StormTracker 46 Weather Blog

thank you...

2008-07-02T12:56:00.004-04:00

Today is my last broadcast here at CBS46 and I just wanted to thank everyone for such a wonderful 3 years. While I was always content with working in a small market... being able to work in your hometown (especially when it is a top 10 market) and at the station you interned at in college is a dream come true. I am so glad that I did it.

It has been such a great experience because I have gotten to work with so many talented people that taught me so much. I have also been able to meet so many wonderful viewers at events around town and of course at the hundreds of schools I have visited. To each of you... I thank you. Your hospitality was welcomed and appreciated.

The above pictures came in this week from dedicated viewers. The top one is of mammatus clouds sent in by Chris Buff while the one below is of a beautiful sunset send in by a viewer in Loganville.

As for what is next... the goal is to hang around Atlanta a while longer and pursue some other opportunities here (maybe TV, maybe Starbucks... I'm not sure yet). :-)

I wish you all the best.

Chris Smith

P.S. Laura promises me she will do a better job to keep this blog updated! ;-)

welcome summer...

2008-06-20T16:29:00.003-04:00

Although we have been enjoying summer heat for nearly a month... technically it won't we summer until 7:59 tonight! That is when the sun will ascend to its highest latitude (Tropic of Cancer, 23.5 degrees north latitude) on the celestial sphere making today the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere while it will be the shortest in the southern hemisphere.

One of the common questions we get in the weather department is why today is the highest point for the sun yet our maximum temperatures do not occur until July/August typically?

The reason is something called the 'lag of the seasons' and it is the same reason why it is hotter in the mid-afternoon than at noon. We receive our maximum insolation (the time when the maxiumum solar energy is deposited during the day at a point on the surface of the Earth) at midday and on the first day of summer when the sun is the highest in the sky. Because the Earth, the atmosphere, and oceans store heat they release it at a slower pace than they stored it up. Thus it takes about a month for us to see our highest temperatures on average. The same happens with the first day of winter being in December, but us not seeing out coldest temperatures on average until January.

You can learn more about the 'Summer Solstice' by clicking here.

Have a great Summer!!

--Chris

low lakes...

2008-06-19T15:14:00.005-04:00

With summer season in full swing it means folks are busy enjoying their neighborhood pools and lakes. While the winter rains helped ease the drought a little replenish many of our lakes, some remain low and continue to get lower. (Check the current lake levels here)

Lake Lanier peaked this spring at 1057.80' on May 24th. That was still more than 13' below full pool!! Since then the lake has dropped almost a foot to 1056.85'. One of the major reasons why is because now that we are into the summer season the sun evaporates nearly .2" of water every day. During the winter very little rain is evaporated because of the low sun angle.

You can do a simple experiment and notice the difference the summer sun makes. Pour a cup of water on the pavement in the sun and time how long it takes to evaporate. Then, pour a cup of water on the driveway in the shade. With full sunshine, the water evaporates much more quickly.

Even with above average rainfall during the summer it is very tough for the lakes to rise much because of the sun. The forecast for the area lakes over the month ahead shows Lake Lanier is expected to drop another foot! So, even with average to above average rainfall our lakes will drop. That's why is is so important that we all do our part to conserve!

A great resource for conservation is called Watersmart. They are a local organization committed to water conservation!

Have a great weekend and hopefully you will enjoy some of those scattered storms around the area.

--Chris

GIANT Moon!!!!

2008-06-17T08:58:00.003-04:00

No, the moon is not ready to explode after a giant Thanksgiving feast, nor is it ready to crash into Earth. The giant moon you are witnessing this week at moonrise is called the 'solstice moon illusion.'

What is happening is your eyes are playing tricks on you! Scientists are not a 100% sure why and there are several theory's as to why it happens. The neat thing is that while the moon looks huge to you, it is actually a 'normal' size if you look at it through a camera lens.

The 'giant moon' is more apparent this time of year because when the sun is at its highest, the moon is at its lowest. With summer starting Saturday, that is the highest sun of the year and thus the lowest moon.

Although it was originally thought that the moon was being magnified by the atmosphere, we now know this not to be true because images of the moon on film are the same size regardless of elevation.

You can read more about this optical phenomenon and the theories as to why it happens by clicking here.

Also, here are the moonrise times for the days ahead.

Moonrise 6/17: 8:25 p.m.

Moonrise 6/18: 9:16 p.m.

Moonrise 6/19: 10:01 p.m.

Happy viewing...

--Chris

'light'-ning show...

2008-06-11T09:36:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to share this picture that a viewer sent me. It was taken by Kevin Turner in Hiram on Monday night. We had some very impressive electrical storms Monday night and Kevin, an amateur photographer, caught this strike. Notice how it forks across the sky and then you have the leader stroke hitting the ground.

If you would like to learn more about lightning and lightning safety just log onto our website at CBS46.com.

Thanks Kevin!

--Chris

tropics...

2008-06-09T08:09:00.003-04:00

The 2008 hurricane season is under way and we have already had our first storm, Arthur, which hit the Belize/Mexico coast last weekend.

The National Hurricane Center is predicting an above average season (see above graphic) for the coming year so we are expecting to stay pretty busy in the weather center. If we are lucky we might be able to get a nice tropical storm to give us some added rain in northern Georgia.

All hurricane season you can keep up with the latest on our website at cbs46.com. We have a special hurricane section where you can track the individual storms and get the latest hurricane news.

--Chris

drought update...

2008-05-31T23:32:00.009-04:00

Although we still desperately need rainfall to continue to improve our drought situation (we are 4.93" down in 2008 & -11.90" June '07-June'08)) the latest drought update says that things are continuing to get better... although very slowly. The above graphic shows the most recent drought statement while the one to the left shows the drought statement from mid-late May. The area lakes are remaining close to full pool with the exception of Lanier which is still a good 13' down. Lake Hartwell on the GA/SC border continues to remain quite low.

It is amazing how a relatively short difference can make a difference between flood and drought. This map shows the areas of flood with green, blue, and purple and areas of below normal rainfall in yellow, orange, and red. This map is covers a period from last October. A persistent ridge of high pressure over the Southeast keeps the heaviest rainfall away from the state of Georgia. This is also the time frame that we have seen an improvement in our drought. Basically, our drought had gotten so bad last year that below average rainfall since last fall has actually improved things.

If there is some more good news, the drought is expected to improve somewhat this summer...

Finally, I want to thank Constance Benegar of Sterling, VA. for sending me this amazing picture of a double rainbow with a lightning strike in the distance! The photo was taken in Warrenton, VA. (about 45 miles from D.C.).

Looks like some of those storms that have been way to our north will impact the metro area later this week!

--Chris

back to the grind...

2008-05-31T23:06:00.003-04:00

I hope you and your family were able to get out and enjoy your Memorial Weekend. I was actually able to get out of town and spend it with my in-laws at their lake house down on Lake Eufaula (on the GA/AL border south of Columbus).

My wife and I had not been to the lake since last Fall and what a difference as far as the lake levels. Between the heavier rains over the winter in Central and Southern Georgia and the fact that they are letting out more water into the Chattahoochee River the lake down there is at full pool. That is much improved from the more than 5' drop we experienced last year. Last Fall we were barely able to get the boat off the lift!

Much of the time we were there last week was spent fishing. Although the fish were not biting at a record rate... we did catch a few. Here is a look at an 10"-11" Shellcracker I caught. In addition to some Shellcrackers, we caught some Bream and a few Catfish (I hate taking those things off!!!). :-)

The weather was great the whole time we were there with highs in the 80s... picture perfect!

Today is my 3rd of 16 straight days working so it's a good thing I rested up! Still, my job still beats working for a living. :-)

--Chris

WGCL covers Iraq....

2008-05-31T19:19:00.004-04:00

As you know, our weather producer, Greg Majewski, has been serving overseas in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan over the past year. The other day he sent me this picture of a flag which flew over the main palace in Baghdad in honor of CBS46 for our support of our troops serving over there. Pretty cool!

Greg, is just 20 days away from being home here in the states. He will be back at work by July 14. I suspect you will see him on air from time to time starting in August. We can't wait to have him back! That being said, Greg might not come back if he gets more visits from Scarlett Johansson! :-)

--Chris

more severe weather...

2008-05-23T09:31:00.011-04:00

This past Tuesday we had yet another round of severe weather across northern Georgia.

This round of storms produced our 9th tornado of the year... this time in Cherokee County. The storms started around 4pm and lasted until after 9pm. We were on continuously between 6:30 and 8 as the storms rolled through the heart of the metro area. We also got some good pictures from viewers. The picture at the top of this blog entry is one of the best pictures that has been sent to me in my career. It is of a 'clear slot' that results from a 'Rear Flank Downdraft'. Tornadoes rarely occur without a RFD. In this case, we ended up with a tornado that hit Cherokee County.

Although we did have the 1 tornado, most places reported quite a bit of hail damage. The above picture was taken by a friend of mine who lives in Augusta. That's some big hail!!! Below is a map of all the areas that reported hail, wind, or tornado damage. After the worst of the storms passed, I went outside and was able to snap this picture of mammatus clouds over the studios of CBS46. You can see many more storm pictures on our website at CBS46.com. Also, here is some hail video that Tracy Thornton sent in from McDonough. This hail fell from a storm at 4pm on Tuesday. Crazy stuff!

As for the upcoming weekend, it is looking warm and pretty dry so have a safe and happy Memorial Day!

--Chris

school year ending....

2008-05-17T19:47:00.007-04:00

As the school year is winding down my school speaking schedule has been at a fever pitch as of late. This is a popular time of year for career days which has kept me on the road quite a bit.

I really enjoy speaking to schools because each school is different and each grade is different. To quote Forrest Gump... they are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get!

This past week I spoke to a bunch of groups of kids at Green Acres Elem in Cobb County. The kids were great! I spoke to just about every grade level before the day was all said and done. The best part about it was that before I left for the day I was delivered thank you notes from one of the groups I spoke to that morning!!! Talk about fast! It took months for me to write my wedding thank yous! :-)

Here are pictures of a few of the drawings/notes...

Aren't they classic?!? :-)

Thank you notes are by far and away my favorite way to be thanked for speaking. I love the shirts, mugs, and gift cards... but nothing beats a thank you note/picture from a kid. I was telling someone at Green Acres on Friday that I actually have kept every thank you note I have received since I began my career in 1996! I have no idea what I will do with them, but I can not imagine throwing them away. Kids that made a note and gave them to me in 1996 are now in college or older!!! That will make you feel old in a hurry! :-)

Above is a picture of me with Brynn, a 3rd grader, whose school I spoke to a few weeks ago. Her mom e-mailed me this picture and said it was funny to listen to Brynn & her sister, who is in 1st grade), compare notes on what I did with the two grade levels. Before you know it I will be speaking to kids whose parents I have spoken to!

In a way I am both happy (I get a break) & sad (I will miss the kids) that the school year is coming to an end... I imagine a little bit like the kids themselves. That being said, I know that the summer will fly by and that August will be here before you know it!

Have a great summer and thanks for a great year, kids!

--Chris

stormy night (updated 5/14)...

2008-05-11T19:24:00.007-04:00

Well, it was a stormy night across the metro area as a powerful storm system moved through the state. Most of the damage occurred just west and south of town and was associated with one specific storm cell that moved in from Alabama. You can notice that in the above image that there is a line of damage that is almost in a straight line from Carroll County to Fulton County to Clayton County to Newton County.

So far that storm has produced 3 tornadoes across northern Georgia with widespread wind damage when the tornadoes lifted back into the sky as they hop-scotched their way across the state. The first two tornadoes were rated an EF-2 on the Fujita scale (the same strength as the tornado that hit downtown Atlanta a couple months ago). Both were very short-lived, but both created quite a bit of damage near Jonesville & Cross Plains.

A third tornado came from the sky around 5:10am in northern Clayton County. This storm was also an EF-2 with winds between 111-135 mph. This storm was not but 100 yards wide, but it destroyed nearly 43 homes in Clayton County. The tornado also produced damage along its 35 mile path in northern Henry, southern Rockdale, & Walton Counties.

For more information on the tornadoes and the people they impacted you can watch many stories on our website... cbs46.com.

The compete report on the 15 tornadoes that hit the state of Georgia Sunday morning can be read on the National Weather Service website here and here.

The weather will be windy, but quiet on Monday although storms may return to the forecast as early as Wednesday.

--Chris

warming up...

2008-05-07T14:13:00.002-04:00

We are well into spring and about a month and a half from the official start of summer. As a result we are seeing signs of the warmer weather all over the metro area. The above picture was sent in by Benny Coon from Snellville. The picture is of baby cardinals in a rose bush at his house.

If the picture looks a little familiar, Benny actually sent in a similar picture 2 years ago. I guess Benny's yard is quite the hot spot for cardinal mating! :-)

Enjoy the nice & warm weather. You know the hot days of summer are just around the corner!

--Chris

thank a teacher...

2008-05-04T21:05:00.002-04:00

This week is National Teacher Appreciation Week. Although I do not have kids of my own I do get to see many teachers in action when I visit schools across metro Atlanta every week.

The value of teachers can not be measured. They have such a huge impact on all the lives that they touch. To this day I can still name my K-6th grade teachers...

Mrs. Ralph
Ms. Manion
Mrs. Rogers
Mrs. Jerko
Ms. Shuffstall
Mr. Lambert
Mr. DeWoody

If you want to thank a teacher this week all you have to do is go to this website. They are going to create the largest thank you card project. They will take your thank you's and put them into one giant thank you for teachers.

To all the teacher's out there... have a great week!

--Chris

Saint Bobby....

2008-05-02T16:46:00.004-04:00

This past Monday my wife and I volunteered at the Atlanta Seminole Club golf tournament & banquet. The events were held up in Alpharetta. I am the official meteorologist for the club & luckily the rains ended just in time! Anyway, my wife and I had a great time catching up with some of our fellow Seminole fans. Plus it was great to catch up with Coach Bowden. It's not every day you get to hang out with the winningest coach in D-1 football!

I gotta say, coach is looking good. :-) He told some great stories. He was engaging as ever even at the ripe age of 78. Maybe he will be on my wife's & my Christmas card this year! :-)

Here is a funny story all you true southern football fans can identify with...

You might notice that in the top picture I am wearing my Lacoste shirt. I always dread wearing it because it has that stupid alligator logo on it. It looks good and it fits good, but that stupid (UF looking) gator... so I asked Bobby if I should get rid of it and he said no! He said it was dead so I could go ahead and wear it! Gotta love Bobby! :-)

Hey folks... football season is just 4 months away!

--Chris

Soggy Saturday's...

