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

Tonight, I offer this mixed bag of hurricane- and non-hurricane-related weather and science news:

• This Hurricane Season Biggest Test For NOAA’s Web Site: Record Hits As Public Storms NOAA Web Site. From the story: “In the first eight days of September, the site received 200 million hits — equivalent to one-third of the total traffic for all of 2003, when the United States was hit by one hurricane, Isabel.”
• Books On Meteorology Not Gathering Dust This Hurricane Season: Weather Books Flying Off Library Shelves
• Sold Out! Weather Radios Leave The Shelves In Southern Georgia
• In The ‘Why Didn’t I Think Of This?’ Category: Flashlight Accepts 2 C, D or AA Batteries
• In The ‘Did You Know?’ Category: In 1711, Mobile, Ala. Changed Locations Because Of Storm’s Aftermath
• Ivan – Iowa Connection?: Hurricanes Changing Weather In Midwest
• Memory, Processors Churn Forecasts: Forecasting By Supercomputer
• Weather Threatens NASA’s Plans: Hurricanes May Put Kink Into NASA’s Schedule
• Great Polluted Lakes?: Panel: Great Lakes Too Polluted
• Hurricanes Changing Beaches?: Experts: Weather Threatening Florida Beaches

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited Wednesday: 1. Mobile 2. New Orleans 3. Panama City 4. Birmingham 5. Jackson … See the top 20 so far this month in the left column of our home page.

Stream Of Local TV Storm Coverage: It isn’t just me. When hurricanes come ashore, people across the globe type their way to live streaming TV news coverage as it is broadcast via the Internet. It was interesting tonight hearing the anchors on the live stream of WPMI-TV 15 in Mobile talking about the e-mails they have received from all over the country and the world, including Iraq and Australia. Some watching have second homes in the Golf Coast, others want to know if they will have a place to vacation in the near future.

As for the rest of us: many turn to live TV and radio when weather is the news. I vividly remember driving from Dallas-Fort Worth to Oklahoma City in May 2003 and listening to KFOR-TV’s live storm coverage simulcast on KOMA-AM as tornadoes tore through the Metro OKC area and up Interstate 44, dangerously close to where listeners had taken shelter in a McDonald’s restaurant. It was incredible radio: Yelling … confusion, but strangely enough, comfort to those who were in the storm’s path and without power.

The station for live streaming during Hurricane Charley was NBC 2, Fort Myers. Days later, Hurricane Frances brought out some great wall-to-wall live streaming from local TV stations in Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. WTVJ-TV 6 in Miami received several viewer e-mails expressing thanks for the live stream for Hurricane Frances. Details in this video (Opens new window)

Now we’re up to Ivan. At least three local stations — WPMI-TV 15, Mobile, WWL-TV 4, New Orleans and WVTM-TV 13, Birmingham — were streaming their broadcast for a good portion of the day. And people from across the globe are very thankful … they will be back for the next round.

I’m submitting a “brief WXnews brief” today since most of my time has been spent on Ivan:

• Debate Swirls Around Recent Wave Of Hurricanes: Some critics question whether the 5-day hurricane projection is a worthwhile warning, or whether it causes residents unnecessary concern and stress. Some say only the 3-day projection should be used. Full story & poll
• Animal Adoptions Up After Hurricanes: Florida Residents Adopting Animals After The Storm
• FEMA Money For Florida: Hurricane Victims In Florida Now Able To Get Part Of $154 Million
• Report: Heat-Related Deaths To Rise: Heat Waves Will Lead To More Heat-Related Deaths In Major Cities, Study Says
• Incredible Aurora Photo: Why can’t I take pictures like this one? Well … 1) I’m way too far south, and 2) I have a fairly cheap camera. Many other great images are in SpaceWeather.com’s Sept. 2004 Aurora Gallery

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited Tuesday: 1. New Orleans 2. Mobile, Ala. 3. Panama City 4. Key West 5. Orlando … See the top 20 so far this month in the left column of our home page.

Here’s another round-up of weather news … some Ivan-related, some not:

• Can Florida Residents Be Fired For Evacuating From Storm?: Miami Herald’s Answer Inside! [How's that for a tease?]
• “It’s Goooood!”: Football Eases Some Floridians’ Worries About Ivan
• Be Flood-Ready: Complete Guide To Preparing Your Home For Floods
• Weather Tricks Trees In Indy: Cool Summer Fools Indiana Trees Into Changing Colors Weeks Early
• Earthquakes Here & There: NE Arkansas Center Of 2.5 Magnitude Earthquake Sunday Night | 3.6 Magnitude Earthquake In Central Indiana Sunday Morning
• Rocky Mountains, Northern Lights: Colorado Area May See Aurora Borealis Monday Night | From SpaceWeather.com: Aurora Watch For Alaska, Canada
• Astronomy Picture Of The Day: Gather the family ’round, check out this picture, and see if you can guess what caused the ring of colors…

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited Monday: 1. Key West 2. New Orleans 3. Panama City 4. Miami 5. Orlando … See the top 20 so far this month in the left column of our home page.

