If you have a Facebook, or Twitter feed, you may have noticed many of your friends, or the people you follow, metnioning that they saw the International Space Station (ISS) fly overhead. If you missed it, don’t worry. You have several more chances to get a peek at the ISS quickly traveling across the sky.
Here are the upcoming times where you can catch a glimpse:
THE FOLLOWING, POSSIBLE ISS SIGHTINGS THROUGH SAT SEP 11
We have just under a month left of Summer, and already signs of Fall are starting to show up around the area. During a trip along Rt. 5 (West Lake Rd) in West Erie County, I came across some leaves already starting to change their colors.
If you have any signs of Fall that you would like to share, send them my way at ray.petelin@wsee.tv.
Bob Dylan once sang, “You don’t need a weather man to tell you which way the wind blows”, and now I am going to add to that, you don’t need a meteorologist to tell you this summer has come with a lot more heat that last year! His lyrics work out better, though.
Just the difference between the summer of 2009 (June, July, and up to August 16th), and the same dates in 2010 make me think of the Heat Miser and Cold Miser from the classic Christams show “The Year Without A Santa Claus”.
This summer has had more than twice as many days with temperatures 90, or greater than last year, while last summer had almost twice as many days where the high temperature did not reach 80, or above.
Another tornado has been confirmed in the nearby area this summer, making this a rather active year in respectes to tornadoes in the viewing area (NW Pennsylvania, NE Ohio, and Western New York). This time in Chautauqua County, NY. This tornado dropped with the severe thunderstorms that came through with a trough that was ahead of an approaching cold front on Saturday, July 24th. Thankfully, there were no fatalities associated with this twister, and only minor injuries.
Here are the official statistics given with the National Weather Service’s public information statement:
TORNADO CONFIRMED IN THE TOWN OF CHAUTAUQUA IN CHAUTAUQUA
COUNTY NEW YORK…
LOCATION…TOWN OF CHAUTAUQUA IN CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY NEW YORKDATE…JULY 24 2010
ESTIMATED TIME…440 PM EDT
MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING… EF 2
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED…125 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH…150 YARDS
PATH LENGTH…6.5 MILES
The initial touchdown of this tornado was near Chautauqua Gorge State Forest. As this twister entered Mayville, it produced a lot of damage to homes and businesses near McKay Rd, Morris St., Valley St., and Erie St.
This tornado then crossed Chautauqua Lake into Dewitsville, badly damaging three condos. This was where the tornado officially lifted, however the National Weather Service says damage can be seen for another 3/4 of a mile beyond this point.
This same event spun up two more tornadoes in Cattaraugus County, New York. One that ran from Randolph to Old Spring (7 miles), and another from Carrollton to the Villiage of Allegany (Also 7 Miles).
Now it is time to get on my soap box! As impressive as these pictures are, if you are ever in view of a tornado, you should be taking cover. Taking pictures and video should be left to trained spotters and storm chasers (although this is very dangerous for them, too)! It is always better to be safe than sorry.
**CLICK THE IMAGES IN THIS POSTING FOR A FULL-SIZED IMAGE**
It looks like we are in store to see the first tropical system of the 2010 hurricane season make a direct hit on the United States. Unfortunately, this (at the time of the post) tropical storm is expected to pass through the part of the Gulf of Mexico that is currently dealing with the BP oil spill.
Bonnie’s initial brush with the U.S. will be with Florida, and the Florida Keys, as it moves out of the Bahama Islands today. 3-5 inches (7-12 centimeters) of rain can be expected, along with tropical storm force winds.
As Bonnie enters the Gulf of Mexico, it will sustain itself as a tropical storm. My personal opinion is that this could even become a hurricane. The model guidence (at the time of this post), wants to keep this as a tropcial storm. However, with the lack of land features (land prohibits storm development) and warm sea surface temperatures (warm water promotes storm development), I think further strengthening is a definite possibility.
Bonnie is expected to hit the U.S. for the second time on Sunday near New Orleans. Keep in mind that there is a margin of error when it comes to predicting the exact location of a tropical system, especially where it is goning to make landfall, so there may, and likely, will be some changes to this exact forecast track of Bonnie since we are playing with probabilities based on the current make up of the storm, and its surrounding environment.
Bonnie is the second named storm of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. The first was Alex, and that storm officially stayed in Mexico, while its residual effect battered poritions of Texas.
You can get updates on this, and any other tropical system by visiting the website of our Caribbean operations (WSEE Caribbean and OneCaribbeanWeather, a 24 hour Caribbean/Central American weather channel) at www.onecaribbeanweather.com.
–WSEE & One Caribbean Weather Meteorologist Ray Petelin
As the heatwave continues, we are getting some impressive temperature readings from backyards across the viewing area. It doesn’t take a thermometer to tell you it is downright HOT outside, but many think it is actually warmer than it really is!
There are some requirements for getting an official air temperature reading, and I have found most people have their thermometer set up wrong. If you want to find out how hot it really is, there are some guidelines you should follow to set up your thermometer!
