Scott Fisher's Blog

Gustav and now Hanna.
Twin tropical storms are churning, and both are forecast to become hurricanes.

The latest on Gustav, projects the storm to strengthen into a category 3 hurricane.
That would classify the storm as a "major" hurricane.

The storm will move into very warm Gulf of Mexico waters, are when it does, the winds will ramp up. 

As for the wind speeds, the wave heights, the forecast track and more....
just click the weather tab above, and get your fill of tropical maps and info.

The web page really has some great stuff, and some great tools to track these 2 storms, and any others that may come this way.

At the moment, the long range forecast pushes Gustav into Louisiana Monday or Tuesday, but that cone of uncertainty does include the upper Texas coastline.

And Hanna, looks heading to the southern US, via eastern Georgia.

Scott Fisher

With Tropical Storm Fay zigging and zagging, and then zigging again potentially across Florida, lets hope you have your hurricane tracking charts ready...and all of those colored pencils sharpened!

So..you want to track hurricanes...and do your own hurricane forecasting?

It's a lot of work, and can be a lot of fun...and you can track your progress hourly, as you go.

 

That gives you near immediate feedback as the storm moves on it way...

You can plot the data by latitude and longitude, and see how close your forecasts are to the actual plots.

Start with satellite images, and upper wind patterns.  Then move to ocean temps, and surface winds.

Then upper air features, and persistance.

 

Here's a good starting point:

 

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis/hur/
storm_1/00/index_hurpage.shtml

 

That should get you going!

 

Happy Tracking.

Scott Fisher

Bloggin' live from the KVET FREE Texas Music Series....

We are at Hills Cafe in South Austin (we being Jerry, my photograher and I)

Headliner tonight is Ryan Turner...and thanks to the recent rains...temps are almost "Cool" for a mid August afternoon in Austin!

We are still watching the radar...but storms have been very spotty so far today.

With all the low level moisture around, we can pretty much expect some isolated showers tonight and again for the next few days.

Hope you are coming out for the show...don't forget to stop by and say "Hey" to us...

Live, Local Weather 5 and 9 tonight!

 

Scott Fisher

Many spots that missed the rains Monday, are hitting the jackpot today.  More than 1.25 inches have already fallen at Camp Mabry...and the latest round of rain is knocking on the door at 4:15pm. 

We are looking at some very heavy rains with this next wave...with more scattered showers tonight and again tomorrow. 

Only isolated showers are expected Thursday and into the weekend.

Scott Fisher

Once again, we have rain on the radar...and it still appears as if the soggiest weather is yet to come.  An upper level area of low pressure is heading into Texas, and that will enhance the lift in the atmosphere, along with spiraling disturbances around the central portion of the low.

Rain will likely become more widespread on Tuesday and last at least into Wednesday.

High-Def Doppler, plus any possible watches or warnings are all at your fingertips above, just click on the weather tab!

Scott Fisher

We are watching some small showers along with an outflow boundary moving across Central Texas this Friday afternoon.  An area of low pressure is spiraling southbound, and it will settle north of us through the weekend, providing several rain chances over the next few days.  Impulses will spin around the center of the low, and pass overhead enhancing the atmospheric lift.  That will mean a few showers on Saturday, with better chances Sunday and Monday.

Track these storms with us!

The High-Def Doppler is a click away...
just click the weather tab on the top of this page!!

Happy weekend.

Scott Fisher

With hurricane season now upon us, you may be interested to know, how the Hurricane Center down in Miami determines the

city or land marker that will define coastal watches and warnings.  They call them "breakpoints", and they are basically just a

distribution of locales that mark the end or beginning of a coastal information event.

For example, when they issue those coastal advisories, instead of listing them counties...they instead issue them based on coastal landmarks.  For example, a hurricane warning may stretch from Port O'Conner in Texas...down to the Texas/Mexico Border.  Each of the starting sports and ending spots of the warning, are the breakpoints.  Of course, they run up and down the Texas Coast, the Gulf Coast, and from Florida all the way up to Maine.

Hunt for your breakpoint(s) here:  http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/breakpoints.shtml

 Scott Fisher

Nice to wake up to some rain today.  Heaviest of the rain has been north and west of Austin, with doppler (at the moment) indicating 1-1.5 inches of rain across western Gillespie County.  Frontal boundary slipping southbound and providing a focus for these showers.  The front will stall and then likely wash out overhead, giving us a chance at a few more showers into the afternoon/early evening. 

