a little this decade. The early forecast for the Fourth of July is for a mix of sun and clouds with high temperatures in the upper 70’s.

Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

JUNE 29, 2009: UNSETTLED WEATHER MOVING IN

An upper level low will move into the area Monday night into Tuesday, bringing with it unseasonably cool temperatures and scattered rain showers that will last through Thursday.

In addition to cool temperatures on the ground, this low will also bring in very cold air aloft. This low is also expected to stall out and linger over the area, so we can expect showers to move through periodically for the rest of the work week.

A few rumbles of thunder are possible here and there and although we aren’t expecting any severe weather from this system, the cold pool of air in the upper levels means there is a potential for a few small hail showers to form. Any hail that forms should be pea size or less. Temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday will be around 15 degrees below average.

Since its going to be unusually cold around here the next few days, you can expect it to be extremely hot elsewhere. If you watch the national news this week one of their stories will likely be the scorching heat from Texas to the northern Great Plains.

Email any questions to weather@wtov.com.
I'm Severe Weather Team 9 intern David Kraeer.

JUNE 25, 2009: SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL

A cold front will slice into sizzling heat and humidity to ignite intense thunderstorms later today towards evening.

Winds aloft are not very supportive of thunderstorm development however, the air at the surface is very juicy with dew points in the upper 60’s and air temperatures in the upper 80’s. Because of this we are included in a SLIGHT risk for severe weather. A slight risk for severe weather means well-organized storms are expected to form, but should be small in numbers.

The strongest thunderstorms will be capable of producing damaging winds, hail and blinding downpours.

Help contribute to Severe Weather Team 9 by emailing any storm reports, rainfall amounts, or digital pictures toweather@wtov.com.
I'm Severe Weather Team 9 intern David Kraeer.

JUNE 24, 2009: HEATING UP

Way back on April 25, we had a high temperature of 87 degrees. That’s still our warmest temperature of the year so far, even though two months have passed! We have a real shot of getting close to 90 degrees on Thursday, so perhaps we’ll have a new high for the year.

Last year we hit 90 degrees three times, and all of those came before summer actually started. It was 90 on June 6, June 8, and June 9, and after that, we never made it above the 89 degree reading reached on August 24. The last time we hit 90 degrees during the actual summer season was on September 6, 2007, when we reached 91 degrees.

Over the last 17 years, we’ve averaged about nine 90 degrees days each year. Hot days came in bunches in 2007 (15 days), 2006 (11 days), and 2005 (17 days), but we never reached 90 degrees during 2004 and 2003. The most 90 degree days in recent years came just before that two year cool spell, when we reached 90 degrees 23 days in 2002.

E-mail your weather questions to weather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Kevin Carter .

JUNE 23, 2009: LIGHTNING SAFETY AWARENESS WEEK: LIGHTNING MYTHS BUSTED



Have you ever heard the phrase, "Lightning never strikes twice"? That's actually not true. Lightning often strikes the same place numerous times. For example, the Empire State Building averages 25 lightning strikes a year. On average, every commercial jet in the U.S. is struck by lightning once a year.

Believe it or not, the tires on your car do not protect you from a lightning strike. Lightning bolts have been known to measure up to 100 million volts. Two inches of rubber around your tires are not enough to stop the flow of electricity from the lightning bolt to the ground. It's actually the metal roof and sides that safely conduct electricity around you. Therefore, vehicles that are open, such as motorcycles, convertibles and bicycles, are not protected from lightning.

The inside of your house isn't completely safe either. Some of the wires that supply your house come from outside and conduct electricity. Your landline phone is the best example of this. It is dangerous to talk on a corded phone during a thunderstorm. However, your cell phone is completely safe from lightning. Although unlikely, it is possible that you can be electrocuted in the shower by lightning that has traveled through your water pipes.

There is good news. Metal does not attract lightning. Instead, lightning usually strikes tall and pointy structures. So wearing watches, earrings, bracelets or rings do not make you more likely to be struck by lightning.

When you hear thunder, it's always best to get indoors. Don't wait until it starts to rain before you seek shelter. Lightning has been known to strike 10 to 15 miles away from the actual thunderstorm. In fact, in extreme cases, lightning has struck 100 miles from the thunderstorm.

Stay safe out there and remember, "When thunder roars, get indoors."

