Friday, August 24, 2012

National Weather Headlines For Saturday, August 25th, 2012

Saturday, August 25th, 2012
Heading to the MN State Fair Saturday? Stop by and say hey! I'll be at the StarTribune booth from 12pm to 1pm. Paul Douglas will make an appearance next weekend, stop by then too!
The Minnesota State Fair continues... Day 3! Saturday night, Blake Shelton comes to town with special guest Sunny Sweeney.
"Blake Shelton has been one of country music's most compelling entertainers for more than a decade. With his fiery attitude and versatile vocals, Shelton has produced countless singles including "Austin," "Home," "All About Tonight" and "Hillbilly Bone." His latest album, Red River Blue, has brought country music fans the monster hits "Honey Bee," "God Gave Me You" and his current single "Over." Most recently, Shelton finished his second season on NBC's hit show "The Voice," where he led Team Blake member Jermaine Paul to victory."
 Best People Watching This Side of Vegas...
Thanks to Startribune.com you can people watch all you want from the LIVE webcam at the Fair!
 Weekend Weather Outlook
An approaching storm system will slide through on Saturday with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Saturday most definitely looks like the wetter day of the weekend, have a plan B or bring something waterproof if you plan on heading to the Fair. Sunday appears to be the nicer, drier day of the weekend as the front slides east into Wisconsin.
Saturday Forecast 8AM-8PM

Sunday Forecast 8AM-8PM

Weekend Rainfall
NOAA's rainfall forecast over the weekend suggests UP TO 0.25" to 0.50" of rainfall across parts of the state with most of the rainfall occuring on Saturday.

Drought Update
The US Drought Monitor released their weekly update on Thursday. It shows that drought conditions have worsened a little. Abnormally dry conditions went from 47% of the state to 52% and severe drought conditions went from 16% to nearly 18%. These 'dry' areas are across the western and southern part of the state.

National Drought Update
"This U.S. Drought Monitor week saw a few notable improvements and some serious degradation. Temperatures have generally been below normal this week from the east side of the Rockies to the East Coast, with the exception of Texas, the Southeast Coast, and northern New England. This has helped ease drought impacts, particularly in those areas where beneficial precipitation fell. One such area is in the Ohio Valley where parts of Indiana saw more than five inches of rain. This is the second straight week of beneficial precipitation for some of these areas and this precipitation has largely alleviated Exceptional Drought (D4) from the state, despite lingering impacts still being felt. Last week, drought gripped slightly less of the agricultural land in the country with 85% of the U.S. corn crop, 83% of soybeans, 63% of hay, and 71% of cattle areas experiencing drought. Nearly half of the corn (49%) and soybean (46%) areas are experiencing Extreme (D3) to Exceptional (D4) Drought. This has led to both reduced yields and earlier harvests. Additional impacts this week include closing of an 11-mile stretch of the Mississippi River near Greenville, MS to barge traffic because of low water levels and wildfires expanding from northern California to Idaho."

PICTURE OF THE DAY
Not sure where this was taken, but I thought it was worth sharing! Pretty cool picture of a waterspout (tornado over water)
 Eyes on Isaac
DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
------------------------------
AT 200 PM EDT...1800 UTC...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM ISAAC WAS
LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 16.8 NORTH...LONGITUDE 71.4 WEST. ISAAC IS NOW
MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 14 MPH...22 KM/H..AND THIS GENERAL
MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. ON THE
FORECAST TRACK...THE CENTER OF ISAAC WILL APPROACH THE SOUTHERN
COAST OF HISPANIOLA THIS AFTERNOON...PASS NEAR OR OVER HAITI
TONIGHT...AND MOVE NEAR OR OVER EASTERN AND CENTRAL CUBA SATURDAY
AND SUNDAY.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 60 MPH...95 KM/H...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. SOME STRENGTHENING IS POSSIBLE BEFORE THE CENTER REACHES THE
COAST OF HISPANIOLA TONIGHT...AND ISAAC COULD BE NEAR HURRICANE
STRENGTH AT LANDFALL.
TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 185 MILES...295 KM
FROM THE CENTER.
THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE BASED ON A SHIP REPORT IS 997
MB...29.44 INCHES.

Check out this amazing satellite, which updates every minute!


 Hard at Work... Gathering Data
NOAA's G-4 aircraft scheduled to fly a synoptic surveillance mission on Friday, tookoff at 1730 UTC (1:30pm EDT) from MacDill AFB. The G-IV crew sampled the subtropical ridge north of Isaac as well as circumnavigating the storm. Here’s their track.
The crew of NOAA42 is back in FL, routine maintenance already underway. They will resume Isaac flights on Sunday.
Latest Forecast on Isaac
The latest forecast track from the National Hurricane Center bring Isaac into the Gulf coast late weekend/early next week as a tropical storm. Hurricane status could be met by early next week with sustained winds at 74mph+ as it nears the Alabama/Florida coast. At this point, we could be looking at a landfall early Wednesday morning.

Florida Keys Under the Gun Monday...?
The center of Isaac is forecast to move over the Florida Keys early Monday. This is already prompting closures along the Keys!
"The Village of Islamorada closes Founders Park at 6 p.m. Saturday, including the pool, boat ramp and Plantation Yacht Harbor Marina. The park will remain closed through Sunday, and possibly longer depending on weather.
Islamorada municipal offices tentatively are scheduled to open Monday, unless a change in expected storm conditions warrants closing. That decision likely will be made Sunday.
All areas of Everglades National Park closed at 8 p.m. Friday, and will remain closed until “the storm has passed and conditions are safe.”
The closure includes the Main Park Road, and all park and commercial operations at Flamingo. “These closures are conducted in the interest of public safety and to ensure park staff concentrates completely on securing and protecting park resources and facilities,” says a park notice."

Read more from KeysNet.com HERE:

Be Prepared!
Thanks to NOAA for the great information! It's never too early to start thinking about taking acion if you are path of the approaching storm.

See more from the National Hurricane Center HERE:
Thanks for checking in, have a great rest of your weekend!
Don't forget to check me out on Twitter @TNelsonWNTV
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