Snow chances?

I couldn't believe it either, but there is a chance for snow tomorrow. The best chance is in the morning. We will receive a dusting at best, with no significant accumulation expected. Temperatures will warm into the 40's and any left over precipitation will turn into rain. Nighttime lows are expected to be in the mid and upper 20's for the weekend. We start to warm-up again by mid-week with rain possible on Thursday.

Operation Weather: Santiago

Hola! This is a beautiful view of the Andes Mountians in Santiago, Chile. It is appropriate that they are snow capped, because we are expecting some of that white stuff here.
Temperatures in Chile are running in the upper 70's to low 80's. We won't start to see these temperatures until summer here in central Arkansas.

Warmer weather, again?

Starting to see a pattern yet? Cold, then warm... We seem to have several days of cold and then warm. After which the cycle repeats itself. Spring is on the way!!! This time of year, we start to see warm fronts come out of the south pulling Gulf moisture with it. This warms the atmosphere and causes instability and thunderstorms. This is exactly the pattern we're in for this forecast period. Warm with chances of rain tonight through Friday as a warm front lifts out of the Gulf. Then our next cold front moves through Friday night to cool things off once again. For Thursday the NWS has central and north Arkansas with a slight risk for severe weather. Anything here in White County will be limited to heavy downpours at times with lightning and gusty winds. Average temperatures return to end the weekend and start next week.

Operation Weather: Paris

Welcome to Paris! This is today's Operation Weather destination. The photo was taken By Steve Shaner. The Eiffel Tower is beautifully illuminated as it is a center piece in Parisian society. Spring is making its presence known in France. Temperatures in the 50's make a jog in the park or walking the dog a pleasant acivity.

Operation Weather: Pisa, Italy

Today's Operation Weather takes us to Pisa, Italy. If you hadn't guessed already, Pisa is the home to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. (Photo By: Melodie Mauney)

Temperatures in Pisa are running in the 50's during the day and in the 40's at night. Not long until we will be experiencing those temperatures!

Warmer weather on the way

Yes, warmer weather is coming back to Arkansas. Along with warmer temperatures will be chances for rain. A few weak disturbances will move through Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday night our next cold front moves through bringing some better chances for rain. The front will move out on Friday with temperatures for the weekend near normal. I'm calling for rain on Saturday, but alot can change in 5 days.

A wonderful Saturday

After the rain moved out late this morning, sunny skies prevailed and the day turned out to be beautiful.  Just a little on the cool side with temperatures in the 40's.  Expect another cold night tonight with lows in the mid 20's.  Heading to church in the morning, temperatures will be in the 30's.  Highs will be in the upper 40's with nighttime lows back in the upper 20's.  Rain, as well as a warm up will come our way by mid-week.  I'll have details Monday at 5.

Operation Weather: London

Today's Operation Weather destination is London, England. London is the home of "Big Ben", the clock located on the British Parliament building. This beautiful picture was e-mailed to me by Jacob Schroeder, who went to HUE last semester.Temperatures there have moderated to almost a spring-like pattern. While we are in a pattern where we are seeing cold temperatures, with warmer temperatures mixed in, England is experiencing mild days and cool nights. In less than a month we'll be enjoying some of these milder temperatures.

Just rain

A review of the model runs today confirm my suspicion from last night. This will be an all rain event on Saturday. Extreme NWA may see a flurry or two, but even that is looking doubtful. The rest of the weekend looks dry. Temperatures will cool down again. Highs will be in the 50's and lows will be in the 20's. A warm up looks to be coming for Wednesday, along with our next chance for some showers Wednesday night.

Let is snow??

Last night I said we might have a stab at some snow flurries on Saturday.  Now its looking like any energy that could produce snow would stay to the northwest.  By the time any energy would reach us the atmosphere would be dry.  Below is a look at the 500mb chart.  It measures upper level winds and shows possible storm energy.  Mix that with any available moisture and you've got some kind of precipitation.  And if temperatures are cold, that precipitation will be snow.

Above is a look at the vater vapor model in the atmosphere between the lower and middle trophosphere.  It shows available moisture in the atmosphere.  Saturday night when the energy looks to be closest, the front and the moisture will have pushed through.  Snow is unlikely!  It looks to be all rain. Sunday looks good.  Still cool with highs in the 40's near 50.  Next week we'll see more rain as Spring is looming and this is usually the start of the rainy season here in the Natural State.

 

Operation Weather: Sydney

Today I'll be highlighting Sydney, Australia. My friend Jacob Schroeder went a year ago and was gracious enough to share some pictures with me. This is the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge at sunset. What a beautiful sight!