2008-05-02T14:43:00.006-04:00

Rain is once again in the forecast for this Saturday. This will make the 6th consecutive Saturday that we have seen rain in metro Atlanta!!

The last rain-free weekend was March 22/23. Ironically, I washed my car that day and it did not rain! Every other time I wash it... it rains!

So, you might be asking how much is all this rain helping with out rainfall deficit? It is certainly helping, but you might be surprised to know that we have a rainfall deficit for the year!

Here are the numbers...

For the last month we have received 3.17" of rain which is .42" below average

For the last 6 months we have received 21.59" of rain which is 4.98" below average

For the last year we are still running a good 12.24" below average

So, in short... the drought is not over.

As you can see by this latest map, most of Northern Georgia is still in an extreme to severe drought. While we are headed in the right direction we still have a ways to go.

We need to make sure to conserve during the upcoming summer months because while we do see a decent amount of rain... we also see a good bit of evaporation because of those hot summer days. Meaning, it will take a lot of summer rain to make a dent in the drought.

One of the better places to learn about water conservation is the waterSmart program.

As far as Saturday's rain... a cold front will trigger showers and storms that may dump upwards of 1" of rain Saturday afternoon over Northern Georgia. While the rain will be welcomed... some may be severe so make sure to keep it tuned to CBS46 and cbs46.com for the very latest should some of the storms become severe.

Have a great weekend (especially Sunday)!

--Chris

it can always be worse...

2008-05-01T12:04:00.003-04:00

I got an e-mail from our weather producer, Greg Majewski, with the above picture attached of a sand storm in Kuwait. In case you did not know, Greg has been in Kuwait since last summer serving our country. He is in the Army Reserve and his unit was called up last year.

After almost a year over there needless to say Greg is about fed up with the crazy weather/sand storms that blow in. He said he is not sure how anyone can live in weather like they have over there. When he complains about our next 'wedge' or snow event here when he gets back I will be sure to remind him about the weather over there! :-)

Greg is safe and sound and I know he appreciates everyone's thoughts and prayers. He gets back to the U.S in late June and will be back here at CBS46 in mid-July.

--Chris

hawk talk...

2008-04-27T19:06:00.003-04:00

I thought I would take a little break from the weather talk to do a little Hawk talk! Not something we have an opportunity to do very often! There was a little buzz in the newsroom last night during the Hawks-Celtics game. We won our first play-off game since 1999! I am not sure of the last time there was a buzz about the Hawks. Maybe the mid-90s when Lenny Wilkins became the NBA's winningest coach. If not then, then perhaps during our glory days in the mid to late 80s.

Regardless, the Hawks beat the NBA's best team! Granted I am making no illusion that we will win the 7 game series, but it felt good to win when it mattered for a change. It was more than 20 years ago that the Hawks were THE team in Atlanta. The Hawks were so popular they had their own song and music video...

The Falcons were horrible, the Braves were even worse, & Atlanta's hockey team was in Canada playing in Calgary.

It was in those mid-late 80s that I became a Hawks fan. I had moved to the area a couple years prior and attended my first Hawks game on March 12, 1988 (thanks Google!). That night the Hawks beat the Knicks 122-115 thanks to Dominique's 40 points. I went with a friend and his church group and that night I became a huge Hawks fan. A few months later the Hawks had the Boston Celtics on the ropes in the play-offs only to let them off. I was at 2 of those games & it was heartbreaking. For several years after that my dad and I had season tickets. I can still remember our season ticket location in the Omni. Section 214, Row D, Seats 11 & 12.

Isn't it funny how we remember little things like that? Those nights at the Omni with my dad and the Hawks were some of my favorite memories growing up. I loved the Hawks.

After I went away to college my interest in the Hawks & basketball waned and since I have been back in town lets be honest... the Hawks have not been good. Still, the excitement of last night brought back a little of the magic & passion I had for the Hawks when I was a kid.

Who knows, maybe there will be a little more magic tomorrow night down at Philips Arena. If we win, it will be nice to hear a little more Hawk talk for a few more nights.

Lets Go Hawks!

--Chris

Happy Earth Day!

2008-04-22T19:16:00.002-04:00

I would be remiss on this Earth Day if I did not congratulate the kids at LaBelle Elementary School in Marietta for winning the first annual waterSmart rain barrel of fun contest.

The 2nd grade students of teachers Cory Babcock and Altonese Wisdom beat 4 other schools in the contest. The kids were given 2 weeks to design and paint their rain barrels. The goal... to learn about the importance a little change can make in the effort to conserve water.

The rain barrels were judged on the categories of creativity, artistic ability and team work, with extra bonus points awarded for display of water conservation knowledge.

Just because the contest is over does not mean the conservation is... all the rain barrels will stay on the campus of the respective schools to help provide a conservation friendly alternative to supplemental watering for landscaping.

Not that the kids needed any moitivation... the winning students from LaBelle Elementary School will receive an ice cream party from waterSmart.

You can learn more about waterSmart, all they do for our community, and what you can do to help conserve by clicking here.

Happy Earth Day!

--Chris

times are a changing...

2008-04-20T21:14:00.003-04:00

Our weather producer, Jason Disharoon, sent me this article this afternoon that I thought some of you fellow weather geeks who read this blog might enjoy.

Jetstream Moving

The gist of the story is that researchers believe global warming is pushing the jet stream further north. How does that impact us? Well, the jet stream is the river of fast moving air that steers weather systems around the world. If the jet stream moves further north then rain producing weather systems would stay further north. That means less rain in the south. That being said, we would also see more tropical activity because if the jet stream was not further south them tropical systems would be more likely to form.

As you read below the other week, I was at a weather conference in the Bahamas. There were several interesting presentations with respect to the cause of global warming. You can watch several of the presentations as well as a heated exchange between Dr. William Gray of Colorado State and Dr. Tom Knutson here at the Bahamas Weather Conference webpage.

Have a great week. It looks pretty nice.

--Chris

weather conference...

2008-04-06T23:49:00.004-04:00

Although I am 'off' this week I can assure you that I will be working hard!

I am headed to the Bahamas Weather Conference on Tuesday. (yes, I drew the short straw :-)) The conference is being held on Grand Bahamas Island at the Westin Our Lucaya Resort.

There are a wide range of topics that will be discussed this year. From hurricanes, to insurance, to how to build a safer homes that can withstand tornadoes and hurricanes, and global warming.

One of the highlights of the conference will be on Wednesday when Dr. William Gray releases his updated forecast for the 2008 hurricane season.

You can follow along (sin the sun and the sand) at the conference website. You will probably see me from time to time in some of the meeting video and you can see many of the interviews and sessions that I am sitting in on.

I will make sure to post pictures and have a complete update when I get back!

I promise to work hard... :-)

--Chris

the wedge...

2008-04-06T19:06:00.009-04:00

The 'wedge' has been a popular topic as of late and anytime we talk about it we get lots of questions here in the weather department.

The wedge typically occurs during the winter and spring months here in Georgia... although it can actually happen any time of year. It takes a combination of our unique geography and a specific weather pattern to get the 'wedge.'

It happens when High Pressure settles over the NE United States. Because the flow around high pressure is clockwise it brings cool, maritime air into the southeastern U.S. (think about New England along the coast with sea fog and fog horns, etc). Because cool air is dense... when it gets pushed up against the Appalachian Mountains it can not go over the mountains so it gets pushed down the spine mountains into Georgia. You can see this in the graphic below.

Here is a weather chart from this past Friday morning when we were socked in with drizzle, fog, & cool temperatures. The arrows on the chart indicate the direction the wind is blowing from. Again, notice how the winds are blowing down the Appalachian Mountains. The other thing to note is the wide range in temperatures across Georgia. You go from 70s (in the morning!!) in south Georgia to 40s in NE Georgia. Needless to say, the wedge is one of the most difficult things to forecast.

In this picture from later Friday afternoon notice how the winds are shifting to out of the South instead of the East to NE. That is when the 'wedge' is retreating. This happens as the high pressure over the NE U.S. begins to move out into the Atlantic turning our winds to more of SE or South (think warm and tropical). Remember when temperatures soared to near 70 that afternoon? Those warmer temperatures helped allow for the development of the severe storms Friday afternoon/evening.

Well, guess what? It looks like the dreaded wedge weather pattern is again setting up for the early part of the week. I think the placement of the high over the NE U.S. is not ideal, but it is close enough to get some cooling, clouds, and drizzle over northern, and especially NE Georgia on Monday & Tuesday.

Have a great week... I promise the sun is up there somewhere!

--Chris

lights out...

2008-04-02T12:19:00.008-04:00

This past Saturday was Earth Hour and Atlanta was one of hundreds of cities participating around the world.

Below are two pictures showing Atlanta before the 'hour' and during the 'hour'.

The event was started to bring attention to global warming and the role that humans play in it. While global warming is occurring, the impact that humans play is very much up to debate. While most news stories claim that human induced global warming is fact, the reality is that some scientists disagree.

John Coleman, the founder of The Weather Channel, is one of the more outspoken critics of human induced global warming. You can see hit argument here. There is also an anti-global warming website called Icecap.us.

I am going to a weather conference next week. Last year there was a big discussion about global warming and our role in it. The funny thing was that 75% of the meteorologists questioned the impact we as humans have in it. I would venture to say the general public would think it would be 75-90% in the other direction. It will be interesting to see if opinions and information has shifted in humans and their role in global warming.

Regardless of what you think I think it is important for humans to leave as few 'footprints' as possible and to always look for ways to lessen our impact on the planet on which we live.

Have a good week!

--Chris

cool tornado pictures...

2008-03-28T17:52:00.003-04:00

Surfing around the internet I found some kinda cool webcams that show what went on right before and after the tornado earlier this month. While you do not see the tornado itself you can see come pretty cool things.

There are two in particular that you should check out. I will post the pictures I am talking about, but the actual program enables you to zoom in etc so you might want to go to this website...

-Click on the one for The Atlantic (a new condo tower in Atlantic Station)
-Adjust the date back to Friday, March 14th
-Click on the 9:39 and 9:55 images and notice how the crane (red) completely spins around as the storm passes!!!

Next...

-Click on the one for Allen Plaza
-Adjust the date back to Friday, March 14th
-Click on the 9:33 and 9:57 images and notice how the lights go out and you can see where the hole is in the dome!

I hope you enjoyed the nice weather over the past few days. The weekend is looking a little cool and damp.

--Chris

when did spring start???

2008-03-24T23:28:00.002-04:00

Although spring technically began last Thursday it appears old man winter is not done with us yet!!

Very cold temperatures filtered into northern Georgia this morning and this afternoon. There was just enough moisture to squeeze out a little bit of snow! While most of us saw some snow flurries there was actually a little dusting well up into the mountains as you can see in the pictures above and below. These pictures were sent in by Tammy Kinman up in Blue Ridge. Thanks Tammy!

The cold weather won't last past Tuesday morning as highs will be in the 60s Tuesday with 70s by Wednesday & Thursday.

--Chris

flower pictures...

2008-03-23T16:31:00.002-04:00

Hey guys, just a reminder that we have a section on our website where you can upload your spring flower pictures. I snapped the above picture, with my cell phone, of a Japanese Magnolia just outside the TV station.

You can upload your picture here. Can't wait to see them and we might even show some on the news!

--Chris

hail galore...

2008-03-23T16:06:00.002-04:00

Although the tornadoes certainly got the headlines, we received tremendous reports of hail across the metro area last weekend. Check out this video that Ed Hubbard in Gwinnett County uploaded to CBS46.com. Notice how quickly the hail begins to accumulate. The other interesting thing was that we had reports of hail as big as baseballs in a few places. That is nearly unheard of here in the southeastern U.S. and much more common in the in the plains states.

Hail is often confused with sleet and vice versa. While rain freezes on the way to the ground and becomes sleet. Hail forms by water being carried way up inside of a thunderstorm where it freezes. It then is unable to melt before it hits the ground. One of the best explainers as to how hail forms is on USAToday.com.

Each time a hail stone us carried up by an updraft inside of a thunderstorm the hailstone collects more water and re-freezes causing it to get bigger. Technically, you can cut open a hail stone and count the number of rings inside which will tell you how many times the hail has gone up and down inside of the thunderstorm.

Lets hope it is a while before we have any weather like last weekend. Right now the forecast looks dry for much of the work week ahead.

--Chris

Atlanta tornado postmortem...

2008-03-20T16:24:00.003-04:00

The National Weather Service has posted its postmortem on the tornado from the tornado last Friday night. Included is the above map showing there damage occurred and and how intense the tornado was when it passed over an area.

You can read more here.

--Chris

Tornado Damage Pictures...

2008-03-19T15:34:00.016-04:00

I was in downtown last night and snapped a few pictures down by the park. It is amazing to see all the damage. Notice on the Westin and the GP buildings how most of the broken windows were higher up on the building. The reason for this is because the winds were stronger the higher up on the tornado. Winds are slightly less toward the bottom of the tornado because of the friction with the Earth.

Enjoy and post if you have any questions...

--Chris

possible tornado sighting...

2008-03-17T16:17:00.001-04:00

A friend of mine who was in the meteorology program with me at Florida State sent me this picture from Road Atlanta on Saturday. She said they had THREE different tornado sightings! She is going to send more pictures so hopefully I can share some of those soon!

The above picture is of a wall cloud producing a possible tornado.

--Chris

P.S. Here are a couple more pics I promised you. Not a lot of good places to take shelter during a storm at a race track. Also, check out the hail that came from the storm as it passed!!

a wild 24 hours....

2008-03-16T16:53:00.008-04:00

Finally... some quiet weather after what was probably the wildest 24 hours of my career.

It all started Friday night when an EF-2 tornado moved right through the heart of Atlanta. The tornado touched down just West of the Georgia Dome and lifted back into the sky shortly after striking the Cabbagetown neighborhood in East Atlanta. To see all the broken windows in the skyscrapers, furniture in the streets, and see the water in the Georgia Dome was amazing.

Before we could regroup another round of storms moved through around 6am and then the big round of storms hit northern Georgia Saturday afternoon. Although Friday's storm has stolen the headlines, most of the damage and storm reports occurred on Saturday. So many of you viewers sent us pictures and video of the storm damage. If you have some pictures or video you want to share just log onto CBS46.com and upload yours!

I would be remiss if I did not thank all of my co-workers here at CBS46 for all their help and hard work in covering the storms. Because of all of their hard work I think we were able to help save lives. In the end, two people lost their lives Saturday, but when you look at the pictures of the damage, you know it could have been much, much worse.

The weather will be quiet through Tuesday.

Enjoy,

--Chris

in like a lion...

2008-03-09T14:48:00.010-04:00

Although it took a few extra days... the beginning of March is finally beginning to live up to its 'lion-like' reputation!

