Clouds and Snow

What a "yucko" day yesterday. Yes, "yucko" is a meteorological term. (kidding) Lots of clouds and rain yesterday.

It could have been worse as some areas of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana saw snow. Some locations in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas saw upwards of 8"-12" of snow.

You can see where the snow fell on a visible satellite image. The below image was taken at 11:15am CT.

Here is a more detailed image of where the heavy snow fell in Missouri and Kansas.

(Image courtesy: National Weather Service Springfield, MO office)

You can also see how we are stuck under a cloud shield. Eventually we should start to see the clouds move off to the east although it might take a while.

Snow Not Far Away

That's right, snow isn't far away. Heartland Sports anchor Chad Fryman took this picture earlier today in Columbia, Missouri.

The colder air is taking a little while to move further east as the front has stalled. At 4:00pm CT temperatures range from 67° in Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff, and Paducah to 59° in Mt. Vernon, IL to 48° in Farmington, MO to 38° in Rolla, MO to 34° in Columbia, MO to 32° in Sedalia, MO. By the way, the airport in Columbia is reporting moderate snow and heavy snow in Sedalia, Missouri with 1/2 mile visibility.

Temps about to Crash

Today is starting out pretty nice around the KFVS viewing area. There is plenty of sunshine and temperatures are warming in to the 50°'s and 60°'s. However, it isn't going to last long.

At 10am CT, there is a cold front marching across Missouri. Temperatures range from 62° in Paducahy, KY --> 60° in Poplar Bluff, MO --> 46° in Farmington, MO --> 44° in West Plains, MO --> 38° in Rolla, MO --> 33° in Columbia, MO.

The cold front started to pass Farmington, MO at 10:00am CT. Although, I think the speed of the front is going to stall over the next couple of hours. That means that we have several more hours of good/nice weather today for the area.

Here is a look at this morning's run of the NAM forecast model for Cape Girardeau.


This model warms Cape Girardeau to the upper 60°'s by afternoon but then the temperatures crash. It appears that the model is forecasting the front to pass the area around 3:00pm or 4:00pm this afternoon.

The model also brings the rain in overnight. In fact, it holds off the rain until 5:00am Sunday. Through the weekend the model is putting down 0.9" of rain.

Cloudy Skies Ahead

You can probably keep your sunglasses at home this week. It looks like we are going to have a lot of clouds around this week. Here is a look at the week going forward. This is the morning run of NOAA's global forecast model for Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Time goes from right to left. Red line = surface temperature. Green line = dew point temperature. Green vertical bars = rain. Blue vertical bars = snow. Grey blotchy areas = clouds.

It looks like we are going to be in a cloudy and cool pattern. Our "normal" temperature should be around 57° for this time of year. It looks like we will get above that bar later in the week. By the end of the week temperatures will climb in to the 60°'s before our next storm system comes through the region. Thunderstorms will be possible with that system. It is a little too early to tell if we are talking about severe storms or not.

Notice the end of the week. Temperatures drop! This run of the model is indicating high temperatures in the upper 30°'s to around 40° for Sunday. This model has been pointing at a period of cold weather for later in March. It will be interesting to see if that will be the case.

You might have noticed a lack of posts over the last week or so. I took a little time off for some R&R. I needed to get my batteries recharged. I took a couple of days to travel down to Tampa, Florida to visit a friend I have known since 5th grade. It was a good trip. Got a little bit of beach time on Siesta Key and took in a spring training baseball game in Brandenton, Florida.

The trip to Tampa was nice and I'm back and ready to go for severe weather season.

GOES Goes Up

NASA successfully launched NOAA's GOES-P satellite on the back of a Delta IV rocket. The rocket lifted off from the launch pad at 5:57pm CT.

GOES-P is the third and final spacecraft to be launched in the GOES N Series of geostationary environmental weather satellites. The GOES satellites continuously provide observations of more than 50 percent of the Earth, including the continental United States, providing weather monitoring and forecast operations and a continuous and reliable stream of environmental information and severe weather warnings.

In addition to weather forecasting on Earth, a key instrument onboard GOES-P, the Solar X-Ray Imager (SXI), will help NOAA continue monitoring solar conditions.

“The SXI is improving our forecasts and warnings for solar disturbances, protecting billions of dollars worth of commercial and government assets in space and on the ground, and lessening the brunt of power surges for the satellite-based electronics and communications industry,” said Tom Bodgan, director of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in Boulder, Colo.

GOES-P joins a system of weather satellites that provide timely environmental information to meteorologists and the public. The GOES system provides data used to graphically display the intensity, path and size of storms. Early warning of impending severe weather enhances the public’s ability to take shelter and protect property.

Currently, NOAA operates GOES-12, (GOES East) and GOES-11 (GOES-West.) In late April, NOAA will activate GOES-13 to replace GOES-12 and will drift eastward from 105 degrees West longitude to 75 degrees West longitude. NOAA plans to move GOES-12 to 60 degrees West longitude to provide coverage for South America as part of the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS). NASA handed over GOES-14, launched last June, to NOAA on December 14, 2009. It will remain in normal mode at the 105W storage longitude to provide operational X-ray Sensor coverage to NOAA’s SWPC.

Once in orbit GOES-P will be designated GOES-15, checked out and then stored on-orbit and ready for activation should one of the operational GOES satellites degrade or exhaust their fuel.

NOAA manages the GOES program, establishes requirements, provides all funding and distributes environmental satellite data for the United States. NASA Goddard procures and manages the design, development and launch of the satellites for NOAA on a cost reimbursable basis. Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems built GOES-P.

Earthquake Gets National Interest

Earthquakes always generate a little bit of interest. Today's earthquake story, centered in southeast Missouri (near East Prairie, Missouri), was picked up by several Raycom Media (KFVS parent company) stations across the country this afternoon on the internet and on the air.

Below is a live shot I did for Raycom Media News partner KOLD-TV in Tucson, Arizona for their 5pm newscast. KOLD Chief Meteorologist Chuck George interviewed me before his weather segment.

We were using technology to get the video/audio signal to Arizona. We used Skype to conduct the interview.

The Ground is a Shakin'

Did you feel today's earthquake? I didn't. According to the USGS the earthquake happened at 1:37pm CT and was centered around East Prairie, Missouri.

Here is the shake map from the USGS where they compile "I felt it" reports submitted through the internet.

Earthquakes around here aren't too uncommon but when you combine today's earthquake with the Chile and Haiti quakes people start talking.

I wanted to find out how common or uncommon a 3.7 magnitude earthquake is in the KFVS viewing area (southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and northwest Tennessee). It turns out that since 1974 we have had 12 earthquakes of a 3.7 or greater magnitude.

Below is the map with the location/intensity of the quakes in the area since 1974.

Severe Weather Season

We are about 45 minutes away from the start of a new season. The start of "Meteorological Spring".

In meteorology we have slightly different start and end times for seasons compared to the calendar.

Meteorological Seasons:

• Spring: March - May
• Summer: June - August
• Fall: September - November
• Winter: December - February

Now that we are getting in to spring we can put all of the snow, ice, and sleet behind us. Right? So lets start to turn our attention to severe weather season. I am sure we aren't too terribly far away from some good thunderstorms rumbling through.

Now I have two questions for you that I want YOU to answer.

1. When will the first Day 1 Outlook from the Storm Prediction Center include a portion of the KFVS viewing area? (Month/Day)
   
2. When will the first watch (severe thunderstorm or tornado watch) be in effect for a portion of the KFVS viewing area? (Month/Day)
   

Leave your answers in the comment sections for this post.