Topic: Weather

Snow showers expected tonight and Monday

By Christine Anne Piesyk | November 30, 2008 |

If you think the gray cloudy sky looks like winter and the temperature feels cold enough to snow, you’re right.

The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement calling for “snow showers” and the possibility of a slick dusting of snow overnight tonight and into Monday. The statement reads in part:

“Colder temperatures will change lingering rain showers to snow showers tonight. Snow showers will continue on Monday with temperatures remaining in the 30s. Light accumulations possible over Middle Tennessee. Tonight’s low will hover at the freezing mark of 32, with a west wind at 15-20 mph.”

Snow showers are “likely” on Monday with winds gusting to 25 mph and the daytime high hovering in the mid-30s.

Weather service forecasters noted that there has not been “measurable snow” in November since 1996, and the average date of the first half inch of snow in this area is January 3.

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Farmer’s Almanac: Cold snowy winter, hot dry summer for Tennessee?

October 6, 2008 |

Every year, every day since 1792, through blizzards as well as balmy days, The Old Farmer’s Almanac has had one purpose: to be useful with a pleasant degree of humor. The 2009 edition is no exception. When the news of the moment has faded like the afternoon sun, the Almanac is there to brighten the days of its readers.

“Our readers think of the Almanac as a reliable friend that they can turn to for advice, novel ideas, and a clever, witty, or amusing item,” says Janice Stillman, editor of The Old Farmer’s Almanac. “These days, countless distractions compete for people’s thoughts and time, and information sources abound. The benefit of the Almanac is that it can be enjoyed both today, in the moment, and in the weeks and months to come. In fact, it’s the one book you can read all year long!” «Read the rest of this article»

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Weakened Ike brings high wind, minimal damage as it passes Tennessee

By Bill Larson | September 15, 2008 |

The remnants of Hurricane Ike swept a wide curve west of  Montgomery County before racing northeast and away. Along the way, though, its winds, gusting up to 60 mph in the Clarksville area, whipped a flurry of branches, pine cones and other debris into yards and across roadways. Rainfall from Ike was minimal here as well.

One unlucky homeowner on Powers Street fared less well than most, as mature tree had a huge portion of its limbs torn off by Ike’s windpower.

A Osage orange tree has fallen into the yard of a home on Powers street in Clarksville, TN

«Read the rest of this article»

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Those troubling tropical storms keep lining up

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 3, 2008 |

After a slight respite of a few years, the long-forecasted flurry of increasing tropical storms and hurricanes is happening, at least for this year.

The tenth such system, Josephine, is on the map with three months left to go in the hurricane season.

As southern states and many islands learned in a painful lesson last week, a storm doesn’t have to hit hurricane strength to do its damage. tropical Storm Fay broke all records with four separate landfalls in Florida, dumping double-digit rain across the region, flooding, well, just about everything. As if storm surge isn’t enough, Fay’s copious rains brought alligators and snakes out of their normal habitat to ride the rainfall torrents all over the state. Fay was barely a blip on yesterday’s radar when along came Gustav, three years almost to the day after Katrina. «Read the rest of this article»

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Gustav builds slowly; New Orleans and Louisiana coast in its path

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 29, 2008 |

While most journalistic eyes are fixed on politics and Election 2008, there’s a storm brewing to our South and a pre-emptive protective plan underway to save lives and hopefully prevent a repeat performance of the Katrina disaster. A memorial service was being held at 9:38  a.m. today, the time the first levee was breached in the Katrina hurricane that claimed 1800 lives.

National Hurricane Center map shows the projected path of Gustav, which is expected to be a Cat 3 or higher storm when it makes landfall. In its path, New orleans, which is already preparing to evacuate parts of the city.

Last week hurricane-savvy Floridians learned the kind of devastation a tropical storm, albeit a persistent one, can do. Fay ambled leisurely across the state with three landfalls and rain measured by the foot. Now tropical storm Gustav, currently cruising the shores of Cuba, is poised to hit the warm Gulf of Mexico waters and exploded into a Category 3, possible a Cat 4, storm before it rocks the coastline of east Texas or Louisiana. «Read the rest of this article»

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James Hansen on climate: What’s at stake?

June 27, 2008 |

What is at stake?

Warming so far, about two degrees Fahrenheit over land areas, seems almost innocuous, being less than day-to-day weather fluctuations. But more warming is already “in- the-pipeline”, delayed only by the great inertia of the world ocean. And climate is nearing dangerous tipping points. Elements of a “perfect storm”, a global cataclysm, are assembled.

Climate can reach points such that amplifying feedbacks spur large rapid changes. Arctic sea ice is a current example. Global warming initiated sea ice melt, exposing darker ocean that absorbs more sunlight, melting more ice. As a result, without any additional greenhouse gases, the Arctic soon will be ice-free in the summer. «Read the rest of this article»

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Hurricane season starts today; forecasters predict “average” season

By Christine Anne Piesyk | June 1, 2008 |

An average season has 11 named storms, including six hurricanes for which two reach major status, and that what professional forecasters are calling for in the summer of 2008.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center “projected climate conditions point to a near normal or above normal hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin this year. The prediction was issued at a news conference called to urge residents in vulnerable areas to be fully prepared for the onset of hurricane season, which begins June 1.” NOAA’s Atlantic hurricane season outlook will be updated on August 7, just prior to what is historically the peak period for hurricane activity. The season runs through November 30. «Read the rest of this article»

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The Day After: Resilient residents on the road to recovery after midnight tornadoes

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 3, 2008 |

• Red Cross scrambles to aid storm victims
• Palmyra families “lucky to be alive”
• Tornado shreds Fairgrounds Pavilion
• Massive clean-up underway across southern Montgomery County

The day after a night of storms dawned with many families still without power and emergency response teams pouring into Montgomery County to undertake the task of restoring power, removing downed trees from power lines and roadways, and setting the process of recovery in place. Weather officials estimate that four F-1 tornadoes touched down across the county, three hitting the Palmyra area. The fourth hit Clarksville. F-1s have winds ranging from 86-110 miles per hour.

No place was the pressure felt more than at the Clarksville-Montgomery County Chapter of the American Red Cross, which just two weeks ago sustained a disaster of their own when an arsonist torched the agency’s Emergency Response Vehicle [ERV] filled with disaster response equipment. Faced with the devastation of a tornado, its victims, and a horde of emergency responders to assist, Red Cross volunteers rallied, utilizing many of their own resources in the first hours after the disaster. «Read the rest of this article»

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