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Yesterday’s storm was not too bad at all for a late October storm system.  It deepened throughout the day and the wind picked up.  We  had howling winds most of the night with occasional gusts that seemed pretty strong.

We only got  rain here and most of the precipitation didn’t make it this far west but down in my mom’s area in Bensalem they had some snow.  She said none stuck to the ground but I did see a spotter report of .5 inches in Bensalem.  Her elevation is only like 50 feet or something like that..  There are some parts of  Bensalem that are a bit higher.

The big winners appear to be the higher elevations in north east PA.  I saw a few places with reports of over a foot of snow.  The highest total I saw was 17 inches in Freeland, Pa

This would have been a pretty good setup for snow during the winter.  lets hope that we have more like it!  Now the storm is pretty wound up just north of new england.

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An October coastal storm system is developing off the mid atlantic coast.  It started yesterday with an area of rain developing and persisting through the night here in central Pa.  This would have been a nice situation for a little snow here in January.  Right now and yesterday during the afternoon the temperature held in the low 40’s

Now in the Poconos and higher elevations of northern Pa.  I wish I still had my place up near Hazleton and would be going up there.  With an elevation of 1600 feet or so and the fact that they always tended to get more snow than the surrounding areas I bet it would be a nice late fall snowfall.

It should be a cool blustery day later as the wind picks up with highs in the 40’s.

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Hurricane Ike has maximum sustained winds near 100 miles per hour right now but the real story is it’s size.  It’s a big storm with hurricane force winds extending up to 115 miles from the center.   Tropical storm force winds extend up to 255 miles from the center.

The minimum pressure (945 millibars) is borderline low enough to support a category 4 storm but I imagine the size of the whole storm is keeping the gradient from being tight enough to cause the winds.

Another interesting storm for this year.

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Tropical storm Hanna is approaching the East coast of the United states now with maximum sustained winds near 70 mph.  It seems like there is a lot more convection today than there was yesterday but still not around the center.  The minimum pressure is 980 millibars which seems a bit low to not be a hurricane but that depends on other factors too.

It will make landfall in the Carolinas and move up the east coast and turn northeast.  Hopefully some time in my life time I will have the opportunity to experience a tropical storm or hurricane from the coast.

It would be really fun to be on the outer banks this weekend.  I am really hoping we don’t get too much rain here though.  I want to do other things this weekend.  On the plus side we do need the rain and the storm will be moving pretty fast.

Hurricane Ike is still going strong although it has weakened somewhat.  It’s still a category three storm and looks like it may strengthen a bit.  The track appears to want to brush south Florida but that’s still five days from now.

Tropical storm Josephine has really weakened and there doesn’t seem to be much convection left that that storm.  Josephine is forecast to weaken and turn towards the northwest over the next few days.

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Wow.. What an awesome line of storms that was that went through on Wednesday. There were lots of reports of damage from the winds. What was even more surprising was the fact that a second strong line of storms went through a few hours later. There were even some reports of tornadoes.

We didn’t get a whole lot here even though SPC had us in a moderate risk area for severe weather. It was just awesome to watch the sqall lines race across Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC.

Now on to less fun things. It looks like we’re in for a heat wave. Not fun. I never look forward to temperatures in the mid 90s and especially not after the relatively cool spring we’ve had. I have the feeling that it’s going to be a shock.

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We had a great time attending the GOTCHA event today. There were tons of prizes, including a very special Team Alamo coin. I’m very disappointed to not win that.

It was hot and humid today.. It’s never a good thing when you wake up to thick fog and temperatures in the 70’s in summer. Topped out with highs in the low to mid 90s with dewpoints near 80. Not fun.

After the event was winding down Lynn twisted our arms to go for a couple of caches and get ice cream in Carlisle.

The first cache was a huge relief. It wasn’t easy and if the owner weren’t there I don’t think we’d have found it. It was a fun challenge. After feeling dizzy and over heated the past few hours I couldn’t begin to gell you how good that cool water felt!

After that we headed over towards Shippensburg to do one near the AT. It was a short walk, less than 400 feet actually. That was probably a good thing. The heat was still high and there was thunder starting to rumble all around.

I think we got out of there at the right time. On our way up 81 we were seeing tons of lightning to the east and near Carlisle we caught up with the storm. We got in to Carlisle to go to the ice cream place but that didn’t work out so well. The theme of that trip was turn around, the road is blocked by a tree. I don’t remember how many but at least 4 roads we tried were blocked. We did get pictures but they’re not downloaded off the camera yet so I’ll have to post pictures later.

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Hurricane Dean is a category three storm now with sustained winds of 125 miles per hour. It’s over the Yucatan now being over away from it’s fuel source it should continue to weaken until it gets back over water.

Dean made landfall as a category 5 storm with sustained winds of 165 miles per hour and gusts to 200 mph. It isn’t too often you get the chance to watch a strengthening category five hurricane make landfall. It had a minimum pressure of 906 millibars at landfall. It’s in the top ten for strongest storms in the Atlantic basin.

Popularity: 96% [?]