Sydney has just started the day on Thursday. Temps are already in the 70's with a few clouds that will be moving off shore by the afternoon. It is much warmer there! Highs are in the mid 70's and upper 80's, while lows are in the 50's. Unfortunately, we won't see temperatures like this until summer.

Windy weather update

Winds are continuing to gust to around 30mph. The NWS has extended the Lake Wind Advisory this afternoon until 4. Winds will die down after dark, but will pick up again tomorrow.

Snow on the way??

A beautiful day is ahead of us, after storms last night.  No  hail reports in White county.  Only one report of hail in the state and that was in Benton County in NWA.  A cold front is moving east today.  No rain is expected with this system.  Just some brisk winds, the NWS has issued a Lake Wind Advisory until 1pm.  Temps will be back near freezing tonight, but will start to rebound for Friday.  Friday night another stronger cold front will move south out of Canada.  This colder air will bring a chance for snow Friday night and Saturday morning.  As we get closer to Friday, I will have a good estimate for you on how much snow may fall.  right now preliminary indications are flurries with little to no accumulation.  Tune in at 5 for the latest.

iTunes U

TV16 "Live @ 5" newscasts are now on-line.  You can access it via www.harding.edu.  Follow the link "Friends and Alumni" to iTunes U.  Now you can see the forecast, as well as the days local and national news.  Enjoy!

Severe T'storms?

Light drizzle continues at the 8pm hour.  We have had a light drizzle pretty much all day.  Temperatures will get warmer throughout the night as a warm front is moving north and east.  Humidity will continue to be high tonight and tomorrow.  Low pressure moving across the central plains will bring us thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow.  The National Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma has put southern and eastern Arkansas into a slight risk for severe weather.  Strong thunderstorms producing hail is the main threat.  The best chance for severe action is to the south, as strong storms have prompted a severe thunderstorm watch there.  As the storms nove northeast I expect to see a sever thunderstorm watch posted for White County.  Thursday  things will calm down and temperatures will be back around average.  We will dry off and warm up again for the weekend!  Stay tuned to the blog for any updates.

Operation Weather: Florence

This is the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It is one of the many sites students in the HUF program will visit as they journey through Italy.

(Photo by: Steve Shaner)

The weather there is much like ours. Cool and breezy during the day and cold at night. They are in store for some rain as well later in the week.

Operation Weather

Students each semester come back from studies abroad with more pictures than they know what to do with. We are going to try to bring a new picture from each International campus every night during weather on Live at 5. I'll also feature it in the blog. Our first highlight will be from Florence, Italy. If you have pictures or know of someone who does, I'd like to put them on the air. Send pictures to sgoodale@harding.edu. Be sure to tell me which campus they are from, what the picture is of, and the way to pronounce any troublesome words. Thanks!~SHG

Rain ahead

A warming trend will continue through Wednesday. Highs may break 70 on Wednesday. Tuesday night an upper level disturbance out of Texas will bring us chances for rain. Then on Wednesday a surface level low and weak cold front moves across the central plains from California, increasing chances for storms all day Wednesday. No severe weather is expected and we will start to dry out on Thursday. Temps will be cool on Thursday, much like today with plenty of sunshine.

A derary day

After a nice relaxing weekend in Fayetteville, I'm glad to be back in Searcy.  It was a dreary day here in White County with mostly cloudy skies and fog.  Highs were in the mid 40's.  Tonight will be the coldest night we've seen in the past few weeks, with a forecast low of 28 and clear skies.  Temps will be on the rebound through Wednesday.  Wednesday night the next cold front will move through the area bringing 40's back for highs and 30's for lows.  For Presidant's Day expect high temperatures around 50 with abundant sunshine.

Blogging from Northwest Arkansas

Happy Valentines Day from Fayetteville! It was a beautiful day, eventhough it was a little cooler than Searcy has been the past couple of days. We're expecting rain here tonight. I'm expecting a few hit-or-miss showers in White County tonight as a weak disturbance moves east. You will start to feel cooler temperatures tonight and into Monday. The low Sunday night will be around 28. Highs will be in the 50's for the upcoming week. I'll be back in Searcy tomorrow night. We could see some stormy weather toward midweek! I'll have the latest regarding these storms on Monday at 5pm.

Sneezing, runny nose...Sound like you?

Allergies are starting to become a problem again. They usually do this time of year. I thought I'd share the allergy forecast provided by pollen.com and weather.com. Tree pollen and mold spores are the biggest nuisance at this time. Click on the links for more information!

A sweet looking Valentines Day

Valentine's Day look great. No rain, just breezy and abit cool. If you have travel plans this weekend, state wide travel looks good. Tonight you may run into a stray shower of two north of I-40, but othrewise it all looks great. Down to the south is a different story. Heavy rain and storms will reduce visibility on roadways.


