Foul Weather Blogger

Recently, I've had several comments from my faithful minions that I have been eerily quiet with my postings.  Admittedly, I have not been as faithful to the Google blogger as I have been to the Cybex Arc Trainer!  I have been however posting a few quick tweets from time to time to give those of you who follow my tweeting a quick "heads-up" as to what the wonderful world of weather might hold in store for us.  And what it has up its sleeve for this weekend is the potential for a news-making storm for New England and northern NY in terms of a late season snowfall, and for us here in central PA, a nice cold soaking rain storm that will instantly make trees go full foliage and allow the grass to grow quicker than the East High girls 4x100m relay team moves their baton around the 400 m track!  But before we go there, lets look at yesterday...here is a wx-gram for the temp and humidities...note the high temp was only 86F whereas the record high for the day was 89F.  Yes, it was near record breaking heat, but the core of the hottest air actually moved "over the top" and was found in upstate NY and New England.  We did spend several hours in the low to mid 80s yesterday which made it so summer-like for a mid-April Patriot Day.

However, during the early morning hours, an air mass front passed through PA and was ushered in on some rather gusty wind shift air movements.  Take a look...note the wind shift from SW last evening to NW at this time. 

And along with that comes much cooler air at all levels which creates the widespread cloudiness that we are experiencing Tuesday as seen on this visible satellite pic.  There is also a minor little disturbance on the southern part of the front that will create some light precip just to the south of PA on Wednesday, but we should remain dry through Sunday.

As for us, high pressure will rule the roost until this anomalous storm spins up this weekend.  Here you can see how the cooler and shall I even say drier air has made the air pressure rise over the last few hours and making for clear sailing through the skies of central PA with VFR wx across the state.

Now onto the weekend...here is a cursory glance at the 500 mb level with a phasing storm system, albeit not as deep as previous runs and showing signs of a more "positive" tilt to the trough axis as had been previously modeled by our numerical forecasters!

And the surface reflection of the upper air as seen below for the same time...

There is substantial agreement amongst the global numerical modeling as seen here with my usual favorite, the Euro.  Take note to the position of the low pressure over northern FL.  Both the GFS and ECMWF show very close cyclogenesis positions...pretty awesome...eh?

And a day later after the low races up the coast, cold air rushes in on the back side of the deepening gale center that will be pulling up into the maritimes of O Canada!  Look at that early season heat building out in the deserts of the 4 corners...no wonder the ball carries so well at Chase Field in Phoenix!  So early next week after a soaker of a Sunday, we are looking at some fairly cool wx for this time of year, but after all, it is late April and temperature swings should be the norm!

And speaking of "norm" and not so "norm", look at the outbreak of severe wx this past weekend and the number of tornadoes that were spawned by this front that just passed through here last night.  Just 2 crazy days has our Tornado Total above normal...this is, in my opinion, a graphic that speaks volumes for severe wx...

And I know that the global warming crowd touts this extreme wx thanks to all of this phony baloney nonsense that you and me are solely responsible for causing this anomalous wx.  Well, I wonder where these folks will be if the Japanese Numerical Climate Prediction (JMA) comes to fruition for this summer period of June, July, and August?

Heck, there might be some GW bridge jumping if this upcoming winter prediction from the JMA verifies!!??!!  At the very least, maybe natural gas prices will rebound some?  NatGas lowest in a decade!  Wow!  Maybe not after next winter...!

OK...gotta get to the foot doctor so he can work his magic and allow me to kick out caloric workouts on the cardio equipment.  Some of you know how ugly my dogs (not Ziggy and Zola) are and at times they can get the better of me.  However, the good doctor makes 'em feel like new for a quarter and its off to the races...as it might be for the sweeping Flyers.  How about that?  Now I know most of you don't really give a hoot about the NHL, but there is something special about the Stanley Cup run, especially when the team you're rooting on is doing well in the first round.  Can only hope it continues if they get past those potentially pesky Penguins.  Here is a nice retro glance at the Broad Street Bullies and Fred Shero's boys...Glory Days...

Hey, since the Phillies games out on the west coast are ending just an hour or two before I awaken, I change my focus to the boys of winter and spring...

Have a good week!

Smitty

AA:  Near record heat Monday followed by dry and seasonable wx through the weekend.  A major storm system looks to be impacting us primarily on Sunday giving about 1.50" rain across most of the eastern part of PA.  Then a cool shot to follow and then once again becoming seasonal for the middle and latter part of the last full week of April.  Here is next Saturday's temperature anomaly from the GFS.  Slightly above normal...GW you know!