Spring Storms

It has been a very active couple of days across the Plains States! A major Spring storm produced 67 tornadoes yesterday (preliminary)... in five states! Above is a look at all the storm reports from Wednesday. The red dots are tornado... the green are hail... and the blue are high winds.

It's Baseball season... and just in time... baseball and even SOFTBALL sized hail was reported in Texas yesterday. Amazing!!

Today, the severe weather continues for Texas and Oklahoma. But the storms are not as violent as they were yesterday. Today, hail and wind are the main threats.

Meantime... it is snowing in the Northern Plains! There are Winter Storm Warnings out for Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. This is a Spring storm system at it's best!

So while we're watching the extreme weather from afar... this is a good place to mention that it is Severe Weather Awareness Week here in Ohio. You may have noticed the sirens went off yesterday morning... that was the State-wide tornado drill. Hopefully you have your severe weather safety plan... and will practice it before we really get into our severe weather season. Now is a good time as any to review our severe weather info. First, some definitions:

• Watch - The potential exists for a dangerous weather event. Know your plan, and be ready to put it into action... should a warning be issued.

• Warning - A dangerous weather event is imminent. Immediate action must be taken to protect life and property. Now is the time to put your safety plan into action!

Whenever there are thunderstorms around... you definitely want to be indoors--inside a sturdy building, away from windows. If a tornado warning is issued, you need to go to your:

• Lowest Level
• Center Most Room

For many, this is in your basement. If you don't have a basement, get into a room that is in the center of your home... one without windows. (This may be a bathroom or a closet). The idea is to put as many walls between you and the storm as you can! If you live in a 2nd or 3rd floor apartment, you'll want to make friends with your ground-floor neighbors! :) Or oftentimes the Club House can be a good place to go, if your complex has one.

It's also a good idea to have a Severe Weather Safety Kit in your safeplace. This kit should include:

• First Aid Kit
• Battery Powered Radio (with extra batteries)
• Flashlight
• Bottled Water
• Blankets
• Extra Medications
• Comfort Items for Children
• Comfort Items for Pets

It is also a great idea to have a NOAA Weather Radio in your home. This is basically an alarm clock for severe weather... it will sound an alert when there is a warning out for your area. I am a big fan of these, as I have seen first-hand how they save lives. The Van Wert tornado of 2002 could have claimed MANY more lives... but thankfully a NOAA Weather Radio alerted an entrie movie theatre that the twister was coming. They were able to get into the bathroom just in time. After the storm hit... they came out to find CARS on top of the seats they were once sitting in. You can get a NOAA Weather Radio at any store that sells electronics, and some of the simpler models can be purchased for less than a pair of shoes.

Hopefully you are all prepared... but if you're not... there is still time! My motto here is "better safe than sorry!"

Have a great evening!

Jamie

Contest OVER!

Well, just like that... the "When-will-we-hit-our-first-80-degree-day-Contest" comes to an end! It's too bad it was so short-lived! We will have to start a first 90 degree day contest in a few weeks! :) Stay tuned for that!

Anyway, our winner, is unfortunately anonymous... so we don't know your name! But congratulations to you... good call on today's 80 degree high! We were only 3-degrees shy of tying the record high... it's 83 for today. I think it feels nice, but we actually had a viewer call the station... saying it was "too hot." My goodness, that person will NOT be happy come July! ;)



Changes will be coming to the area as we head into Wednesday. A cold front comes through tonight, and will sort of stall, and sit just south of us... keeping us with the chance of showers and thunderstorms Wednesday morning and afternoon. Here is a look at the forecast for the afternoon.... you can see the front is south of us, and we are in an area of showers and possibly even a thunderstorm.




We can expect periods of rain starting in the morning, and continuing through the afternoon. On Thursday, we will be drying out... although we will be a good deal cooler, with highs in the upper 50s. Which is still above average... our highs this time of year are typically in the mid-50s. That just shows you how warm it's been!

Enjoy this beautiful evening!
Jamie

Weather Blog Contest!!!

OK Who's ready for a little spirited competition??

Here's the deal: We want you to guess when we will see the first 80° day. Yesterday we came close with a 79° reading at the Dayton Airport. When will we hit 80° again at the DAYTON AIRPORT?

