Tuesday, March 31, 2009

I’m now sending out Twitter updates too!

Mark

Hi everyone, here’s what’s On My Radar today… I’m now “tweeting” on Twitter…a “micro-blog” if you will. I’m sure many of you already know what it is but for those of you who don’t, check it out. Here’s the LINK . Check out the site, it’s pretty cool…you’ll be AMAZED at who is there and updating…my favorite is Lance Armstrong…he “tweets” all the time and right now he’s putting up some amazing pictures of his broken collarbone…caution if you’re a little squeamish!

So I’ll be bl;ogging AND tweeting…all in an effort to keep you informed. Hope you like it! Thanks for reading!! Mark

Monday, March 30, 2009

A rough day

Mark

Hi everyone, here’s what’s On My Radar today…not much good to talk about as it was a rough day for us at channel 10. 2 dozen people left the station over the course of the day. What a surreal time as we watched friends and colleagues walk out the door. All will be missed…very sad. First John Ghiorse retired and now Gary Ley has left…we will certainly miss their experience in our weather department. I just wanted to wish all who left today the very best, including News Director Betty Jo Cugini who was instrumental in bringing me on board to NBC10. Thank you, you will all be missed.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Cold Blast A Comin’

Mark

Hi everyone, here’s what’s On My Radar today…an unseasonably cold airmass for late March is working its way across the region and we will REALLY feel its true impact Monday! The wind chill will run in the single numbers to lower teens with afternoon highs struggling to climb back into the mid 30s! This even with mostly sunny skies all day! The core of the frigid air will swing off to our northeast Tuesday afternoon so temperatures will SLOWLY start to creep up…although Tuesday’s highs will still run 8-10° below normal. Wednesday looks seasonable with highs in the 50° range.

Now, there is a bit of uncertainty concerning the late week storm pattern…mainly in what happens to the ridge of high pressure across the east coast. If this ridge remains established then we will see temperatures continue to climb…maybe even near 60° by Friday afternoon. Looks to me like the ridge might break down a bit Thursday…allowing a few more clouds and a scattered shower in spots then re-establish Friday and Saturday.

Wind direction is always an issue in southern New England but especially in the spring. A subtle southeasterly shift can mean a huge temperature difference since the ocean waters are still only in the lower 40s so this makes long range temperature forecasting a bit tricky but the overall storm track is still in our favor meaning little to no threat of any sizeable storms over the next week or so. So enjoy the dry stretch of weather just get the hat & gloves ready for Monday…brrrr!  Thanks for reading

Monday, March 16, 2009

Storms keep mising us

Mark

Hi everyone, here’s what’s On My Radar today…sorry it’s been a few days since my last post…lots of sniffles going around (both at home AND at work) kind of had me out of sorts. At least our storm pattern has been quiet as of late. Several waves of low pressure continue to pass out to our south. We’ve been fortunate that the jet stream’s been oriented in a fashion that places the core of the steering winds over southern New England, pushing the storm track just to our south.

So, going back to late last week, wave after wave of low pressure formed over the southeast United States, bringing quite a bit of moisture out of the Gulf of Mexico and swinging it northeastward. Our concern was that one if not more of these storms would spin-up close enough to our south coast to bring some wet, possibly even white, weather. Fortunately for us the jet set up just far enough south to steer these storms far enough off our coast to keep us dry.

But we have had at least SOME influence from these storms. Most notably the mid and high level clouds we’ve seen passing overhead the past couple of days. There is one more patch of these clouds moving over us now associated with the last wave of low pressure over the mid-Atlantic coast. These clouds will pass off to our east early Tuesday morning and we will be on our way to mostly sunny skies for the afternoon.

Going forward, I really do not see any significant changes in our weather pattern although a brief shot of colder air will sweep across New England Friday. The core of the cold will miss us to our north but temperatures will be seasonably cool Friday, in spite of the mostly sunny skies I expect. Ridging in the upper atmosphere along the East Coast this weekend should mean a relatively dry forecast at least until late Sunday/early Monday. We may see a coastal wave spin up closer to our south coast which may threaten some rain…we’ll see!

