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

Lights Out In Georgia: 100,000+ still in the dark Sunday night after ice storm … Resources: USAToday.com story | Atlanta weather/live webcams

Winter Storm Updates: Richmond, Va. area sees 6,000 power outages | Much of Central N.C. spared

Milder Mardi Gras?: may be on the horizon — Full story … Resource: New Orleans weather/live webcams

OK Winter Weather: More snow heads for Panhandle, Western Oklahoma

Mac-cuWeather: (That’s the label it should get, I say…) AccuWeather “weather widget” is coming to desktops for 10.4 version of Apple Computer’s Macintosh OS — Story

Space News: Excitement returns to NASA | Scientists monitor two Alaska volcanoes

Off-Topic: Midwestern Goodbye Norfolk, Nebraska said goodbye Sunday to Johnny Carson… I have had the best of Johnny VHS tapes for many years and decided to track down the DVD collection over the weekend. Found one copy… The DVD includes a special aired in 1982 called “Johnny Comes Home,” which featured a tour of Norfolk. I snapped a picture of Johnny’s boyhood home last summer, which is posted in this entry from last week. I will definitely be watching CBS tonight for David Letterman’s first new show since Johnny’s death, which will feature Doc Severinsen and former executive producer Peter Lassally. I hope Dave stays on until his 30th…

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Sunday: 1. Washington, D.C. 2. Charlotte 3. Baltimore 4. Atlanta 5. Greensboro … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Snowy, Icy Weekend Continues: Storm shuts down road, air travel in Ga.; 3 dead | Storm covers Virginia, Southeast with snow, ice | Rain/snow mix in Virginia through noon
Resources: D.C. storm coverage from CapitalWeather.com | Weather/webcams by state | NWS watches/warnings … More resources in yesterday’s entry.

Is Weather Manipulation Out There? This morning’s guest on Coast To Coast AM with Art Bell, Scott Stevens, says someone is controlling the weather. (I’m having a flashback to the Kate Bush video for “Cloudbusting”). Anyway, Stevens, a TV weatherman for KPVI-TV in eastern Idaho, has his own Web site WeatherWars.info, where he has posted several images and explanations for his “out there” theory.

Strange Weather Stories: Funnels, hail, rain, snow all hit Arizona

TV station asks psychic to predict this weekend’s weather

The glaciers are melting off South America

In The Year 2026: WWF says look for global warming by 2026: I must be stuck in the ’80s still … I thought this was something released by the World Wrestling Federation.

Vote in our poll on global warming, located in the right column

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Saturday: 1. Atlanta 2. Charlotte 3. Greensboro 4. Greenville, S.C. 5. Columbia, S.C. … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Ice Storm: In Georgia, where up to four inches of a wintry mix is possible, at least two are dead from the storm. Coverage from three local media outlets: WSB-TV, CNN, and The Weather Channel

• Resources: Nice Atlanta skyline webcam
• National Weather Service Watches/Warnings
• Regional radar
• Radar (East Coast)
• Atlanta-area weather/live webcam images

Storm Hits Carolinas, Virginia: Parts of N.C. getting hit | Snow, sleet, a little bit of freezing rain … Ice storm warning for parts of Kentucky … Resources: S.C. watches/warnings | Weather/live webcam images for Columbia, S.C., Raleigh and Richmond Other cities in list to the right…

Colorado winter storm: Up to a foot of snow forecast … Snow, sleet, freezing rain also possible in Ohio Story here

Winter storm strands hundreds in southern Italy — Story

How cold is it?

Astronomy Picture of the Day: Southern Cross in Mauna Loa Skies

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Friday: 1. Atlanta 2. Oklahoma City 3. Tulsa 4. Los Angeles 5. Charlotte … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Icy Atlanta, Wintry South:

• Winter blast could ice North Georgia
• More coverage on tonight’s storm from WSB-TV, Atlanta
• In Their Backyard: Weather.com
• Eastern Tennessee winter storm coverage from WVLT-TV, Knoxville
• Coverage from WRAL.com, Raleigh, N.C.