According to the National Weather Service, here are the guidelines to setting up your temperature sensor or thermometer:
The sensor should be mounted 5 feet +/- 1 foot above the ground. The ground over which the shelter [radiation] is located should be typical of the surrounding area. A level, open clearing is desirable so the thermometers are freely ventilated by air flow. Do not install the sensor on a steep slope or in a sheltered hollow unless it is typical of the area or unless data from that type of site are desired. When possible, the shelter should be no closer than four times the height of any obstruction (tree, fence, building, etc.). The sensor should be at least 100 feet from any paved or concrete surface.
Now, most people set their thermometer up on the patio, in the direct sunlight. This yields temperature readings far above what the temperature of the air actually is! This, because the thermometer or thermometer housing absorbs the incoming solar radiation, and warms up itself, meaning you are adding the temperature of the unit to the temperature of the air. This will give you a more impressive, but less accurate reading.
A heat wave is defined by the National Weather Service as a period of abnormally and uncomfortably hot and unusually humid weather. Typically a heat wave lasts two or more days.
That definition is what describes our forecast for the next few days. It will be hot and steamy, so here are some tips to help get through the heat!
This time of year, we average 80 degrees for a high, so we will be well above the “norm”. We have been very dry, as well. Since the beginning of June, we are over an inch below average, and almost 3 inches below average rainfall for the year.
To keep cook, if all else fails, go jump in the lake! The water temperature, as of this posting, was a comfortable 71 degrees!
Ken Collins snapped some great pictures of a relatively rare type of cloud Monday at Barcelon Harbor in Western New York. This is what is called a “roll cloud”, which is a long, tubular type of Arcus cloud that appears to roll on an axis. These are pretty rare, as you need a specific set of circumstances to pan out to create one of these rolling clouds.
Downdrafts from the distant thunderstorms sort of speeds up the airflow at the bottom of the cloud, which in turn sets the roll in motion. This is sort of like pulling the rug from beneath someone. If you pull hard and fast enough, they will fall backward with their feet flying up in the air!
While they look similar to a shelf cloud, these do differ in that they are not attached to a thunderstorm. In this case from the Barcelona Harbor, you can easily see the blue sky in the background.
With another round of storms Sunday evening, the third and fourth nearby tornadoes touched down. One on Presque Isle, the other in Conneaut, OH.
The tornado on the penninsula, touched down Sunday evening at 7:36PM. It was only on the ground a short time, but was enough to topple nearly 50 trees. This was an EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with estimated wind speeds of 80-85 mph. This tornado’s path was 50-75 yards wide, and traveled 250 yards during its time on the ground (less than a minute). Luckily, there were no injuries.
A more damaging tornado touched down in Conneaut, OH Sunday evening at 6:54PM. This tornado dropped down near the intersection of Lake Rd. and Point Drive and traveled 2.3 miles before it lifted near the intersection of Broad and Russell Streets at 6:59PM. This tornado was about as wide as a football field (100 yards) with wind speeds estimated between 90 and 95 mph. Many trees were uprooted, and there was some damage reported to nearby homes.
This is a POSSIBLE picture of the Conneaut tornado, taken by a listener of our Ashtabula Radio partner 98.3 The Bull. I would like to thank Roger McCoy for passing this along to the Storm Team.
The other nearby tornadoes from this season occured June 2nd near Conneatville, PA (EF0), and the other on June 6th (EF0, as well) at Virginia’s Campground near Springfield Twp. This tornado had one fatality.
–WSEE Storm Team Meteorologist Ray Petelin
Northeast Ohio had a little shaking goin’ on early Thursday afternoon. An earthquake was reported in Lake Erie June 10th at 12:32pm. The epicenter of this 2.5 magnitude qake was located about 5 miles northwest of Mentor-on-the-Lake (Mentor, OH), or just over 20 miles NNE of Cleveland.
7 km (5 miles) NW (314°) from Mentor-on-the-Lake, OH
11 km (7 miles) N (10°) from Lakeline, OH
11 km (7 miles) N (2°) from Eastlake, OH
11 km (7 miles) NW (316°) from Mentor, OH
37 km (23 miles) NNE (33°) from Cleveland, OH
Believe it, or not, there is what is called the Northeast Ohio Seizmic Zone. Despite the name, it does also include Northwest Pennsylvania. Occasional earthquakes are felt in this zone.
The first Earthquake in this area was reported back in 1823. While most are light, and many not even detected, we have had earthquakes cause damage! The largest earthquake was a 4.8 magnitude in Ohio in 1986 (Personal note: I remember that one). An earthquake centered in Northwest Pennsylvania even caused some damage in 1998!
According to the United States Geological Society (USGS), it is hard to find the specific fault that causes these quakes:
At well-studied plate boundaries like the San Andreas fault system in California, often scientists can determine the name of the specific fault that is responsible for an earthquake. In contrast, east of the Rocky Mountains this is rarely the case. The Northeast Ohio seismic zone is far from the nearest plate boundaries, which are in the center of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Caribbean Sea. The seismic zone is laced with known faults but numerous smaller or deeply buried faults remain undetected. Even the known faults are poorly located at earthquake depths. Accordingly, few, if any, earthquakes in the seismic zone can be linked to named faults. It is difficult to determine if a known fault is still active and could slip and cause an earthquake. As in most other areas east of the Rockies, the best guide to earthquake hazards in the Northeast Ohio seismic zone is the earthquakes themselves.
The images, and background information is from the USGS web section that documented this earthquake. Additional information can be found by CLICKING HERE.
