"Stormcloud" Sabol's Weather Blog

Its not even Thanksgiving yet and we are about to get blasted with another round of lake effect this week.  This snow event looks to be STRONGER AND LONGER than the first one. 

The snow also accompanies the coldest high temps since early March.

Why?  Two reasons:  MORE MOISTURE AND COLDER AIR

Here are our initial "guess-timates" of snowfall through Friday evening.  THIS DOES NOT COUNT FRIDAY NIGHT LAKE EFFECT.

STAY TUNED...

When the weather, changes around here, it REALLY changes and abruptly at that.

Hard to believe that we've had 4 days in the 70s this month considering that the highs might not make it above freezing later this week.

Check out these stats:  The average high the first week of November was 67 degrees!  The average high since 48.

We'll have three distinct lake effect/cold front events from now until early Thanksgiving  week.  The first one Monday and Tuesday, the second one Thursday/Friday, the third Sunday/Monday.

Temps stay at or below 40 for the next week.

With La Nina slowly gaining strength, we can expect more large swings from warm/mild to arctic as the winter continues.....hopefully higher than 40!

With all of this talk about politics--left-wing, right-wing, taxes, Iraq, the economy et all--its getting tiresome for all of us who watch the tv and radio ads.

Lets have some fun as we look way back...waaaaay back. 

If I were to vote based on VP's hair, these guys would win hands down.

John C. Calhoun...scary guy...wins with best haircut

and Levi Morton, VP under Benjamin Harrison, wins with best looking beard.

...That band is RUSH.

Love them or hate them, RUSH has been a force in music for almost 35 years.  While staying away from the mainstream media, RUSH continues to create music as their fanbase grows.  They should be in thr rock hall for these reasons:

1)  RUSH has had 24 consecutive gold and platnium albums, only 4 other groups have more.  The Beattles, Aerosmith, KISS and the Rolling Stones.

2)  The talent level is second to none.   All 3 band members produce music that sounds as if 5 or 6 are playing.  All have won awards with their respective instruments.

3)  Many younger bands like Metallica, Tool, Foo Fighters have mentioned that RUSH has influenced their music.

You might not like Progressive Rock but their musical talent, consistent lineup (hasn't changed since 1974) have led to continued success.

All of this is certainly enough reason for election into the Rock Hall.

Hey Everyone,

Just 2 years ago, Buffalo, New York received between 2 and 3 FEET of lake effect snow on October 12th.

Are you kidding me?

Nope.  Unseasonably cold air moved over the very warm Lake Erie.  The result was an early fall snow storm never seen before.

In fact, the snow missed northeastern Ohio by only 15 miles that day.    Buffalo had thundersnow for quiet awhile.

So as temps fall back into the 50s, imagine what COULD happen.

Hey Everyone,

Just 2 years ago, Buffalo, New York received between 2 and 3 FEET of lake effect snow on October 12th.

Are you kidding me?

Nope.  Unseasonably cold air moved over the very warm Lake Erie.  The result was an early fall snow storm never seen before.

In fact, the snow missed northeastern Ohio by only 15 miles that day.    Buffalo had thundersnow for quiet awhile.

So as temps fall back into the 50s, imagine what COULD happen.

For those of you who have lambasted Andre's blog entries on Global Warming, let be one to reaffirm the science that he has brought to your attention which represents a viable argument to what you are being bombarded with in the everyday media.

His blogs on Climate Change are not politically biased in any way.  The science behind what he says is NOT governed by some alterior motive, it is simply more evidence to the contrary that can't be ignored.  If you are a scientist, you cannot close the door to other data even if it might be against what you fundamentally believe.   What Andre has done is open that door. Many of you don't like it.

Remember, the nature of scientific study is to be completely objective.  Unfortunately, the mainstream side to the Climate Change debate is, for the most part, not objective in there assertions that CO2 and warming have gone hand-in-hand. Or that the warming of the planet is a scienfic fact.  Or that humans' influence is much stronger than the natural cycles of the oceans that have governed ouor climate for thousands of years.

Many scientists have linked sunspot activity to the warming/cooling cycles of the planet.  Many have also found climate links to ocean cycles that only recently have been found to repeat themselves every 30-40 years, some even longer.  Many climate models have also been way overblown on the warming that was supposed to occur over the last 20+ years.  I bet you haven't  heard about this.

