Weather News, Weather Organization, Weather Report

Weekly Wrap Up: October 20, 2018 #ARWX

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Welcome to another Weekly Wrap Up! This week saw a mix of warm and cool temperatures to the Natural State, with the week starting off cool, then warming up, only to return to cooler weather as the weekend approached. We also saw some rain off and on. Here’s a look at the rain totals for October so far from my CoCoRaHS rain gauge in Hot Springs.

Here’s a look at the current temperatures across Arkansas (from both NWS and Earth Networks weather stations), as well as a look at current conditions from Earth Networks weather stations across Arkansas this evening (maps and images courtesy of Baron Threat Net and Earth Networks Sferic Maps). Beautiful view on the Whitney Mountain Lodge camera!

A Freeze Warning and Frost Advisory is in effect for North Arkansas. Here’s a map of the counties under the advisories.

Here’s a comparison of the forecast future temperature models for tomorrow at 8:00 AM using the Baron model, WSI 4K RPM model, NAM, and GFS models (NAM and GFS models courtesy of AllisonHouse Maps).

Here’s a look at the seven-day extended forecast for Hot Springs. Looks like a great week in store for us!

Beautiful view on my Earth Networks HD Cam in Hot Springs this evening!

Here’s a look at some interesting weather news over the past couple of weeks, offering a “double feature” since there was not a Weekly Wrap Up last week:

Here’s a look at some featured weather reports from our team of contributors over the past couple of weeks, again offering a “double feature” due to last week not having a Weekly Wrap Up:

Finally, here’s a few updates concerning the WeatherTogether community (in addition to welcoming our newest member, Gerry):

  • Images on WeatherTogether will now load faster (we’ve connected a couple of tanks of rocket fuel to where we host our images).
  • In addition to Baron Threat Net and Earth Networks Sferic Maps, I also now have access to AllisonHouse and will be using it in some of my Weekly Wrap Up weather reports.
  • WeatherTogether and Global Weather Climate Center are teaming up on social media to cover major weather events. More details to follow.
  • Weekly Wrap Up blog posts may be covering multiple locations concerning weather in the future. More details to follow.

That wraps it up here! Nathan Parker signing off.

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Weather News, Weather Organization, Weather Safety

Videos from Earth Networks Lightning Safety Awareness Week 2018 @EarthNetworks #ARWX

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A couple of weeks ago, Earth Networks produced a series of videos on Facebook Live for Lightning Safety Awareness Week 2018. These were a great series of videos from the team at Earth Networks (a company I do support and training consulting for) on the importance of remaining safe during lightning events. With lightning strikes recently killing an individual in Florida and Arkansas, as well as sparking a house fire in Arkansas, the importance of lightning safety awareness cannot be stressed enough. For those who have not had a chance to view the Earth Networks Lightning Safety Awareness Week 2018 Facebook Live videos, I’ve included a link to them here.

More information on the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network, the first of its kind to detect both in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning on a global scale, is available here. More information on the sensors that comprise the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network is available here. The Earth Networks Total Lightning Network also powers Earth Networks Dangerous Thunderstorm Alerts and PulseRad Doppler radar alternative, and is available in Earth Networks services such as Sferic Maps, Sferic Mobile, Sferic Protect, and Outdoor Alerting System. Interested in putting the power of the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network to protect your organization? Contact the teams at Earth Networks today, and don’t forget to follow the Earth Networks Blog!

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Weather News, Weather Organization, Weather Report

Weekly Wrap Up: January 6, 2018 #ARWX

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Welcome to my first edition of Weekly Wrap Up, a new weekly blog post series I’ll be posting on Saturdays with a look back at the past week’s weather in Arkansas, as well as a look ahead of the weather to come. I’ll conclude each post with a series of links to weather news I’ve encountered in the past week. I look forward to hearing your feedback on my series, and I hope you enjoy it. If it’s been a bit since you’ve clicked around on my blog, I also recommend checking it out, as I’ve recently added some additional links to it to build it out more into a full-featured mini weather site versus just showcasing my blog entries.

This past week brought in the new year for 2018, as well as a freezing in the new year with temperatures bitterly cold across the state. In fact, we were actually colder than Alaska a few of the days! Most of the nation also experienced bitterly cold temperatures, and people bringing in 2018 are likely going to be saying “Make America Warm Again”. There was no rain and no severe weather events this past week in Arkansas. Here’s a look at the past week’s high and low temperatures from my Earth Networks personal weather station.

Here’s a look at the current conditions from my weather station this evening, as well as current temperatures across the state (maps courtesy of Baron Threat Net and Earth Networks Sferic Maps).