Just as northern Georgia looked like it had avoided the severe weather on Friday a small storm developed shortly after 7pm Friday night and produced an EF-1 tornado with estimated winds near 110 mph. The storm moved through Douglas County causing damage to 50 homes, destroying 1 mobile home, and causing significant damage to a grocery store. To see video from the scene you can click here.

The storm developed along Hampton Mill Drive (4 miles SE of Douglasville) and started moving to the NE at 40 mph.

The storm tracked 7 miles with a maximum width of 100 yards. 110 mph winds puts it on the high end of and EF-1 on the new Enhanced Fujita scale.

The storm finally dissipated, after crossing I-20, along Vulcan Drive near Beaver Run Creek which is 5 miles E-NE of Douglasville.

Just as quickly as the severe weather moved out the cold weather moved in. Enough moisture lingered to cause snow flurries across the metro area. In the mountains a little more than an 1" of snow piled up in places. Thanks to Lola Jewell for sending the below pictures of her home near Ellijay.

Lets hope as we head toward mid-March that the weather will start acting a little more like a lamb!

Have a great week and enjoy the milder days ahead.

--Chris

drought update...

2008-03-01T18:41:00.006-05:00

We have more good news as far as our drought situation here in Georgia. After a pretty wet February (4.61" at Hartsfield-Jackson) that was actually only .07" below normal we are hoping to continue the trend as we move into March.

In the below two images you can see that the part of the state in the exceptional part of the drought has shrunken quite a bit since the early part of February. Now only the extreme NW part of the state remains in the most severe part of drought.

Despite the better news as of late it is not time to celebrate just yet. As we mentioned last week, Lake Lanier remains extremely low and that is where much of our water in Atlanta comes from. So until Lanier begins to rebound more significantly we will be dealing with the harsh water restrictions for the foreseeable future.

More rain is in the forecast on Tuesday. The only problem is we may have some severe weather to deal with too. For the latest stay tuned to CBS46 on Sunday at 6:30pm and 11pm and Monday between 5-7am, Noon, 4pm, 6pm, & 11pm.

--Chris

eclipse...

2008-02-24T21:56:00.001-05:00

For those of you who missed the eclipse the other night because of the clouds or smoke (yes, some people missed it because smoke from a controlled burn obscured the whole thing!)or because you forgot.... here is a picture that was sent to me from Bennie Koon who lives in Snellville. He is a viewer of CBS46. Thanks a bunch Bennie! To see the next total lunar eclipse here in Atlanta we will have to wait until December 2010!

--Chris

thank you...

2008-02-24T21:20:00.007-05:00

I just wanted to thank everyone at Mt. Zion High School in Clayton County last Friday. Loraine Foushee invited me to come speak to her Video Production class about what I do. The kids in her class are learning all about production. From how to edit and shoot video to directing the newscast to running the cameras and even being in front of the camera!

I talked about my experiences in TV and how I got into the business. I also gave them a few tips on how to be successful not only in TV, but in life (well, at least I think the tips were helpful!). At the end of each class I spoke to we stretched our legs and went outside so I could show the kids out Weather Chaser van. I think they liked all the flashing lights, neon, and loudspeaker more than the fact that we actually try and chase tornado's in it!

Members of the StormTracker46 Weather Team are always coming out to speak to various schools and civic groups. If you want us to come visit you all you have to do is fill out the form on our website here. Just look for the school visit worksheet on the side of the page.

Thanks again to everyone at Mt. Zion High School for your hospitality.

--Chris

keep it coming...

2008-02-24T20:41:00.005-05:00

Finally... we got a good soaking of rain the other day (see bottom). Between Thursday and Friday we got anywhere from 1-2" across most of the metro area. The rain was perfect as it did not rain too much too quickly. It was a good steady rain and you can tell from the above picture of Sweetwater Creek near Austell that the area lakes and rivers are happy too! (thanks for the pic Ms. Couch!)

Lakes Lanier and Allatoona have also responded. Lake Allatonna has been rising for months and is actually a good 7' above where it is typically this time of year and has gone up 11' from its lowest point last fall. That can be a bit deceptive though since the current total is almost 10' below where it should be in the summer. Meanwhile, Lake Lanier has a long way to go. It is up 2.5' from its lowest point, but is still almost 17' below where it should be during the winter and 19' below full summer pool.

So, I guess the moral to the story is... we need a lot more rain! We are about 2" down for 2008 on top of the almost 20" deficit we ended 2007 with.

As far as rain chances coming up... our first chance will be on Tuesday, but rain totals are only expected to be .25" or so. After that it might be next week before we get a decent rain.

Have a great week!

--Chris

eclipse...

2008-02-16T17:35:00.004-05:00

Since the weather does not look like it will cooperate for us to see the satellite (see below entry) we have a chance to witness a total lunar eclipse on Wednesday night (2/20). This will be our last total lunar eclipse for almost 3 years (Dec. 2010).

The eclipse will start at 8:43pm, become total between 10:01pm & 10:51pm, and end at 12:09am.

A lunar eclipse happens when the Moon passes through the shadow of Earth. Typically the moon takes on a reddish tint as it passes through the Earth's shadow. The reason is while a human's shadow is black because of the the Earth's atmosphere, the light of the sun is bent as it passes through the edge of our atmosphere causing the Earth's shadow to appear red.

Right now the weather looks good for the eclipse so get ready to enjoy it!

--Chris

the sky is falling!!!

2008-02-15T16:13:00.004-05:00

OK, well maybe not the sky, but broken satellite's may be falling!

If you have watched the news you have probably heard about the U.S. satellite that is falling back to Earth. The scary thing about it is that the experts can not say for sure where the satellite will crash. Will it hit land? Will it fall into the water?

Because of the uncertainty, the U.S. has decided to try and shoot the satellite down so that as it comes into the Earth's atmosphere it will be more likely to burn up rather than have debris fall from the sky (the satellite is about the size of a bus).

The cool thing is that as the satellite continues to fall back toward Earth you can actually see it with you own eyes as it passes over the metro area.

To see where the satellite currently is just click here.

To see when you might be able to see it pass over Atlanta just click here.

The keys to seeing it will be to have a night with pretty clear skies (the forecast calls for cloudy weather over the days ahead) as well as being in an area with less light pollution. The satellite will look like a star (bright white light) moving smoothly across the sky.

The plan is to try and shoot the satellite down in the next week or two so you better catch it before it's too late!!

--Chris

Severe Weather Awareness Week... Day 7

2008-02-09T20:00:00.000-05:00

Storm Spotters
Courtesy: National Weather Service

Skywarn is a program the National Weather Service uses to improve severe storm warnings. Trained volunteers serve as storm spotters. These spotters pass on vital "ground truth" information to forecasters during severe weather events. They are the eyes and ears not only for forecasters, but for the community as a whole.

Skywarn volunteers come from all walks of life, and generally have two things in common - an interest in weather as well as an interest in serving their community. Certain organizations often involved in Skywarn include:

Emergency Management
Law Enforcement
Fire Department and Resuce Squads
Amateur Radio Groups

Any organization or person can become a Skywarn spotter, but they must first complete the necessary training from the National Weather Service. These training classes are offered periodically during the period of January to March 15th. Each class will be done in a grouping of 2 to 4 counties. Anyone interested in attending a spotter training class is asked to contact their counties emergency management office to get a schedule of upcoming classes. Sometimes, depending on demand, a second season of classes is offered between September and November.

For a listing of current classes being offered in the metro area click here.

You can always report severe weather to us here at CBS46 by sending us an e-mail...

cbs46weather@cbs46.com

Severe Weather Awareness Week... Day 6

2008-02-08T16:31:00.000-05:00

Flood Preparedness
Courtesy: National Weather Service

Many people do not know this, but flooding kills more people than any other weather hazard. The majority of deaths from flooding occur when people become trapped in automobiles that stall while driving through flooded areas. Nearly half of all flood fatalities are vehicle related. Flooding is usually divided into two categories. These categories are flash flooding and river flooding. Both of these can cause death, injury, and property destruction.

Flash floods are usually caused by slow moving thunderstorms or thunderstorms that move over the same area one after the other. These floods usually occur within 6 hours of heavy rainfall and are usually more life threatening as a result. Areas most prone to floods are mountainous streams and rivers, urban areas, low-lying areas, storm drains, and culverts. Typically, flooding in Peachtree Creek is the result of flash flooding.

River flooding is caused by the gradual increase in the water level of river or creek. These floods usually occur seasonally with general rains, or with heavy rainfall from tropical systems. A good example of this flooding is the flooding that affected south Georgia after Tropical Storm Alberto in 1994.

So, what can you do to protect yourself and your family?

Know what to listen for. A Flood Watch or a Flash Flood Watch means that conditions have been detected that could lead to flooding of a certain area.

A River Flood Warning or a Flash Flood Warning means that flooding is imminent and you should take action immediately. You can monitor the weather radio or any local radio or TV station to get the latest information.

If flooding occurs get to higher ground. Get out of areas subject to flooding such as canyons, dips, low spots, and washes.

Avoid areas already flooding, especially if the water is fast flowing. Do not attempt to cross flowing streams. Road beds may be washed out due to the flooding. Never try to cross flooded roadways.

If your vehicle is suddenly caught in rising water, leave it immediately and seek higher ground.

Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to see flood dangers.

Of course, you can get the very latest flood information by tuning into CBS46 or logging onto our website CBS46.com.

Severe Weather Awareness Week... Day 5

2008-02-07T14:39:00.000-05:00

Lightning Information
(Courtesy the National Weather Service)

Lightning is one of the leading causes of weather deaths in the United States. In Georgia, preliminary 2005 data shows lightning killed 2 people and injured 28. In Georgia, lightning killed 5 people and injured 17 in 2004, killed 1 person and injured 7 in 2003, 2 people were killed and 7 were injured by lightning in 2002, and 18 people were injured and 1 person was killed by lightning in 2001. Most lightning deaths occur in the Summer months usually in the afternoon and evening hours. Also, most deaths occur when people are caught outside during a storm.

Lightning results from the buildup and release of electrical energy between positive and negative charges between the earth and a thunderstorm. A single lightning bolt can be as hot as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit - hotter even than the surface of the sun. This rapid heating and cooling of the air creates a shock wave which we hear as thunder. Lightning will usually strike the highest object in area. This includes trees, antennas, a boat on a lake, or a person standing in a field.

So, what should you do to protect yourself:

If you are outside, get inside a building or vehicle. If you can hear thunder, you are already at risk.

Practice the 30/30 safety rule. If you see lightning and cannot count to 30 before hearing thunder, go indoors. Stay indoors an additional 30 minutes after hearing the last clap of thunder.

If you cannot find shelter, do not stand under a tree or remain in an open place when lightning is near. Avoid open water, as well as tractors, bicycles, motorcycles, or golf carts. These will not provide protection, and may actually attract lightning.

Enclosed vehicles are generally safe, if you avoid contact with metal surfaces.

If you are in a forest, seek shelter in a low area under a thick growth of small trees.

If you are outside, and feel your hair stand on end, this indicates lightning is about to strike. Drop to your knees and roll forward to the balls of your feet. Place your hands on your knees and tuck your head down. Do not lie flat on the ground.

If you are boating or swimming, get to land as quickly as possible.

If you are inside, don't use a telephone or other electrical equipment unless in an emergency.

Do not take a bath or shower during a thunderstorm.

For more on lighting safety you can click here.

Of course, you can always count on CBS46 to track the storms right into your neighborhood. We can even use exclusive technology that predicts where lightning will strike over the next 30 minutes!

Although the skies are calm now, remember the above tips and stay tuned to CBS46 to keep you and your family safe!

Severe Weather Awareness Week... Day 4

2008-02-06T09:15:00.000-05:00

I guess it is fitting that on tornado day of Severe Weather Awareness Week we are dealing with the threat of tornadoes across the southeastern U.S. So far more than 40 people have been killed as a result of the storms. That is why it is so important to know what to do so you and your family can stay safe.

Because of the threat of storms today the tornado drill has been rescheduled for Friday. Stay tuned to CBS46 for the very latest on the threat of severe weather this morning across the metro area.

Wednesday’s Post: “Tornadoes”
(Information courtesy of the National Weather Service)

Tornadoes are one of the most fascinating, but deadly, weather phenomena on Earth. Georgia’s peak season for tornadoes stretches from March to May, but tornadoes can actually occur anytime of the year (even in winter!). However, it is often difficult to see Georgia’s tornadoes because they are shielded by rain, trees, or hills.

Tornadoes can come in many shapes and sizes (from fat wedges to tall, skinny ropes), but all tornadoes consist of a column of violently rotating air that extends from the thunderstorm to the ground. Weaker tornadoes last a few minutes, but some stronger tornadoes can last over 20 minutes and produce winds near 300 mph! Tornadoes can develop very quickly, so it is very important to be alert.

A “Tornado Watch” means weather conditions are favorable for developing thunderstorms that are capable of producing tornadoes. When your area is under a watch, it is time to get prepared in case the weather gets worse. If a member of the public reports a tornado, or if the National Weather Service detects a tornado on its radar, then a “Tornado Warning” will be issued. A “Tornado Warning” means a tornado has been spotted in your area and is an imminent threat. If you haven’t done so before, it’s time to get to safety NOW. Remain in your storm safety area until the warning has expired.

You can find out if watches and warnings are issued for your area by listening to your NOAA Weather Radio or your tv, or by logging on to CBS46.com. If a tornado watch is issued for your area, take action to get to safety now, especially if you live in a mobile home. Mobile homes are particularly dangerous during a tornado, and if you live in a mobile home community, you should establish a storm shelter in a nearby sturdy building in case severe weather threatens your area.

If you are in a structurally strong building when a tornado threatens, move to the most interior room of the lowest floor (such as a closet in the basement). Try and put as many walls between you and the outside as you can. Avoid windows; trees and other debris can break the glass and injure you. If you are in your vehicle, do not try to outrun the tornado; either get inside a sturdy building or lie flat in a nearby ditch (but be sure to watch for flooding).

For more information about tornadoes, visit the National Weather Service’s website and the Tornado Project’s website.

Severe Weather Awareness Week... Day 3

2008-02-05T13:14:00.000-05:00

Tuesday’s Post: “Thunderstorm Safety”
(Information courtesy of the National Weather Service)

Thunderstorms can occur any time of the year in Georgia, as long as conditions are right for them to develop. However, the strongest thunderstorms usually occur in spring and summer, when plenty of warm, humid air is available for thunderstorms to grow.

Although some thunderstorms can have very intense lightning and thunder, they are not classified as “severe” unless they meet at least one of the following criteria:
- the thunderstorm has winds greater than 57 mph
- the thunderstorm produces hail greater than ¾ inch (the size of a penny)
- the thunderstorm produces a tornado

However, you should still seek shelter for all thunderstorms, even if they are not severe, because all thunderstorms have lightning (see Thursday’s post about lightning).

