Soggy September September 29, 2008

After a two to five inch drenching from last Thursday through the weekend, the monthly rainfall total at BWI-Marshall has reached 6.73″.  This is in stark contrast to last September, which came in as the 4th driest September on record for Baltimore, with just 0.35″ of rain at BWI-Marshall airport.  But wet Septembers have been [...]

Tropical Storm Wannabe September 24, 2008

Low pressure off the Carolina coast is looking more and more like a tropical storm, but as of late Wednesday afternoon the National Hurricane Center has not classified this as “Kyle”, the next name on the tropical storm list.  To be officially classified as a “tropical storm”, the cyclone would need sustained winds of at [...]

Autumn Startup September 23, 2008

Autumn has started appropriately with pleasantly cool temperatures. It has remained dry with ten consecutive rain free days. It looks like that will be changing.
It appears a coastal storm will be developing and there is a fairly decent chance that the end of the week will be a little wet and windy.
NOAA Surface Forecast Map [...]

End Of Summer Ramblings September 22, 2008

Autumn begins on Monday so I thought I’d take a look back at the basic statistics of the “astronomical summer” of 2008.
Temperatures (June 20-September 21) were far from extreme this year. Only 20 days were 90 degrees or warmer:

June (20th-30th) – 3 days
July – 10 days
August – 4 days
September (1st-21st) – 3 days

Precipitation (June 20 [...]

Hurricane Ike Damage … A Picture Comparison September 19, 2008

The following series of pictures and text were provided courtesy of StormCenter Communications. The pictures clearly demonstrate the degree of destruction hurricane winds and storm surge can cause to developed coastal areas.
John Collins
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The images were taken by aircraft on September 9 and September 15, 2008,provided by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and enhanced by StormCenter Communications.  It shows the [...]

Quiet Weather on A Global Scale Today But Not In Years Past September 17, 2008

Mid Atlantic weather has been quiet and cool for the past couple of days and it looks like it will stay that way in the near future. Some shower activity is concentrated around a stalled front along the southeast coast and a weak cool front coming out of the Great Lakes has very little moisture [...]

Hurricane Ike Pictorial Review September 17, 2008

The images below are from NOAA. They review the development of Ike on its’ path to the Texas and Louisiana coast.

John Collins

Monday’s Record Rainfall September 15, 2008

The record rainfall in Baltimore on September 15 is 3.20 inches. On that date a tropical storm passed to the south and east of Baltimore. Names were not assigned to storms in those days. This storm made landfall in South Carolina as a hurricane and then turned to the northeast, crossing southeast Virginia, the Chesapeake [...]

Ike Aftermath September 15, 2008

What was Hurricane Ike has cut a long swath across the central U.S., leaving behind considerable damage from wind and rain.
Ike came on shore at Galveston, Texas with 110 mph winds. Winds were still in excess of 100 mph as the storm moved inland to Houston. The storm then turned northward, generating winds into the [...]

Ike On Shore September 13, 2008

Hurricane Ike made landfall at Galveston, Texas at 3:10am EDT with 110 mph winds, making it a strong category 2 hurricane, one mile per hour short of category 3. Ike’s hurricane force winds extended 125 miles out from the center of the storm. Tropical storm force winds extended 260 miles out from the eye.
Below is [...]