Email you questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm Severe Weather Team 9 intern David Kraeer.

JUNE 22, LIGHTNING SAFETY AWARENESS WEEK

The week of June 21st through June 27th has been declared Lightning Safety Awareness Week. It is important to be prepared for thunderstorms and lightning. Each year about one thousand people are struck by lightning in the United States. Lightning kills between 60 and 70 people each year. So far 15 people have been killed this year in the United States from lightning strikes. If you hear thunder you are close enough to lightning, so when thunder roars, go indoors!

There is an average of 25 million cloud to ground lightning strikes every year in the nation. The air near a lightning strike is hotter than the surface of the sun! So exactly why do we have lightning? Within thunderstorms there are tremendous amounts of air rising and sinking rapidly. At the top of the thundercloud it is very cold and some of the precipitation is frozen. The interaction of the liquid and frozen precipitation results in a buildup of electrical charge. The charge within the storm builds up to the point that a spark ignites. So lightning is nature’s way of equalizing the electrical charge within thunderstorms and between the thunderstorm and the ground.

Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

JUNE 18, 2009: MORE SEVERE WEATHER ON THE WAY

Wednesday was certainly the most active day of weather we’ve seen so far this year. Friday is shaping up to be more of the same.

The National Weather Service uses three risk categories (slight, moderate, and high) to show how numerous and strong they expect the impending severe weather to be. Our area is included within the MODERATE risk circle. A moderate risk means there will be the potential for stronger and more numerous storms than with the slight risk. Wednesday’s outlook called for a slight risk of severe weather, so Friday’s weather has the potential to be just as active, if not more. It’s very rare for our area to have a moderate risk of severe weather.

Help contribute to Severe Weather Team 9 by emailing your rainfall amounts and digital pictures toweather@wtov.com.
I'm Severe Weather Team 9 intern David Kraeer.

JUNE 16, 2009: HEAVY RAIN IN THE FORECAST

Our stretch of dry weather is about to come to an abrupt end. Rain is likely starting later tonight and continuing through Wednesday. Futurecast shows much of the area picking upwards of an inch of rain.

This could be the start of a soggy and stormy stretch as there are daily chances for rain through at least the first half of the weekend.

Help contribute to Severe Weather Team 9 by emailing your rainfall amounts toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

JUNE 12, 2009: HOW WEATHER IMPACTED D-DAY

I received an email from Steve Wells who wanted to know if weather effected history and specifically battles in wars. The quick answer is yes and almost every battle throughout history has been altered in some way by weather conditions. I figured we could take a look at how weather came into the planning of D-Day since the 65 year anniversary has just recently passed.

On the gray dawn of Monday, June 5th, 1944, rain slashed into the German bunkers and large waves pounded the beaches of France. This was the morning originally chosen for the Allied invasion of Europe, but the Allies postponed the invasion by 24 hours. This decision saved the Allied forces from certain destruction in the English Channel.

Six forecasters working in three different teams were responsible for the D-Day forecasts. Their forecast was overly optimistic and the British Admiralty and the British Meteorological Office urged delay. They were aided by the brilliant Norwegian theoretician Sverre Petterssen who used high altitude observations in his forecasts.

In the early hours of June 5th, under stormy skies of England, the forecasters advised General Eisenhower that a very short break in the weather a day later would allow the invasion to go ahead. On Tuesday, June 6th, under barely tolerable conditions, the largest amphibious landing force ever put together landed on the beaches of Normandy.

Ironically the German meteorologists were aware of new storms moving in from the North Atlantic, but they had decided that the weather would be too bad to permit an invasion attempt. The Germans were caught completely off guard. Their high command had relaxed and many officers were on leave; their airplanes were grounded; their naval vessels absent. This marked the beginning of the end of the war in Europe and it depended on what were arguably the three most critical forecasts in history -- two successful ones by the Allies and one failure by the Germans.

Courtesy of the Weather Notebook.

Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

JUNE 8, 2009: FIRST KNOWN PHOTOGRAPH OF A TORNADO

This is a picture of the first tornado to be photographed. The photo was taken in Howard, South Dakota on August 28, 1884!

Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

JUNE 4, 2009: HOW DOES LIGHTNING AFFECT AIRPLANES?