Each and everytime a sceptic comes out with evidence that contradicts human based global warming, it is either debunked or flat out ignored.  I have yet to see the national media treat this subject matter with objectivity.  They latch on to the notion that Human Caused Global Warming is a LOCK and not subject to debate. 

I have a dear friend who is a television meteorologist  (not in Cleveland) who has said to me that the arguments against human caused global warming are not strong and that they have an agenda behind them.  If that is the case (maybe for some) then I can make that argument for proponents of Human caused global warming.  In fact, one politican has his investment at stake if he were to discontinue his crusade  (I have the article if you would like to have a copy right out of Newsweek).

Again, I am not trying to be political (I'm not a fan of politics in general) but scientific in an effort to explore ALL possibilities in the field of climate change.   What Andre has done on his blog, beautifully I might add, is offer a different perspective, one that is based in science. 

We need to be smart and objective without political biases when formulating an opinion on the subject of climate change.   I invite you to do the same.

Earlier, I featured some of the most beautiful webcams from some select areas all over the world.  Here are a few of them.

The first pic is from Katadin Moutain in Maine.  The second is from Mt. Adams in Washington State.  The third is from Craig, Alaska.

Ashtabula Lighthouse 

78

Lorain

71

Hopkins (Western Suburbs)

53

Akron/Canton

58

Lakefront

63

Fairport Harbor

61

Vermilion

55

South Bass Island

62

It was an unreal sight.  Trees down with tropical storm force winds as the remains of Hurricane Ike slam northeastern Ohio.  My brother was at the Browns game against the Steelers and it was a sight weatherwise that he won't remember.  Peak wind gusts to 60+ mph and blowing rain not only affected the passing game but also caused thousands of power outages.  I chased my son's sandbox lid across three backyards while dodging tree limbs.

The BIG question:  Is it unusual to have the remains of a tropical system move at or new Northeastern Ohio?  I did some digging and found 10 distinct tropical systems over the last 100 years that directly affected Northeastern Ohio weather.

Here are the tracks on each tropical system.

Neat stuff.

Scott "Stormcloud" Sabol

The same questions are always asked this time of year right after a hurricane or tropical storm makes landfall in the US.  Is this unusual?  Are hurricanes and tropical storms affecting the US more recently?

To answer this question, check out this graph showing the hurricanes that made landfall over the last 150 years.  You can plainly see that more hurricanes made landfall in the 1910s, 1930s and 1940s then over the last 2 decades.

Why is this? 

Many components go into the formation and track of hurricanes.  El Nino, La Nina and cyclical patterns in the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean over long periods have the most effect.  Could Global Warming play a role?  Possibly but recent studies have refuted this. 

We still have a few more months of hurricane season.  Expect new tropical storms and hurricanes to take the same general track.

If you have a condo in Florida or North Carolina, be alert!

Stay Tuned.

Labor Day weekend is here and the hurricane season is heating up...BIGTIME.

Friday was the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall over New Orleans back in 2005.  The damage was some of the worst from any natural disaster in US history. Some blame Global Warming...some blame the government...others blame bad luck.  We can debate them all.  The bottom line:  Hopefully the city has recovered enough to withstand another one because soon-to-be Hurricane Gustav is heading that way.

One note.  One element of Katrina that was never reported was the reason for its rapid intensification.  The catalyst was something called The LOOP CURRENT.  A cyclical current of super-warm water known for centuries between the Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba which was active as Katrina passed over.  Global Warming was not the cause.  Katrina blew up into a Category 5 in less than a day and then made landfall at a Category 3 into a city that had (hopefully not now) an inadaquete levee system. 

Anyway, here are some very cool 3D satellite pictures of Katrina along with a picture taken from a Hurricane Hunter plane as it flew inside the eyewall.

The last one is a SPAGHETTI MODEL of the possible tracks of  Gustav from Thursday mornings weather segment.

Enjoy!

Myfoxtampa.com  has a very cool hurricane page that has more information than any other site that I've found. 

MYFOXHURRICANE

It constantly updates real time satellite info, hurricane and tropical storm info and a bunch of other cool stuff.

Have fun!

Scott