This is a general grab bag of weather from a lot of different places. It may or may not be of interest to you, but we have subtitled everything so you can scroll past what you don’t want.
MID-ATLANTIC COAST
A low-pressure area along an old front was about 200 miles SE of Wilmington, North Carolina this morning. It is expected to drift slowly westward. Actually, the National Hurricane Center seems to think that it could become a tropical or sub-tropical cyclone in the next couple of days. Because of the low, the NWS has issued Gale Warnings for part of the Virginia and North Carolina coast until 8:00 tonight. After 8:00, it will be upgraded to a Storm Warning which will go through at least noon Thursday. A Gale Warning means winds will be between 34 and 37 knots (39 to 54 mph). A Storm Warning is much more serious. It means winds of 48 to 63 knots (55 to 72 mph). During those conditions, all recreational boaters should remain in port and commercial vessels should prepare for very dangerous seas and consider staying in port. A High Surf Advisory is also in effect and there is a high risk of rip currents. A few mid-morning spot reports:
Norfolk Naval Base…wind NE 25, gusts 35
Cape Hatteras, North Carolina…wind NE 18, gusts to 32
Buoy 15 miles east of the Virginia coast…12-foot waves
Buoy east of the South Carolina coast…14-foot waves
FURTHER NORTH
The same system is expected to produce east winds gusting to 35 mph along with a good chance of rain for New York City by Thursday. Extensive rain is expected in the Big Apple Thursday night and Friday and even into Saturday.
TROPICAL WEATHER
The National Hurricane Center reports that the large nervous weather area covering the Dominican Republic and Haiti has diminished in the number of showers and thunderstorms this morning. However, they still think, as it moves northward over open waters, that it could become a tropical depression or a tropical storm later. General projections take it northward possibly affecting parts of New England or the Canadian Maritimes by the weekend.
USA EXTREMES
105 in Death Valley yesterday afternoon was the hottest.
24 in Stanley, Idaho was the coldest in the lower 48 this morning.
26 was the coldest in Alaska at Eielson Air Force Base
32, with dense fog, in good old Deadhorse.
67 in Hawaii at Hilo Airport was the coolest, except in the high country.
34 was the temperature on Mauna Kea at 3:00 a.m. with SW wind 33 and wind chill 19.
71 was the 3:00 a.m. temperature at Barking Sands in the Islands (I love that name).
GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
36 atop Mt, Leconte (elevation 6400 feet)
47 Gatlinburg at the National Park Headquarters
SELECTED ALABAMA LOW TEMPERATURES THIS MORNING
There was quite a variation because of temperature inversions. It was one of those mornings when it was 2 degrees cooler in Mobile and Dothan than in Birmingham or Cullman. This list is not one of those long all-inclusive lists like we often do. Tomorrow morning should be one of our coolest mornings and we may post a longer list then. Anyway, here we go with lows this morning:
52 in Broomtown and SW Lamar County
54 Decatur, Coker (coolest so far this season in Coker)
55 Bankhead National Forest
56 Scrougout (They have only received 1/4 inch of rain in the last 17 days.)
57 Auburn
58 Pinson
59 Evergreen, Concord/Hueytown, Anniston
60 Noccalula Falls, Tuscaloosa Airport
61 Smith Lake
63 Ft. Payne Airport, Albertville Airport, Birmingham Airport