According to Scientific American it is estimated that on average every commercial airplane in the United Sates gets struck by lightning. That may sound alarming to some especially after the events of earlier this week concerning the Air France crash off the coast of Brazil.

It is not determined what caused the mysterious crash but according to satellite data thunderstorms were in the planes flight path. There were even estimates of 100 mph updrafts in these storms. Bill Waldock, an air-crash expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona suspects that the weather caused some kind of violent incident. Waldock suspects the 100-mph winds the airplane apparently encountered could have gotten underneath the wings and shaken the plane. "If they hit a 100-mph updraft while they were going 525 mph, it would have thrown them violently," Waldock said. "It's way beyond what the airplane is designed to accept."

So lightning may have not come into play with this disaster but in 1967 lightning caused a fuel tank explosion on a commercial airplane. This is the last known commercial plane crash due to lightning. Since that time much has been gained on how lightning affects airplanes and as a result the airplanes are equipped to handle a lightning strike.

The outside of airplanes are made of aluminum which is a good conductor of electricity so if a plane is struck by lighting the charge will flow around the outside shell of the plane without affecting the inside.

Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

JUNE 1, 2009: A LOOK BACK AT MAY

If you try to grow anything outdoors, you know we need rain to keep the plants growing. The month of May certainly filled the bill and the rain gauges in that regard. We picked up 4.7 inches of rain in May, more than an inch above average. We are still a bit drier than average for the year to date, with 13.78 inches of rain and melted snow through the end of May, compared to the average of 15.08 inches.

The wettest day in May was May 24, when 1.95 inches of rain was recorded. This was out wettest day since June 28, 2007, and was the most rain ever recorded for the date. There were 6 days in the month with some sort of flood advisory, watch, or warning in the area, and there were also 4 severe thunderstorm days and one day with a wind advisory issued.

As for temperatures, our average high temperature for the month came in right at the average of 71.9 degrees. Low temperatures were a couple degrees above average at 50.9 degrees. Our warmest temperature in May was 84 degrees, reached on both May 22 and May 23. The coldest temperature for the month was 33 degrees on May 18, which set a record low for the date.

E-mail your weather questions to weather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Kevin Carter .

MAY 29, 2009: GETTING READY FOR HURRICANE SEASON

The first Tropical Depression of the 2009 Atlantic Tropical Storm season has formed. Tropical Depression #1 was located about 260 miles southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts at 5 am this morning. Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph but look for it to weaken as it moves over colder waters. So Tropical Depression # 1 will not become our first named tropical storm or hurricane but hurricane season is right around the corner as it begins June 1st and lasts through November 30th. Here is the list of names that will be used this year for tropical storms and / or hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean basin:

Ana
Bill

Claudette

Danny

Erika

Fred

Grace

Henri

Ida

Joaquin

Kate

Larry

Mindy

Nicholas

Odette

Peter

Rose

Sam

Teresa

Victor

Wanda

Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

MAY 27, 2009: A SLOW MOVING FRONT

A cold front slipped into our area Sunday night, triggering some heavy rains. Indeed, the Filtration Plant in Steubenville measured 1.95 inches of rain on Sunday, a record for the date, and the most rain they have recorded for any one day since June 28, 2007.

This front then stalled in the southern portion of our area on Memorial Day, and began to move back to the north as a warm front by Monday evening. This led to some interesting weather for our area, especially when it comes to dew points.

While warm fronts are named because they mark the leading edge of warm air moving into a cooler air mass, they also usually indicate the boundary between moist and dry air as well. Meteorologists measure the moisture content of an air mass with the dew point, which is the temperature to which air must be cooled until the water vapor in the air condenses into liquid water.

The warm front in our area on Monday night had a dramatic difference in dew points between its warm and cold sides. For example, the dew point on the south side of the front at the Allegheny County airport at 11pm Monday evening was 60 degrees, while on the other side of the front at the nearby Pittsburgh International Airport, the dew point was only 44 degrees. Ironically, the temperature at the Pittsburgh airport, on the “cool” side of the front was 72 degrees, while it was 71 degrees on the “warm” side of the front at the Allegheny County airport.

The front moved north by midnight Tuesday morning, and the Pittsburgh airport’s dew point jumped to 59 degrees. Then the front slid back to the south, and Pittsburgh’s dew point fell back to 46 degrees by 4 am. The waffling continued back and forth on Tuesday as the warm front tried to move northeast, keeping our area divided into dry and moist air.

