WXnation Wire: Weather Blog, WX & Space News
                               SINCE FEB. 2003
WX -- Telegraph abbreviation for weather often used with Morse code
The Wire (wīr') -- Name once given to the telegraph

Photo courtesy of NASA

Above image of Frances was taken by Astronaut Mike Fincke aboard the International Space Station as he flew 230 miles above the storm at about 10 a.m. EDT Friday, Aug. 27. More details here.

Some other weather news:

• Gaston Kills At Least 5: Tropical Storm Gaston Leaves 5 Dead In Virginia
• Big NASA News: New Planets: Major Extra-Solar Discovery Announcement Scheduled Tuesday
• Cold Weather Bad For Heart: Cold weather snaps bad for heart health
• NY State Storms: Damaging storms pound upstate New York
• Wettest Summer: Soggiest Summer Ever In N. Texas | I have a special page that compares the daily temps and rainfall for this summer in N. Texas vs. the hot, dry summer of 2000 here
• 90-Degree Free Indy Summer?: Cooler weather means city might miss 90 mark
• Almanac Says: Crazy Weather Coming!
• No Go … Again: Final Atlas 2 Rocket Again Delayed by Weather

Top 5 cities visited Tuesday: 1. Richmond, VA (2nd day at No. 1) 2. Orlando 3. Miami 4. West Palm Beach 5. Key West Top 20 for August in the home page (left column)

N.C. Drenched by Tropical Storm’s Remains

To the left is a radar image from our home page’s radar, taken at 5:45 p.m. EDT Monday…. At this point, there is a flash flood warning for the Richmond, VA area. Latest watches and warnings for Virginia here and the entire region here

Check out the Wunderground regional radar. A plethora of radar and webcam images are in our Richmond, VA page.

Speaking of Richmond, that city is the most visited page of the day. My former co-worker Ginny Bonner, who just moved from North Texas to a suburb of Richmond (near the fine community of Short Pump), would be so proud! This may be the result of her husband, who I thank for adding this site to his company’s Intranet! I hope all is well and not too watered down over there!

Top 5 cities visited Monday: 1. Richmond, VA 2. New York City 3. Miami 4. Orlando 5. Norfolk, VA Top 20 so far this month in the home page (left column)

Tropical Storm Gaston made landfall near McClellanville south of Georgetown, South Carolina, around 10:30 a.m. Sunday with 70 mph winds, just short of hurricane strength. By 11 a.m., it was about 40 miles northeast of the city of Charleston, S.C.. At 8 p.m. AST Sunday, maximum sustained winds had decreased to near 35 mph, making it a tropical depression. At least 3 to 5 inches of rain, with locally higher amounts, is expected in Gaston’s path. Radar image to the right from 5 a.m. shows Gaston just off the coast. Story: 125,000 without power in S.C. Sunday morning (By 5 p.m. Sunday, about 95,000 customers remained without power) | Latest text advisory and expected 5-day track image | Watches and warnings Additional stories | Weather and webcam images are in your nearest city page

• Radar Failure?: AP: Tampa Radar Failed Before Charley Hit
• Ohio Deadly Floods Update: Flood waters kill 2, rip houses from their foundations, tear a 65-foot deep crater into a road. Story here
• Chicago Storms: Severe storms leave flooding, power outages
• Wild Winter Ahead For Northeast?: Farmers’ Almanac Predicts a Wild Winter
• From Astronomy Picture Of The Day: Our Moon’s appearance changes nightly. This time-lapse sequence shows what our Moon looks like during a lunation, a complete lunar cycle. Animated image here

On a side note, some of you may have seen the picture of all-around gymnastics winner Carly Patterson in this blog a few days ago. I’ve taken the torch of local Olympics duty for KXAS-TV this weekend and placed that photo, taken by my co-worker, into the Carly Patterson returns home story.

Top 5 cities visited Sunday: 1. Columbia, S.C. 2. New York City 3. Charlotte, N.C. 4. Charleston, W.V. 5. Toronto Top 20 so far this month in the home page (left column)

• Other Weather News: Floods rage through northeast Ohio
• Before The Olympic Games End: New York, Athens neighbors? Only in Texas (Registration required)
• Houston-Area Storms Pop Up: Storms over Bellaire prompt weather alert
• To The North: Flooding, Power Outages Left By Storms In Oklahoma
• Still Going North: A reported tornado caused pretty extensive damage in Kansas
• Now This Is Way Up There: Warmer weather likely too late for area crops

Top 5 cities visited Saturday: 1. Dallas-Fort Worth 2. Indianapolis 3. Toronto 4. Houston 5. Chicago Top 20 so far this month in the home page (left column)

Current blog entry here

• Latest on Hurricane Frances: Story | Maximum sustained winds near 115 mph at 11 p.m. AST Friday. It is expected to become a Category 4 hurricane this weekend but it won’t be a threat to the U.S. until next week… Latest text advisory and expected 5-day track | Additional stories | More on Frances in the Tropical Prediction Center and additional hurricane resources are in the National/International page
• Tropical Depression Forms Off S.C. Coast [pictured right in 7:15 p.m. EDT Friday radar snap] | Tropical Storm Watch Issued For Southeast Coast | Story from USA Today
• Iowa Hit Hard: Wild Storms Create Disaster Areas | Storm Leaves Thousands Without Power
• Fire Danger In California: Hot, Dry Weather Prompts Warning
• South Reno Wildfire: Weather helps firefighters get upper hand on wildfire
• Latest From East China: Storm lashes area
• Latest From Britain: August set for worst weather record
• Astronomy Picture Of The Day: The discovery of Sedna, the most distant known object orbiting the Sun, presents a mystery
• Major quake Major Tokyo Quake Expected Within 50 Years
• Flying cars still a ways off…

Top 5 cities visited Friday: 1. Kansas City 2. St. Louis 3. Toronto 4. Indianapolis 5. Chicago Top 20 so far this month in the home page (left column)

• Hurricane Frances Stronger: Maximum sustained winds near 85 mph at 11 p.m. AST Thursday. If this one impacts the U.S., it won’t be until next week. It is expected to become a Category 3 by the weekend… Latest text advisory and expected 5-day track | Story | More on Frances in the Tropical Prediction Center and additional hurricane resources are in the National/International page
• Severe Storms Sweep Across Iowa: Latest watches and warnings (which include tornadoes) | Wunderground storm tracks radar | Intellicast regional radar loop | Iowa radar and webcam images in the Des Moines and Quad Cities pages
• From Missouri: Severe weather brings memories of Bismarck tornado
• Class Is In Session: It hardly ever thunders in Anchorage and find out why lightning bolts are jagged
• “But, my dog ate my homework!”: Was that dog Radar The Weather Dog by chance?
• From Michigan: Storm may have been tornado
• Tampa/St. Pete Storm: It just exploded
• Astounding Astronomy: A small telescope finds a big planet

Top 5 cities visited Thursday: 1. Indianapolis 2. Chicago 3. St. Louis 4. Toronto 5. Vancouver Top 20 so far this month in the home page (left column)

Gothamist Weather noticed a story I linked to a couple of days ago about hospital workers claiming a summer baby boom was a result of Hurricane Isabel. Gothamist posted an insightful reply to the article here … So, do you think some localized baby booms are the result of natural disasters … or even a night or two without power, or is it most likely just a myth?

Top 5 cities visited Wednesday: 1. St. Louis 2. Kansas City 3. Chicago 4. Indianapolis 5. Minneapolis Top 20 so far this month in the home page (left column)