This spell of unseasonably warm weather will continue tomorrow then we cool a bit on Wednesday & Thursday before starting another warm-up on Friday & Saturday. Another cool down will occur on Sunday & the first of next week. This type of roller coaster weather pattern is quite normal for this time of the year.

My forecast for the first 80° day will be on Tuesday May 1st
Jamie says it will hit 80° on April 10th

For your info the temp hit 80° for the first time last year on May 25th

Now it's your turn leave us your expert quesses!

Carl

Water Water Everywhere... Well... hopefully not in your Sunday Afternoon Forecast!

These pictures where submitted by Justin Fritts! Thanks Justin! and if you would like to submit any pictures just send them to Weather@WDTN.com

Thankfully the next couple of days... will be on the drier side. Unfortunately when we are in such a warm and humid airmass (IN MARCH!!!) it's very difficult to squeek out a completely dry day... but we do have a shot. Monday! Then scattered t-storms work there way back into the forecast... and by Friday we could be looking at some more heavy rain :-(

-Erik

Flood Watch Today

As promised, heavy rain has been moving across the region with highest total along and north of the I-70 corridor. The airport has picked up over 1.5" and John Kingham our weatherchecker in Tipp City called in with 1.6". Mike in Covington has measured 1.7" and Vicki Siefke in New Carlisle has had 1.4". We aren't finished with the rain just yet so these totals will continue to climb. If you have any rainfall amounts or flooding to report, let us know about it.

End of Week Soaker

I've been a little slow in blogging this week, but I am finally back from vacation in case you've been sleeping through the morning show and haven't noticed. Played a little golf last Tuesday (kept it under 90 for the first time out so I'm happy), then skied Thursday and Friday in northern MI with near perfect conditions...10s at night and highs upper 20s and low 30s during the day with plenty of sun.

Interesting weather when we left last Wednesday for the Great White North....We left Dayton with the A/C running, passed through a line of cold front associated T'storms in Toledo, then went north of the front and by the time we got up near Saginaw, MI, snow and sleet were falling. I wasn't surpised to hear the next day that a tornado had hit Cleveland during the evening on Wednesday. We saw a wall cloud on the southwest flank of the thunderstorms as we approached Toldedo about 5 pm and the Toledo radio stations were reporting hail at the time.

Back to our weather for today...we could be looking at some decent rain over the next 48 hours. Bill Gard, our weatherchecker in Fountain City, IN, is already reporting a T'storm with pea-size hail this morning. No watches are in effect at this time for us but much of central and northern IN and northwest OH are under a severe t'storm watch until 1 PM. Rain should tend to keep our lower layers relatively cool and stable today so our risk for severe is pretty slim but we will continue to monitor the situation closely. A cold front will sprawl out from west to east across our region keeping the chances of rain going into Saturday. With periodic waves of showers and thunderstorms, heavy rainfall totals in excess of 1 inch will be possible through Friday night so flooding could become a concern again with the saturated soils. Early next week should be delightful as far as temperatures go.

Wonderful Wednesday weather!!!!

What a difference a day makes! A warm front swept across the area today bringing a huge warmup during the day . We started out this morning in the 30s & shot into the low 70's this afternoon. Normal high temperature for today is 51°. We can expect to see our temperatures now staying above normal through the weekend. A cool front will move into the area Thursday night bringing a little cooler weather for Friday. This front will push back to the north over the weekend bringing more warm weather for Saturday & Sunday. The long range outlook is still showing above normal temperatures for next week with highs into the upper 60's to low 70's.

I know it looks like a lot of rain on the 7 day but the day with the most rain will be Friday with just scattered activity most other days. Enjoy the nice Spring warm-up & continue to keep us informed of your rainfall totals.

Carl

Spring on the way !!!

Finally the first day of Spring is almost here. Spring starts tomorrow at 8:07pm with the first full day on Wednesday. The front that brought us the rain today will push back north as a warm front on Wednesday bringing increasing humidity & temperatures for the rest of the week into the weekend. We had reports of some light sleet & snow this morning mainly north of I-70 but the bulk of the precip was in the form of rain today with our weathercheckers reporting .25" to .50". Dry weather returns tomorrow with some showers on Wednesday.

