Weather & Space News Blog
 since Feb. 2003
 WX - Telegraph abbreviation for weather often used with Morse code
 The Wire - Name once given to the telegraph

Lunar eclipse photos (nice ones) have surfaced. Thanks to those who left comments in yesterday’s entry! It was too cloudy to see any phase of the eslipse in north Texas, but another is coming Nov. 8…

Storms have popped up in many states early this evening, as the radar summary from Intellicast shows.

Flooding may plague parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia this weekend. More in this weekend’s forecast story

Total lunar eclipse tonight (totality from aprox. 11:10 p.m. EDT to 12:10 a.m. EDT).

I won’t see this total lunar eclipse in the Dallas-Fort Worth area because of cloud cover and an approaching severe storm. Oh, well… We will have a sky show of lightning, apparently.

I hope you have a clear sky.

A big storm swept through Indy tonight. Here’s a radar loop. More from TheIndyChannel.com.

FYI: Just added a text weather warning list link to the National page. Also, find AM, FM or TV stations streaming live during severe weather events in this 100000Watts.com list (Click “Netcast” images for live stations)

Things could get rocky for parts of Texas and Oklahoma Thursday. More details on this and U.S. weather info.

KXAS-TV may be able to set up a live webcast of the total lunar eclipse at 10:14 p.m. CDT Thursday. I’ll keep you posted. If it happens a link will be here, in the National page and on the home page of the WXnation.

The first total eclipse of the moon in three years is set to happen over the U.S. Thursday (beginning just after 10 p.m. EDT, and reaching totality at 11:14 p.m. EDT). Text info and maps & times.

More than 430 tornadoes breaks May record

Stormy day for some Wednesday

Students’ summer break early for tornado-ravaged town

Storms costs total more than $400 million in MO

and finally today: Woman survives two tornadoes, from WHOI-TV

Copper-colored lunar eclipse coming May 15/16

Some storms could become severe in North Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, Tuesday. Text forecast here. All the rest in your nearest city.

May 8 Oklahoma City metro area tornado has been classified as an F4 with winds above 200 mph. More from NewsOK.com

New: just added a preview of the new WXnation webcam view. It can be found just below the current live view, which will change at the beginning of July as we move from south Arlington to north Fort Worth.

I did go up to Oklahoma City Saturday to check in on my sister and niece. My sister was hit by lightning when she was closing her sliding glass doors to let her dogs in, but thankfully she is OK. She has no AC, TVs, stereo or doorbell and answering machine. The lightning bolt did those in… Her house is a couple of miles away from the path the 5/8 tornado took. On I-35 in Moore that afternoon, many motorists were slowed to a crawl looking at extensive damage on both sides of the highway, and power was out at Sooner and I-240. I took a few pictures at both sites and will post them in this weblog in a week or two. (Sorry, I was using a disposable. I really need to get of them digital cameras!!!)

Live in the northern U.S.? You may see auroras tonight. Here’s the May gallery from SpaceWeather.com

Severe weather has moved into the northeast and Mid-Atlantic this afternoon. Here’s a radar loop and radar summary of the area. Much more in your nearest city’s page.

More than 425 tornadoes have been reported so far this month!

Storms are hitting the Chicago area. A funnel cloud was reported near St. Cloud, a western suburb. Here’s a radar loop of the area.

More on Oklahoma City’s tornado day #2 from ChannelOklahoma.com and NewsOK.com, plus USA Today.

Eastern Oklahoma, including Tulsa and parts of north Texas could see severe weather today, but Sunday looks OK.

St. Louis is under a tornado warning this morning.

Check out this storm radar summary for cloud top heights and hail/tornado (TVS) indicators) and radar loop.

Also, get the latest watches and warnings via EarthWatch’s map and NWS text warnings. Many more webcam and radar images in your nearest WXnation city.

To sum up, this may have been the worst tornado-stricken week in U.S. history.

Here’s text on this weekend’s weather

A large tornado has torn across the northern suburbs of Oklahoma City tonight, one day after the southern part of the metro area got hit. Tonight’s went through Yukon, Bethany, Warr Acres, The Village, and out toward I-44. More than 100 cars were reported at a McDonald’s on I-44 northeast of OKC, where many were attempting to take shelter from the approaching super cell.

More details from ChannelOklahoma.com Here’s a Intellicast radar loop and Weather Underground radar loop.

Many more radars and cams in the following WXnation pages: Oklahoma City and Tulsa (where the storms are headed next).

