Weather!

[owlice]

Yesterday was gorgeous, sunny and warm, 59°F in mid-afternoon when I finally hit the bike trail. I heard lots and lots of spring peepers, and another kind of frog at the swamp which sounded really funny! The sound made me laugh. I have no idea what kind of frog these were, but there were a lot of them and they were loud.

I also heard something in the sky screech and nearly ran off the path looking for it. It was a Red-shouldered Hawk. He was very pretty!

[orin stepanek]

It was windy and cold yesterday; but still better than the cold frigid days of winter with all it's snow! Today is mild and the rest of the week calls for good weather.

[orin stepanek]

Ugh! A Spring snow over night' A good three inches but is melting fast. My daffodils don't seem to mind though.

[orin stepanek]

darn! Snowing again! I thought spring was supposed to be here.

[Beyond]

It's just tooooo nice a day to post. I'm going to take a nap in the chair. ZZZZZZZzzzzzz........

[bystander]

I hear you're supposed to have more snow in the NE for All Fool's Day.

[Beyond]

HAH! Look at 'WHO'S' giving the forecast and 'WHEN' It's for. It's an appropiately named day for them.

[bystander]

It's snowing now in Ohio., coming your way.

[Beyond]

It's here now. Looks like It's been hit by a METEORologist. Look at the size of the impact area!

[jman]

Just another day in paradise!

[Beyond]

Yeah, Hawaii does get snow in the mountains. So in a few hours time, you can have a rip-roaring snowball fight AND be working on a killer tan. IF you don't get to close to an active volcano and become a crispy human.

[owlice]

A front is moving through, with winds so strong, the house has been shaking; this woke me. Torrential rain has started now, and lightning, too. The thunder is stupendous! (Good thing the wind woke me first!)

ETA: Just checked Yahoo! weather; we're under a tornado watch until 10 AM.

[orin stepanek]

Going to be really nice today!

[BMAONE23]

80 Yyesterday and 72 today

[neufer]

<<LITTLE ROCK, Ark (Reuters Fri Apr 15, 2011 10:22am EDT) - Violent storms ripped across Oklahoma and Arkansas overnight, killing at least six people including a 6-year-old child, and cutting a path of destruction through several towns, authorities said on Friday.

Tornadoes killed two people in Oklahoma, one in the small southeastern town of Tushka where the only school was leveled. A second person was killed in Oklahoma but details were not immediately available, said Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the state Department of Emergency Management.

Four people were killed in Arkansas as the storms hit early on Friday morning, authorities said. A six-year-old boy was killed in the town of Bald Knob, two people were dead in Garland and one in Pulaski, local police and Arkansas state police said.

The storm left numerous trees down and electricity out in large parts of Little Rock.

(Reporting by Steve Olafson in Oklahoma City and Suzi Parker in Little Rock; Writing by Greg McCune; Editing by Colleen Jenkins)>>

[neufer]

Negative Tilted Trough Intense Storms

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Negative Tilted Trough Tornadoes

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Why North Carolina, far from Tornado Alley, took brunt of big outbreak
By Patrik Jonsson, CSM Staff writer / April 18, 2011

<<North Carolina averages 19 tornadoes a year. More than 60 hit the state over the weekend, part of a 'family' of 243 tornadoes that spun across the South, killing at least 43.

In Sanford, N.C., a heads-up store manager is credited with saving 70 frightened shoppers as a tornado ripped off the roof of a Lowe's hardware outlet. In Raleigh, N.C., a tornado found its favorite victim, tearing apart most of a trailer park.

In Bertie County, N.C., 11 people died as twisters – progenies of an epic clash of atmospheric fronts – split trees, toppled cars, and blew apart homes, as Gov. Bev Perdue said, as if they were paper doll houses.

A rival to the "Super Tuesday" tornado outbreak in February 2008 that killed 56 people across four Southern states, this weekend's storm spawned 243 tornadoes from Oklahoma to Virginia. At least 45 people died during the tornado outbreak. North Carolina saw the greatest human toll, with 22 confirmed dead, and search and rescue teams still combing a huge impact area for more victims.

Hundreds more were injuried, many seriously, as a "family" of twisters spun out of a severe disturbance caused by a fast-moving, low-level front being undercut by colder winds coursing through the upper atmosphere.

The severity and type of storm – it's rare for North Carolina to see large, visible Tornado Alley-type twisters – is linked to a strong Pacific-born La Niña system confronting the same north Atlantic "oscillation" that has produced two unusually cold and snow-filled Southern winters in a row. The last such super storm in North Carolina came in the spring of 1984, which spawned 20 twisters and killed 43.

"This was an amazing event," says Anthony Lupo, a tornado expert at the University of Missouri, in Columbia. "You had 120 tornado reports from Maryland down to South Carolina in one day, and they were pretty well focused on North Carolina. This is probably going to top 1984 as their worst event.