Blizzard Update: Town remains on emergency status until snow cleared

Nice sun halo image posted at SpaceWeather.com

Now In New Colors! … and new colors are debuting in the blog and across the rest of the site. (It was one year ago that the entire Web site switched from black background/green text to the light blue background and black text). If you’re not in favor of the changes, just like the weather, it is bound to change again soon…

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Thursday: 1. New York City 2. Orlando 3. New Orleans 4. Oklahoma City 5. Boston … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Northeast: Fresh snow gives Boston two new records: 42.2 inches of snowfall at Logan Airport through Wednesday afternoon sets records … Boston weather/webcams

West: Icy, snowy storm clogs parts of Interstate-80 from central Nevada to Utah

Iraq: U.S. helicopter crash in Iraq during desert sandstorm kills 31 troopers

Europe, N. Africa: Cold, wind, snow batter Europe, N. Africa

Canada: Wacky weather causes havoc in B.C.: Ice jams, floods and mudslides force up to 300 people from their homes.

The Weather Network ranks No. 1 with Canadians for the best weather forecasts

No end in sight of the 24-7 weather reports

Twice As Hot As Once Thought? Climate-modeling study produces hot results: Experiment hints at potential 20-degree temperature rise

Climateprediction.net allows participants run a version of Britain’s Met Office climate model

Be sure to vote in our global warming poll (located in the right column, under the cities list)!

Australia could be hit by an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale because the plate it is on is breaking up, research has found. Full story

Space News: NASA revisits tale of three tragedies: Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia remembered | European orbiter sends snapshots from moon | Meteorite seen as an omen in Cambodia: Impact in Khmer Rouge zone touches off fires, prayers

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Wednesday: 1. Boston 2. Providence 3. New York City 4. Los Angeles 5. Hartford … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Northeast, Here Comes The Snow Again: ‘Sno more! Boston area gets another storm: Total snow accumulations from this storm will range from 3 to 6 inches over southern New Hampshire and the Connecticut River Valley to between 5 and 10 inches across eastern Massachusetts’s Cape Cod and the islands. | If I don’t hear forecast, it won’t snow | More snow in Philly | ‘Snow emergency’ aid expected … Resources: Wunderground current radar image | Boston weather/live webcams | Other cities in right column of this page | Current watches/warnings | WNBC-TV, NYC coverage

Man plowing snow fatally strikes neighbor

Metro Detroit staffers man the snow shovels

Blizzard Boosts WeatherBug® Traffic Skyward: Leading desktop weather service records 90 million page views as millions turn to WeatherBug for storm alerts and up to the minute information. More details

More Rain, Problems Out West: Will latest Calif. storms topple North County homes? | Rain, freezing rain, snow form deadly mix in Nevada; 40 wrecks … Resources: Current watches/warnings | Weather/live webcams for: San Diego | L.A. | Reno

Tsunami: One Month Later: Tsunami-hit nations hold 1-month commemoration

Death Toll To Change For 1906 SF Quake: Death toll of 1906 SF earthquake to be revised from 478 to 3,000 … I remember watching a documentary on this in 2003.

Mt. St. Helens Update: Mount St. Helens’ activity surprises scientists

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Tuesday: 1. Boston 2. New York City 3. Toronto 4. Los Angeles 5. Syracuse … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

California, Here Comes The Rain Again: Rain headed back to Southland

Blizzard ‘05 Updates: Snow is no longer blowing, but cleanup continues in New England | Retired firefighter crawls through blizzard to safety | Blizzard of ‘05 no match for Blizzard of ‘78 | More than 5,000 flights axed by blizzard | Boston’s airport reopens after blizzard: Airport closed for more than 24-hours during storm

Cold Reaches Sunshine State: Temperatures on Tuesday morning were forecast to reach as low as 30 degrees in the interior vegetable-and-citrus-rich areas of southwest Florida, the lower 30s in central Florida and nearly 50 degrees in the Florida Keys. Full story | Monday morning was the coldest start to a day in South Florida in three years – and it won’t be warming up much for a couple more days. Details | Lows Monday morning: West Palm Beach, 38, wind chill of 30; Fort Lauderdale, 41, wind chill of 34; Miami, 43, wind chill of 37; Tampa, 32 for three hours; Marathon, in the Keys, 49, wind chill of 37. More details … Resources: Current U.S. temperatures map | Wind chill map | S. Fla. watches/warnings | Weather and webcams for Miami, West Palm Beach, Key West, Cape Coral/Ft. Myers, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville

Midwest Floods On Horizon?: After blizzard, Midwest faces threat of floods

Mischievous Mets: See the end of Monday’s CapitalWeather.com post: “Meteorologists Gone Wild?”