One of my sisters and my niece lives in Midwest City and missed last night’s tornado by a mile or so. I was going to go up there tonight, and was on my way, when I heard on 1520 KOMA that tonight’s tornado was hitting the metro area and I changed my plans. (KOMA had superb coverage, as did KFOR-TV, which was in the path of the tornado at one point) I may leave for Midwest City in the morning… My sister’s power is still out and may be for some time.

Debris from tornadoes can travel far. Listen to this: Personal checks from Moore, just south of Oklahoma City were found in Sapulpa, just southwest of Tulsa. Thats a long trip for that debris!

My prayers are with those who lost homes and businesses (some of them for the second time perhaps) in Oklahoma, and the other locations where tornadoes have hit over the past week.

Much less important stuff: on the WXnation site, I have removed the Fort Worth skyline webcam for two reasons. 1) Many hazy and hot days will make it impossible to see the skyline most of the time in the summer since the cam is 13 miles from downtown. 2) We are moving from south Arlington to north Fort Worth at the end of June and will have a new webcam view (a much better one too, I might add). Stay tuned! The Arlington webcam is still up and is now refreshing every 30 seconds instead of 60.

A tornado causing major damage (104 people injured, 5 critically, 2,000 homes hit, hundreds of homes destroyed) has touched down in Moore, OK, a southern suburb of Oklahoma City. It hit southern Oklahoma City, Del City, Midwest City and Tinker Air Force Base — the same path the F5 tornado of May 3, 1999 took. More on today’s tornado from ChannelOklahoma.com.

Kansas City was on alert. More from TheKansasCityChannel.com.

USA Today and CNN article on tornado outbreak.

Believe it or not, this could be the worst night yet. Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois are expected to see the worst of it. Here’s an area radar. Check your nearest city at WXnation.com’s home page for cams and radars, weather warnings and much more.

Just added today: 2003′s Biggest Weather Days, as determined by traffic to WXnation.com. Today comes in at #7.

Storms which have a history of producing funnel clouds and 800 lightning strikes in one minute are approaching the Atlanta area again late this afternoon as much of Alabama and Georgia are under a tornado watch. More from WSB-TV in Atlanta.

The storms swept across Mississippi earlier today, and Birmingham remains under a tornado watch after a storm reportedly packing 13 to 14 lightning strikes per second moved through Jefferson County. Check out this radar loop.

Much more (radars, cams, etc.) in WXnation.com’s city pages.

Major flooding is also a major issue in some states. More in this USA Today weather article.

The radar is lit up again and multiple tornadoes have been reported in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. Here’s the latest radar loop of the area.

Much of the Southeast and Plains states are under thunderstorm and/or tornado watches and warnings. Atlanta is among the list of cities where a funnel cloud was reported. More from WSB-TV.

More storm coverage from TheKansasCityChannel.com and MSNBC.com.

Check out the NBC 5 Weather Photo Gallery, as compiled by the great Covergence Editor Frank Heinz. This has been added to the National page. (The weather pics link, not the link to Frank).

Mercury is about to cross the face of the sun. Live webcast links are at SpaceWeather.com.

Storms kill 32 in KS, MO

More from TheKansasCityChannel.com

Downtown Detroit was under a tornado warning. Here’s the latest on the Detroit storms from WDIV-TV. Check out the amazing before and after live cam views from WDIV’s webcam in Windsor, Canada.

Severe weather outbreak in the central U.S.: Tornado kills one in Kansas City.

Here’s a radar image of much of the affected area with cloud top heights and cell movement. Lots of hail reported across a very wide area. Here’s a live watch/warning map, and NWS warning text statements. Many additional radar images, plus webcam images in your nearest city.

It’s been a nice day here in the Fort Worth area… went to the house we’re having built in north Fort Worth (frame and roof are complete, and windows are in). Took some pictures, including one from the location where the WXnation webcam will be placed. I’ll add the pic to the weblog sometime in the next week or two so you can get an idea of the new webcam view when we move in around early to mid-July. I’ll say this: it’s a better view than the current one in south Arlington. As for the view of Fort Worth’s skyline from a distance, that will be nixed when we move. No view of the skyline at the new place…

From SpaceWeather.com: Earthshine tonight, and meteor shower early Tuesday.

Story on tonight/Monday’s weather

Well, the county I live in (Tarrant Co., TX) has made it into the Top 20 list of smoggiest U.S. counties. More details on the list here.

Looks like much of the central U.S. is in for a stormy weekend. Details here.

A line of strong thunderstorms came through Dallas-Fort Worth last night. No hail where I live, but there was a report of one-inch hail a few miles away.

Check out this great aurora shot from Quebec in SpaceWeather.com’s aurora gallery for March.

Here’s a story on today’s weather.