You may have noticed one day that a severe thunderstorm watch was issued for your area, but it wasn’t even raining outside! Well, the reason is that watches are issued to get people prepared before thunderstorms develop. So a “Severe Thunderstorm Watch” means the weather conditions are favorable for a severe thunderstorm to develop, but it is not in your area yet (for example, the storms might not have developed or they are still a distance away). When your area is under a watch, it’s time to get prepared in case the weather gets worse. If it does, the National Weather Service will issue a “Severe Thunderstorm Warning,” which means a severe thunderstorm has been detected and it’s an imminent threat to your area. If you haven’t done so before, it’s time to get to safety NOW. Remain in your storm safety area until the warning has expired.

You can find out if watches and warnings are issued for your area by listening to your NOAA weather radio or your tv, or by logging on to CBS46.com.

If thunderstorms are headed for your area, go inside a sturdy building and avoid using the phone and other electrical appliances; if lightning strikes your building, it can travel through the wires to you. The same situation can happen with plumbing, so avoid showering during a thunderstorm. If you are outside when thunderstorms threaten, try to find a shelter in a sturdy building or hop into your vehicle as a last resort. Avoid gazebos, trees, and golf carts, because they provide little protection and can actually attract lightning.

If you see storm damage, wait until the thunderstorm passes and then call the National Weather Service at 1-866-763-4466. If you see hail, be sure to describe what size coin it is. For more information about thunderstorms, check out the NWS’s webpage.

Severe Weather Awareness Week... Day 2

2008-02-03T20:13:00.000-05:00

Monday’s Post: “NOAA Weather Radio”
(Information courtesy of the National Weather Service)

A NOAA Weather Radio is a special kind of radio that receives weather information from the local National Weather Service. On days with mild weather, the National Weather Service will broadcast local conditions and the forecast for the next few days. However, when an emergency occurs, the National Weather Service sends out a special tone, and this causes the NOAA radio to sound an alert and play the emergency message.
In Georgia, you can listen to the NOAA weather radio broadcasts by tuning your NOAA radio to the frequency for your area (see chart below).

Georgia NOAA Weather Radio Transmitters and Frequencies
Americus 162.425 MHz
Athens 162.400 MHz
Atlanta 162.550 MHz
Augusta 162.550 MHz
Baxley 162.525 MHz
Blue Ridge 162.475 MHz
Brasstown Bald 162.500 MHz
Buchanan 162.425 MHz
Chatsworth 162.400 MHz
Cleveland 162.525 MHz
Columbus 162.400 MHz
Eastman 162.400 MHz
Eatonton 162.525 MHz
La Grange 162.450 MHz
Macon 162.475 MHz
Pelham 162.550 MHz
Sandersville 162.450 MHz
Savannah 162.400 MHz
Taylor’s Ridge 162.450 MHz
Thomaston 162.500 MHz
Valdosta 162.500 MHz
Waycross 162.475 MHz
Waynesboro 162.425 MHz

For more information, be sure to visit the National Weather Service’s website.

Severe Weather Awareness Week... Day 1

2008-02-03T19:56:00.000-05:00

Even though we are in the midst of winter today marks the start of Severe Weather Awareness week here in Georgia. Our severe weather season is typically from mid-March to Mid-May, but not is the time to prepare!

This week the StormTracker46 Weather team will bring you tips to help keep you safe from nature's fury. The week covers a variety of severe weather topics ranging from today's topic... family preparedness, to tornado drill day (Wednesday), to Flooding (Friday), and Storm Spotters (Saturday).

I would be remiss if I did not thank recent Georgia Tech graduate and meteorologist, Chrissy Warrilow, who has helped us get everything together for Severe Weather Awareness Week.

“Family Preparedness: Know What to Do before Disaster Strikes”
(Information courtesy of the National Weather Service and the American Red Cross)

Despite recent improvements in weather forecasting, severe weather can still strike within a moment’s notice. Because the weather can deteriorate very quickly, it is important to have a family disaster plan developed ahead of time. The National Weather Service suggests implementing the following steps into your family’s disaster plan:

1.) Gather information about hazards. Be aware of the different kinds of severe weather that affects your neighborhood, and during what time of year and day they usually occur. Be sure to know appropriate shelter areas and warning signals for each kind of severe weather. Good sources of information include the National Weather Service, the American Red Cross, and your favorite CBS 46 meteorologist.

2.) Meet with your family to create a plan. Talk about the information you have gathered with your family and decide where everyone will go in case disaster strikes. It’s a good idea to have two meeting places, depending on the type of emergency: 1.) a place outside of the home in case of something within the home (such as a fire), and 2.) a place outside of your neighborhood in case you cannot return to your community for a while. For example, those who evacuated for Hurricane Katrina in 2005 could not return to their communities for weeks, and needed a plan for staying elsewhere during that time. In case the emergency involves evacuating away from your neighborhood, be sure your family has an out-of-state contact person to act as a “check in” for everyone to call in case members of your family get separated. Once your family has created its disaster plan, make sure everyone clearly understands it and knows what to do in each type of emergency.

3.) Put your plan in action. Post your disaster plan in a central location, such as on the refrigerator, and have emergency contact numbers listed near each phone. Learn how to do emergency home procedures, such as turning off power and gas in case of a break. Be sure to teach young children when it is appropriate to call 911 and how to do so (for example, what to say to the operator, knowing the full address to the home, describing the emergency clearly, etc). Also, it is a good idea to assemble a disaster kit which has supplies for at least 3 days, including non-perishable food, bottled water, warm clothing, and medicine, and store copies of important documents sealed in water proof containers within this disaster kit. A very detailed list of items that should be in your family’s disaster kit can be found at the American Red Cross’s website, http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_91_,00.html

4.) Practice and maintain your plan. Schools across the country conduct tornado and fire drills, why not your family? Regular practice smooths your disaster plan so that in a real emergency, the evacuation process becomes less chaotic; everyone already knows what to do and will instinctively do it. Regular practice of your family’s disaster plan includes discussing shelter for each hazard and knowing which phone numbers to call in case of injury, family member separation, etc.

The worst thing to ever do for your family is to not have a plan. While it is easy to think “it will never happen to me,” the reality is that at some point in time, everyone will need to be prepared for when disaster strikes. For more information about developing an family disaster plan, check out the National Weather Service’s website and the Red Cross’s Website.

starry skies...

2008-02-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

If you are an early riser Saturday morning (2/1) then you have a great chance to see two planets that will appear to be fractions of an inch apart!

All you need to do to see them is look southeast just before sunrise and you will get a good look at Jupiter and Venus (no telescope needed). The planets were even closer this morning, but the clouds from last nights rains ruined the viewing.

Each morning over the days ahead the two planets will get farther and farther... so you better check them out soon!

For more on what's going on in the celestial sky make sure to check out SkyandTelescope.com!

--Chris

winter weather....

2008-01-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

I wanted to thank all our viewers for submitting all their 'snow' pictures last weekend. I know with our website updating all the time stuff can get lost. So here is a link to the snow pictures so you can enjoy the snow over and over even though it is long since gone!

Also, just before the snow storm my wife and I went to Pennsylvania to visit my Grandparents. We had a nice trip. Needless to say since we do not get much snow here in Georgia (little did we know a snow storm was a week away) my wife was hoping to see some!

This is video I shot with my cell phone of us walking up to the Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA. While snow can be nice, my wife found that snow with a 20mph wind is no fun!

We dodged yet another snow bullet this weekend, but we still have a few more weeks in our winter weather season!

Stay tuned!

--Chris

all good things...

2008-01-27T19:32:00.000-05:00

All good things much come to an end. We have all probably heard it a 1000 times in our lives, but yet there always seem to moments when it is an appropriate thing to say.

As you know, Gene Norman, the chief meteorologist here at CBS46 left to take a similar position at KHOU in Houston last week. Gene gets to return to a city where he worked for many years as well as be closer to his daughter who is in school there. While it is a great opporunity for Gene I think it will be another great opportunity for us here at CBS46. Gene left us in a great position to build our weather department and that is what we will do over the months and years ahead.

If there is ever anything you do not understand or perhaps there is something missing that you want to see more of do not hesitate to contact us. We are always here to help you!

Thanks for watching and supporting CBS46!

--Chris

it may be January....

2008-01-12T21:56:00.000-05:00

Even though it is January there are signs of warmer weather already popping up across the metro area. The above picture is of daffodils. It was taken by our Noon newscast producer, Flip Fors.

Granted it is not terribly unusual to see daffodils popping up in January, but it is a sign that our winter's are pretty short compared to other parts of the country.

Of course all that being said, we are watching a storm system that may impact our weather on Thursday. As it stands now, it could bring some wintry weather to the metro area. It is much to early to say it will be snowy or icy for sure, but it is something to watch.

Make sure to watch Gene and Laura over the days ahead!

--Chris

drought update...

2008-01-03T13:19:00.000-05:00

The National Weather Service in Peachtree City issued its first drought statement of the new year today and it actually has some good news!!!! Thanks to the rains of December we have seen a slight improvement in our drought conditions. Metro Atlanta is now in an 'Extreme' drought rather than an 'Exceptional' drought. Now, north of the metro area we are still looking at an 'Exceptional' drought because the heavy rains at the end of last year were mainly from the metro area southward.

In the above picture at the top of this blog you can see where we stand today versus my entry below where you can see where we were.

Still, do not get too excited as according to the drought outlook, we are not expected to see much improvement over the months ahead.

Have a great day and stay warm!

--Chris

almost the driest year ever...

2007-12-30T20:38:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the rain today 2007 was able to avoid being the driest year ever in Atlanta and in Athens!

At Hartsfield-Jackson we picked up 1.30" of rain. For 2007 we ended up with 31.85" of rain compared to the 31.80" be saw in 1954. We can thank the month of December for helping us avoid the dubious distinction. We were 1.10" above average this month.

Although it is something to be excited about, the fact remains that 2007 was the 2nd driest year ever and we are still in an 'Exceptional' drought as you can see on the map above.

Lets hope for a continuation of December's wet spell in 2008.

Happy New Year!

--Chris

they look familiar...

2007-12-29T22:02:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been told you look like a celebrity? I think we all have. Sometimes you are left scratching your head wondering what they are seeing that looks similar and other times there is some resemblance.

Some people have said that I look like Prince William or Rick Schroeder or that funny guy (French Stewart) from that 90s sitcom, Third Rock From The Sun.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine posted something cool from a website where it supposedly compares your faces to a similar celebrity and morphs between the two. It says it diagnosed your features and those of a celebrity and comes up with a match.

I thought it would be fun to run this matching and morphing website on the members of the StormTracker46 Weather Team.

Here is what the website came up with for Gene Norman. Not sure about this one. I do not think I even know who this guy is!

%1

Laura Huckabee's is pretty good. Needless to say, being compared to Amanda Peet is not a bad thing! :-)
%1

Finally, I am supposed to resemble John Ritter. Kinda funny. If Gene was a girl, technically the weather team would kinda like Three's Company!
%1

I hope you enjoy it. Have fun with it!

--Chris

remember those that serve...

2007-12-25T19:33:00.000-05:00

During the holiday season it can be difficult to be away from friends and family. My wife and I were not around family today because I was working. That being said, we were lucky enough to see our families last week when we were on vacation. That is not the case with everyone... especially our troops who are serving our country overseas. :-)

Here at CBS46 we are missing one of our family members and I know his family is missing him. Our weather producer, Greg Majewski, is currently serving our country overseas in Kuwait and Iraq.

While it was easy to miss family because I had to work today, my wife and I made sure to count our blessings and think about what it would be like to not be able to see any family this holiday season!

Because the holiday season is so difficult for troops overseas, all the employee's at CBS46 did our best to let him know we were thinking of him. We sent nearly 40 lbs of snacks and various items reminding him of home. You can see Greg with his stash in the picture above.

As for Greg, I know he is counting down the days until his 2 week leave later in January. Can't wait to see ya buddy!

--Chris

wish book....

2007-12-16T16:50:00.000-05:00

Remember the Sears wish book? It has probably been 15 years since I have seen one. I went to the Sears website today to see and I guess you can technically still order one, but with the technology of the internet and computers today I am sure it is not the same as it used to be.

I can remember each year when our wish book arrived in the mail. My sister and I would carefully go through and dog ear the pages of the stuff we wanted from Santa. During the weeks leading up to Christmas I probably went through and that book a million times adjusting my list over and over.

What do kids do these days I wonder? I suppose they 'bookmark' the links to the various items they want on the computer. Highly effective, but certainly not the same! There is a whole world of stuff out there to look at. The wish book consolidated it to a few hundred pages and that was more than enough!

I can remember when Transformers were the big toy and I certainly had my share. As I write this, I found a scanned page from the 1985 wish book. I can remember the layout of the Transformers. Absolutely perfect. Whoever designed it is obviously a genius! :-) The funny thing is, I had every Transformer in that add other than the dress up kit and the mat the kid was playing on!!! What a neglected kid I was! :-)

I admit that I have done a good amount of my shopping on line because of the convenience, but I do not know if there will ever be anything as great as the Sears Wish Book. I hope when I have kids some day that the Wish Book will still be around so I can teach them the art of dog earring the pages to create the perfect wish list!

I am working Christmas week, but this may be my last entry before Christmas. I am off this coming week to go visit my mom and dad in Florida and my wife's family in South Georgia. So in case it is... here is a look at our Christmas card for this year as well as the tree in our apartment.

Happy Holiday's to you and your family,

--Chris

Geminid Meteor Shower

2007-12-13T16:49:00.000-05:00

For all you start gazers, you should have a pretty good chance to see some Geminid meteors tonight or tomorrow night across the metro area. The only thing that could hamper your viewing... clouds. I think that skies should clear out some by Friday night and there will still be some meteors to see... so be patient if we do not have any breaks overnight tonight!

The best time though for viewing will be late tonight and early Friday morning. As far as where to look... look toward the planet Mars. Right now the constellation Gemini is near Mars and the Geminid meteors appear from the constellation of Gemini. Mars is a bright yellow-orange looking 'star' and shines in the eastern sky during the evening hours.

The best time to see the most Geminids will be around 2am, but there will still be some you can see as early as 9 or 10pm or as late as sunrise. The two things that will help your viewing will be to get away from the city and its light pollution. Also, the moon is fairly small right now so moonlight will not be much of an issue.

As far as how many Geminids you will see, expect to see 1-3 meteors per minute!

For more the meteor shower and all things celestial. Feel free to visit this handy website... SkyandTelescope.com

--Chris

Record Weekend...

