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

Mayor: Thousands May Be Dead In New Orleans: Gov. Orders New Orleans Abandoned; Navy ships en route as crisis deepens for mostly-flooded city | Live Updates: WWL-TV 4, New Orleans and NOLA.com/Times-Picayune | Messages from Katrina survivors and ’searching for’ forum … Thousands of evacuees to go from Superdome to Astrodome | Mayor: It could take months to get residents home | New Orleans Mayor “very upset” that attempt to fix the breach in the levee at the 17th Street canal failed, said the challenges that the city is facing have “escalated to another level.” | Rescuers struggle to reach Katrina survivors: Death toll expected to be in the hundreds | 3 die inside hot, leaking Superdome arena shelter: rising water means site needs evacuation … Mississippi Search-And-Rescue Effort continues amid death toll above 100, debris and big damage … Louisiana governor calls for prayer

Help Storm Victims: Salvation Army | FEMA | American Red Cross: 1-800-HELP-NOW | Catholic Charities

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Tuesday: 1. New Orleans 2. Mobile 3. Nashville 4. Toronto 5. Jackson … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Governor Evacuates Flooded New Orleans; 100 Dead In Miss.: Rescuers pushed aside the dead to reach the living in a race against time and rising waters … Broken levees fix fails after water pours from Lake Pontchartrain into streets of New Orleans — now almost completely flooded. Estimated 3,000 rooftop rescues by Tuesday; Death toll at 100 in one Miss. county … Updates from WWL-TV 4, New Orleans and NOLA.com Weblog … N.O. Mayor: Hundreds, if not thousands, of people may still be stuck on roofs, in attics | Dozens die at Biloxi, Miss., beach apartment | Mayor of Biloxi: “This is our tsunami” | Looting begins | At least 40,000 homes reportedly flooded in St. Bernard Parish, east of New Orleans | Almost 3 million without power, 900,000 in Miss. | Katrina’s storm total rainfall amounts through 1 p.m. Tuesday

Entire New Orleans neighborhoods are under water up to rooflines; Downtown Mobile is flooded; boats have crashed into buildings; A shelter to thousands, Superdome suffers damage; Major roof damage reported in Gulfport, Miss.; Storm surge recorded at 22 feet in Bay St. Louis; Power to downtown New Orleans may not be restored for months. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their loved ones…

Hurricane Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds at 6:10 a.m. Monday CDT near Buras, Miss. [map], and again as a Cat. 3 with 125 mph winds at 10 a.m. CDT on the La./Miss. border.

Weather/Webcam Images: Credit: GOES 12 Satellite, NASA, NOAA. Katrina on Sunday. Large version, details

Excellent MSNBC image slideshow (Opens new window) 2 | Miami images | Real-time & archived satellite imagery | Storm radar | Regional radar | NWS radar, loop, 24 hr. storm precipitation totals | hurricane tracker | Current watches/warnings map | New Orleans weather/cams | Mobile | Jackson | Birmingham | Memphis | Nashville | Other cities | More images in the red box (right) and in the post below…

TV Stations Taken Off Air … From Biloxi: “WLOX-TV 13 has suffered roof damage due to the high winds of Hurricane Katrina. Some parts of the building have one foot of standing water due to the leaking roof.” … But, it later resumes broadcasting … From Mobile: “WPMI NBC 15 is temporarily off the air. We were broadcasting on generator power, but a lightning hit took us off the air.”

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

Category 4 Hurricane Katrina Makes Landfall: Katrina comes ashore at 6:10 a.m. CDT near Grande Isle, La. Superdome roof ripped as Katrina slams New Orleans | Other damage reports | First-ever mandatory evacuation | Coverage from MSNBC WDSU Nola.com Al.com USA Today Latest stories | NHC: Katrina, a Cat. 4 with 140 mph maximum sustained winds is expected to bring a storm surge 18 to 22 feet above normal and local storm surge flooding as high as 28 feet and 5-10 inches of rain/isolated 15 inches. The worst is expected east of New Orleans into Mississippi and Alabama | Detailed text warnings Images: NWS radar, loop, storm precip. 1 & 2 | Satellite | loop | IR satellite | loop | Interactive | hurricane tracker | Watches/warnings map & zoom | Webcams: NOLA Parade Cam | Quarter Cam | River Cam | New Orleans weather/cams | Mobile | Jackson | Other cities

