Partly sunny, breezy & hot Sat. with afternoon highs in the 90s all the way to the coast. The record high for Sat. (May 10) in Jax is 93 set in 2003. Looks like we'll be real close if not break the record by a degree or so. Winds will once again increase from the west at 10-20 mph with some higher gusts.
Sunday is looking stormy. It'll be a windy day with sustained winds of 15-25 mph but gusts of 30 to even 40 mph. A squall line of thunderstorms should already be occurring early in the day in Georgia, Alabama & the Florida Panhandle. The line of storms will move east through the day accompanied by strong, possibly damaging winds, hail & heavy rain reaching Waycross to Lake City by at least early afternoon then spreading east all the way to the coast through the afternoon.
It's possible that we'll also have isolated to widely scattered storms develop out ahead of this line. Any of these "individual" storms will have the potential to also become severe & could even produce an isolated tornado. Keep an eye to the sky Sunday!
In fact, this will be a messy weekend of weather. Flooding rains will occur from the midwest to New England with a late season Nor'Easter by Mon. Severe storms will break out Sat. from Texas & Oklahoma to Tennessee & Alabama....moving to the Mid Atlantic to the Southeast & Florida by Sun.
We'll catch a nice break from the heat & humidity early in the week -- Mon. through Wed. -- before southerly winds & moisture return along with more rain Thu. into Fri. Overall, it's a pretty active pattern for this time of yr. & for this far south with the potential for some much needed rain but also the potential for severe weather.
Have you seen the video from Leighton, AL of a tornado moving through a parking lot? Click here to see the surveillence video from CNN.
Our assistant news director sent this to the staff today:
The True Story of Mother’s Day
A Day of Peace
In 1870, Julia Ward Howe, distressed by her experience of the realities of war, determined that peace was one of the two most important causes of the world (the other being equality in its many forms) and seeing war arise again in the world in the Franco-Prussian War, she called in 1870 for women to rise up and oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, and commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts. She issued a Declaration, hoping to gather together women in a congress of action.
Influenced by the work of Julia Ward How Anna Jarvis, started her own crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mother's Day was celebrated in West Virginia in 1907. And from there the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. Finally in 1914 the President, Woodrow Wilson, declared the first national Mother's Day.
This will be the first Mother Day I've ever known to not have my mother to call (see April 9th post). The permanence is what mystifies & bothers me most. It was melancholy to order roses to be placed on her grave.
Earth Gauge: Reducing Yard Waste
Yard trimmings are the second largest component of America's waste stream (paper is the largest), and recent recycling efforts have resulted in 62 percent reduction in the amount of yard trimmings that make their way into landfills. One way to cut down on this number even more is to re-use your grass clippings. The annual clippings from a 5000 square foot lawn can add up to one ton!
Tip: Many people no longer think of grass clippings as garbage, and instead view them as a valuable resource! Instead of throwing your clippings away when you mow, consider three easy alternatives. One is to leave the clippings where they fall. By doing this, you recycle the nutrients in the grass as it breaks down, which reduces the need for lawn fertilizer. A second option is to use the clippings as mulch over tree roots, garden beds, and other areas in your yard to keep weeds at bay, reduce erosion and rain water run-off, and reduce moisture loss from evaporation on warm days. Lastly, grass clippings are a great addition to your compost pile.
(Sources: State of Connecticut: Department of Environmental Protection. "Don’t Trash Grass." Accessed Online 14 February 2008 and United States Environmental Protection Agency: Municipal Solid Waste. Accessed Online 14 February 2008)
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Climate Fact: Central Asia’s Glaciers
Central Asia, a general term for the landlocked region extending from the Caspian Sea eastward into China, has a growing and economically developing population that is largely dependent on glacial melt for its water supply. The Region’s glaciers, however, have been shrinking. In the Eastern Pamir Region of Tajikistan, for example, between 1978 and 1990, glaciers shrunk 7.8 percent and between 1990 and 2001, glaciers shrunk by 11.6 percent. In the Northern Tien Shan Mountain Range in Kyrgyzstan, glaciers have lost about 28 percent of their areal extent since the 1960’s. These glaciers provide water for parts of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and China.
(Sources: Khromova, T. E. et al. “Changes in glacier extent in the eastern Pamir, Central Asia, determined from historical data and ASTER imagery.” Remote Sensing of the Environment 102 (2006): 24-32 and Niederer, P. et al. “Tracing glacier wastage in the Northern Tien Shan (Kyrgyzstan/Central Asia) over the last 40 years.” Climate Change 86 (2008): 227-234.)
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Climate in the News – “Scientists Head to Warming Alaska on Ice Core Expedition” – Science Daily, 1 May 2008 .........A team of scientists are travelling to Alaska to find the perfect "layer cake" ice core, which will hopefully provide insights on the last 2,000 years of Alaska's climate.
Have a great weekend...stay safe & treat Mom perfectly!