2007-12-09T17:45:00.000-05:00

This has been a weekend where we have seen several records fall here in metro Atlanta...

The first record dealt with our rainfall deficit. For the first time ever, we saw our annual (January-December) rainfall deficit climb over 20"!

The other record dealt with the temperature... as we shattered the old record of 71 set back in 1978 with our high of 76 Sunday.

Needless to say, so far this weekend the temperatures have felt nothing like December. I was walking around Atlantic Station today doing some shopping before I came into work and I saw a lot of short sleeve shirts and even a few shorts!!!

More record high temperatures and record high rainfall deficits will be set over the days ahead.

Here is a look at the record highs...

Monday: 74 1972
Tuesday: 73 1975
Wednesday: 77 1981

Monday and Tuesday's records are the most likely to be broken.

Now, as far as rainfall, none is expected until probably Thursday.

So, if you are out and about over the days ahead, leave the umbrella at home and you might want to amend that Christmas wish list to include a few summer items!

Have a great week!

--Chris

what's that bright star...

2007-11-25T17:13:00.000-05:00

If you ate as much turkey as I did this holiday weekend then I am sure you barely want to move much to do anything! If that is the case then I have the right thing for you... and best of all it's free!!!

You may not be able to see any martians, but right now is one of the best times to get a good view of the 'red planet' with the naked eye.

Over the past month Mars has nearly doubled in brightness. The reason why? It's because Earth and Mars are getting closer to one another. And before you ask... we are not going to run into one another! Our orbits around the sun will bring us a mere 55 million miles apart on December 18th.

The best time to check out Mars coming up will be this Monday and Tuesday (26th & 27th). Just look East before you go to sleep on Monday or West before sunrise on Tuesday. Mars will be very close to the moon at both times and appear very bright and have its classic 'reddish' color.

After this Monday and Tuesday you can always find Mars by looking toward the constellation, Gemini.

The reason for the blueish color of Mars in the above picture is because this picture was taken of the North Pole which is covered by an icy cloud during the winter. The light from the sun is refracted as it passes through the icy cloud giving it a blue color up close. With the naked eye Mars will still appear red.

Happy watching!

--Chris

fall color...

2007-11-11T16:16:00.000-05:00

Although the drought was expected to decrease the amount of color we get to enjoy on typical fall days in northern Georgia my wife and I found that there was still plenty to enjoy this past week. We went last Monday to Vogel State Park up in Union County.

As you can see by the above picture there were still plenty of yellows, reds, and oranges to go around! Although Monday's are not the typical 'off' day for folks I was surprised that we were the only people we saw on our 7 mile hike on the trails at Vogel! That certainly made this picture quite difficult to take of my wife and I. But after some persistence and quick feet on this rock I was able to get 1 picture taken for the two of us. Who knows, it might make our Christmas card. We will have to see.

We had a great afternoon at Vogel. After our hike we were kind of in that awkward time area where if we left we would have been stuck in city traffic when we got back toward Atlanta. So after the hike we took a beautiful drive along the Richard B. Russell By-way through the mountains and over to Helen, GA. As you can see by this picture, the view was absolutely breathtaking.

We strolled through downtown Helen for a bit although most of the places were closed because it was the day after Oktoberfest ended. Everyone was in recovery mode! :-)

So, if you are afraid that there are no leaves to see this year you would be mistaken. Although the drought delayed their turning and might shorten their burst of color my wife and I were not disappointed.

To keep up with the latest on the leaves you can always check out Laura Huckabee's Leaf Report every Thursday at 4pm on CBS46. If you miss it, just check it out here.

Have a great week!

--Chris

celestial viewing...

2007-11-04T17:43:00.000-05:00

There are several cool things to check out over the next few days.... we have several planets that will be great to look at, the space shuttle and the International Space Station will be able to both be seen Monday morning, and of course Comet Holmes is visible to the naked eye right now.

For more, check out this link from NASA.

Happy Viewing...

--Chris

pet peeves...

2007-11-04T16:22:00.000-05:00

I know we all have pet peeves and I am of course no different than anyone else. I am sure there are things that I do that would annoy the living daylights out of you (just ask my wife! :-)).

One of my biggest pet peeves is backing into parking spaces!!! I just do not get it!?! I am not talking about pulling through a space or parallel parking, only backing into a perpendicular space. I have heard all the arguments and none of them hold water in my opinion. Some say it is safer because you are pulling out into traffic instead of backing out, but isn't it easier to back out into a big space than back into a smaller parking space? It certainly does not save time as the time to back into a smaller space has to be longer than backing out into a bigger space.

I may never understand it and I am sure if you back into spaces you will probably never change. Like I said... just one of my pet peeves. :-)

With another perfect day expected Monday the Mrs. and I are going to head up to the mountains to do a little hiking and enjoy the fall foliage. For the latest on the Fall Foliage make sure to check our Laura Huckabee's latest report. I will try and post some pictures later this week from our hike.

Have a great week!

--Chris

BIGGEST FULL MOON OF THE YEAR

2007-10-26T21:23:00.000-04:00

No, it's not an optical illusion, the moon on the left is actually bigger, because the moon is currently in perigee, it's closer to us. The orbit of the moon is not a circle around the Earth, but more like an oval. This time of the year, the moon is 30,000 miles closer to us so it appears larger in the night sky. In fact, it's 14% larger and 30% brighter than any of the other full moons of the year.

According to the Farmer's Almanac, the October moon is the Hunter's Moon. Back when we hunted for our food, before Publix, the bright moon made it easier to hunt in the fields at night. Also, fall crops were more easily harvested at night. Even though we don't do much hunting or harvesting anymore, it's still cool to look up at the moon on a clear fall night. Enjoy.

A Wee Bit of a Race

2007-10-22T14:14:00.000-04:00

A little more than a year ago when I realized I was almost 40 and had yet to see much of the world, I decided that the best way to see different parts of this planet might be to mix a little bit of work and a little bit of learning and at the same time, have a little bit of fun while doing it.
Since much of my career has been about broadcast, communications, and weather and since I love to run I decided to combine all that to make an International Marathon Learning Experience. Wha da ya think?
My first race on foreign soil took me to Tromso, Norway in June of last year. On the weekend before the summer solstice where this particular city (located just inside the Arctic Circle) enjoys 24 hours of daylight and holds their annual Midnight Sun Run. Great race – Nice people – Cool experience of 24 hours of daylight...much learned.
This year my International Marathon Learning Experience took me to Scotland. But not just any place in Scotland. I decided to run the Baxter’s Loch Ness Marathon. Although the big race was almost two weeks ago, it’s still very fresh in my mind. Race day was uncharacteristically sunny and dry. I had watched BRAVEHEART a couple of times before I left – you know… to familiarizing myself with the terrain and the climate. To the best of my knowledge the sun didn’t shine much in BRAVEHEART. I think Mel Gibson fought most of his battles under the clouds and in the fog. So you can imagine my delight when the sun came peeking through on race day.
The morning was crisp as all 2500 runners were bused to the southern most tip of the Loch on a very cool Sunday morning. The race ran from that spot into the beautiful city of Inverness (26.2 miles). The day was lovely. The landscape was like something out of a picture book… rolling green hills, very few people, no cars, lots of sheep!
After the race (4:09:23 – not my best race time, but certainly not my worst) there was time for plenty of sight seeing. For the next several days we toured Inverness, The Highlands, Lanarkshire, Sterling Castle, My very favorite spot – Eilean Castle, and my second favorite place – Pitlochry. We never saw Mel Gibson, but we did see the William Wallace monument… “FREEDOM!”
I can not say enough about the lovely people of Scotland. Every single person we met was incredibly generous and kind. Everyone was cheerful, caring, helpful… it was just an amazingly great place. Although I am committed to running a different international marathon every year and am already looking for my next destination in 2008 --- I’m sure I will be running in the Highlands of Scotland again very soon.

low lakes...

2007-10-18T16:00:00.000-04:00

As we all know, we are in a drought crisis here in the metro area. Lakes all over northern Georgia are drying up. Above is a picture sent to me by a viewer who was visiting family in Carroll County. It is where Hwy 61 crosses the lake. Lake Carroll is not alone. Lakes Lanier is 14ft below full pool and just 22ft away from being at the critical level of not being able to draw drinking water from the lake. According to the State EPD that could happen by February of next year without significant rainfall.

To keep up with the latest on the area lake levels you can click here. The levels are updated every morning.

Remember, that we all need to conserve our most valuable resource. For a list of creative conservation ideas log onto Conserve Water Georgia.

In the mean time... pray for rain!

--Chris

time flies...

2007-10-14T17:04:00.000-04:00

Doesn't time seem to fly? On a daily basis I do not feel like the world is rushing by, but for me it is at certain moments that you notice how much time has passed by.

This weekend was my 15 year high school reunion. It is amazing to think that I have been out of high school longer than I was in elementary, middle, or high school combined! Remember how long it seemed like it took to get through school? Well now I have been through school more than twice!

It blows my mind the think that! High school does not seem that long ago, but when you put it in perspective like that it all of the sudden seems like ages ago! I am sure marriage will seem that way too. I have been married a little more than a year, but I am sure some day I will be like... have I been married 10-15-20 years! (not that it won't be fun if you are reading this honey!)

I am not sure where this is leading, but I guess it is important focus on each day and enjoy it to the fullest. So that way when you reach a milestone like a reunion or anniversary you can sit back and be amazed at all your experiences rather than amazed at the time that has flown by.

Have a great week!

--Chris

AAAA-CHOOO!!!!

2007-10-01T21:17:00.000-04:00

A lot of people have asked me why they are sneezing? Is there something in the air and why is it worse in the morning? The answer: ragweed. We're in peak ragweed season from mid-September to mid-October and this year it's worse because of - you guessed it - our drought. You can always see the current ragweed pollen values from the weather section of our web site or go to http://remote.atlantaallergy.com/pollencount/. For instance, today, Monday October 1, we were in the moderate range. It turns out that ragweed plants only live for one season and they mature as the days get shorter and the nights get longer in the fall. In fact, they can release as much as one billion pollen grains per plant.

Sniffling? There are easy ways to reduce your exposure to outdoor allergens, including ragweed:
--Minimize your outdoor activity in the early morning (5-10am), when pollens are usually emitted, and avoid raking leaves or cutting grass, which can stir up pollens.
--While it may be tempting to open windows on cool nights, keeping them closed can reduce pollen concentrations inside your home.
--Keeping the air conditioner on can help filter and dry the air, which will also help to reduce exposure.
--Don't hang laundry items outside to dry, where pollens and molds can collect on them.

Fun Fact: Ragweed pollens can travel considerable distances on breezy days - pollens have been found up to 400 miles out to sea, and two miles up in the atmosphere!

The fact that we haven't had any rain to help wash some of the pollen out of the air isn't helping. So, sneeze if you have to and don't worry - it won't last too much longer.

Some of the information in today's blog comes from Earth Gauge, a program of the National Environmental Education Foundation http://www.earthgauge.net

saving water

2007-09-30T18:07:00.000-04:00

On Friday the state announced that because of our worsening drought situation that no one was going to be able to water across the northern third of the state. That includes everyone in the metro area! The reasoning... the state wanted to nip thing in the bud before things get any worse. You can read the story here on CBS46.com.

I moved to Georgia back in 1986 and I can tell you that this is as bad as it has been since then. Whenever we have been in a drought in Georgia I have always said that it could have been worse because nothing was as bad as it was in 1986. Well, 2007 might be just as bad as it was then plus throw in the fact that we have a lot more people living in the metro area and using water.

Now that we are heading into Fall most of us water a lot less than we do during the summer, but still it is important that we conserve water as much as possible. It goes without saying, but water conservation is important and that is why there is an organization that was started in Cobb County called waterSmart. The mission of waterSmart is to promote water conservation. Here are some tips that they recently sent me to help homeowners preserve lawns and gardens while saving water....

- Use pine straw, bark chips or ground hardwood mulch on the roots of the plants and trees to help the soil retain water.
- Leave grass clippings on turf to help supply recycled nutrients and reduce the need for additional fertilizer.
- Don’t fertilize if you can’t water it in. Fertilizer does little good unless it dissolves and enters the soil solution.
- Avoid any sort of soil disturbance that injures roots and reduces their moisture uptake.
- Raise the mower blade during dry weather. Cutting the grass higher encourages deeper rooting and reduces water demand to help your turf survive the drought.
- Aerate your soil to relieve soil compaction and increase air and water movement.
- When it rains, place a large bucket or rain barrel underneath the gutter’s downspout to catch the runoff and save for watering.
- Capture air conditioner condensation and use for watering plants. A typical home air conditioner unit can produce up to 5 gallons of water a day in the hot summer months.
- Use native plants that require less supplemental watering and survive better in dry conditions.

If we all do our part we can ride out this drought and hopefully we can get some good winter rains once we get through our traditionally dry Fall.

Have a great week!

--Chris

harvest time!!!

2007-09-26T09:44:00.000-04:00

If you are out for an evening stroll after sunset and it seems a little 'brighter' than usual you would be right. That's because tonight is the 'Harvest Moon'. The Harvest Moon is defined as being the first full moon after the autumnal equinox. Since fall began on Sunday morning and tonight is the full moon... it's the Harvest Moon! :-)

The rationale for the Harvest Moon is that since this is the time of year when many crops are ready for picking... the extra moonlight from a full moon helps the farmers work well into the night. Of course this is no longer the case since we now have electricity to help out... but before lights... we had to use moon light!

So, look east at sunset and enjoy the Harvest Moon!

--Chris

what's that bright star...

2007-09-23T19:24:00.000-04:00

If you are an early riser you might look up into the sky and wonder what that bright thing that looks like a star is? Well, it is actually the planet, Venus. Venus reached maximum brightness this morning, but no worries it will be easy to spot over the week ahead. As a matter a fact, it is so bright this time of year that you will be able to see it during the day!

If you want to see it, all you have to do is look east in the same direction as where the sun will rise.

Here is the link to one of my favorite star gazing sites. It covers what's going on over the week ahead. Sky and Telescope

Happy planet gazing!

--Chris

busy, busy...

2007-09-20T14:37:00.000-04:00

As I blogged about the other week, the Mrs. and I went on a little beach/football vacation over Labor Day. We started off on Labor Day up in Clemson, SC for the FSU-Clemson game. While the result of the game was certainly not what I wanted, the tailgating with friends was great! Waiting from November to September for college football and tailgating is tooooooo looooonnnnnggggg! :-)

From Clemson we went down the the Gulf coast for a little R&R. The Mrs. definitely earned it with the spread she put together for the football game tailgate! The weather is perfect and because all the kids are back in school, we had the beach to ourselves! That is one of the best secrets of the Gulf coast... the Fall is the best time to visit... especially October when the weather is not as hot, but the water is still warm enough to swim. My wife and I spent time with the folks while we were there. Since Laura Huckabee was in charge of watching our cats, she asked us to bring back some sand for her. While I did not bring sand... I brought back the sound of the shore. Feel free to take a listen...