Hurricanes-B-Gone?: I spotted and included in this blog the latter article linked below a couple of days ago. And now this:

Groups are working to save the Sunshine State’s day… Among the amateurs’ ideas: “blowing hurricanes away with giant fans or blowing them up with nuclear warheads.” Full story

The article states that bloggers are among those claiming to have solutions (I am certainly not one of them, though I think praying doesn’t hurt).

Mind Over ‘Mat’ter?: Dyn-O-Mat COO Wants To Attempt To Reduce Hurricane’s Power

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited Friday through Sunday (same positions all three days, except Sunday, when Panama City moved into the No. 3 spot, knocking Miami and Tampa to No. 4 and No. 5): 1. Key West 2. Orlando 3. Miami 4. Tampa 5. West Palm Beach … See the top 20 so far this month in the left column of our home page.

9/11 Remembered – Special coverage from WNBC-TV, New York

Still Intact: When I launched WXnation.com less than six months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and began building a directory of New York City webcams, I was reminded again of the broad impact it had on our country. Many Web sites running live webcams in and around Manhattan were frozen in time on the date of the attacks, much like a clock that is discovered stuck at the time of a major earthquake. A good number of webcam sites were shut down permanently. One that was added after 9/11 was the EarthCam Ground Zero Webcam — still intact today, much like our nation’s spirit. Another, World Trade Aftermath.com, retired one year ago today as the Tribute In Light lit the night sky.

Some new weather headlines:

• Alerts By Satellite: XM Satellite Radio Emergency Alert To Provide Updated Info During Natural Disasters
• The Power Of Radio: Station Provides Trapped Residents Vital Weather Info
• Why?: Mother Nature’s Not Being Nice
• Recurring Nightmares: Storms latest setback for Fla. citrus growers
• Red Cross Strapped: Wave Of Hurricanes Strained Red Cross’ Resources
• Prime Time: Hectic 2 Months For Florida’s State Meteorologist
• Stormiest S.C. In Decades: Storm Season In South Carolina Most Active In Years
• Mild El Nino Cooking: Climate Experts Say Mild El Nino Forming in Pacific Ocean
• Astronomy Picture Of The Day: The Star Trails of Kilimanjaro

Crash Didn’t Break Solar-Wind Collectors: NASA scientists say some fully intact solar atom collector disks were recovered from the wreckage of the Genesis space capsule. Full story here

Other resources: Glimmer Of Genesis Hope: Capsule a ‘Mangled Mess’. Also see: NASA’s Genesis home page

Apologies for the downtime Thursday because of high traffic (and a big thanks to all of you for visiting this page of weather info and musings, by the way). This blog was taken offline late Thursday morning and moved to a dedicated server. Not great timing, that’s for sure, but it should now be ready for whatever comes our way (unfortunately, round one will be Ivan, it appears)…

And… Webmasters take note: After many attempts at fixing trackbacks in this blog, a change of servers has done the trick! Trackback away! (I should add that I have comments moderation enabled, thus causing a delay for trackbacks as well)

A good-sized dose of other weather and space news of the day:

• Interesting Headline From Virginia: Scientists Stumped by Dead Croakers
• Night Sky Snoozer, Morning All Aglow: So says this article on a morning sky view featuring Mercury, Venus, Saturn, The Moon, and “luminous stars of Orion”
• Electricity Demand Not Just For Post-Frances Florida: Hot weather keeping power plants humming in California
• Voice In The Storm: His calm voice a radio lifeline during storms [You can listen for yourself online: WFLA-AM 970, Tampa]
• Latest On Frances: Current stories here
• Sooner State Helps Sunshine State: OU Helps Keep the Weather Covered in Florida (NOTE: Bold statements inside! [I'm speaking of font size here])
• From The Next State Up: Kansans’ weather worries spur interest in folklore, myths
• And Up To Iowa, Broken Tornado Record: Iowa deals with 110 tornadoes in 2004 … but wait, there’s more: U.S. sees record number of tornadoes for August
• Maryland Twister?: Residents Say Tornado Hit Charles County
• International News — Death Toll Nears 200 In China Flooding: Toll at 177, more storms expected
• Off-Topic: Samsung Cell Phones to Get Tiny Hard Drive

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited Thursday (understandably, all Florida cities again): 1. Key West 2. Orlando 3. Miami 4. West Palm Beach 5. Tampa Top 20 so far this month in the home page (left column)