E-mail your weather questions to weather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Kevin Carter .

MAY 25, 2009: LIGHTS OUT?

Happy Memorial Day and since it is the unofficial start to summer then why is the topic of today’s blog entry “Lights Out”? Summer is just beginning and watching fireflies is an evening summer ritual for many, but some people are noticing fewer fireflies flickering in their backyards. Why might these “lightning bugs” be in decline?

Lawn Care: Fireflies spend time on the ground during the day and may be susceptible to injury from lawnmowers. Scientists are gathering data to understand how fertilizers, weed killers and pesticides affect fireflies.

Light: Fireflies find their mate by flashing – they need to see the flash of a mate and respond with a flash of their own. Scientists are also studying whether outdoor patio and street lights interfere with firefly mating.

Water Sources: Firefly larvae live in the soil and need water to survive. Scientists are working to understand how important water supplies are to firefly survival.

You can enjoy firefly watching on warm summer evenings and help scientists study fireflies! Scientists at the Museum of Science (Boston), Tufts University and Fitchburg State College are teaming up to track fireflies around the country and understand why some are disappearing. They want to know if you have fireflies in your backyard this summer. You can help them by spending ten minutes per week checking for fireflies and reporting what you find.

Learn about Firefly Watch and sign up as a volunteer by visiting:Fire Fly Watch.

Learn about different types of fireflies.

Learn about firefly ranges and flash patterns.

Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

MAY 22, 2009: DON’T FRY DAY

To help reduce rising rates of skin cancer from overexposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun, the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention has designated the Friday before Memorial Day, May 22, 2009, as “Don’t Fry Day” to encourage sun safety awareness and to remind everyone to protect their skin while enjoying the outdoors. The action step the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention is emphasizing for 2009 is “Slap on a Hat,” encouraging everyone to wear protective clothing like a wide-brimmed hat to provide important protection from too much sun.

As warm weather approaches and millions of Americans prepare to enjoy the great outdoors, the risk for ultraviolet (UV) damage of the skin increases. Skin cancer is on the rise in the United States, and the American Cancer Society estimates that one American dies every hour from skin cancer. It is estimated that this year 62,480 cases of malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, and more than one million cases of basal cell or squamous skin cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S.

Fortunately, skin cancer is highly curable if detected in its early stages. An easy way to remember sun safety awareness is to Slip! Slop! Slap!...and Wrap — slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher, slap on a hat, and wrap on sunglasses. The best way to detect skin cancer early is to examine your skin regularly and recognize changes in moles and skin growths.

Most skin cancers are caused by overexposure to UV radiation. A tanned appearance has become a sign of a good look and good health, fueling the increasing trends of sunbathing and tanning beds among young adults and women. However, using a sunless self-tanning product and continuing to apply sunscreen can help greatly reduce skin cancer risk. Individuals with lighter-toned skin are more susceptible to UV damage, although people of all races and ethnicities can be at risk for skin cancer. Those who have a family history of skin cancer, plenty of moles or freckles, or a history of severe sunburns early in life are at a higher risk of skin cancer as well. To minimize the harmful effects of excessive and unprotected sun exposure, protection from intense UV radiation should be a life-long practice for everyone.

The National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention is the united voice of 45 groups dedicated to reducing skin cancer morbidity and mortality in the United States. Council members represent some of the nation’s premier researchers, clinicians and advocates for melanoma and skin cancer prevention.

Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

MAY 21, 2009: LET’S BE PERFECTLY CLEAR

I don’t use the words sunny or clear very often in my forecasts. I usually opt for mostly clear at night and mostly sunny during the day. There’s a good reason for that. Those perfectly clear skies are hard to come by, and usually don’t last all day or all night.

Even though I forecasted clear skies for Tuesday night and a sunny day for Wednesday, there were some clouds around. The National Weather Service office in Pittsburgh scans the skies every hour, and reports the results. They spotted clouds between 6 am through 10 am Wednesday morning, and again from noon through 2 pm in the afternoon.

In fact, I went back through the National Weather Service office online climate records, hour by hour, to see when the last completely clear 24 hour day occurred. I had to go all the way back to October 10, 2008 to find one! So, even though the data says Pittsburgh averages 59 clear days a year, I think this really means days that are mostly sunny by day and mostly clear at night, and not ones that are completely cloud free. Those perfectly clear days are hard to find in our area!