When this cold front passes through, temps will drop once again. Highs will be in the 50's and lows will be in the 30's. Sunday night the forecast low is 27. Were not out of the woods yet, but were close. Happy Valentine's Day!!

Spring is on its way

Check out the new countdown widget.  I personally can't wait for spring to arrive.  The trees and grass will be green again.  Temperatures will be warm enough that the jackets can go back into storage until November.~SHG

Calmer weather ahead

The wind is much calmer today. We are quite abit colder than we have been the past couple of days. Temperatures are closer to normal. Lows this morning fell just below freezing. With the exception of Friday, the weekend looks very nice. Friday a weak cold front will move through, bringing chances for rain in the evening. Temperatures will drop, but nothing drastic. Valentines Day looks good with plenty of sunshine and highs in the low 50's.

An impressive past few days

The past few days have been quite eventful. Last night was the most eventful of all. We were lucky in the state of Arkansas to not have had any tornado reports. There were plenty of warnings throughout the night, but no touchdowns. The main problems in Arkansas were hail and wind. There were two hail reports in Northwest Arkansas, one in Crawford and one in Sebastian County. All across Northwest and North Central Arkansas there were numerous wind reports, with winds in excess of 60mph. White County recieved no damage reports. Rainfall totals were impressive though. Since midnight about .5in of rain fell, bringing the 3 day total to about 1.5in. This recent rain puts us above average for rainfall in February.
We will have a short dry spell tomorrow. The winds will shift becoming southeasterly at about 5mph. The Wind Advisory posted for today will expire at 6pm. Friday a weak cold front moves through and drives up rain chances. No severe weather with this system! The weekend looks dry, but cooler. Temperatures for the next five days will be closer to average. Highs will be in the 50's and lows will be in the upper 30's and 40's.

Severe Weather Update

Doppler Radar is colorful tonight, as we're watching for severe weather.

Thunderstorms are moving northeast, as the front is moving east. These squalls are capable of producing damaging winds and tornadoes.  There remains in effect a tornado watch until 5am.  A watch means conditions are favorable for the development of tornadoes.  Also a Wind Advisory is in effect until 6pm.  Storms are capable of producing winds of over 50mph.  I expect several other watches and warnings to be posted throughout the night as storms continue to trek east.  I'll be posting throughout the day and as the situation warrants.  Tune in at 5pm for a complete breakdown and a look at the weekend forecast.

A warm welcome

I want to welcome Jonathan Lindsay to the TV 16 weather staff for this semester. You can catch him every Tuesday and Thursday. I'm happy to be working with him this semester!
Welcome Jonathan!!!

Severe Weather

Today, expect heavy downpours at times with strong wind gusts. Conditions will continue to deteriorate today. The best chance for severe weather for White County is going to be tomorrow afternoon and evening. Damaging winds will be the biggest concern, but a tornado can't be ruled out. Jonathan Lindsay will have more to say about the severe weather today at 5pm. I will try to update the blog as it becomes necessary.
Also for your convienence I've added severe weather alerts to the right side of the screen. This will show any active tornado, thunderstorm, or flood alerts.

New widgets

Getting ready for our first severe weather outbreak of 2009, I've added a better radar picture from the Weather Channel.  This one shows animation and you can zoom in to street level or out to the continental US.  Also I added the same satelite/radar combo picture that we use at TV 16.  It shows whats happening on the national front as well as closer to home.  Enjoy the new widgets.

Significant 500mb energy

It's going to be extremely windy today, with non-storm gusts of up to 45mph. Making damaging wind a real possibility in any areas that thunderstorms do occur.

A low pressure system is moving east and is bringing rain to the western part of the state as we speak. I've been closely studying the 500mb charts. 500mb is the middle of the atmosphere. There is a significant amount of energy moving east and will get here on Wednesday. This energy will drive up our chances for severe weather. It will provide fast moving thunderstorms and could even produce rotating clouds. These would be the most likely to produce hail and tornadoes.
In short, the wind continues to be a nuisance. A Lake Wind Advisory remains in effect until 6pm. Late Tuesday and Wednesday, another round of storms moves our way. The best chance for severe weather looks to be on Wednesday.

NWS State Radar

I've installed the NWS Radar widget to the blog so you can see exactly what the skies look like as you're reading.  It should be interesting to watch it tomorrow through Wednesday.  Enjoy!  

Only in Arkansas!

This weekend we've enjoyed spring-like temperatures after an epic ice storm just over a week ago.  Now we're talking about severe weather this week.  I guess that's Arkansas weather at it's best.