High Hopes Grounded: Space Probe Crashes Without Parachutes | MSNBC: Genesis Space Probe Crashes to Earth | Video of impact (QuickTime) | Specifics and images from SpaceWeather.com | More stories

Frances Updates:

• After Frances: President Visits Florida After Signing Disaster Relief Bill | Frances’ Aftermath Slideshow
• Getting There: Florida residents jam highways in haste to get home
• Not Going…: Florida’s hurricanes taking a toll on tourism
• Darkness Continues: One Million Still Powerless in Florida After Frances
• Space Center Clean Up: Kennedy Space Center Cleans Up After Hurricane
• Experts Say High Number Of Storms Just Chance: Unusual number of storms hit land in Florida, but experts say it’s chance
• Weather Channel #1 In Ratings: The Weather Channel outperforms all other news and information cable networks on Sept. 4
• From Western Pennsylvania: Remnants of hurricane expected to soak Valley for third year in a row
• Very latest Frances stories

Changing the subject … More Incredible Aurora Pictures: 1 and 2 grace the SpaceWeather.com September Aurora Gallery

Images From Roaming Webcam: SunCam.TV is touring some of the hardest-hit places in Florida live (during the day, rebroadcast at night) on its roaming webcam Web site, which includes an extensive archive of images that’s worth a look. Webmaster Ross has allowed me to post a few images from that page, which he says will reach into the thousands, eventually. Thanks, Ross…

Courtesy: www.suncam.tv

Courtesy: www.suncam.tv

Courtesy: www.suncam.tv

Top 5 WXnation.com city pages visited Wednesday: 1. Orlando 2. West Palm Beach 3. Miami 4. New York City 5. Charlotte Top 20 so far this month in the home page (left column)

Image On Left: Credit: NASA. Hurricane Frances’ eye while a Category 4 storm on Sept. 2. Click for large image, more details from NASA

Frances Update, 12 a.m. Wednesday: The Facts: Death Toll Now 19; About 3 Million Without Power | Latest Flood Watches/Warnings Map | Very latest stories … Moving On: Frances Soaks N.C., Fuels Tornadoes | Remnants Of Frances Head Toward DC. If it does go to Washington, the dedicated CapitalWeather.com team will have it covered, as will WeatherBlog in Philly … Back in Florida: State Struggles With Aftermath As Cleanup Continues | Frances damages the Kennedy Space Center more than any other storm | Frances’ cost at $3 billion to $6 billion… Meanwhile, some try to bottle up the storm and cash in: Frances’ ‘Wind’ Appears On eBay. The article states that more than 170 items were listed on the Internet auction site as of Monday. Items included plastic containers filled with wind from the storm going for one cent each… Something tells me none of the proceeds are going to charity.

Image On Right: Credit: NASA. Hurricane Frances over Florida on Sept. 5. Click for large image, more details from NASA

Radar & Cam Resources: Current Wunderground radar of Frances | Frances moved into Georgia, which has seen a foot of rain in places, and is now in Tennessee, the Carolinas , Kentucky and West Virginia (visit these links for weather radar and webcam images). Also, check out other U.S. city pages by state. Much more on Frances’ current and past track in yesterday’s giant post… Also: See Florida damage photos here (Opens in new window).

Top 5 WXnation.com city pages visited Tuesday (Atlanta ends the Florida sweep going back to Sept. 1): 1. Atlanta 2. Orlando 3. West Palm Beach 4. Charlotte 4. Tampa 5. Miami Top 20 so far this month in the home page (left column)

Latest on Tropical Depression Frances: With 65 mph winds, Frances made landfall Monday afternoon in Florida’s Panhandle near St. Marks [Area radar, webcam images here]. As of the 11 p.m. AST Monday Tropical Prediction Center update, Frances was located 30 miles southwest of Albany, Georgia, and had weakened to a tropical depression with 35 mph maximum sustained winds and movement NNW near 12 mph. Check out the latest radar loop image. Meanwhile, Hurricane Ivan, at 105 mph in the 11 p.m. Monday update, churns in the Atlantic (more on that below). Sunday was a day of heavy rain and flooding across Florida, where some areas received more than a foot of rain. West Palm Beach reported more than 13.5 inches of rain by Sunday evening because of the unusually slow-moving Frances (illustrated in image above, taken from our home page radar. Original radar images copyright, CustomWeather, Inc.). At least four Floridians are dead and two dead in the Bahamas. More than 6 million Floridians are without power after Frances’ eye made landfall at about 1 a.m. EDT Sunday near Sewall’s Point, just east of Stuart and about 40 miles north of West Palm Beach. It’s 105 mph sustained winds downed trees and power lines, ripped roofs off of homes and business and scattered debris across the state. See dozens of storm damage images from NBC 6, Miami (Opens in new window). The western wall of Frances’ large eye came onshore at about 10:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, and a very long 24 hours later, its eastern wall entered the Gulf of Mexico. See the complete tracks for Frances, Ivan and all other systems via the Interactive Hurricane Tracker (Opens in a new window). How to help Florida victims