E-mail your weather questions to weather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Kevin Carter .

MAY 18, 2009: FOUR HURRICANE NAMES RETIRED FROM LIST

Three hurricane names in the Atlantic and one in the eastern North Pacific were retired from the official name rotation by the World Meteorological Organization’s hurricane committee because of the deaths and damage they caused in 2008.

The names Gustav, Ike and Paloma in the Atlantic and Alma in the North Pacific will not be used again. Those names would have been used again in 2014. In their place will be Gonzalo, Isaias and Paulette in the Atlantic and Amanda in the North Pacific. The committee issues the list of potential names for tropical cyclones to be used every six years for both the Atlantic basin and eastern North Pacific basin.

Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

MAY 16, 2009: THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SIDE OF LIGHTNING

The establishment of a nationwide lightning detection network in the early 1990s enabled researchers to count lightning bolts accurately, and the numbers are stunning. The United States takes an average of 22 million lightning ground strikes per year. Of those, 90-95 percent are termed "negative," meaning the flow of electric current is from the cloud to the ground, and 5-10 percent are "positive," current flowing from ground.

However, despite a significantly lower rate of occurrence, positive lightning is particularly dangerous for several reasons. Since it originates in the upper levels of a storm, the amount of air it must burn through to reach the ground usually much greater. Therefore, its electric field typically is much stronger than a negative strike. Its flash duration is longer, and its peak charge and potential can be ten times greater than a negative strike; as much as 300,000 amperes and one billion volts!

Some positive strikes can occur within the parent thunderstorm and strike the ground beneath the cloud. However, many positive strikes occur near the edge of the cloud or strike more than 10 miles away, where you may not perceive any risk nor hear any thunder.

Also, positive flashes are believed to be responsible for a large percentage of forest fires and power line damage. Thus, positive lightning is much more lethal and causes greater damage than negative lightning.

Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

MAY 15, 2009: RAIN ABOUT ON SCHEDULE

We’ve had our share of rain this month, but nothing out of the ordinary. Through the first fourteen days of May, we’ve had 1.68 inches of rain, just 0.13 inches above average. The year to date precipitation stands at 10.76 inches of rain and melted snow, which is 2.28 inches shy of normal.

While it really hasn’t been terribly wet this month, we’ve only had two days with no precipitation at all. Five days have had just a trace of rain, two others a paltry 0.01 inches, and one more checked in at 0.02 inches. That means only four days in these first two weeks of May have really had any significant rain. We had a tenth of an inch on May 11, 0.13 inches on May 8, 0.53 inches on the first of the month, and 0.88 inches on May 6.

We are in our wet time of year. In a typical May, we receive 3.59 inches of rain, our third wettest month on average. Our wettest month on average is July, with 3.75 inches of rain, followed by June at 3.71 inches. March comes in fourth at 3.41 inches, with August fifth at 3.21 inches and April sixth with 3.15 inches.

E-mail your weather questions to weather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Kevin Carter .

MAY 12, 2009: LATE FROST

If it’s frost you want, then 36 degrees is the magic number. That may not make any sense at first, but as we blogged back on October 3, 2008, frost can form on the earth’s surface when the official temperature, taken about six feet above the ground, hits 36 degrees or colder.

So, since temperatures early Tuesday morning are expected to fall to around 36 degrees, frost is a distinct possibility, especially north of Interstate 70 where the National Weather Service has issued a frost advisory. This is getting to be a bit late for frost, but is really not out of the ordinary.

I reviewed the last ten years of weather data, and found that our last 36 degree reading in the spring has occurred in April five times and in May five times. The last two years were early, April 16 in 2008 and April 21 in 2007. The three previous years were late, all coming in May: May 23 in 2006, May 5 in 2005, and May 4 in 2004.

Then it was back and forth the previous five years; April 27 in 2003, May 22 in 2002, May 13 in 2001, April 28 in 2000, and April 26 in 1999. As the last ten years show, planting your garden too early can lead to some extra work covering those tender young plants in May about every other year. But at least we haven’t seen a frost as last as in 1972, when the temperature fell to a frosty 34 degrees on June 11!

E-mail your weather questions to weather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Kevin Carter .