Space/Science News: More on global warming warning from the AP: Report: Global Warming at Critical Point | Reports put different spins on global warming … More on this topic in yesterday’s comments link … Vote!: Also, I have added a poll asking whether you think global warming is nearing a point of no return. Look for the poll in the right column under the cities list and please cast your vote…

Look for the Wolf Moon

Two quakes – and rumors of a third – rattle nerves in Asia; little damage reported: The two quakes, both magnitude 6.3, jangled nerves across the Indian Ocean region hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami. Resources: Current earthquake list in left column of this page, maps and more in the right column of our National/Int’l page | Tsunami aid link near top right of this page

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Monday: 1. Boston 2. New York City 3. Baltimore 4. Providence 5. Washington, D.C. … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Blizzard ‘05:

• Storm 5th largest to hit Boston area in recorded weather history | Death toll reaches 20
• Snow Totals: Salem and Plymouth, Mass., 38 inches; North of Boston, 31 inches; Worcester, Mass., 24.1 inches; NOAA: Total snow accumulations in some parts of Mass. may exceed 6 feet in height due to blowing and drifting snow; New Hampshire: 24 inches; Providence, 23.4 inches; Boston, 22.5 inches; New York’s Catskills: 20 inches; Long Island, 19.6 inches; Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island and the eastern tip of New York’s Long Island, 18 inches; Brooklyn, 17.5 inches; NYC’s Central Park, 13.8 inches; Philly and Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and northern Ohio: aprox. 12 inches.
• Story: Lethal blizzard buries Northeast: At least 14 deaths linked to storm: Wind gusted to 84 mph on Nantucket | Latest stories from Google News
• Summary from NOAA: Blizzard buries New England in record snow | Latest NWS watches/warnings
• Current U.S. snow cover map from Intellicast/NOAA (also in our National/Int’l page
• Bitter Cold: Current U.S. temperatures map | Wind chill map
• Airport delays (also in the city pages to the right)
• Video reports from Weather.com
• News/video coverage from WNBC-TV, NYC and WCVB-TV, Boston

Other News: Tsunami warning system wins approval | Tsunami aid

and finally … perched atop The Drudge Report this morning: Countdown to global catastrophe: Climate change report warns point of no return may be reached in 10 years, leading to droughts, agricultural failure and water shortages

Top 10 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Sunday: 1. Boston 2. New York City 3. Providence 4. Philadelphia 5. Pittsburgh 6. Baltimore 7. Portland, ME 8. Syracuse 9. Hartford 10. Chicago … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Farewell, Johnny: Johnny Carson dies at 79… My first memory of watching television was coverage of the Nov. 1980 Presidential election, and my first memory of watching television when I was supposed to be asleep followed about five years later as I caught The Tonight Show for the first time. Since then, I haven’t had a good night’s rest. Instead, I have stayed up to watch Johnny, then David Letterman on NBC, then David Letterman on CBS and Conan O’Brien. I remember well Johnny’s last night on the air on May 22, 1992, and still have a VHS tape (somewhere) of his last show, which I recorded off a station I later worked at, WDIV in Detroit. Many posting at Fark.com are already proving that he is deeply missed. I took the picture to the right of Johnny Carson’s boyhood home while driving from South Dakota to Texas last summer (click for larger image). Thanks, Johnny, for so many years of entertainment!

Updated Snowfall Totals: Boston Area, 20-30 Inches: Coverage from WCVB-TV, Boston | Boston Herald coverage | NWS forecast NYC, 12-18 Inches: WNBC-TV coverage … Resources: Regional radar image from Wunderground | NWS loop | Watches/warnings map and latest forecast | weather/webcams/delays, etc. for NYC, Boston and U.S. … Much more on the winter storm from the Midwest to the Northeast in yesterday’s entry.

Other Weather News: Winter Games: Snowy Sunday for NFC, AFC title games | Sunday, Eagles have to weather the storm

Blizzard Hits Canada: Massive blizzard pummels Ontario | ‘It is Canada’

Top 10 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Saturday: 1. New York City 2. Boston 3. Pittsburgh 4. Philadelphia 5. Chicago 6. Baltimore 7. Washington, D.C. 8. Detroit 9. Toronto 10. Buffalo … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.