Streaming Video Of Live Coverage: WWL-TV 4, New Orleans stream … direct link to player | WSDU-TV 6, New Orleans … direct link | WLOX-TV 13, Biloxi, MS stream | WPMI-TV 15, Mobile, AL stream | WKRG-TV 5, Mobile, AL stream | WJTV-TV 12, Jackson, MS stream | Weather Plus WTVJ-TV 6, Miami | Subscription Video Feeds: HurricaneNow.com | Hurricane LiveNet.com … Thanks Jerry Slegh of Prairie City, IA | Near-Live Reports: AccuWeather | Weather.com | Live Audio: WTIX-AM 690, New Orleans | WPMI-AM 710, Mobile | WJBO-AM 1150, Baton Rouge, LA | Streaming radio stations across the U.S. (look for lightning bolts; news/talk best bet)

Help Storm Victims: FEMA | American Red Cross: 1-800-HELP-NOW | Catholic Charities | Salvation Army

Track Katrina: Katrina’s forecast track, track models, and advisory (latest data/images also in red box) | Interactive tracker | Local weather observations: NO, Biloxi, Mobile

NOAA Satellite Images: From 6:45 p.m. CDT Sunday and 5:45 a.m. CDT Monday. Links to large, live versions…

Other Images: New Orleans traffic info and cams | WWL-TV 4 traffic cams | Viewer images from S. Florida

Blog Coverage: WKRG-TV 5, Mobile storm watch blog | WPMI-TV 15, Mobile weather blog | WMBB-TV 13 storm blog | CapitalWeather.com | Central Florida Hurricane Center | Weather.com Blog | Hurricanetrack.com | Moreweather.com | WX-MAN’s Perspective | WeatherBlog | Report for WeatherBug Backyard | Message Boards: Eastern U.S. Weather Forum | TalkWeather.com | Storm2K | Weather.com Forum

Dire warning posted on the National Weather Service warnings page Sunday morning.

School, Other Closings In La., Ala.: From WDSU-TV 6 and WWL-TV 4 school closings and other cancellations. These links are also posted in our New Orleans page (lower right column) | WKRG-TV 5, Mobile closings | WMBB-TV 13, Mobile closings | WPMI-TV 15, Mobile closings

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Sunday: 1. New Orleans 2. Mobile 3. Panama City 4. Shreveport 5. Lafayette … and on Saturday: 1. New Orleans 2. Key West 3. Mobile 4. Miami 5. Dallas/Fort Worth … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Katrina To Strike As Major Hurricane, Takes Aim At New Orleans: Bush declares state of emergency for La., Coast evacuates | Coverage from Nola.com, Al.com and MSNBC | Hurricane Katrina, now a Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds, is expected to strengthen to a Cat. 4 or possibly a 5 with winds above 155 mph by the time it hits the Gulf Coast somewhere in or just east of the New Orleans area by early Monday. A direct hit on New Orleans would almost certainly bring a storm surge of 15 to 18 feet and catastrophic damage… | New Orleans nervously watches Katrina’s progress | Katrina’s forecast track and track models | Warnings map | Latest stories | Viewer images from S. Florida | New Orleans weather/webcam images

Floridians wait for food after storm hits

Sighs of relief in Homestead despite major flooding from Katrina

Help Storm Victims: American Red Cross: 1-800-HELP-NOW | FEMA | Catholic Charities | Salvation Army

Weather Channel’s emotional climate

Space News: It’s Mars Hoax Day!

Astronomy Picture of the Day: Get your 3D glasses out … 3D International Space Station

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Friday: 1. Key West 2. Miami 3. Cape Coral/Ft. Myers 4. Tampa 5. Orlando … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Flooding, Damage As Katrina Slams S. Florida: South Florida cleans up after Katrina; 6 confirmed dead (Many resources/images inside story, including interactive hurricane tracker): Widespread flooding and storm damage reported. The National Hurricane Center calls it a “significant heavy rainfall event.” | WTVJ-TV 6 live video stream | Submit/view images of Katrina | MSNBC coverage | Storm total precipitation | Radar | Warnings | Track | Latest stories | More below and in red box

Live Streaming Video: WTVJ-TV 6, Miami (NBC) video stream and NBC Weather Plus stream (look for Weather Plus icon) | WFOR-TV, Miami (CBS) | Weather Plus: WESH-TV 2, Orlando | Live Audio: WIOD-AM 610, Miami | Streaming radio stations across the U.S. (look for lightning bolts; news/talk best bet) | Latest Data: Map of weather watches and warnings, latest data and track, which shows that Katrina is expected to strengthen in the Gulf of Mexico, hitting the Gulf Coast — likely somewhere between Louisiana and Florida’s Panhandle — as a major hurricane by Monday. Get the latest updated info and images in the red box to the right…