Below is another photo from the Dayton Skywarn Severe Weather Training. Pictured here are all of us from Storm Team 2, along with 2 memebers of Skywarn (in the red shirts--Nelson & Paula DiGennaro)... and 2 meteorologists from the National Weather Service... Ken Haydu is in the blue shirt, and Mary Jo Parker is on the far right.

We thank them again for having us out for this great event! And thanks to Don Parker for sending the picture!

Enjoy the nice weather tomorrow & the warm-up for the rest of the week!!

Carl

Sunday

Hello, Bloggers!
I hope you enjoyed a great weekend! :) It was a little chilly... with temperatures running about 10 degrees below average... but at least we got to see the bright sunshine today! Just a few fair-weather cumulus clouds... otherwise, lots of blue!

That will NOT be the case on Monday, as a cold front is heading towards us! That front will bring an increase in clouds by the early morning hours, and then the rain will develop! Initially, we could see a LITTLE sleet/freezing rain, especially north of I-70. But I am not overly concerned about this, as it should be LIGHT and BRIEF. Most areas will just experience rain. And it could be heavy at times! The front should be through by the evening, and we will see the rain chances come to an end across the area. BUT we have to watch that front... because it doesn't get far. More on this later.

On Tuesday, high pressure builds in for a beautiful, but chilly day. Expect sunshine, and highs in the 40s.

Then, our aforementioned front that sort of stalls out to our south... will come surging back north on Wednesday. THIS will bring us much WARMER weather for the second half of the week! We will blog more about this as the week goes on!

Jamie

Rain and Mark Allan

Greetings, Bloggers!

We can only call it March Madness... what a crazy weather day today! The cold front came through this morning... bringing heavy rain and flooding problems to much of the Miami Valley. Erik said when he got to the station, the temperature was still near 60 degrees, and we dropped into the upper 30s within three hours! Amazing! Anyway, here are some of the totals we have received around the area (I will add the weather checker reports as I get them in... so check back):

SOUTH DAYTON: 1.91"
BRADFORD: 1.7"
COVINGTON: 1.2"
EATON: 1.5" and 1.7" (two locations)
ENON: 2.5"
GREENVILLE: 2.09"
KETTERING: 2.1"
MIDDLETOWN: 2.2"
SIDNEY: 2.2"
SPRINGBORO: 1.5"
TIPP CITY: 1.1"
YELLOW SPRINGS: 2"
SPRINGFIELD: .76"
VERSAILLES: 1.43"
WPAFB: 1.98"
FAIRBORN: 2.10"
OXFORD: 3.00"

Now for a special Live Doppler 2X Weather Blog treat! We have a guest blogger today... Mr. Mark Allan, himself! He wanted to say hello, and to give you all an update on his recovery from breaking his leg. If you would like to say hello to Mark, just leave a comment at the end of this blog entry. I know he would appreciate hearing from you! Anyway... here he is....

Hi everybody! Just wanted to give you a quick update on my progress. I'm now in week five of my recovery and doing well. My plan is to start back on the air part-time March 26. They delivered my wheelchair to the TV station this week, and I plan to stop in next Friday (March 23) to do a practice run and hopefully a live Mark's Mailbag that day at 6 pm. I still can't put any weight on my left leg until early May, so getting around remains a bit of a challenge, but I'm getting a good upper-body workout with my walker! I'm also doing regular physical therapy to restore strength and flex to the leg. At last count, I've now responded to more than *700* viewer emails. I can't begin to tell you what they've meant to me. That's the latest. I'll see you soon!

Mark Allan

So that's GREAT news, that Mark will be back soon. We really miss him, as I know many of you do, too!

Meantime, we'll be feeling like winter around here through the weekend, with highs in the upper 30s to near 40 degrees. This is Mother Nature's reminder... that it's not *quite* spring yet. Stay warm!

Jamie

Don't put your Winter coats away!!!

Another afternoon with temperatures into the low-mid 70's across the Miami Valley. Normal high temperatures for us are in the upper 40's. A strong cold front is sweeping down through the Great Lakes & will reach the area tonight bringing Winter weather back for Thursday through the weekend. Showers & thunderstorms will be with us tonight into Thursday morning ending from the Northwest to Southeast by late Thursday morning. Thunderstorms tonight into early Thursday morning may produce periods of heavy rain with some areas receiving up to 1". Behind the front temperatures will drop some 30° into the 40's on Thursday & continue falling into the upper teens & low 20's by Saturday morning. Another slap in the face will come on Saturday when we could see some flurries, but the long range outlook is for our temperatures to climb back into the 50's & 60's next week. If you have heavy rainfall tonight in your neighborhood & any flooding problems please blog us with the info.