Seaside Sunset

While at the beach we slipped over to Tallahassee for the FSU-UAB game on September 8th. My wife's folks came down from Camilla to tailgate and go to the game with us. We had a great time! The game was closer than I would have liked and the offense has been downright offensive, but I really think things are going to turn around. Of course, they better turn around quick because we play Bama over in Jacksonville a week from Saturday. Since we got back from the beach trip it has been back to the old grind and trying to recover from the 'vacation.' I know, what a rough life!

Have a great week and see you this weekend!

--Chris

DON'T GET TOO HAPPY

2007-09-11T21:00:00.000-04:00

Everyone rushed to the window here at the CBS 46 studios in Midtown today (Tuesday, September 11), to see the spectacle - water falling from the sky. True, it wasn't a lot of rain, but the trees began to sway a bit and the spray was furious at times. There was even some high water at the bottom of the hill where 14th street runs into Northside Avenue. But then again - there's always high water there every time it rains because of poor drainage. A cold front was pushing toward Georgia, forcing cool air from Tennessee to collide into warmer air that's been over us since forever, it seems. In fact, before the rains fell, it was another very warm day with temperatures in the low 90s.

The front should linger over the southeast through the rest of the week bringing us a chance of rain nearly every day, especially on Thursday and Friday as waves of energy ride along the front, causing the air to rise, form clouds and then bring rain down to the parched ground. However, as my blog title implies - wet days won't last long and our drought isn't about to be over. And we can blame the prospect of extended talk of deficit on - La Niña.

The graphic above shows a patch of dark blue in the equatorial Pacific waters. This means the water there is cooler than normal. It's the opposite of the El Niño cycle in which the water is warmer. In the latter scenario, we typically expect more rain, stronger storms and even cooler winters in the southeast. But La Niña's detection will continue to divert the jet stream to our north and limit rainfall. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed that La Niña is indeed occuring. Prior to that, it seemed to come and go, but NOAA says it's here to stay for a while. The two regimes take turns every 3 to 5 years in a cycle that scientists don't fully understand - they just know how to measure it.

How bad is it? Well this week, the State Climatologist David Stooksbury issued a La Niña Watch. In all the years I've been doing this job, I don't think I've ever heard of this prognosis. Sure, I know all about a Severe Thunderstorm Watch, advising of the imminent development of nasty storms. but I've never known any meteorological body to "watch out" for the likes of la Niña. Perhaps knowing that NOAA had declared La Niña made him confident to make such a declaration.

Here's a clip from Mr. Stooksbury's press release this week:

With the arrival of La Niña, there is a good chance that drought
conditions, currently ranging from exceptional across much of Alabama and Georgia to moderate in south Florida, will continue and possibly worsen throughout the winter and into next spring.

If below normal rainfall occurs during the cool season, moisture
recharge of groundwater, soils, ponds and reservoirs will be limited.

Southeastern states depend on water recharge during the cool season.

Farmers who plan to plant winter forage and do not have irrigation
capability have a high risk of being seriously impacted by the winter drought.

In addition the risk of increased wildfires should be expected during the winter and spring wildfire season in Florida, south Georgia, and lower Alabama.

To be fair, Mr. Stookcbury doesn't act alone. He's part of a group called the Southeast Climate Consortium, an association of climatologists and researchers from various universities. They're just giving everyone a collective "heads up".

So enjoy the rain this week; it should be gone by late Saturday and dry and sunny weather returns Sunday.

It's Football Time!!!

2007-09-02T17:53:00.000-04:00

Well, it's that time of year and it certainly felt good to sit down and watch a little college football before heading into work Saturday. The locals of course came away all smiles as both Tech and UGA looked very good against pretty good opponents (on paper). I must say I was pretty jealous as I watch Gil Tyree in all the action up at Sanford Stadium.

My team, Florida State, does not take the field until Monday night up in Clemson. While I enjoyed having the spotlight on my Noles waiting 2 extra days to kick things off sure does test one's patience!

I am lucky enough to be off on Labor Day (thanks for letting me be off Gene & Laura) so the Mrs. and I are going to head to Clemson first thing in the morning to get tailgating! We will be tailgating with 6 or 7 other people. Some I see all the time and others I have not seen in almost a decade! Coordinating that many folks to ensure everything from supplies to food to beverages are all taken care of can be a bit overwhelming, but in the end it will be so worth it. On our menu Monday...

ribs
brunswick stew
pigs in a blanket
pasta salad
chips & dip of course
cookies
and last but not least... Garnet & Gold Jelly Beans

I am already salivating as I type this! Of course I have to give big props to the Mrs. for getting this all together. She is a life-long Georgia fan, but is making herself a pretty decent Nole if I must say so myself.

So, I hope all my UGA and Tech fans had fun yesterday. I can not wait for my turn tomorrow.

Happy Tailgating,

--Chris

Total Eclipse...

2007-08-24T20:43:00.000-04:00

Early this coming Tuesday morning there will be a total eclipse of the moon. You will have to wake up early to see it though. The eclipse will begin around 4:51am with the total eclipse beginning at 5:52am. We won't be able to see the whole thing as the moon will set before it is all over. For folks that live in the western United States this will be the longest eclipse in 7 years... lasting for an hour and a half.

Just a refresher if you need one... a total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the Earth's shadow.

As of right now the weather conditions are looking pretty good to see it. So, wake up for work or school a little early and step outside to enjoy this lunar event!

Have a great weekend!

--Chris

See the Space Station & Space Shuttle...

2007-08-18T20:15:00.000-04:00

With the Shuttle Endeavour still in space you will have the opportunity to get a two for one when it comes to celestial viewing over the next few nights. You will be able to see the shuttle docked with the International Space Station tonight and Sunday. Now, if the shuttle does not end up coming home a day early (because of Dean) and undocks from the space station on Monday then we may get a chance to witness something very rare... a double spaceship transit across the night sky.

The space station and shuttle will appear as separate, bright points of light moving in tandem. Flyby times depend on where you live.

To see when it will be above your neighborhood as well as tips on how to see it you can click here...

See Endeavor and ISS

Now, it you are a little more into astronomy you can actually get a pretty good view of the space station these days with little more than a decent telescope. You can see solar panels, laboratories and living modules, a robotic arm and docked supply vessels.

Happy viewing!

--Chris

Some information courtesy Space Weather.com

New Technology...

2007-08-16T18:07:00.000-04:00

Whenever I go out to schools or meet folks around town they always ask me what it is I love about my job. There are many things to love about getting to do your hobby for live, but one of the cool things is the technology.

We have the latest and greatest technology to use here in the weather center. From what you see 'on TV' to what we use 'behind the scenes' to help us forecast the technology is always improving.

The above image was taken by a the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM Satellite). This satellite gives us never before seen picture of storms around the world. In the above image it is showing us where it is raining inside of what was Tropical Storm Dean (Dean is now a hurricane). This is important because before TRMM we had to almost guess where it was raining if the storm was not within reach of land based radar. In the link above you can see two images of Dean and see how the radar picture shows the improvement in the organization of 'Dean'.

So, there is just one small example what what makes my job so great.

The weekend is almost here!

--Chris

Back to School....

2007-08-02T15:06:00.000-04:00

If you listen closely… you can almost hear them. Believe it or not the school bells will be ringing for the kids in my neighborhood as early as next week. I live in Paulding County and I’ve noticed that the big bright smiles that used to greet me as I turned onto my street every afternoon aren’t looking as big and bright these day. One glance at the calendar and I knew why. The summer of 2007 is coming to a quick close for the little ones.

The start of a new school year… doesn’t that bring back some funny memories? Automatically my mind goes back to my school box. And although everyone’s grade school school-box was basically the same size, I can remember spending countless hours trying to come up with new and creative way to arrange my goods. To my dismay, that little box of 24-Crayola Crayons, small bottle of Elmer’s Glue, scissors that couldn’t even do damage to a stick of butter, ruler, and two or three cool colored pencils were usually going to only go in there one of three ways.

The elementary grade that I remember more clearly that any other was fourth grade. All the girls had Calvin Klein jeans with the label on the back right pocket. We all carried a comb in the that same back pocket and our jeans had to be rolled up two times (and only two times) to have the perfect cuff on them.

Fourth grade was the first year that I felt the pressure of a good hair day. Every girl had a Dorothy Hamill hair cut. You had to get your hair cut my “Spunky” at Fantastic Sams across from the mall. And no style was perfect unless you had first washed your hair with ‘short and sassy’ shampoo.

Back in those days we mostly played music on record players or some boldly colored portable cassette player that ran on four size D batteries that your parents could never keep in stock. My two favorite songs of the 4th grade were “Don’t go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John and Ki Ki Dee….and “Disco Duck” by Rick Dees.

Every girl wore Loves Baby Soft perfume on their wrist and Kissing Sticks (cinnamon flavor) on their lips. The list of fun fact memories goes on and on. Ironically I am approaching my 40th birthday but I can remember that fourth grade year like it was yesterday.

Maybe next time I see a little neighborhood face sporting the look of those back-to-school- blues I’ll stop and remind them, it’s not so bad.

In fact, those are some of the happiest memories of my life.

drought or rainout?

2007-07-29T20:16:00.000-04:00

As I alluded to last week, the softball team I play for had been rained out of more games this summer than we had played up until this past week when we were able to get three games in. Before that though 5 of our first 8 games saw Mother Nature taking the 'W'. I am sure that sounds almost impossible considering that we are currently sporting a rainfall deficit of 14.25"!

Even though that is the case rainfall since the beginning of June has been pretty close to 'normal' across the metro area. Not only have rainfall totals been close to average, but so have the number of days that we have seen measurable rainfall. During the month of June we received measurable rain on 9 of the 30 days. The historical average is 10 days of rain during the month. So far this July we have received measurable rainfall on 10 days while we typically see measurable rainfall on 12 days. What that means is that in a year that started off incredibly dry it seems we are finally beginning to turn things around.

To borrow a softball term, perhaps the past 2 months are an indication that we are rounding third and headed to home when it comes to getting out of the 5th driest year on record.

As for our team, perhaps we should pray for me rain as we have won just one game this season so far... and that was a forfeit. :-(

I hope you have a great week! It looks like it will be relatively rain free.

--Chris

out and about...

2007-07-22T21:25:00.000-04:00

Ever since I moved to Atlanta my wife and I have always tried to make Friday night 'date night.' This past Friday we went to the High Museum for their Friday Night Jazz series. This is a fun event where they open the High on the third Friday or each month. My wife and I have a membership to the High, but because our off days are Monday/Tuesday and the High is closed on Monday's it makes it tough to get the most of our membership. That's why we try and do the Friday night thing when we can so we can get out and see some of the great exhibits.

This time we were able to see the Annie Leibovitz and Cecilia Beaux exhibits. The Leibovitz exhibit was cool because of the all the celebrity photos that were in it. While Beaux was more of what I would call a more traditional American artist. Both exhibits were on the same floor so one just kinda flowed right into the other.

After the art and jazz we had worked up quite an appetite so we decided to give a relatively new restaurant in midtown a try, JCT Kitchen. My wife and I love southern fair and JCT is the latest in 'high end' southern cooking. We were not disappointed and I would certainly recommend giving it a try. My shrimp and grits definitely got a big thumbs up!

Not much is planned for my upcoming off days. I have a softball game Tuesday night, but that remains to be seen. We have been rained out of more games than we have played so far this summer! I know it sounds strange. I will blog more about that later in the week.

Have a great week!

--Chris

Friday the 13th???

2007-07-15T23:36:00.000-04:00

I can not tell you the number of times in my 10+ year TV career that we have run stories of people seeing Jesus in a tree or in a window, or...

Well, this story does not involve seeing Jesus, but it does involve something you do not see every day! Maybe because it was Friday the 13th, or perhaps because of global warming, or maybe because of the wild weather we have seen lately, but recently when my wife was cutting up some potatoes for dinner she ran across this strange 'tater.

It looks like it had grown inside of itself or perhaps the potato grew around another potato! Certainly not something you see every day! As a precaution we decided to not eat our strange new potato, but I did grab the above picture before he was headed off to the landfill or big strange potato place in the sky.

Not something you see every day! :-)

--Chris

challenging times...

2007-07-07T18:51:00.000-04:00

The other week when I was filling up my car (I do not fill up often since I live 1/2 mile from work) I started thinking about the challenges we face for those of us who like to end up with our gas totals on an even dollar amount. When gas was a buck or so it was fairly easy to stop on the even dollar. Only occasionally did we misfire and end on the dreaded .01. That meant we had to hope and pray we could make it back around to reach the goal... .00!

These days with gas prices 3x what they were 10 years ago, the gasoline rulette that we play is as challenging as ever. One slight click can mean several pennies of gas. If you stop on .99 you are almost guaranteed to go over the goal!

So, the next time you will the car see how good your game is when you try to hit .00! Are you ready for the major leagues? :-)

Have a great weekend!

--Chris

strawberry moon...

2007-06-29T21:14:00.000-04:00

No, the full moon Saturday will not look like a strawberry, but it is called the strawberry moon. The reason why is because June is the main month that strawberries are harvested. So, the full moon during that month has been christened the 'Strawberry' moon.

If you want to learn more about the different names for the full moons during the year go ahead and click here.

Officially, the full moon occurs at 9:49am Saturday.

Have a great weekend!

--Chris

See the Space Station....

2007-06-23T23:40:00.000-04:00

Although the space shuttle Atlantis has returned to earth, there are several opportunities over the days ahead to see the International Space Station fly over Atlanta during the evening hours. You will be surprised how easy it is to spot as long as the skies are clear.

Just find a nice open space with as little light pollution as possible. The space station will look like a fast moving star moving across the sky (keep in mind there are no flashing lights on the space station!). The schedule of viewing opportunties is located here...

International Space Station

Happy viewing and have a great weekend!

--Chris

smelling good...

2007-06-16T19:09:00.000-04:00

This past week on Tuesday my wife and I decided to do a little sight seeing so we went to the Botanical Garden in Midtown. It had probably been 15 years since I have been there (it was my high school prom) and my wife has never been. After going all I can say is... "shame on us!!!"

A bunch of pretty flowers might sound a little boring, but it was anything but. My wife and I enjoyed strolling through the various gardens and into the Convervatory. All along we way we saw the latest exhibit... "Big Bugs & Killer Plants." The best part of the gardens might have been the children's garden. Even though my wife and I do not have any kids yet, we figured we would check it out in case it might appeal to my nephew. Well, it passed our test and my nephew gave it a try this afternoon. My mom says he loved it... especially splashing in the flower fountain!