Predictions, Warnings & Advisories: The latest track has Frances moving up the Georgia/Alabama border, and then up toward Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and western New York State by the end of the week. Rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches are possible in the path of Frances. [Latest text advisory and track image | NWS Watches and warnings for Florida's Panhandle ... Atlanta ... All of U.S. ... E. Central Florida ... NE Florida ... S. Florida ... U.S. Loop | Español]

Frances Stories, Latest On Hurricane Ivan:

• Very latest Frances stories
• Frances may not be as costly as feared
• Unusual number of storms hit land in Fla.
• Foul weather friend — Nice to see an article on The Weather Channel’s Mike Seidel (Registration required)
• Frances Aims North, Could Bring Flooding To Carolinas
• Storm Batters Florida: Latest Info
• Bush: Sad for ‘trauma, tragedy’ storm will bring
• Slow-moving Frances draws out anxiety
• Two dead, one missing in Bahamas
• Coverage From WJXT-TV 4, Jacksonville | WTVJ-TV 6, Miami
• Hurricane Ivan Advances Winds: 105 mph, Moving: W at 21 mph as of 11 p.m. AST Monday
• Latest Ivan stories | Ivan text update | Ivan forecast track image
• Editorial from yours truly: After Frances, Ivan May Not Be Distant Enough For Floridians

Storm Radars: Intellicast Radar Summary – Georgia, N. Fla. | Radar Summary – Florida | Wunderground Storm Tracks – Georgia | Storm Tracks – Panhandle Accumulated Precipitation Estimates: AccuWeather 24 Hr. – Georgia | AccuWeather 24 Hr. – Florida (More in the top right column of the Tampa page) | NWS Georgia | NWS Panhandle | NWS Central Fla. | NWS S. Fla. | NWS West Fla. Satellite: Satellite loop Radar Loops: NWS Radar Loop – Georgia | Radar Loop N. Fla. NWS Radar Loop E. Fla. | More radar images in your nearest city Pictures: Dozens of storm damage images from NBC 6, Miami (Opens in new window) | Slideshow Images Of Frances’ Approach | Viewer Photos | Nice, big image of Frances from NASA, Sept. 2

Live Webcams: Atlanta | Savannah | Florida Panhandle | West Palm Beach | Miami | Orlando | Tampa | Jacksonville | All other cities

Help Victims of Charley and Frances: How to help | American Red Cross: 1-800-HELP-NOW | Catholic Charities | Salvation Army | FEMA | FloridaDisaster.org

Live Streaming Video Coverage: NOTE: These are all now inactive as local stations went back to regular programming Sunday evening, but, being the archiver that I am, I’ll keep these here… Thanks to each TV station for providing such a great feature. I had NBC 6 on for hours on Saturday… Live Video From WTVJ-TV 6, Miami (Opens in new window; Windows Media Player, Broadband only; black during commercials) | WTSP-TV 10, Tampa Live (In top right column) | WKMG-TV 6, Orlando Live (Real/WMP) | WFTV-TV 9, Orlando Live (Link in page) | WESH-TV 2, Orlando Live (Link in page) | WPLG-TV 10, Miami Live (Opens in new window; Real/WMP) | WFOR-TV 4, Miami Live (Link in page) | WPBF-TV 25, West Palm Beach Live (Opens WMP) | Streaming Webcam Sunday night: WSVN-TV 7, Miami Live (New window; WMP)

Live Streaming Audio Coverage: WIOD-AM 610, Miami | WDBO-AM 580, Orlando | WJNO-AM 1290, West Palm Beach | Search for any city at Radio-Locator.com (AM News/Talk stations are always a good choice).

Before sealing up this post (until I save over it again with updated info, that is), I must thank Mike Wendland for the compliment on this chaotic mess of information!

Top 5 WXnation.com city pages visited Monday: 1. Orlando 2. West Palm Beach 3. Panama City 4. Tampa 5. Jacksonville Top 20 so far this month in the home page (left column)

Second Strong earthquake rocks Japan within 5 hours: Evacuations ordered after magnitude 7.3 quake | Very latest stories

Tools: Seismic Monitor Map | List | Many additional earthquake resources located in our National/International page (in the right column)

Other Weather News: Some residents in the Northwestern United States should look up at 11:52:46 a.m. Wednesday! On Sept. 8, a daylight fireball will streak across the western United States. It’s the Genesis spacecraft, returning samples of the Sun to Earth. Details

Top 5 cities visited Sunday: 1. Orlando 2. West Palm Beach 3. Miami 4. Tampa 5. Jacksonville Top 20 so far this month in the home page (left column)