Follow the adventures of storm chaser Rebekah Lo.
There is more tornadic activity in parts of the Plains today, albeit the eastern Plains.
There may be a couple setups to tempt me to chase tomorrow and Tuesday as well, however there once again may not be enough lift for decent storms tomorrow (the trough may be too far west).
I’ve only got another couple of weeks to chase storms…
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Southern and eastern England has been unusually dry for the past several months. According to the Met Office, this past April was the 6th driest on record (back to 1910), the warmest, and the sunniest in the country.
The following maps from the Met Office show the actual rainfall and the rainfall anomaly for Great Britain in April (the last few months have also been dry).
Click to enlarge.
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The Mississippi River is at or near record flood stage in Memphis.
Hydrograph for the Mississippi River at Memphis, as of 9:45 pm CDT on 11 May 2011, from the NWS
It’s hard for me to believe that I was sitting on the banks of the rising Mississippi River at Memphis just 2.5 weeks ago. I went to Harbortown, a very nice neighborhood on the river that is now sadly flooding.
Mississippi River from Memphis, looking towards the I-40 bridge, on 25 April 2011
Harbortown in Memphis, on the banks of the Mississippi River (these rocks are the same as those just barely in the foreground of the first photo…there is one road that separates the houses from the grassy area)…note also the Purple Martin house! Taken on 25 April 2011
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This week’s post in the global weather and climate series features Kwajalein Island, part of the Kwajalein Atoll of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
You may know by now that I recently accepted a job offer to work as a forecaster on Kwaj, as the locals call it. I’ll write a lot more about the island later, of course (see my new Kwaj blog here), but I thought I’d do a feature post on Kwaj before I even get there.
The Kwaj Lodge, for short-term housing but typical of housing on the island. From Wikipedia
Map showing the location of Kwajalein Atoll, from Wikipedia
Kwajalein Island is a small island on the southern end of the Kwajalein Atoll. An atoll is a series of islands on a coral reef that surrounds a lagoon. Again, I’ll write more on all of this later.
Kwajalein Atoll is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, although Kwajalein Island is a U.S. Army base so there really are no locals on this island. The Marshall Islands are way out in the Pacific, and Kwajalein is just north of the equator and just west of the International Date Line.
Kwajalein has a long history, but in short, the Marshall Islands are Micronesian and were taken over by the Japanese some time in the early 1900s. The U.S. fought over (and won) Kwajalein during World War II, and today the island is an army missile testing site (from what I understand the island is sort-of “rented” out to the U.S., although there is much more to it than that).
A few more facts about Kwajalein (weather data from the RTS Weather Station, where I’ll be working):
Weather: As you can tell by the statistics, Kwajalein does not have much of a temperature range; the island is typically warm and humid, and I hear there are two seasons: warm and wet, and warm and windy (trade winds).
I look forward to learning a lot more about the tropical weather of Kwajalein before and during my time there. I do know that the island is too close to the equator to get strong typhoons (tropical cyclones), although they may occasionally get sideswiped by weaker cyclones.
As to the weather this week…I’ll guess that highs will be around 86 °F and there may be a chance of thunderstorms! (Check the forecast…yep, that’s about right! Though I know there will be more to my job than just that… 🙂 )
For weather maps and information on current and forecast Kwajalein weather, see the RTS Weather Station, Weather Underground and Weather Online UK (global maps and models).
Here’s a Wikipedia link for Kwajalein Atoll, and here’s a Wikipedia link for the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Next Tuesday I plan to take a look at the climate and weather in another part of the globe, hopefully just after witnessing a space shuttle launch! As always, if you have any suggestions for future cities, please leave a comment!
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The 137th Kentucky Derby is set to take place this evening, with post time at 6:25 pm Eastern.
Louisville has been receiving quite a bit of rain lately (related to the flooding in the Mississippi River valley), and there is a chance for thunderstorms this afternoon and evening, so the track may be a bit sloppy.
Following are some maps from the National Weather Service, showing just how much rain Kentucky has received in the last week and last two weeks, as well as the departure from normal. Louisville is in northern Kentucky, on the Indiana border. Note how much above normal the state is!
7-day observed precipitation (click to enlarge)
14-day observed precipitation
7-day departure from normal precipitation
14-day departure from normal precipitation
The National Weather Service office in Louisville put together a very nice list of historical Kentucky Derby weather, from record temperature and precipitation stats to temperature / precipitation / track conditions / winner for each year since 1875: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/?n=historical_kentucky_derby_weather
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