Wind Advisory

A strong cold front will move through the region tonight starting at 2AM with possible wind gusts of 50MPH. I'm getting a camcorder next week but I wish I had it now. These windy fronts are always fun to watch. The last one that rolled through had traffic lights staying sideways from the sustained strong winds.

Record Warmth Possible Today

It's the weekend after Christmas and the high for today is 75! I don't think I've ever seen it get this hot here in the winter. Maximum temperatures will be at or above record levels.

Are We Moving In To The Sun?

Weird weather for this time of year. The last time I checked the temperature yesterday, it was 68 degrees! This was Christmas Eve we're talking about here. Today, as you may know, is Christmas day and it's considerably cooler. However, Weather.com is indicating that we will have scattered thunderstorms around 3PM tomorrow. No word of this from NOAA but I will be keeping my eye on the radar around that time tomorrow just in case.

Weather Underground's Interactive Tornado Map

Weather Underground's Interactive Tornado Map is really neat to play around with. Of course only the documented tornadoes are there, and there are many more that are not reported every year, but it may prove to be a valuable tool. If you zoom down and drag through the heart of tornado alley, there's a tornado marking in just about every position you point the thing.

Think tornadoes don't happen in West Virginia?



This F1 ripped through the heart of Kanawha City; a sprawling business town, when I was in my teens. It mostly up-rooted trees and busted windshields. It made a 1.5 mile path. If it had been any stronger, it could have been a huge disaster. I believe that much of West Virginia is not prepared for these sorts of events. Many people believe they are protected by the hills, which is true in a way, but they do not offer complete protection from violent storms. I have noticed over the years that storms that come from north west tend to cause the most damage. I believe this may be due to how the valley is positioned relative to the storm's path.

Breezy

A strong pressure gradient moving over the area tonight is causing some pretty strong winds. Right now the winds are coming from the west at 30MPH with gusts of 45MPH. Leaves, twigs, and even larger debri has been smacking up against the house all night. A particularly strong gust rolled through when I was still doing a college assignment and I could hear it tearing at the shingles of the roof. Pretty awesome stuff compared to the mostly boring weather we've been having since the end of summer.

Heavy Snow!

Heavy wet snow is falling over the region tonight with 1 to 4 inches possible. Some portions of the major roads where covered to the point where you couldn't see the dividers, but salt trucks are out in full force. A winter weather advisory remains in affect until 4AM. We'll see what it looks like in the morning!

Freezing Roads

I'm hungry. I want to go out and grab something to eat but my weather radio just went off with a Law Enforcement Warning warning of the slick roads due to below freezing temperatures and light snow fall. There has been an advisory for this up for awhile so I'm thinking there have been some accidents. I hit a small patch of black ice last night at an intersection and it hadn't even been snowing.

It's been a pretty mild fall which is typical here, but there's been very little moisture for the weather patterns to work with and it's been like this for months. If it seems that I've been slow to update, this is why.