Live Images: Storm total precipitation through 5:34 p.m. EDT Friday (links to large, updated image):

Other Live Images: NWS S. Florida radar, zoom … animated loop and storm total precipitation | Intellicast storm radar summary | Wunderground regional radar | Visible satellite and loop | IR satellite and loop | Interactive satellite image and hurricane tracker | 24-hour rainfall amounts | Weather/webcams for Miami, West Palm Beach, Cape Coral/Ft. Myers, Key West, and Panhandle. Other cities here

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Thursday: 1. Miami 2. West Palm Beach 3. Orlando 4. Key West 5. Tampa … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Hurricane Katrina Makes Landfall; Flooding Biggest Threat: 2 dead as Hurricane Katrina slams S. Florida with 80 mph winds, leaves more than a million customers without power (Many resources and images inside story, including interactive hurricane tracker) | MSNBC story … 11 p.m. EDT Thur. Update: Katrina, now 20 miles NW of Homestead, made landfall at about 7 p.m. EDT between Hallandale Beach and N. Miami Beach as a Category 1 hurricane with 80 mph maximum sustained winds. Port Everglades reported wind gusts to 92 mph. Katrina is moving southwest at 8 mph (Latest data in red box). | Latest Katrina news

Live Streaming Video: WTVJ-TV 6, Miami (NBC) video stream and NBC Weather Plus stream (look for Weather Plus icon) | WFOR-TV, Miami (CBS) | WPBF-TV 25, West Palm Beach | Weather Plus: WESH-TV 2, Orlando | Live Audio: WIOD-AM 610, Miami | Streaming radio stations across the U.S. (look for lightning bolts; news/talk best bet) | Latest Data: Map of weather watches and warnings, latest data and track, which shows that this is expected to redevelop into a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, affecting the Gulf Coast — likely Florida’s Panhandle — by early Monday. Get the latest updated info and images in the red box to the right…

Live Images: NWS S. Florida radar … animated loop and storm total precipitation | Intellicast storm radar summary | Wunderground regional radar | Visible satellite and loop | IR satellite and loop | Interactive satellite image and hurricane tracker | 24-hour rainfall amounts | Weather/webcams for Miami, West Palm Beach, Cape Coral/Fort Myers, Orlando/C. Fla., Tampa, Key West, and the Panhandle . Other cities here

Blog Coverage: Central Florida Hurricane Center | CapitalWeather.com | Hurricanetrack.com | Moreweather.com | WX-MAN’s Perspective | WeatherBlog | Report for WeatherBug Backyard | Message Boards: Eastern U.S. Weather Forum | TalkWeather.com | Storm2K | Weather.com Forum

Related News: Crude oil rises to $68 as storm threatens Gulf of Mexico output

Katrina won’t stop MTV VMA parties

WeatherBug(R) supports National Weather Service with live, neighborhood level data for Katrina/hurricane season

Other Weather News: Sweltering late-summer heat and the loss of key transmission lines Thursday forced power officials in Southern California to impose rolling blackouts, leaving as many as half a million people without power for an hour at a time, officials said. Full story

Big storms, heavy rain prompts flash flood warnings in southeastern Kansas overnight

Heavy rains cause havoc in southern Arizona

Europe struggles amid flood chaos

Weather forecasts being improved with added data

57 survive plane crash in Peruvian jungle believed to be caused by wind shear

New study ranks Canadian weather winners

Minor earthquake reported in western N.C. … Quake wire in left column of this page

Nice aurora image at SpaceWeather.com

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Wednesday: 1. Miami 2. West Palm Beach 3. Orlando 4. Kansas City 5. Wichita … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Tropical Storm Katrina heads for Florida: Meteorologists say Katrina could become a hurricane by landfall and it could dump a foot of rain or more in South Florida. | Storm has Florida on hurricane watch: Landfall expected late Thursday in southern part of state | WeatherBug Backyard sets up place to send Katrina stories

Other Weather News: Tropical storm Jose hits Mexico, loses power

President OKs disaster aid for tornado damage in Wyo.

