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

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)

• Tropical Storm Frances Forms: Story | Maximum sustained winds near 40 mph at 5 p.m. AST. Frances text update and expected 5-day track | More from Tropical Prediction Center | Additional hurricane resources are in our National/International page (right column)
• Illinois Tornadoes: Tornadoes hit outlying counties as storms whip across Illinois
• Taiwan Typhoon Update: Typhoon Aere pounds Taiwan
• Editorial from Michigan: Blame weather on NASA?

It’s another stormy day for Missouri and the St. Louis area. A line of strong storms is moving across the state and toward St. Louis., which is under a tornado watch this afternoon. Latest watches and warnings from the National Weather Service. Also, check out a current radar loop from Wunderground and storm tracks (Many of these cells are reaching close to 50,000 feet and contain the possibility of large hail). Some good cams in the area include the Haze Cam; St. Louis Community College Streaming Cam; and SLU Cams. Additional webcam and radar images can be found in the St. Louis page

On the other side of the state: ‘The weather is killing us’

Stormy Midwest: Much of the Midwest is experiencing a stormy Wednesday. Tornado warnings in Lansing, Michigan area | Latest Midwest radar image from Wunderground and Latest watches/warnings. Much more is available in your nearest city page

• Rockin’ Olympics: Earthquake Rattles Athens Olympics | Listed as magnitude 4.6 | Earthquake links can be found in our National/International page | Additional stories
• Moderate Alaska Quake: Magnitude 5.3 reported in southern Alaska, 120 miles ENE of Anchorage | Latest quake list
• Drive Through This!: ‘Blob’ Dazes, Confuses North Carolina Drivers (Opens in new window)
• Stormy Central U.S.: Storms drench central US
• Wind, Hail Rain In ND: Thunderstorms bring wind, hail, rain to parts of ND
• Hurricane Babies: Hospital Says Hurricane Blew In Baby Boom
• I-35 Shut Down: Flooding closes portion of Interstate 35 in South Texas
• Wildfire Relief: Cool weather brings relief to BC wildfire officials
• From the UK: Harvest Washed Out by Summer Storms
• From Taiwan: Taiwan Markets, Businesses Close for Typhoon Aere | CWB issues weather alerts as two typhoons approach | Latest stories
• Astronomy Picture of the Day: Supply Ship Approaches the Space Station
• Science News: Cassini on Course for Saturn Moon Flyby
• More on the webcam worm virus: from MSNBC

Top 5 cities visited Tuesday: 1. Indianapolis 2. Kansas City 3. St. Louis 4. Vancouver 5. Miami

• Tornado Confirmed In Bay State
• UK bears more miserable weather | BBC WX In 3-D
• Storm near Big Island weakens over weekend
• And, in the world of webcams, a spooky story: New Worm Hijacks Webcams | More from ZDNet

Top 5 cities visited Monday: 1. Kansas City 2. St. Louis 3. Miami 4. Vancouver 5. Houston

World aglow: Look for your city in this Earth at night picture, [giant high-res image here]. This was Sunday’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. The high-resolution digital version of the image is also available here or here. It’s a great image to use as a background for your desktop. I took the hi-res JPEG and cropped it to North America at 1024×768 pixels. I might make this my background at work as well…

• Charley changes: Hurricane Charley has caused major changes to local waterways | Port Charlotte woman loses everything to Andrew, now Charley | More Charley stories from NBC 2, Ft. Myers, Florida | Google News
• Bad Weather Continues In Britain: U.K. bears more miserable weather
• Tornado scare in L.A.: According to The Drudge Report
• Actual tornadoes confirmed: Tornado touches down near Fort Stockton, Texas | Tornado confirmed in New York State | Storms flood roads, knock out power in eastern New York
• Storms vs. electricity: Storms determined to keep power out in Connecticut
• Finally, in the world of webcams: Sunday was a great day to look for boaters in the Lake Mitchell, South Dakota webcam (updates automatically every 15 seconds)