"The difference between this storm system and what you typically see in that part of the world is that typically these storms will be hidden by rain," adds Mr. Lupo. "These storms were visible, where the rain curtain gets detached from the tornado."

Tales of heroism and close escapes emerged Monday as residents took stock of the damage and victims began putting their lives back together. At the Lowe's in Sanford, a store manager who shuttled 70 shoppers into a windowless area in the back of the store is being credited with quick thinking that probably saved lives. Even so, the tornado rolled one man through an aisle like a bowling ball. No one was seriously hurt, however.

"Luckily we got everybody to the back before it hit us, but as it was hitting us, we were kind of running and the roof was kind of peeling off," the manager, Michael Hollowell, told ABC News Radio.

In Dunn, N.C., a tornado ripped a baby out of his cousin's arms as a trailer home came apart. The baby was found alive on top of a nearby wood pile. “I seen him leave my arms. That’s how strong the wind was," Jonathan Robinson told reporters.

The storm destroyed more than 60 homes in North Carolina and at least 100 others were heavily damaged. One damaged home belonged to Audrey McKoy of Bladen County, N.C., who described a "Wizard of Oz"-like scene as she watched a tornado turn and head straight for her home.

Ms. McKoy told the Associated Press that it took her and her husband a few minutes after the twister blew over to realize that their home had been completely turned around, and was now sitting in their backyard.

Mr. Lupo, the University of Missouri tornado expert, said the deep dips of cold air into the South that have chilled the region over the past two winters likely played a role in Saturday's vicious super cell storm, as well.

"There's definitely a connection there, that if you have more cold air intrusions further into the South, the more likely it is that you're going to get one of these things to just really fire up a lot of storms.">>

[sea otter]

It's a lovely morning here, and elsewhere surely.

[orin stepanek]

It's a lovely morning here, and elsewhere surely.

It's been cold and damp for the last week of so; but it is supposed to start warming up a little. Still; the forecast is for cool to mild for the next 10 days. Hopefully it won't get too hot too fast.

[owlice]

The forecast here was for thunderstorms, so the person I was going to do a 30-mile bike ride with today canceled last night. Understandable with the forecast! The day dawned clear and warm, however, so this afternoon, I hit the bike trails for a little riding. Because thunderstorms were still forecast for today, I didn't venture more than 7 or 8 miles from my car. I kept an eye on the sky; when I saw clouds in the west, I headed back to the car and then home. Hadn't been home for more than 10 minutes before I heard thunder, and a few minutes later, the deluge started.

Looks as though we'll get several waves of storms. I'm hoping to run out between them to buy inner tubes for my bike; I found my back tire flat this afternoon when I got the bike out to ride. I'm glad it was a slow leak because I was riding last night in the dark, and don't relish the prospect of changing a tube in the woods at night! Front tire appears now to have a slow leak, too; glad it held out for the duration.

88°F; had to dump cold water on my head during my ride. Twice!

[Chris Peterson]

We woke up to a white Easter- 3" of fresh, wet snow.

Sunny and 35°F- perfect day to ride into town for brunch. 90 minutes by horse, and hit a little snow coming back, about 2pm. Looks like we might get another inch or two by tomorrow. We desperately need the moisture, since we had no snow at all this past winter.

[bystander]

Thunderstorms and hail yesterday evening. Rain all day today. We really needed it.

[sea otter]

Chris Peterson,
That is a pretty neat looking sculpture, contemplative and keeping it cool. I enjoy how the figure supports itself, the spaces compelled me to comment. Who is it by?
90 minutes by horse to get a brunch sounds like a good place to be!

[Chris Peterson]

Chris Peterson,
That is a pretty neat looking sculpture, contemplative and keeping it cool. I enjoy how the figure supports itself, the spaces compelled me to comment. Who is it by?

It's called The Art Lovers: Ponder and the artist is John Birney.

90 minutes by horse to get a brunch sounds like a good place to be!

Indeed it is.

[Indigo_Sunrise]

So the last three days have called for rain, and.... Nada! April started out with some good rain but now it's a bit lacking, especially with the warmer temps we've had (here in Southern MD.) I am of the opinion that it's a little early in the season for it to be this warm. (I know it happens, but.....) I planted a bunch of flowers and was hoping Mother Nature would continue to do her part, but for the last week I've had to get out the hose and water.
On a brighter note, two of the bare-root plants I put in have shot up a few inches!

(Hmmmmm, maybe I should take this to the garden thread?????)

Anyway, have a nice-weather day, all!



P.S. And at least the forecasters are calling for rain overnight tonight and most of tomorrow, so - YAY!

[owlice]

Indigo, same here, but then, I'm in the MD suburbs of DC, so that's not surprising! More "scattered thunderstorms" today. I haven't been biking because the forecast has been so bad; shouldn't have listened to the forecast and just gone instead!