Funnel cloud forms near Kennedy Space Center (Image, video inside)

New radar system developed to monitor space weather

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Tuesday: 1. Dallas/Fort Worth 2. Tucson 3. Atlanta 4. Phoenix 5. Charlotte … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Tropical Storm Jose Forms Off Coast Of Mexico: Reuters story | Latest advisory and 3-day forecast track map … More details are in the red box to the right.

Other Weather News: Mexican insurers: Hurricane Emily claims total U.S.$200 million in Mexico

Better technology credited with fewer tornado deaths | Death toll still low from tornadoes

Wright, Wyo. sits in ‘black hole’ of Doppler radar coverage

Withering in the drought: Lack of rain erodes profits in lawn, garden, agriculture industries

Pilot ignored weather warnings, says report

Space News: Aurora alert issued after sunspot 798 explosions

Quake News: Magnitude 4.5 quake shakes Rome, coastal towns … The quake wire is in the left column of this page.

PS. Happy Birthday to my wife! I love you!

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Monday: 1. Atlanta 2. Oklahoma City 3. Dallas/Fort Worth 4. Orlando 5. Toronto … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Weather News: Wisconsin tornado damage estimate climbs to $21 million in Dane County

Cleanup continues after two tornadoes hit parts of southwestern Ontario

Large tropical wave near Africa could build

Lightning strikes leave 19,000 in Michigan without power

Tornadoes, flash floods hit Northeast Ohio

Storms bring fresh flooding concerns to Colorado

Mt. St. Helens quakes

Space News: Shuttle back home after California detour

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Sunday: 1. Boston 2. Los Angeles 3. Dallas/Fort Worth 4. Toronto 5. Oklahoma City … and on Saturday: 1. Toronto 2. Cleveland 3. Chicago 4. Oklahoma City 5. Pittsburgh … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Weather News: Severe storms are moving across Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky this afternoon, affecting Columbus and Dayton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Louisville. Get the latest watches and warnings, and weather/webcams for your city

Kansas storms knock out power, leave trail of damage | Wicked weather hits Kansas

Storms leave Illinois State Fair without power

Ontario endures severe storms, tornado warnings

Wisconsin, hit by nearly 20 tornadoes, starts cleanup

Inspector accused of soliciting bribes after Hurricane Ivan

Tsunami-notification woes discussed: Report details response to a quake off the Oregon Coast in June

Space News: Space shuttle heads home to Florida: Discovery making cross-country trip aboard a modified 747

Sunspot 798′s getting bigger

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Friday: 1. Toronto 2. Kansas City 3. Indianapolis 4. Buffalo 5. Vancouver … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Weather News: Wisconsin tornado kills 1, injures at least 8: Caught on tape: Wisconsin twisters | Witness: sky just exploded | Tornadoes roar through state’s center damaging homes, uprooting trees and knocking down power lines … See the storm reports maps from the National Weather Service

Million-watt weather radar is a dud, KSTP claims

Found on Drudge: Senators attest to Alaska climate change

Two amazing photos posted at SpaceWeather.com: Aurora in field image and lightning strike

And some pictures I took: The first two are of a stormy sky over Fort Worth on Aug. 15, and the full moon on Aug. 18. The third is of a lightning strike during a pop-up storm in far north Fort Worth on Aug. 7. The first two images link to large versions in a new window:

Check out the image archive: WXphotos Gallery

Space News: NASA pushes back next launch date to 2006

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Thursday: 1. Milwaukee 2. Chicago 3. Indianapolis 4. Green Bay 5. Orlando … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

A few weather news stories this morning…

Heavy rain hits eastern North Dakota | Current National Weather Service watches/warnings map

Lightning fires burning near inhabited areas inside Yosemite National Park

85% of Wright, Wyo. tornado victims don’t have insurance

Weather, technical glitch delay Discovery’s return to Florida spaceport

Ft. Worth Photo On Today: If you were watching NBC’s Today Show at 8:05 a.m. EDT Wednesday, you would have seen a picture I snapped in March, which was featured for “Today’s Pick City” image. During my day job at the NBC affiliate in Fort Worth, the weather team received an e-mail asking for a skyline shot, and Meteorologist Rebecca Miller sent this one… From the original Mar. 10 blog post: I managed to snap this shot of the Fort Worth skyline from Beach Street over Interstate 30 on Wednesday (thanks to a Wal-Mart truck making a slow left and causing me to wait at the light). Image links to larger version in a new window:

See many more images in the WXphotos Gallery

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Wednesday: 1. Dallas/Fort Worth 2. Atlanta 3. Houston 4. Charlotte 5. Minneapolis/St. Paul … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Weather News: Hurricane Irene closes Jersey Shore beaches

