Entries from August 2009
Some bands of strong thunderstorms rolled through the area during the afternoon and evening. With the high humidity levels, these storms had a lot of water to work with.
A corridor of heavy rain stretched from greater Toledo southwestward into Putnam and Defiance counties. Areas shaded in orange picked up 2 to 3 inches of rain (there were even some isolated higher totals). There was another smaller band of heavier rain in northern Williams county.
Elsewhere, areas shaded in the yellows received between 1 and 2 inches of rain. Areas in green picked up between 1/2 and 1 inch of rain.
Tags: Weather Data & Stats
The New Englander Rain Barrel Company stopped by a couple weekends ago and there are still stuff available!!!
If you are interested in either a rain barrel or compost bin contact Katie Swartz. She has both available and they are in the Toledo area.
Contact Info:
(419)936-3759
New Englander Rain Barrel
Bio-Orb Composter
Tags: Uncategorized
Early Monday morning featured three named tropical systems.
1) Tropical Storm Claudette — formed early Sunday morning and made landfall around 2 am EDT today in the Florida Panhandle. Claudette will continue to weaken over the next 24 hours.
2) Tropical Depression Ana — formed late last week in the eastern Atlantic. It has been in a weakened state the last few days. It should remain a weak system as it tracks from the eastern Caribbean into the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Latest forecast models suggest a landfall later this week near Florida.
3) Hurricane Bill — formed Saturday morning and became a hurricane at 5 am today. Bill will track to the west and northwest, possibly affecting the eastern USA or Bermuda by the weekend or early next week.
You can track tropical systems with the WTOL Hurricane Tracker HERE.
The website for the National Hurricane Center can be found HERE.
The storms were named in the order they formed — so that is why the storm affecting the southeast is named with a C.
The names for tropical systems are from 6 lists that cycle over the years. When a large storm creates damage (Andrew, Katrina), the name is retired and replaced.
The names alternate male & female during the season, as well as season to season (ie, 2010 season will feature the A storm being male, Alex). There are different sets of names for the Pacific. You can see the list of names HERE.
Tropical storms and hurricanes are called cyclones when they occur west of the international dateline (Indian Ocean and western Pacific).
Tags: Uncategorized
Toledo Express Airport hit 94° at 3:42 pm Sunday.
That tied the record from 1987.
Highs across the region ranged 90° to 95°
Tags: Weather Data & Stats
High pressure will dominate our weather the next few days, keeping things dry. The next chance of rain looks to be early next week — Tuesday and Wednesday.
We are still in that part of summer where we really need about an inch of rain each week to keep things green and crops healthy.
Thunderstorms from Tuesday did provide decent rain to some parts of our viewing area, but not all.
Toledo Express Stats:
August precip: 0.70″ -0.46″ below normal
Total this year: 25.16″ +4.59″ above normal
Tags: Weather Data & Stats
The meteor showers hit their peak this morning. See more details at http://www.wtol.com/global/story.asp?s=10889185
Tags: Astronomy
The tropics are finally starting to get a little active. We are watching two little cloud clusters in the Atlantic and near the Caribbean.
The National Hurricane Center has designated the system in the eastern Atlantic as Tropical Depression # 2 of the year. It is forecast to strengthen over the next few days. Once the winds reach 39 mph, it will be named Tropical Storm Ana. As of right now, it should not affect any land areas in the next few days.
Tags: Tropics
A weak cold frontal passage, plus a little dip in the jet stream, will allow slightly cooler and less humid air in today into Thursday morning. However, temps will jump back into the upper 80s by the end of the work-week, and hit or surpass 90° this weekend. The humidity will also increase a bit as it heats up.
Tags: Forecast Discussions
Dew point, and how it relates to your comfort
A lot of times on the newscasts, we refer to the dew point. It can be a confusing number, but there are some aspects of it that will be beneficial to you, especially in the summer.
The dew point is the temperature at which the current air will saturate. This number goes up and down depending upon the air mass. But unlike relative humidity, it is a more reliable number.
Relative humidity is the humidity value of the air, relative to the current temperature. You know that 100% relative humidity in the middle of summer feels totally different than 100% humidity in the winter. Both values are accurate in their situation. In the winter, the cold air won’t hold as much moisture….so, 100% humidity then means the cold air is saturated.
But, in summer, the warm/hot air can hold a lot of moisture…so the 100% humidity value for that temperature can be extremely uncomfortable.
Here is a guide to know what dew point means in the summer:
Values in the 50s:
Very comfortable. If the air temperature is pretty warm, say in the upper 80s, but the dew points are in the 50s, you won’t notice any muggy feel in the air at all.
Dew point around 60:
This is when you start to notice the air isn’t as comfortable anymore. It isn’t muggy, but this is the level when most people start to notice a little jump out of the true comfort zone. People with respiratory ailments will start to notice this jump, and may find breathing a little more difficult than normal.
Dew point around 65:
At this point, the air is starting to get pretty humid. With dew points in the mid/upper 60s, our bodies start reacting to it. It takes longer to cool off, since the humid air won’t allow sweat to evaporate off your body easily. Think about it like this: if you hang a wet towel up in a steamy bathroom, or you paint a room when it’s really muggy, it takes a long time for that object to dry out. Also, for people with respiratory problems, higher dew points like these start making breathing more difficult, and create the need for using oxygen.
Dew point around 70:
This is the level when most people start using words like muggy, tropical, sultry, etc.
This is how it feels along the Gulf Coast and areas like Houston in mid-summer. When combined with hot temperatures, dewpoints in the 70s create high heat index values, and contribute to heat exhaustion or heat stroke for those exposed to the heat and humidity.
Dew point around 80:
Not commonly achieved in the US, but dew points of 80 are akin to a rain forest climate. We occasionally see dew points this high in the southern USA during extreme situations in the summer. In our part of the world, some mid/upper 70s dew points do occur at times during the summer, but are more exceptions versus typical.
A shorter and quicker guide:
Below 60 – nice. Around 60 – a little humid. Around 70 – very muggy.
Tags: Mike's Stuff
After only two 90° days this year (94° on June 25, and 93° on June 24), and a very cool July, we should see a significant change this weekend. Ninety-degree weather will return to the area, along with muggy conditions.
We are still running behind last year’s levels, and WAY below 2007′s hot summer. By this point in 2007, we had achieved a total of 18 days with 90° or hotter. That summer would see 6 more 90° days by the end of the season.
Tags: Weather Data & Stats
