Weather Alerts

Volkonski · #2601

Our former Texas city was hard hit by Beryl. Power and Internet and 911 outages. Coastal flooding. River flooding.

Today is Wednesday. The day of their weekly emergency siren test. The city just sent out a notice reminding residents of this so that people wouldn't panic fearing something else was happening.

#2602

I loved siren testing on the coast. It was one of my annual contracts and I really enjoyed it. It was your basic inspection, preventative maintenance, and report writing function that I would accomplish in October after the tourist high season had passed. I'd visit every siren pole, run the weed whacker around the pole, set up a ladder, climb to the equipment box, take the covers off, check for rust, wasp nests, spiders, bullet damage, dust them out, scrub and rattle can minor rust, and finish with a full siren cycle.

They like the mechanical sirens. An electric motor drives a squirrel cage fan in a tuned cavity that generates two tones simultaneously making the classic air raid sound. The siren mechanism was at the top of the pole. The controller and contactor were in a box mounted around the 12ft level. Straight forward work. The idea is get as much done as possible in one day - siren test day - so people don't wonder what's going on. I always ended up meeting a lot of people, their kids, their dogs, their cows, horses and various other curious creatures. Little ones always loved to push The Button that would trigger the test. Then everyone ran away because it was so loud.

I miss that.

#2603

It cooled off significantly yesterday, and today is looking nice as well. We are not used to triple digit temps around here.
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Kendra · #2604

Much cooler in Seattle this morning. I think I'm going to sneak out of work early and get the windows open wide for kitty to get some cooler air. She's been miserable.

#2605

My sister from Seattle had been visiting for the past two weeks and flew home Tuesday. The pilot, as they neared Seattle, announced that it was 97°in Seattle.

Fortunately my sister has a nice finished bedroom downstairs which allowed her to sleep.

My sister has also used the trick of putting a fan at the bottom of the stairs to blow cooler air up and that really helped on the hot days before she flew to the Midwest.

The next few days are supposed to be hotter here in the Twin Cities so I'll put a fan at the bottom of the stairs and a fan at the top of the stairs to redirect the cooler air into the living room.

Edited to add: The insulation in the attic was pretty basic for when the house was built in 1957. I had the asbestos tainted insulation removed in 2019 and replaced with R-50 blown-in insulation. I'm sure that helps keep my heating and cooling bills down.

zekeb · #2606

Tomorrow I'll mow the lawn, before the weekend heat sets in. I'll set the lawn sprinklers to turn on early Saturday morning. This is the latest date I've ever fired those up. Weekend highs are predicted to be in the 90s with heat indexes of 100++. Coupled with leftover flood waters, the mosquitoes are horrible this year.

#2607

zekeb wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2024 1:49 pm Tomorrow I'll mow the lawn, before the weekend heat sets in. I'll set the lawn sprinklers to turn on early Saturday morning. This is the latest date I've ever fired those up. Weekend highs are predicted to be in the 90s with heat indexes of 100++. Coupled with leftover flood waters, the mosquitoes are horrible this year.

Your lawn needs watering with all the rain we've been having?

#2608

Forecast is 100° F. with 92% humidity.

sugar magnolia · #2609

Our sweat factor today is only supposed to be 104, but with humidity in the 90s. Take a hot shower with your clothes on and then get under a blanket and you'll have an idea of what that feels like.

Yee haw!!

#2610

sugar magnolia wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2024 8:49 am Our sweat factor ...

Whoa, that sounds more like a sweat factory!

I walked my 2 miles already, and got that out of the way, whew. Now I shall cower in the A/C for the balance of this glorious July day.

#2611

Our average in a year is 90 degrees ten times a summer. We hit that early in July, and it's only gone up since then. I think last year we hit it once. It will feel like 104 degrees today. I put my head out the door. You can cut it with a knife.

I wait for the cooler days and line up my errands for then. Last week, that was Thursday. This week, it looks like Wednesday.

The beginning of August, I'm taking the kids up to Presque Isle on Lake Erie. I'm hoping for a break then or at least a better chance of cooling off. And if it's too hot for the beach, there's an indoor splash park. But I think (I'hoping?) it should be a little cooler there. I'll start watching their weather.

#2612

Tornado Watch now. The predicted severity has been getting worse during the day. The line of storm is 200 miles from top to bottom.

The straight-line winds are supposed to be 80 or more.

The UP even has a tornado warning.

Fun.

#2613

Tornados for all of Chicago and counties south. Northern Cook is also under a tornado warning. My county, minus a sliver at the southern part, is not under the tornado warning. I think the storm got blown out a bit by an earlier storm temp change and, of course, the lake.

Word is that there was a spotter observed tornado near O'Hare.

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#2614

Tucson hit by an 'almost' tornado. "Australians" blamed for power outages.

Arizona Daily Star: No tornado, but powerful storm left swath of damage across Tucson

All the pictures I have seen show Australian Eucalyptus Trees knocked down over streets, cars, and power lines (well almost all... there are a few Mesquite trees knocked down too, but they are smaller and haven't taken out any power lines or blocked any roads that I can see). I gotta show pics to my forestry guy to figure out what kind of eucalypt they are, but I think they are River Red Gums.