So, if you are looking for something to do you might try out the Botanical Garden... especially if you have not been there in recent years. You will be pleasantly surprised!

Have a great weekend!

--Chris

P.S. Happy Father's Day to all the dads!

Once in a blue moon...

2007-06-09T18:34:00.000-04:00

Speaking of once in a blue moon (my entry from last week)... a very rare event indeed did occur this past week in the middle east. The above picture is of tropical cyclone Gonu. What is a Tropical Cyclone you might ask? Well, it is the same thing as a hurricane in the Atlantic or a typhoon in the Pacific. They just call them cyclones in the Indian Ocean basin.

Anyway, Gonu was the first storm of this size to hit the Gulf of Oman in 30 years! Because storms like this are so rare, things are not built as strong along the coast like they now are in the US. As a result, considerable measures were taken to suspend operations along the coast. Most businesses closed between June 5 and 9 and folks were encouraged to stay in their homes as much as possible and stock basic supplies and emergency needs.

Residents in low-lying coastal areas in southeastern Iran were also being evacuated, while the fishing fleet in neighboring Pakistan was ordered to stay in as waves battered the shores.

Gonu, however, did not appear poised to reach the Straits of Hormuz, and oil shipping from the Persian Gulf had not been significantly disrupted.

Well, if they can get a hurricane in the desert areas of the middle east then that gives us hope here in drought stricken Georgia!

--Chris

Information used came from NASA

Red blue moon?

2007-05-31T12:02:00.000-04:00

If you are feeling blue maybe you can blame it on the blue moon that will shine over us tonight (weather permitting).

Tonight will be our second full moon of the month, meaning it is called a blue moon. (Technically, the moon will be full at 9:04pm.) Why is a moon that does not look blue get called a blue moon?

According to Philip Hiscock of the Dept. of Folklore, Memorial University of Newfoundland the saying has been around for more than 400 years! The meaning has changed many times over the years as well.

In Shakespeare's day is had nothing to do with astronomy and had more of a literal meaning (surprise, surprise). It meant rare or absurd event.

The modern definition was adopted in the 1940s. In those days the Maine Farmer's Almanac offered a definition of Blue Moon so convoluted even professional astronomers struggled to understand it. It involved factors such as ecclesiastical dates of Easter and Lent, tropical years, and the timing of seasons according to the dynamical mean sun.

Aiming to explain blue moons to the layman, Sky & Telescope published an article in 1946 entitled "Once in a Blue Moon." The author James Hugh Pruett (1886-1955) cited the 1937 Maine almanac and opined that the "second [full moon] in a month, so I interpret it, is called Blue Moon."

This was not correct, but at least it could be understood. And thus the modern Blue Moon was born.

The interesting thing is there is such a thing as a blue moon... literally!
A blue moon is indeed rare, but can occur if the conditions in the atmosphere are just right. If the air is very damp and moist the water droplets (if they are just the right size) in the atmosphere can scatter the red and green light in the color spectrum. When the white moonbeam passes through a cloud it can turn blue.

Water droplets are not the only thing that can change the moons appearance. The other night when I was in S. Georgia the smoke from the wildfires turned the moon red! The smoke that has been over the metro area today could do the same tonight. So, indeed our blue moon could be red!

In addition to the 'blue moon' you can also see Jupiter tonight. All night Jupiter will be the bright object right beside the moon.

Happy sky watching!

--Chris

Thanks to our friends at NASA for help with this entry

Bad Air Today...

2007-05-27T10:25:00.001-04:00

For the second day in a row and for at least the fifth time in a little more than a month the smoke from the South Georgia Wildfires has returned to the metro area. This morning visibilities dropped to less than 2 miles!

Here you can see the weather reports from Hartsfield-Jackson....

27 09:52 Vrbl 6 1.50 Smoke Haze SCT017 SCT250 70
27 08:52 SE 3 2.50 Smoke Haze SCT014 67
27 07:52 Calm 2.50 Smoke SCT020 66
27 06:52 Calm 2.00 Smoke SCT017 65
27 05:52 Calm 4.00 Smoke OVC015 66
27 04:52 SE 5 4.00 Smoke CLR 66
27 03:52 S 6 5.00 Smoke CLR 67

The smoke came in between 3 and 4 am and has only gotten thicker. The reason why the smoke has gotten so much thicker is because we have an inversion over the city
you might ask?

What is an inversion you might ask? Well, an inversion is when the temperature gets warmer the higher up you go in the atmosphere. Typically, it gets cooler, but when we have an inversion it acts as a cap on the atmosphere not allowing for the air to rise. That keeps the smoke trapped close to the ground rather than letting it disperse.

Once it begins to warm up outside the 'cap' will gradually weaken and allow for the smoke to disperse somewhat. The problem is that with southeast winds expected again tomorrow expect another smoky start to your day.

Because of the smoke the air quality is very poor across northern Georgia today. Right now it is considered unhealthy. That means "more people will be affected by smoke. Most people should restrict their outdoor exertion late evening hours when the smoke levels are low, to avoid high smoke exposures."

To keep up with the latest pollution count you can do so by clicking here.

To find out the action steps you can click here.

The National Weather Service has created a specific fire/smoke Q & A page to answer frequently asked questions. It is pretty helpful. To see it click here.

Other than the smoke the weather looks pretty good for the rest of your holiday weekend. Enjoy, and stay safe!

--Chris

So... How was YOUR weekend?

2007-05-21T07:59:00.000-04:00

Isn't that the question that most of your co-workers ask while standing around the coffee pot or water cooler on a Monday morning? Most answers range from yard work, relaxing around the pool, catching up on sleep, or maybe an occasional trip of out town.
But this morning at CBS 46, most of the parents reported that at some point they took their little ones to the latest installment of the big green man movie - "SHREK". I learned upon further conversation that a couple of us not only saw SHREK but found ourselves looking for SHREK as well.
Confused? I can sum it up in four words for you: "Been to McDonald's lately?"
I have. In fact I may have actually hit every single McDonald's in West Cobb and Paulding counties this weekend! SHREK MANIA under the golden arches actually started about a week ago, before the movie had even hit the theatres.
As we all know every child comes out of the womb with some sort of innate sense to migrate toward Ronald McDonald land - and my daughter is no exception. So it was only natural that my child would be compelled to collect everyone one of the SKREK Happy Meal characters by Sunday at 5:00!!!
And I, being the good "O-C-D" mother that I am, was eager to oblige.
We were able to finagle a donkey, a baby SHREK, and a gingerbread man from the poor drive-through souls on Saturday but Sunday was sort of a downer because all we could find were repeats, and the coveted "Puss in Boots" continued to elude us.
I swear if I see one more cheeseburger, small order of fries, and tiny soft drink cup --- I think I'll go crazy.... correct that, crazier!
Needless to say, we have exhausted our efforts to complete our collection in just Cobb and Paulding Counties. We are moving forward. We are expanding our search.... look out Fulton and DeKalb, here we come.

Protect your skin...

2007-05-18T14:44:00.000-04:00

The forecast for this weekend is calling for nothing but sunshine across the metro area. While we typically see average temperatures in the 80s this time of year, this weekend we will mainly stay in the 70s.

Even though the temperatures will be very comfortable, do not forget to protect yourself from the sun!!!

How quickly we burn has nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with the sun angle! Here in May we have a high sun angle (we are only 1 month from summer). So despite the 'cool' temperatures you will still burn quickly without protection!

Here are a few things to keep in mind before heading out with the family this weekend...

1. Wear as much clothing as possible. Long sleeves are best. Also a wide brimmed hat is good. Sunglasses are a must!

2. Wear sunscreen that protects you from both UV-A and UV-B rays. Those are the damaging rays that cause premature aging as well as skin cancer.

3. Finally, know your SPF. This is something that almost no know knew here at the station! SPF (sun protection factor) has nothing to do with the strength of the protection and everything to do with the length of protection!

If you use an SPF 15 it will protect you 15x the average amount of time it takes you to typically burn.

So, if you usually burn in 10 minutes, spf 15 will protect you for 150 minutes (2.5 hours).

Keep in mind if you sweat, get in the pool, or wipe yourself with a towel, that will decrease the effectiveness of the sunscreen. So make sure to apply often. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Now stop reading this Blog entry and get out there and enjoy the beautiful weather!!

--Chris

wild fires...

2007-05-12T20:01:00.000-04:00

The wildfire across southern Georgia and northern Florida continues to rage this Saturday night. As a matter a fact, parts of I-10 and I-75 have been closed thanks to the fire.

The above picture and this one to the left is a satellite picture showing the smoke from the fires. The red dots indicate active blazes (as of Friday afternoon). If you look careful enough, you can see the black areas in between the dots. The smoke plumes stretch well out into the Atlantic Ocean.

The reason why the fires have moved toward Florida instead of scorching move of Georgia is because our winds have shifted to more out of the north and northeast thanks to what was Sub-Tropical Storm Andrea. You can also see what is left of Andrea off the Florida east coast in the above picture.

The same system that has been bringing the big storms to the metro area over the past two days should bring beneficial rain to southern Georgia and northern Florida. The only down side may be that it could also bring lightning. Lets hope the rains bring an end to Georgia's largest wildfire ever.

Have a wonderful Mother's Day! The weather should be warm and dry here in the metro area.

--Chris

SUB-Tropical Storm Andrea?!

2007-05-09T21:33:00.000-04:00

Say what?? It hasn’t happened very often, in fact, just a handful of times, but we have a “sub-tropical” storm in the Atlantic Ocean. This, as you may suspect, is causing a lot of confusion. Most people know what a tropical storm is, kind of the minor league version of a hurricane. But this hybrid classification comes about because the meteorological dictionary doesn’t quite know what to do with a storm that “looks” like a tropical cyclone with the tell-tale spinning clouds that forms outside the tropical latitude belt.

So how does this come about? Well, at its core, any tropical system is low pressure at the surface, usually fueled by warm water. As you up in the atmosphere, the air remains warm, as forming clouds release heat, which continues to rise, like in this diagram prepared by the Weather Service:

Sub-tropical storm Andrea began as low pressure off the North Carolina coast a few days ago, but then began drifting south of all things, into warmer water. Aloft, there was cold air, not warm air, yet the satellite pictures were taking on the familiar swirl pattern of a normal tropical storm.

So, early Wednesday, the Hurricane Hunter C-130 aircraft probed the storm to find out what was happening and sure enough, they found a center of low pressure and wind fields consistent with a tropical storm. Especially noteworthy were the sustained winds of over 39 mph in a circular core around the center. Even though the system was lacking all of the features of a true tropical storm, it was already battering the South Carolina, Georgia and Florida coasts with higher than normal waves. By elevating the system to some kind of tropical storm status, the Hurricane Center might have just been trying to ensure that the public was aware that something was out there. The spiral rain bands might even bring some sporadic rain to the wildfire ravaged parts of southern Georgia and northern Florida.

Yes, it is unusual that we’re talking about a tropical system this early in the season. After all, Hurricane Season doesn’t start until June 1. So we scoured the history books and found out that there are only a handful of seasons in which storms formed so early. Here’s a breakdown:

Earliest storm: Feb 2, 1952
Earliest year with a storm: March 6, 1908
Earliest sub-tropical storm: Ana - April 20, 2003

In case you’re wondering, a year with an early storm doesn’t necessarily lead to a busy year for storms. For example, 1952 had 7 storms overall and 1908 had 10. However, 2003 did end up with 16 storms after the early start with Ana. An average year has around 11 storms.

One thing is interesting for this season already. Last year, we lacked the large high pressure in the Atlantic that acts as a steering mechanism for storms traveling across the ocean. This year, the high is already setting up. Also, we’re noticing that the tropical Atlantic and eastern Gulf waters are pretty close to 80 degrees.

That temperature is a trigger for storm formation. It’s too early to predict doom and gloom, but so far, some of the signs are pointing to a busy year. Check back with me in August and we’ll see how things are shaping up.

avoiding a dubious milestone...

2007-05-06T19:01:00.000-04:00

When I left work Saturday night it looked almost certain that we would cross over a dubious milestone today. What milestone is that you ask? The 10" rainfall deficit. After the rain gauge at Hartsfield-Jackson somehow avoided the showers and storms that rumbled through the metro area Saturday morning we were left resting on a deficit of 9.99".

I knew there would be very little rain Sunday so I was certain we would be looking at a 10"+ deficit Sunday when I arrived for work. Luckily, we had a thunderstorm develop around 3am right over the airport. That storm slowly worked its way south toward central Georgia, but not before dumping almost an inch of rain (.99" officially)!

So thanks to that overnight thunderstorm our rainfall deficit now sits at -9.13". When is our next chance of rain you might ask? Right now it looks like Friday and into the weekend could give us some rain. If that happens that will help us once again going over 10" on the rainfall deficit for the year.

Still, a 10" rain deficit is not something to be proud of or hang your hat on so remember to conserve water as much as you can. There are still state-wide watering restrictions. Those are as follows...

• Odd-numbered addresses may water only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays (no hourly limits)
• Even-numbered or unnumbered addresses may water only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays (no hourly limits)

Some neighborhoods have even stiffer rules than that so if might be best to double check with your local municipality as to what your restrictions are.

We should have some pretty nice weather over the next few days so make sure to enjoy that, but then it's time to pray for some rain!

Have a great week!

--Chris

Like Getting A Sunburn On Your Lung!

2007-05-02T19:57:00.000-04:00

I’ve never heard anyone describe it like that, but that’s what someone from the American Lung Association said today about what ozone does to your lungs. Now that Smog Season has begun, we all need to pay attention to smog alerts and better understand what ozone is and what it does.

Ozone is created when oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are heated by the sun:

Some types of man-made NOx and VOC are: car and truck exhaust, industrial emissions, power plants, gasoline vapors, and chemical solvents. But these compounds do occur naturally from lightning, biomass burning, and soil. Believe it or not, trees, plants and flowers release substantial amounts of VOCs. So the “ingredients” for ozone are ALWAYS present, but we only measure high levels of ozone when either the sun is very strong or it is very hot and the weather patterns become stagnant.

One of our earliest ever high-ozone days occurred in April 2003. April is a month when the sun angle is high. When high pressure is sitting over the south, like it does nearly every summer, the air mass doesn’t change much. So on one day, the sun will heat the NOx, and VOC and create a certain amount of ozone. The next day, under the same air mass, the ozone doesn’t break down that much. On the next day, the sun creates new ozone from car exhaust, etc. and adds that the ozone left-over from the previous day. So by the third day, you can have quite a problem. When the air mass changes, either by a cold front moving through or rain comes in and washes the NOx ,VOCs and ozone out of the air, we can catch a brief break.