Carl

50s Today... 70s Tomorrow!

Sorry for the late post tonight... but some days... I just don't know where the time goes! Today, it could have been eaten up by all the people stopping by the Forecast Center to say "thanks" for such a nice day. It is amazing how we suddenly become everyone's best friend when the nice spring weather takes over! :) And if this is a sign of things to come... we are going to be swamped on Tuesday!!

Today's highs made it into the upper 50s/low 60s across the area. The offical high at Dayton International Airport was 59 degrees. Many of our weather checkers were in the 60s this afternoon... perhaps it was that warm in your backyard, too! Here are a few of our warmer reports:

Bradford: 60

Camden: 60

Fairborn: 62

Eaton: 62

Kettering: 62

Middletown: 62

New Paris: 61

Xenia: 60

Where the sun was out a little longer... that is where we warmed up more. I don't think clouds will be a huge issue on Tuesday... and everyone should see plenty of sunshine. That, combined with breezy southwest winds, will help our temperatures climb into the lower 70s during the afternoon!! That will really feel warm! In my opinion, the lower-to-mid 70s is the ideal temperature range. And if you agree... Tuesday could be one of the nicest days of the year for you!

Before I sign off for the night, I do want to thank Dayton Skywarn and the National Weather Service in Wilmington for putting on such a fantastic Severe Storm Spotter workshop over the weekend. It seems to get better and better each year! Below are some photos of when Storm Team 2 took the stage for a little Live Doppler 2X and Blog talk. We had a short Q&A segment, as well... I am always impressed with the volunteers' enthusiasm when it comes to weather! I am expecting Skywarn to send us some more photos... when they do... I will post some of them! And hello to all the bloggers that came out, as well... it is really good to put a face with your names! :) And thanks to weather checker Bill Telzerow of Xenia for sending these:

Have a great night... and enjoy the weather Tuesday!
Jamie

Another Fantastic Day Across the Miami Valley!!!

Don't know about the rest of you, but days like yesterday and today put me in an awesome mood. I'm ready for the longer days of spring and the greenery it has to offer. Can't wait to get outside for those long walks and the fresh smell of a newly mowed yard (granted I live in an appartment, so I wont have to do any of the mowing :-).

While I may still be dreaming, those days are getting close... and it will really feel like Spring is right around the corner by Monday & Tuesday. We'll see plenty of sun as an area of High Pressure builds in from the North & West on Sunday and by Monday we get the return flow. That return flow is what will really warm things up... 60's on Monday.... maybe even the mid 60's by Tuesday!!

Hope you had a chance to enjoy the last few days but if you didn't... Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday will treat you well! Later this week the rain moves in and even some more below average temperatures for the weekend.

-Erik

Out of Control!

Well, our temperatures got out of control this afternoon! We went from a cold 25 degrees this morning to a warm-feeling 63 degrees at our peak. That's almost a 40 degree warm-up!!! Pretty impressive for the beginning of March! Here is a look at the highs today in and around Montgomery County:

The last time we were in the mid-60s in the area was way back on Nov. 30th... it sure feels good! This could be one of the nicest days of the year! Too bad it didn't happen over the weekend... but I guess Friday is close enough! :)

Now we're tracking a Cold Front that is due in Saturday morning. You'll notice an increase in cloud cover this evening... and by sunrise, we'll see showers in the area. The best chance of rain will be between 6am and Noon. Then things should taper off... and we should even see a little sunshine later in the day. The clouds, rain, and slightly cooler airmass behind the front will prevent us from getting as warm as we did today... but we should still be above average with temperatures reaching the lower 50s for Saturday afternoon.

Sunday looks like a rather nice day, with mostly sunny skies and we'll continue a slow warm-up through Tuesday. We should be back into the 60s by then! ENJOY this while it's here! As Brian mentioned below, our medium-range models are looking colder for the second half of next week. We must remember that it IS Spring... and Spring is a transition period! So there will likely be some flip-flopping!

