Wide World of Weather

The weather pattern is expected to be pleasant overall at Shinnecock Hills from Thursday through Sunday. A cold front will pass to the southeast early Thursday morning, allowing for dry conditions by sunrise. Winds will be steady out of the West between 10-20 mph most of the day, with gusts of 20-30 mph between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. Outside of a few scattered clouds, it will be mainly sunny with a comfortable high in the mid 70s. Friday will prove to be less windy, ranging from 5-15 mph but a bit more shifty... starting out of the North and shifting to the West by afternoon. Saturday will feature a return to warmer temperatures as southwesterly winds push the afternoon high into the upper 70s. Plenty of sunshine is anticipated Sunday with southwesterly winds increasing to 10-20 mph. The humidity will increase a bit, but another afternoon in the upper 70s isn't too shabby.

Russia is similar to Canada in latitude, so it hasn't been surprising to see numerous cold fronts over the past few weeks feature cold air, even sub-freezing at times, making their way to a few of the host cities. Sochi has proven to be the warm southern spot I expected it to be. Sochi is at 43.4N, which is similar to Madison, Wis. Saint Petersburg, the most northern host site, is just shy of 60N latitude. This is the same as Alaska's Kenai Peninsula and the northern borders of Alberta and Saskatchewan. With the opening game coming up this Thursday, it's time to take a look at more specific weather information in Moscow. Low pressure moves east over northern Russia this week, with a cold front shifting south of Moscow Wednesday morning. This will be followed by dry conditions with high pressure settling nearly overhead by Thursday night. The airmass aloft will be on the cool side, so I expect broken cloud cover during the day Thursday with a high near 65 degrees. Wind d...

No, I'm not really in Russia, but just watching the weather there the past few days has been entertaining. Here are some key tips to make note of as the opening World Cup match approaches. Russia has a truckload of time zones thanks to its extensive length from west to east. This  Timezone Map  is particularly handy. The westernmost host city of Kaliningrad is in the Eastern European Time Zone (EET, UTC+2). This is 6 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), so if a match starts in Russia at 4 p.m. EET, that would be 10 a.m. EDT. Not surprisingly, the first match features Russia debuting in Moscow, facing off against Saudi Arabia. Moscow time (MSK, UTC+3) is another hour ahead of EDT, so that first match which kicks off at 6 p.m. local time will occur on my TV at 11 a.m. EDT. Yay, I'll be at the office and I can monitor live weather conditions leading up to the match! The easternmost host city of Yekaterinburg is UTC+5, so another 2 hours ahead of EDT, so that 5 p.m. m...

As the 2018 World Cup in Russia approaches, I thought it would be timely to blog about the weather pattern leading up to the opening match which will take place on June 14. My company, Earth Networks, provides an excellent viewing platform called Sferic Maps, which enables me to plot various weather data as well as plot the venues where the matches will be played. On today's weather map, high pressure is building in across western Russia as a cold front pushes southward into Georgia to Azerbaijan and northern Turkey. A low pressure will track over central Russia very near Yekaterinburg, the east-most venue, heading south into northern Kazakhstan. The air mass with the low pressure is rather cold, with sub-freezing temperatures anticipated Saturday morning. Brr!

On Friday, March 16, 2018, I provided an updated forecast to a client stating that on Tuesday, March 20, there was a threat for 3" or more snow in northern parts of their area of concern, a threat for minor to moderate icing (thin glaze to as much as 0.10-0.20" possible) due to freezing rain in northwestern parts of their area, and a threat for 1" or more rainfall in southeastern parts of their area. All three of these concerns ended up happening in the areas I highlighted. At the time, looking five days out, there remained considerable uncertainty about which precipitation type would be most dominant. In addition, factor in the late March timing, meaning lighter snow rates would be slower to accumulate (if at all). The heavier snow rates, 1-2"/hr, would be sufficient. However the occurrence of such rates would be within localized bands, which are difficult to pinpoint where they would set up even 24 hours ahead of time, but nearly impossible five days ahead. From...

Once upon a time I visited a community impacted by a tornado. Once upon a time I arrived in a community just after it had been hit by a tornado. Once upon a time I spotted a tornado and took video footage as it hit a community. Once upon a time I was in a community when a tornado approached. I took video footage throughout the event and posted it on YouTube. Once upon a time I was in a community when a tornado approached. As I took video footage, my life hung in the balance as twigs, boards, roofing material and glass flew everywhere. I barely escaped safely and then promptly posted my harrowing experience on YouTube