I've been studying the models from the National Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK.  They have changed yet again, but are becoming more accurate the closer we get to Monday.  For Monday it looks like any rain we see will be late.  The better chances foir rain will be Tuesday and Wednesday.  Conditions look favorable for sqaull line development in the afternoon on Tuesday and on into Wednesday.  Our main problem here in White County will be lightning and strong winds.  But it looks like an isolated tornado and/or hail can't be totally ruled out of the forecast.    We are still experiencing strong winds.  A Lake Wind Advisory remains in effect until 6pm tomorrow.  Any storms we see tomorrow could have strong wind gusts.  We'll have more to say about the strong winds and severe weather on the show tomorrow.  It's our first live show of the semester.  I'm excited about it!!  Be sure to tune in at 5pm!  And if you miss it, it re-airs at 10pm.

Records, anyone?

While it was quite a bit warmer today than average, we did not break a record at the airport.  We came close though. The record is 77 degrees set back in 1937.  Our high today was 71.  Temperatures will remain in the upper 60's and low 70's through mid-week.  The wind is still brisk out of the southwest today.  The NWS reissued a Lake Wind Advisory until 6pm.  It looks like the majority of the rain chances for Sunday night through Tuesday will be produced by upper level disturbances.  The problem becomes Wednesday as a cold front comes in from the north.  This will mix with upper level instability and strong winds aloft and at the surface to produce the potential for severe thunderstorms.  Damaging winds, heavy rain, and lightning will be the main problems Wednesday.  Monday is our first live show of the semester. Toon in for the latest!    

Burn Bans

As of January 24, seventeen Arkansas counties are under burn bans, with White County being one of them. Since then 5 more have been added, bringing the total to 22 counties. Faulkner County was added to the list yesterday. Dead brush from the ice storm, strong winds, and low humidity are key ingredients for a high fire risk. Numerous fires have burned hundreds of acres already. Monday will be our next significant chance for rain fall. I think we'll get enough rain that the burn ban should be lifted.~Stephen

Lots to talk about!

Today is the last day of run throughs before we go live on Monday. Nevertheless, there is lots to talk about. First, the wind. We are sandwiched between high pressure to the east and low pressure to the west. This is setting up a wind tunnel for gulf moisture to pump into the region. This will keep our temperatures comfortable for the time being. Second, temperatures this weekend will feel like spring time temperatures. Highs will be in the 60's and 70's with the lows in the 40's and 50's. Finally, there is a looking like a pretty good chance for severe thunderstorms on Monday. Damaging wind and lightning will be the main problem. I'll have more details in future posts and when we go live Monday!

Down the pike

Temperatures are just now reaching the freezing mark.  And they won't dip below freezing for several days.  YAY!!  We will however start to see our winds pick up today.  As high pressure moves east and our next system moves in from the west the gradient will tighten, meaning stronger winds.  There is also rain in the forecast late Saturday and into Sunday.  The main system will rear its ugly head on Monday.  I am starting to become a bit concerned that there may be a chance for some severe thunderstorms on Monday.  Damaging wind is the biggest concern.  We go live Monday and as always we'll have the latest on Live at Five.  Tune in!

The Good and the bad

The good news is that tonight is the last night for below freezing temperatures for the next couple of days.  We will be cold again tomorrow night, but still above freezing.  Highs will be in the middle 50's and low 60's.  Lows will be will enough above freezing this weekend that you may only need a light jacket.  Thats the good news.  The bad news is that there will be a slight chance of rain this weekend. High pressure will start to move east out of Arkansas on Friday allowing room for our next system to make its way into the natural state.  What does that means for us in White County?  It means a slight chance for showers late Saturday and Sunday.  Then on Monday significant chances of rain as our next cold front comes through.  As of now no severe weather with this system, but we'll be watching closely for any to develop.

Frigid Night Ahead

A cold front is moving south out of Missouri this morning.  We will start to feel the effects this evening into tonight as it settles in.  A stiff North wind will provide colder temperatures than we've seen the past copuple of nights.  Lows tonight will be in the mid to upper teens as opposed to the middle and upper 20's.  And it looks like there is no precipitation associated with this system.  By late Wednesday the front will weaken and high pressure will move in behind it.  This will allow temperatures to warm back into the 50's during the day and to stay above freezing at night.  A welcome change!

6 more weeks!

It's an annual tradition held every February 2.  All the citizens of Punxsutawney, PA gather to greet Phil, the groundhog.  Same as last year, Phil saw his shadow.  Which means 6 more weeks of winter.  For us here in Arkansas, Spring can't come soon enough.  With many northern residents trying to recover after a historic ice storm, they need all the help they can get.  No more ice storms in the forecast for White County in the near future, just more cold temperatures!