Anyway, we hope to see you out at the Skywarn Storm Spotter Training Workshop tomorrow! It's FREE and open to the public... at Miami Valley Hospital's Berry Woman's Pavilion in the Auditorium. It goes from 9am to Noon... (great... something to do while it's raining!) :) Storm Team 2 will be there to speak near the end, and we can't wait to see everyone!

Enjoy the weekend! Erik is in Saturday and early Sunday... and I will be in for the late news Sunday night!
Jamie

Here Comes Spring

As promised, temperatures are expected to climb nicely today into the mid and upper 50s across the region. Some high clouds come in late today with showers cooling things a bit for tomorrow. The extended models are now trying to bring back a little cooler air for the latter half of next week. We will see if that trend continues.

I will be kicking back and taking it easy next week. My daughter gets home from Purdue for spring break today and my son will finish up his finals late Wednesday at OSU so we will be spending a little family time together. So until about 10 days from now, see you later.

Spring preview on the way!!!

Yesterday we told you about a nice warming trend heading for the Miami Valley. Today we climbed into the low 40's which is a little below normal, but just look at these temperatures just south & west of the area:

60 degrees in Kansas City! 67 all the way up in Southwest South Dakota! 51 in St. Louis, and upper 60s in Tennessee! It's not far off for us, either! This air mass will spread northward & bring us the 50's for Friday afternoon.

Over the weekend a weak front will bring us some showers on Saturday then a return to drier weather for Sunday & the first part of next week. As we dry out & more sunshine returns our temperatures will climb again into the 50's & low 60's on Monday & Tuesday. This will put us about 10 to 15 ° above normal.

By the way, Spring officially arrives on Wednesday, March 21st... at 8:07pm! We hope you enjoy these last couple of weeks of winter!

Carl & Jamie

PS... Don't forget about the STORM SPOTTER TRAINING WORKSHOP THIS SATURDAY FROM 9AM TO NOON AT MIAMI VALLEY HOSPITAL'S BERRY WOMAN'S PAVILION!! Storm Team 2 will be there towards the end to meet with everyone and talk about Live Doppler 2X!

Spring just around the corner!!

Last night's fast moving Alberta Clipper produced 2-4" of new snow across the northern half of Ohio with less than 1" across the Northern half of the Miami Valley. After a very cold night with temperatures dropping into the upper teens & low 20's & nice warming trend will start on Thursday & continue through next week. Normal temperatures for us this time of the year range from a low of 28° to a high of 46°. By the middle part of next week we could see high temperatures in the low 60's or possibly higher!!! Spring is just around the corner the 1st full day of Spring on the 21st. I don't know about y'all but Jamie & I are really looking forward to some better weather. The last time are temperature hit 60° was on December 17th. THINK SPRING all you bloggers.

Carl

Clipper Moving In

Hello, Bloggers!
Here is your Tuesday update! We are watching our clouds increase today, ahead of our next storm. As Erik mentioned below... it's a fast-moving storm coming in from the Northwest. We call these Alberta Clippers! It will bring us the chance of light snow late tonight through Wednesday morning. Areas along and north of I-70 could see 1 to 2" of snowfall, while the southern viewing area should see an inch or less:

So amounts will be minimal... BUT with the snow potential coming during the morning commute... that could cause some travel problems! Stay with Channel 2, and we'll keep you posted of weather and traffic conditions on Wednesday.

After this little reinforcement of winter... things will feel a little more like Spring as we round the weekend into next week! We have several days in the 50s in the forecast... that will feel NICE!

And speaking of Spring, coming up THIS SATURDAY is the Dayton Skywarn Severe Weather Spotting Training! It will be held at Miami Valley Hospital, in the Berry Women's Pavilion from 9am to noon. Carl, Erik and I will be there near the end to talk a little bit about Severe Weather and the Power of Live Doppler 2X! We do this each year, and enjoy meeting all the spotters... they are all volunteers, and give up their valuable time to help keep everyone else safe!

If you are not in Montgomery County, and don't feel like traveling in for this meeting... there are others in the area over the next several weeks. Here is a link to the Storm Spotter Training Sessions:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/iln/training.htm

We hope to see you Saturday... enjoy the rest of the week!
Jamie

More cold air on the way!