Thanks for reading Mark

Sunday, March 08, 2009

The harsh reality of March

Mark

Hi everyone here’s what’s On My Radar today…they say timing is everything and that couldn’t more true when it applies to the weather this weekend. Highs near 60° both days with dry weather is a real treat in early March…a rarity actually. But the harsh reality of March will smack us like a left hook from “Boo-Boo” Andrade on Monday as low pressure dives across central New England and passes off to our southeast. As this storm moves across the area it will pull in colder air allowing a transition to wet snow across higher elevations of Massachusetts, northern Connecticut and NW Rhode Island.

Admittedly, this is a tricky forecast…one which needs to be watched closely since a small deviation in the track of the low will make a difference in the areas which change to wet snow the fastest. At this point it looks to me like mostly rain from Providence south & east with wet snow mixing in north & west of Providence. The rain may actually become mostly all wet snow in the afternoon across inland areas as temperatures cool but I am not expecting much more than and inch or two accumulation with the bulk of that on the grass.

The higher March sun angle along with the fact that the precipitation will be falling during the middle of the day AND the marginally cold temperatures (mid 30s) will all combine to limit the impact of this system. So, the bottom line is that we will need to watch the progression of the storm closely but it looks like this will be more of a cruel temperature shift (of at least 15°) from Sunday to Monday afternoon rather than a significant snowstorm for the area. Just another reminder of the dramatic fluctuations the month of March brings to southern New England. Thanks for reading

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Is everybody sick…again?

mark

Hi everyone…here’s what’s On My Radar today…here we go again,. It seems as though EVERYONE I know is dealing with some sort of virus right now…are you? My kids are sick…friends kids are sick…co-workers too. What’s going on? Apparently there were large percentages of some local schools that were infected recently…some I heard were nearly closed as the absentee rate climbed close to 25%. It almost seems as though this latest outbreak came on right after the snowstorm the other day!

Don’t get me wrong, I love the winter…to a certain degree. I actually am craving one more ski weekend before the warmer weather hits but the last couple of years my household has been hammered by sicknesses in March. Just get us through this month and hopefully April will bring some warmer days so we can open the windows and air things out! Right now I’m blasting through cans of Lysol and Clorox wipes…seems like I can’t disinfect enough!

Here’s hoping you’ve avoided the most recent plague and stay healthy into the Spring…me, well I’m doing my best NOT to get it. The NetiPot is getting LOTS of use lately! Don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead one hour this weekend AND change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Happy Daylight Saving time..thanks for reading

Monday, March 02, 2009

How bad HAS it been this winter?

Mark

Hi everyone, here’s what’s On My Radar today…I heard it A LOT over the past couple of days…“This has been the WORST winter EVER!“ and “I can’t stand it MORE snow?“ or “Enough already, I’m so ready for spring”. Did you utter one of those phrases or something similar? Come on now, tell the truth…I’ll even admit I was caught complaining, actually more like muttering to myself as I shoveled the driveway this morning. Maybe it was the fact that February was a pretty benign month in terms of winter weather…very little snow and temperatures a couple of degrees above normal. Or perhaps it was the 60° high just a few days ago…well, whatever it was this snowstorm was more than some of us could handle!

Let me try to put this winter’s snow totals in perspective. First, if you feel as though we’ve had more snow this season than in recent years, you’re right. This is the snowiest season in 4 years. Here’s how the past 5 seasons (including this one) break down:

                                      2008-09: 50.9” so far
                                      2007-08: 24.5”
                                      2006-07: 15.1”
                                      2005-06: 33.9”
                                      2004-05: 72.2”

The average seasonal snowfall for Providence is about 35-36” so we are already well above that and we actually average another 6” of snow from now until early April so perhaps we’ll even add to this year’s total. Now, if you’ve recently moved to the area we’ll give you a pass on this but if you’ve lived here the past 13 years or more then you should remember the record setting winter of 1995-96 when over 100” of snow fell in Providence and over 150” fell in parts of NW RI.

So with that in mind, this winter hasn’t been THAT bad…at least not as bad as it COULD be, right? Don’t forget, the clocks spring ahead one hour this weekend…at least we’ll have more daylight in the afternoon hours to look forward to Thanks for reading!