Things will return to a dry patten Wednesday, but thanks to the new found soil moisture, temperatures should be a bit cooler than the past few days.

Scott Fisher

Get your hurricane tracking chart here!

While here at the office, we track hurricanes with computers and software, there are always some who like to plot-by-hand.  The best way, is with a hurricane tracking chart!  You’ll want to grab one here:

 

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/pdf/AT_Track_chart.pdf

 

be sure and double check your latitude/longitude and be ready to plot your tracks for ’08!

 

Scott Fisher

The last few months have been just plain old hot.  June of 2008 has gone into the record books as the HOTTEST June of all-time in Austin, Texas.  The records date back to the mid 1800's and the average temperature at Camp Mabry in Austin was 87.4 degrees.  Not only did that break the old mark, it is the ONLY time in the data set...that the average for June even reached 87 degrees...
and we were nearly a half a degree hotter than that!  
 
In climatology terms...that's actually a LARGE span!!!
 
There's a great site that tracks monthly climate averages all across the country.
 
http://wxweb.meteostar.com/climate/plot/
 
What I like best, is they provide you with a map...and instead of having to type in a particular city or location...
you can just position your mouse over any city...and the data instantly pops up!
 
You can choose your month, and whether you want minimum temps or maximum temps!
 
Scott Fisher
 

Today’s blog is a lake request!  There appears to be lots and lots of data on Lake Travis…but I keep getting emails and phone calls to find some links for spots like Canyon Lake, and Lake Georgetown.  Granger Lake is on that list too….
And here’s the lake link, as promised!
http://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/cgi-bin/rcshtml.pl?pag
e=Recreation

The data is courtesy of the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Scott Fisher

Have been off the computer for a few days...it's amazing how being away from the internet for just a few days...makes you crave some "web access".

I seem to have missed all the hoopla surrounding Tropical Storm Eduoard.


Seems now...as if the storm deviated more than 50 miles north from the projections of the National Hurricane Center.  That meant the gusty winds, and the heavy downpours, all but missed the Austin Area.  We do see at least some more cloud cover today...and that has helped keep temps down a few degrees.  Additionally, we still have a somewhat unstable environment and there are select few areas picking up some isolated showers. 

These are mainly across the hill country, and the rains with them....while heavy at times, are not approaching the totals the computer models were projecting for today.

I am down the road on South Congress...at Hill's Cafe in South Austin for today's edition of the KVET Free Texas Music Series.  Skies are partly sunny.  It's about 95, and No Justice is the headliner tonight.

Hope to see some fellow bloggers down here!

Scott Fisher

One week ago today, Texans were bracing for Hurricane Dolly.
Today we are right around the 100 degree mark, and looking at a stretch of more hot weather.
Today marks the 74th consecutive day, that temperatures at Camp Mabry up along MoPac, have reached the 90 degree mark
(or higher)

While we were hurricane tracking last week....today we are back at Hill's Cafe in South Austin for the KVET Free Texas Music Series!

The headliner tonight is Deryl Dodd...
We are hoping for live, local weather tonight from here "under the oaks" at Hills.

Please be sure and stop by and say "hey" when you come on down!!!

Scott Fisher

One week ago today, Texans were bracing for Hurricane Dolly.
Today we are right around the 100 degree mark, and looking at a stretch of more hot weather.
Today marks the 74th consecutive day, that temperatures at Camp Mabry up along MoPac, have reached the 90 degree mark
(or higher)

While we were hurricane tracking last week....today we are back at Hill's Cafe in South Austin for the KVET Free Texas Music Series!

The headliner tonight is Deryl Dodd...
We are hoping for live, local weather tonight from here "under the oaks" at Hills.

Please be sure and stop by and say "hey" when you come on down!!!

Scott Fisher

Yesterday’s blog find was so well received…it was worth another weather search…and once again blog gold!  This one deals with future weather control, that the author describes as “closer than we think”.  Of course, in the spirit of the paleo-future blog…that statement was penned 50 years ago…in 1958…and appeared in the Chicago Tribune.

 

It’s another great read….

I hope someone is enjoying these as much as I am!

 

Scott Fisher