Tomorrow will likely see the first rain in Arkansas for 2018. For those in Hot Springs and central Arkansas, the most intense of the rain will likely hit around 10PM. Here’s a look at FutureCast for tomorrow at 10PM from the Baron forecast model for Arkansas and for the region.

By Monday at 5AM when the bulk of the rain event has moved out of the state, here are the rainfall total potentials across Arkansas from the Baron forecast model.

One question residents of Arkansas are wondering if there is a chance of any wintry precipitation tomorrow for Arkansas. There is a slight chance of wintry precipitation tomorrow for North Arkansas around Harrison, Mountain Home, and Eureka Springs, but it’s likely not to be a major event or cause any major travel issues except for a couple potential ice patches.

Here’s also a look at the 7 day extended forecast for Hot Springs Arkansas. Expect heavy rain chances for Sunday and some rain chances for Monday, as well as a 40% chance or rain on Thursday. Temperatures will be on the increase through Thursday and begin falling off again Friday.

Here’s a picture of the snow event from Chipper McDonald in Purdy, VA from the winter weather event that hit New England this week. Thanks for sharing this Chipper!

Lastly, here’s a look at the weather news over the past week:

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Weather Organization, Weather Safety, Weather Tool

Winter by Degrees Webinar from Baron Weather

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(Image courtesy of Baron Weather)

Earlier this week, I posted a blog post concerning winter weather training as a part of a series of winter weather safety. Included in the blog post is a link to the Winter by Degrees eBook from Baron Weather. Baron has also released a recording of the companion webinar that accompanies the eBook. I highly recommend watching it, as it provides some excellent training concerning winter weather in addition to reading the eBook.

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Weather News, Weather Organization

Good Info from CoCoRaHS on Reporting Snow and Winter Conditions

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I received an email today from CoCoRaHS which clarifies some good information about reporting snow and winter conditions to them. For those who haven’t read the email yet, here’s an excerpt from it from Nolan and the CoCoRaHS team:

A good question about reporting snow.

I received this question this morning from a North Carolina weather watcher, and realized it may be relevant for many of us.

“I viewed the videos and PDF presentation on measuring snow, but I’m still a little confused about the recording requirements. Can you tell me if all of the blocks need to be filled out that are related to snow, or, if not, what is the required information that should always be entered?”

Here is how I answered:
The first priority, of course, is the precipitation amount — rain plus the melted water content from any snow and ice that fell. Beyond that it’s at your discretion.  Personally, I try to fill out all values every day.   For example, even on dry days with no precipitation and no snow remaining on the ground,  I type in and submit 0.0 so that it confirms no snow. That is ideal but not required.  The only required field is “rain and melted snow ” (i.e. the water content of the precip)  All other fields (new snow, core sample water content of new snow, total depth of old/new snow, and water content of total snow on ground (the SWE)) are greatly appreciated.  But they are not required.  Measure and report what you can.  Leave the others NA if you don’t take those measurements.

Snow Depth — the depth of snow (both old and new) remaining on the ground at your observation time.

I’ve noticed that quite a few of us skip this measurement, or report it only when new snow has fallen.  But arguably it my be the single most important reading of any of our snow observations since it relates most closely to the impact snow is having on transportation, recreation and public safety in an area.  You can infer a lot about the character of the snow, too, from day to day changes in snow depth.  Many people tell me it’s a difficult measurement.  I would argue it’s OK to start with an estimate — maybe just by looking out your window. With uneven snow it may be very difficult to determine if you have an average depth of 3.0, 4.0 or 5.5″ — but it’s easy to estimate if it’s closest to 1″, 4″, 8″ or 12″. Once it’s more than 12″ it gets challenging again, and you may do best to have a semi-permanent ‘snow stake” mounted in the ground in a convenient location.  For more info on measuring snow depth (as opposed to new snowfall): https://youtu.be/2zbDygoJ2D4

“Condition Reports” —

Are you getting wetter or drier?  Is your winter snowpack greater or less than average?  How about the streams around you?  Are they flowing more or less than “normal” for this time of year?  Add value to your CoCoRaHS precipitation reports by adding weekly “Condition” updates.  https://cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=condition

Winter precipitation measurement made easy (or at least easier) — use your kitchen scale

If you’ve got a kitchen scales that reads to the nearest gram, you may be in luck: https://cocorahs.org/media/docs/Training_SnowByWeight.pdf

Freezing rain

Based on historical experience, January and  February are the core months of the freezing rain season.  Do you know how to measure and report freezing rain?  If not, don’t wait until its glazing .  https://youtu.be/rLwlaP_CFl8

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