July sets record for tropical storms

Hot, dry weather fuels wildfires raging across thousands of acres in Northwest

Wacky weather has folks wondering

National Weather Service confirms Indiana tornado

NWS in Fort Worth deploys notification system for emergency management agencies: Press release

2 Texas reporting stations top 6 inches of rain

Quake Update: Magnitude-7.2 earthquake struck northeastern Japan, triggering a small tsunami and shaking skyscrapers as far away as Tokyo. At least 59 people were reportedly injured. Full story

Space News: Russian breaks Space record

Study describes bar at center of Milky Way

Delta 4 scrubs again

World Of Webcams: Logitech webcam’s new window on the PC

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Tuesday: 1. Dallas/Fort Worth 2. Houston 3. Atlanta 4. Oklahoma City 5. Washington, D.C. … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Download WXnation Podcast #6 – August 16, 2005
(Time: 12:12; Size 5.7 MB) Right click/'Save Target As' or 'Save Link As'

Major Quake Hits N. Japan: [Originally posted @ 11:53 pm EDT Mon.] At least 14 injured as quake hits northern Japan: Tsunami warning was issued for the coast of Miyagi state, about 190 miles north of Tokyo, and some buildings had been damaged, according to TV reports. | Magnitude reported between 6.8 and 7.2 — USGS | AP story… As always, the live quake wire data is in the left column of this page.

Drilling was completed last week on an 8.5-inch-wide hole that goes more than 2 miles into an active seismic zone of the San Andreas Fault at Parkfield, Calif. Full story

Weather News: Newly released WeatherBug(R) Plus 6.1 adds digital forecast, lightning data Images of the new features from WeatherBug.

The new logo for The Weather Channel is in place, and debuting Sept. 17, a four-hour Saturday morning news program with a “Good Morning America”-style approach, featuring an anchor without a meteorological background.

Flooding hits parts of West Texas and Southern Oklahoma

Thousands of people in the Northeast were without power for alarm clocks and air conditioners Monday morning following waves of violent thunderstorms. More details

Wyoming town celebrating despite deadly tornado

Perseid meteors and the Milky Way digital mosaic

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Monday: 1. Dallas/Fort Worth 2. Houston 3. Los Angeles 4. Indianapolis 5. New York City … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.

Weather News: Lightning strikes Oklahoma man — for the fourth time

Long Island damage reportedly from twister | Stormy weather pushes PGA to Monday finish

Storms in Connecticut leave thousands in the dark and cause power outages across Massachusetts

NYC gets heat advisory for Sunday, after temperature reaches 100 Saturday at La Guardia

St. Louis-area storms on Saturday down trees, limbs and utility lines

Record temps hit Alaska’s Interior

From somewhere even hotter, thanks to the Astronomy Picture of the Day

Wyo. residents sift through rubble after deadly tornado

Irene moves away from the East Coast and becomes the third hurricane of the season

Tropical Storm Sanvu kills 2 in S. China

Except for 1906, California quakes have keen timing

Weekend In Granbury: I spent the weekend with my wife in Granbury, Texas — a small, historic town about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth. It was my first time down there, and we had a great time. The highlight was the bed and breakfast where we stayed – American Heritage House (pictured — images link to large versions). It’s located a few blocks northwest of the historic downtown square. The large porch and large rooms made it an easy decision, as did its’ very informative Web site, which features many pictures and very simple online booking.

In attempts to finally pull off a surprise, after shopping downtown, I drove my wife toward the B&B, though she didn’t know yet that we were spending the night down there and a room was booked. It was funny because I was just about to pull into the driveway of the B&B when she said, “I want to spend a night at a bed and breakfast sometime.” So I replied, “How about this one?”

Anyway, Ron Bleeker was an excellent host. We had never been to a B&B, but the breakfast was unbelievably good, and Ron had some great stories to tell about the town and some of the goings on at the hotel. And I’m not a breakfast person. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve eaten breakfast in the morning since I was in my late teens. If you’re thinking of a similar getaway, I highly recommend this one…

Downtown Granbury just before storm rolls in Saturday afternoon (Image links to large version):

Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Sunday: 1. Boston 2. Dallas/Fort Worth 3. New York City 4. Las Vegas 5. Phoenix … and on Saturday: 1. Kansas City 2. Indianapolis 3. St. Louis 4. Oklahoma City 5. Chicago … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.