Ozone isn’t our only problem when it comes to air quality. Tiny microscopic dust floating in our air can irritate our lungs and cause breathing problems as well. This dust, called particulate matter (PM) is solid matter or liquid droplets from smoke, fly ash, or condensing vapors that can be suspended in the air for long periods of time. PM results from all types of combustion, such as the incomplete burning of diesel fuel in buses, trucks and cars. PM can also come from burning wood stoves and fireplaces.

The EPA came up with a way to express the Air Quality using a color-coded scale which converts different amounts of ozone and PM into a number between 0 and 300, called the AQI (Air Quality Index). When the AQI is above 100, then a Smog Alert is in effect. Since this is mainly a problem in the summer, Atlanta’s “smog season” runs from May 1 to September 30.

So what should you do when a Smog Alert is in effect? Well, a Code Orange alert is a threat mainly to children, the elderly and people with respiratory illness, such as asthma. We call these people a “Sensitive Group”. If you fall into one of these categories, or care for a child or older person, limit the amount of time you spend outside. This is especially true during the late afternoon or early evening hours from 5 pm to 9 pm. Here is an example of the hour-by-hour readings of AQI from the first day of Smog Season 2007, May 1:

Notice at after 1800 (6pm), the blue line climbs and stays above the red line. This indicates that the AQI got above 100.

The next level of alert is Code Red and this occurs when the Air Quality climbs over 150. At this point, even people who don’t have a history of respiratory illness could be affected by the air and should limit outdoor activity. But people in the Sensitive Group category should not even go outside during Code Red.

Finally, there are times when the Air Quality is unhealthy for everyone. This rare occurrence is Code Purple, when the Air Quality rises above 200.

Each day on CBS 46 News, we will show you the air quality forecast for the next day. You can also see this by going to http://www.air.dnr.state.ga.us/smogforecast/.

Here We Go Again....

2007-05-01T09:22:00.000-04:00

Ready or not the 2007 Smog Season is here. Ironically, as we move through spring - one of the prettiest times of the year - we also begin moving into smog season, which is environmentally one of the most dangerous times of the year.
Last year we exceeded federal air quality standards 30 times! Put another way - we were breathing unhealthy air for an entire month last year!
The facts are staggering. Almost eight percent of Georgia's children have asthma. Asthma is the number one reason that kids miss school. And hospital studies have shown that the number of children that have to go to the emergency room jumps up almost 40 percent during and after a smog alert day.
So what can you do? Well first, I must say that the news is not all bad. Atlanta was one of only four cities where carpooling increased from 2000 - 2005... and nearly a quarter of a million people carpool in Atlanta each day.
Mass transit, opting to walk or ride a bike, not leaving our cars idling whenever possible - those are all great solutions to cut down on the emissions from our vehicles. Also, recycling and conserving energy are additional ways to help the environment. By putting those ideas into practice we are using less energy and put less of a demand on our power companies.
Throughout the spring and summer we'll be giving you the projected daily air quality index value in each of our weathercasts. We'll also be reminding you about safety tips that you can use when the air becomes unhealthy to breathe.
The summer smog season runs from May 1st through September 30th.

Holy Smokes...

2007-04-28T18:43:00.000-04:00

As I told you the other week, I was in the Bahamas last week for the Bahamas Weather Conference. I know, I know... rough gig! Well, there actually is some work done at this conference. :-) Hurricane experts and television meteorologists from across the country attend to share information, techniques on forecasting, and how to explain these tropical tempests to the general public.

One of the hot topics had to do with global warming, its impact on hurricanes, and how much of a role humans play in global warming. As you will see in a story I am working on... you may be surprised at the thoughts of the meteorologists in attendance.

Although the conference was very interesting, one of the coolest things I saw was actually in the plane on the way to the Bahamas! Our flight took us from Atlanta across south Georgia, and off the east coast of Florida. While passing over south Georgia you could see the wildfires that had started near the Okefenokee swamp just days earlier. The picture above is what I saw looking out the window of our jet as it passed overhead at more than 30,000 feet!!

Parts of the fire still rage out of control and more than 100 square miles have burned so far. Rain would certainly help, but very little is expected between now and the end of the week. One thing that could help would be higher humidity values and that may indeed happen by mid week.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

--Chris

P.S. Here is a pic of the Mrs. and I from the conference. This was one of the few moments I was not working. ;-)

HOW BAD IS IT GOING TO BE??

2007-04-25T19:52:00.000-04:00

We’re predicting storms for Thursday, April 26 and it will be only the sixth time this month it’s rained. We desperately need the rain, but we don’t want to see destruction or loss of life due to spring storms. So whenever I mention storms in the forecast, inevitably, someone asks me this question – how bad is it going to be? Inside, I chuckle a little, pause and then ask back, “What do you consider bad?” For some, loud cracks of thunder cause panic attacks and for others, it’s no big deal. Around here, it might be pouring on one side of town and then on the other, hardly a drop. Because we cover 54 counties (!), there might be dark skies in the Georgia mountains and sunshine in Atlanta. However, to us on TV, it’s all the same. Therein lays my difficulty in answering what might seem a simple question.

Will it be so “bad” that you might find your roof missing or a tree in your living room? Will roads flood or will you lose power? When I hear the question, “How bad will it be?” these are some of the visions that come to mind. I also have to consider who is asking the question. Is it my wife who just wants to know if she’ll have a long commute because Atlanta traffic will slow even more in inclement weather? Or is it a photographer who might have to stand in the rain while doing a live shot? Or is it a co-worker’s child, who has a bad memory of a night filled with endless flashes and doesn’t sleep well during thunderstorms?

It’s a hard question to ask because it implies so much. For instance, if it rains while you sleep, you usually don’t care that much because you won’t be maneuvering in it. But if when you wake up you can’t get out of the house because your street is now a river – that’s a different story. Our role in presenting the weather means that I have to use very precise language, but viewers also need to interpret what I’m saying. That makes it challenging whenever severe weather threatens. I really want people to know the threat and to be prepared and it’s gratifying whenever I hear that a viewer did just that and lived to tell about it.

So watch out tomorrow, take your umbrella and keep a close eye on the skies - it could be bad!

The Sun Like You've Never Seen Before

2007-04-24T20:29:00.000-04:00

This looks really cool if you view it with 3-D glasses - I'm still waiting for mine to come in the mail so I can see what it's all about. NASA released the first of these images to tout the success of the STEREO project. STEREO stands for Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory and its actually two identical satellites studying the sun. Instruments on board the two satellites take pictures like the one above that look like 3-D when viewed with 3-D glasses. You're probably wondering why are we studying the sun?

It turns out, the sun is constantly, violently erupting mass quantities of matter into space. The energy from these solar flares travel to Earth producing both beautiful and destructive results. People who live in the Great Lakes or Canada or Alaska has frequently seen the exquisite Northern Lights. This exciting phenomenon splashes ribbons of color across the night sky as the solar energy collides with Earth's magnetic field. However, the energy can also disrupt satellites that orbit the Earth causing communication blackout and even TV interruptions. There are even instances when the solar flares can damage power grids. NASA is particularly concerned about the effect of solar flares on space-walking astronauts.

The problem with the solar flare is that we currently don't know why it's happening and NASA hopes STEREO will give some insight into what's going on inside the sun. The 3-D imagery could help NASA develop predictive models to give people on Earth a "heads-up" that a solar flare is coming. Currently, we might not have more than 24 hours' notice. We're several years away from having the same kind of prediction we have with the weather, but STEREO might be a first step. For more on STEREO, check out: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/index.html. Also, visit http://www.spaceweather.com where you can see the latest activity on the sun and cheery predictions on how close asteroids are getting to us.

Food!!!!!

2007-04-15T19:01:00.000-04:00

Well, I promised you an update on the 'no food' diet my wife and I were on for more than a week... so here it is.

It actually went pretty well. I lost 9 pounds and the last time my wife told me, she had lost 10. She has not offered a final total and I know better than to ask a girl about her weight. The 'no food' part of the diet ended this past Wednesday. Started Wednesday we were allowed orange juice, Thursday we could have OJ and soup for dinner, and Friday we got to have soup and some fruit!!!

So far the diet has worked pretty well. We have done much better with our eating habits now that we are technically allowed to eat what we want. On the menu for me tonight... soup and a salad. The weird thing is that after some soup and salad I am actually full! That never would have happened before.

The true test will be this coming week in the Bahamas for the hurricane conference I am attending. Hopefully I will have the discipline to eat grill fish instead of the fried seafood. We will see! :-)

At the conference I am going to talk to several hurricane experts including former hurricane center directors, Bob Sheets and Max Mayfield. I will also talk to CBS meteorologist Bryan Norcross and noted hurricane expert Dr. Bill Gray. Yes, the guy who comes up with the big hurricane forecast every year. Here is a link to this year's forecast.

I will have much more to report when I get back. So, until then....

--Chris

spring cleaning...

2007-04-07T18:43:00.000-04:00

Although we have been dealing with a winter's chill across the metro area it is still spring and many of us like to do a little spring cleaning around the house.

With an upcoming trip to a hurricane conference in the Bahamas (yes, there is work involved) my wife and I decided we need to shed a few lbs before we dare sport our swimsuits in public. Plus, a couple of my suites I wear at work were getting a bit snug (my wife is a great cook as you know if you read this blog regularly).

We decided on the Master Cleanser or Lemonade Diet. My wife knows several people at her work that have done it and they spoke highly of it so we are giving it a try.

If you are not familiar with it, it is a totally liquid diet. No food. Zip, zero, zilch food! Did I say no food? We are currently on day 4 of the diet. The surprising thing is we are actually surviving! Now, I am not saying I have not thought out stealing a happy meal from little kids... but we are getting by OK! :-) The second day was the roughest, but honestly you do not feel hungry. You do crave food though. Last night when my wife and I sat down at 7pm we looked at one another and did not know what to do! We typically have a glass of wine and plan on where we want to go to dinner, but not tonight! We managed to get it off our minds though by watching a movie on the old DVR.

So far in the 4 days of the diet I am down 5 lbs and my wife 8. Not too bad! We are planning on doing it until Tuesday before "coming off" the diet Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It is known as a diet, but actually it is a one of the best known methods for cleaning out your intestinal and colon walls. A spring cleaning of your body if you will.

As I said, we are getting by and I will make sure to share our results and thoughts next weekend when I blog and we are completely 'off' the diet.

Have a wonderful Easter (eat some chocolate for us) and stay warm! Warmer weather returns by mid-week!

--Chris

P.S. I want to thank Cathy Gadlage in Duluth for submitting the beautiful spring picture above!

the big catch...

2007-04-01T23:34:00.000-04:00

Last weekend my wife and I took a trip down to south Georgia for a little R & R. We went to my in-laws lake house on the Georgia/Alabama border. Now, the name of that lake depends on where you are from. For us Georgians, the lake is known as Walter F. George, but if you are an Alabama person or drive through Alabama all the signs say Lake Eufaula. One thing I can tell you, know who you are talking to before saying one or the other. One misstep and you are in for quite a lecture!

Our long weekend trip was very quiet and relaxing. Fishing was biggest thing we did. It is a good thing we brought our own food, because we did not catch many keepers as you can see!

On the first of this month when severe storms rolled across Alabama and Georgia there were many places devastated by deadly tornadoes. I can remember calling my in-laws as we watched what we thought was a tornado move toward the lake and their lake house. This was the same cell that hit the school in Enterprise, Alabama.

Luckily, the tornado did not hit their house, but it did cross the lake and was only a 1/4 mile away. Here is a map from the Tallahassee, FL National Weather Service office showing the tornados in their coverage area. I have marked the one that shows the tornado that crossed the lake.

The tornado was rated an EF-1 and caused quite a bit of damage to a state park boat launch as you can see. Needless to say, it will quite a while before they get things cleaned up down there.

Have a great week and watch out, some cooler weather looks like it will return to the metro area by the Thursday.

--Chris

Frequent flyer Miles - Military Style

2007-03-30T06:43:00.000-04:00

Its been a very busy last week for me in this theater of war. I made trips to three different posts in Iraq and a trip into the Green Zone in Baghdad. I flew in an UH-60 Blackhawk, C-130 Transport Plane and C-12 Executive Transporter. I have seen many of my fellow Soldiers working hard to do a job that most feel needs to be done. As I prepare to return back to Atlanta, I leave with a prayer for my fellow brothers in arms. I wish them a very safe return home to their loved ones and families. To those that will make the ultimate sacrifice, I say thank you and my God look after the ones you love. I am very grateful that I will soon be with my family and my TV one at CBS46. I am thankful that I will return home safely, with a lot more knowledge of what is actually going on here in Iraq. Television media serve a great purpose in telling the public the news of the day. I can honestly tell you that there is a lot that most of you will never see, small victories that the Iraqi people cherish. This kind of fanatic Islam must not be allowed to exist. The battles we fight in Iraq today, could one day move into our own backyard. Let's pray that it does not. I thank my colleagues for their support during my brief mission away. I look forward to getting back to weather basics and keeping you our viewers up to speed on your daily forecast. See you soon!

An Early Morning Run

2007-03-26T07:32:00.000-04:00

If you were in the city and outside early on Sunday morning you may have heard it. The first running of the ING Georgia Marathon happened over the weekend and more than thirty thousand little feet were pounding the pavement.
Everything got started on Peachtree just across the street from Woodruff park. The weather was perfect - quite mild to start the race - and considerably warmer as runners began crossing the finish line.
The ING Georgia Marathon is called an urban race. The race director, Virginia Seahorn explained to me that she wanted to showcase some of the beautiful diversity that Atlanta had to offer. When you look at some of the different "pockets" of the city that the course runs through - you'll understand exactly what she means.
I did the half marathon and our route took us along Freedom Parkway, near Inman Park, through parts of Little 5 Points, into the Virginia Highlands area, through Piedmont Park and eventually down the long stretch of Peachtree Street to the finish line near Underground.
The support as we ran through these wonderful neighborhood was AMAZING! Hundreds of people lined the streets to yell, hold signs, toss candy and fruit, and cheer us on. Several children held out their tiny hands to slap a high five with the runners as they passed.
This was such a friendly race - a happy race - and a fast race. Seeing as it literally passed through so many "neighborhoods", you really got the feeling of community and support. I absolutely loved it!
Congratulations to everyone that ran the race - full and half. And a special thank you to everyone that helped to get this new event off the ground, the people who woke up early to stand outside and cheer us on, and the racers that have now put the ING Georgia Marathon on the map.
Wonderful race - Wonderful day!
See you next year!