FACT FINDERS: Is southern Arizona getting more serious storms?

“We do average less than a tornado a year here in southeastern Arizona, dating back to 1950, which is when we started keeping a record,” said Tom Dang, National Weather Service Science and Information Officer. “Coincidentally enough, on July 2, we had our most recent tornado here in Tucson.”

Historically, we just don’t have enough moisture to build up tornadoes. We average three a year most of the lowest grade, F0 or F1. But deadly tornadoes do happen.

1964′s San Xavier Mission tornado killed two. In 1972, the Eloy tornado was the most powerful recorded in Arizona, with 18 people hurt. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been tracking the number of tornados for years. In Arizona, we’ve had one this year - five last year, nine in 2022. The most we’ve ever had was 17 in 1972.

Microbursts do happen quite often, especially in monsoon and they can tear off roofs and down power lines, as we’ve seen.

#2615

The current confirmed tornado count for last Monday's Northeast Illinois storms is 19 (or maybe 20, depending on where or when you read it), with some of them in the city, including the near west. The strongest one was down in WIill County, which was an EF-2, and toppled the high-tension wire tires around I-55, causing some crashes when cars and trucks hit the wires and each other. They just reopened I-55 this morning.

My area just has river flooding, a somewhat common occurrence in a county named after bodies of water. Storms sometimes get knocked down a bit before hitting here even though they are strong north and south of us. It may be the big lake next door.

Here is the work-in-progress information from the NWS.
https://www.weather.gov/lot/2024_07_15_Derecho

The I-55 mess from a drone.

#2616

As the local weather folks are breaking in with weather updates during the Olympics - there's tornado warning northwest of The Cities - I see this on Twitter -

https://x.com/NWSTwinCities/status/1819889049458372920

NWS Twin Cities
@NWSTwinCities

X is now limiting automated tweets and as a result this account can no longer post all watches/warnings/advisories as they are issued. We will continue to provide general updates, but ensure that you have multiple means for receiving weather information & alerts.

Musk is abhorrent.

#2617

I have backup-a S.A.M.E. weather radio and phone alerts. And they are loud. And beyond Musk's reach. For now.

FiveAcres · #2618

For years, my only real use case for XTwitter was following wildfires. I now use Watch Duty

https://app.watchduty.org/

In addition to the web site, it has apps for Android and Iphone.

#2619

Backing out yields a terrifying picture.

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Volkonski · #2620

TS Debbie now affecting western Florida.

#2621

Dr. Levi Cowan
@TropicalTidbits

Coastal water levels already rising into flood stage at some locations like Cedar Key, #Florida due to Tropical Storm #Debby. Peak storm surge inundation levels of 6-10 feet are possible in the big bend region of Florida by the time the storm makes landfall. It doesn't take much of a storm to cause surge problems along this stretch of coastline. Be aware of your local evacuation zone and vulnerability.

Volkonski · #2622

Maps show Tropical Storm Debby's path and forecast

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane- ... -carolina/

Tropical Storm Debby was moving slowly early Tuesday, bringing torrential downpours across parts of southeastern Georgia and coastal South Carolina, the National Hurricane Center said. Debby first hit land Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane over Florida's Big Bend coast.

As of 8 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Debby's center was some 30 miles southwest of Savannah, Georgia and 105 miles southwest of Charleston, South Carolina and was moving northeast at 9 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

CBS News senior weather and climate producer David Parkinson said Debby, which has already "slowed to a near crawl," will slow even more as the day goes on.

"Debby is expected to produce potentially historic rainfall totals of 10 to 20 inches, with maximum amounts of 25 inches, bringing areas of catastrophic flooding across portions of southeast Georgia, the eastern half of South Carolina, and southeast North Carolina through Friday," the Miami-based hurricane center said. "From northern North Carolina through portions of the Mid-Atlantic States, 4 to 8 inches of rainfall, with local amounts to 12 inches, are expected through Sunday morning. This rainfall will likely result in areas of considerable flash and urban flooding, with river flooding possible."

Maybenaut · #2623

According to that chart, we’re due to receive 2-4” of rain here at Maybelot. If past is prologue, we’ll get 0”.

I watched a storm front move past here earlier today. It missed us by less than a quarter mile, dumping copious amounts of rain as it marched on by and across the valley.

Our forecast calls for 50% tonight and tomorrow, 80% on Thursday, and 90% Friday. But that’s for the town of Luray, some 10 miles from here. I can’t get an accurate prediction for here on the eastern slope.

Meanwhile, my lawn is dead. RIP.

#2624

Yeah, that chart shows me getting 8" to 12", which, umm ... no.

We've been getting dribs and drabs, and not even .5 inches. Yeah, that's not half an inch.

realist · #2625

My youngest daughter and family live in Charleston, SC and it's not been pretty. Tree down on their roof, copious amount of rain which is continuing today, downtown and other areas flooded, tornadoes, etc.