MAY 7, 2009: VORTEX2 IS ABOUT TO START

VORTEX2 will hit the road from 10 May - 13 June 2009 and 1 May - 15 June 2010. What is VORTEX2? VORTEX2 is by far the largest and most ambitious effort ever made to understand tornadoes. They expect over 100 scientists and crew in up to 40 science and support vehicles to participate in this unique, fully nomadic, field program in May/June 2009-2010. The National Science Foundation (NSF) foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA) together are contributing over $10 million towards this effort. Participants will be drawn from several universities, and several government and private organizations, and will be international including members from Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

The results of this study will help answer some very difficult questions such as:

- How, when, and why do tornadoes form? Why some are violent and long lasting while others are weak and short lived?

- What is the structure of tornadoes? How strong are the winds near the ground? How exactly do they do damage?

- How can we learn to forecast tornadoes better? Current warnings have an only 13 minute average lead time and a 70% false alarm rate. Can we make warnings more accurate? Can we warn 30, 45, 60 minutes ahead?

VORTEX2 is fully nomadic with no home base. Scientists will roam from state to state following severe weather outbreaks through the Plains.

You can track the findings of this project by visiting the VORTEX2 web site.

Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

MAY 6, 2009: EARLY HEAT

Remember those warm days last month? You know, when it seemed like summer, even though the calendar still said April? We had high temperatures of 80 degrees or above five days in a row from April 24 through April 28, including a record high of 87 degrees on April 25.

The last time we had five days in a row at or above 80 degrees was back at the start of September of last year. The highs for September 1 through September 5 were 85, 88, 88, 88, and 86. The first time we had five in a row that warm last year came in June. We actually went 9 days in a row with temperatures at or above 80 degrees from June 5 through June 13, including our only 90 degree days of last year on the 6th, 7th, and 9th.

Going back through the years, we find that our first five day or longer stretch of 80 degree days usually shows up in May or June. In 2007 it came on May 8 through May 12, and in 2006 it was May 27 through May 31. We had to wait until June 5 through June 14 in 2005, and then it was back to May 8 through May 14 in 2004. We really had to wait for the heat in 2003, when the first five days of 80 degree temperatures came on June 22 through June 26.

But then we come to 2002, and how soon we forget the past. That year our first five days of 80 degree or higher temperatures actually came sooner than this year by 9 days. We hit 81 on April 15, 2002, followed by a record high of 87 on the 16th. Highs of 85 on both the 17th and 18th and 84 on April 19 completed the streak.

E-mail your weather questions to weather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Kevin Carter .

MAY 2, 2009: DO RAINBOWS ONLY APPEAR WHEN ITS WARM?

Rainbows can appear in the sky at any time of the year because temperatures are not involved in their formation. Unfortunately, the sky conditions that are necessary to produce rainbows rarely occur during the coldest part of the year, and so we almost never see them in the period from November through February.

A rainbow can form only when bright sunlight shines directly on raindrops and the observer is in the proper place to see it. But in the winter, the usual situation when it is raining is a gray, gloomy and solidly overcast sky with no direct sunlight. Breaks in the clouds that let sunlight shine directly onto raindrops usually occur only with showery rain such as thunderstorms, which are mainly warm-season weather events.

Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.

MAY 1, 2009: APRIL SUMMARY

April started and ended with showers, but it had a little of everything else in between. We managed a record high, a record snowy day, and a couple of days with the threat of severe thunderstorms.

The average high temperature for the month was 62.7 degrees, about a half degree above average. This was helped by that record high of 87 degrees on April 25, which came during a five day stretch of days with high temperatures at 80 degrees or above. The average low came in at 41.4 degrees, about 2 degrees above average.

Precipitation was just a shade above average, with 3.19 inches recorded, compared to the average of 3.15 inches. The wettest day was April 20, when 0.79 inches of rain fell. We had snow on four days in April, but the only day when more than a trace fell was April 7, when we picked up a record 1.6 inches. That was enough snow to put us above the monthly average of 1.5 inches. Assuming we don’t pick up any more snow this season, we end up at 31.9 inches, well below our seasonal snow average of 40.6 inches.

Severe weather was hard to find this April, but we did have the far southern part of the area under a severe thunderstorm watch on April 5, and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued on April 24.

E-mail your weather questions to weather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Kevin Carter .