After another below average weekend, it looks like some more cold air is headed for the Miami Valley tonight. A cold front moved through the area this afternoon bringing clouds and gusty winds. Arctic air will continue to settle down from the north and with decreasing winds, will lead to some radiational cooling.
The best environment for radiational cooling occurs when light winds, clear skies, low humidity, and a thick snow pack all coincide. (see pic, Curtesy of Jamie :-) Being that tonight we have 2.5 of the 4 criteria (not much in the way of snowpack, and I gave winds a .5 since they will die down later tonight) expect Tuesday morning to be a cold one... with temperatures in the upper single digits and lower teens.
Another bump in the forecast moves in Tuesday night into Wednesday. A fast moving/relatively weak system will move down from the northwest leading to a very light mixed bag of snow, sleet, and freezing rain. With this system, it looks as though moisture will be the big problem. With any luck we'll get through this one with nothing, but right now Wednesday mornings commute looks a little sloppy!

Windy Winter Weather

The major storm that brought us all the rain yesterday has finally moved into the Great Lakes. The strong winds today were gusting at times to near 50 mph. Dayton airport had a gust to 47 mph, Dayton South airport 44 mph, Wright Patterson Air Force Base 46 MPH .Winds will slowly diminish tonight but still continue gusting to 30 mph on Saturday. Colder weather sweeps back in over the weekend with daytime highs in the 30's & temperatures dropping into the upper teens & low 20's by Sunday morning. We can expect snow showers on Saturday with any accumulation only a dusting in some areas. This shot of cold weather will be short lived with a warming trend setting up next week & continuing into next weekend. With all the rain & snow melt over the past few days some areas have had some serious flooding. Enon was one area that had neighborhood flooding. If you know of any serious flooding in your area please let us know.

Carl

Hold on to Your Hat!

A Wind Advisory is in effect for this afternoon and evening. Winds could gust as high as 40 to 50 mph but at least dry weather is back. However, the frozen ground, melting snow and rainfall over the region averaging pretty close to an inch has created some flooding problems. One site of flooding is Sidney up in Shelby county. Here is the river stage this morning from the US Geological Survey....

_______________________________

click to enlarge

__________________________

It looks like the river has crested around 12 feet (flood stage is 10) and should continue to fall over the weekend, dropping below flood stage later tonight. Watch out for high water on area roadways today and gusty winds this afternoon if you are out and about.

Afternoon Update

Greetings, Bloggers!


We just wanted to update you on our weather situation for this evening. Showers and thunderstorms are still likely between now (4pm) and say 10pm. Here is the afternoon look at Live Doppler 2X to see the thunderstorms moving in from the west and southwest:





Click to enlarge


Or go straight to Live Doppler 2X to see where the thunderstorms are right NOW!

Our attention is turing from any severe threat to possible flooding as this storm moves through. As Brian mentioned below, we are under a FLOOD WATCH until late tonight. I have already received a "Level I Travel Warning" for Wayne County, Indiana... including the Richmond area. The Wayne Co. Sheriff's Department is warning drivers to use extreme caution due to high water on numerous roads throughout Wayne Co. If you are driving in Wayne Co. during this warning, you should expect to encounter high water... SLOW DOWN! A good thing to remember is the saying, "Turn Around, Don't Drown"... to quote our friends at the National Weather Service!


We are still expecting windy conditions tonight and tomorrow. Temperatures on Friday will be cool... with highs in the 40s. But it will be quite blustery, and there could even be a few light snow showers in the Northern part of the Miami Valley.


Please keep us posted on your rainfall totals... we will keep you posted on the weather situation!
Thanks!
Jamie

Severe Threat Still Here

A flood watch continues through tonight. Melting snow, additional rain, and still frozen ground in some areas will lead to quite a bit of run-off today. Tonight looks interesting... here is the latest SPC outlook












The greatest risk of tornadoes will be south of us with the potential for long-lived damaging tornadoes in MS and AL. The main threat of severe for us will be during the evening hours (6 to 10 PM) as a strong squall line moves through ahead of a cold front. Strong damaging winds of 60 mph will be possible with this line although an isolated tornado can't be completely ruled out. Time to tune-up Live Doppler 2X (the regions best real-time TV radar) and stay tuned for any watches or warnings later today.