It has been a stormy afternoon across East Texas. The sea breeze really lit up this morning and continued pushing northward into our area. This has lead to numerous storms, some producing heavy rain, winds, and lightning. Overall, the severe weather threat should remain low. With a tropical like airmass in place, we could get up to an inch of rain in some spots. Other places, might not see much rain at all. Do not give up hope yet if you do not see the rain today. More is expected to come up from the south on Wednesday.
June 24, 2008
June 23, 2008
Lightning Safety Week
Summer is the peak season for one of the nation's deadliest weather phenomena— lightning. But don't be fooled, lightning strikes yearround. The goal of this Website is to safeguard U.S. residents from lightning.
In the United States, an average of 62 people are killed each year by lightning. Already in 2008, 8 people have died due to lightning strikes. In 2007, 45 people were struck and killed by lighting in the U.S.; hundreds of others were injured. Of the victims who were killed by lightning:
- 98% were outside
- 89% were male
- 30% were males between the ages of 20-25
- 25% were standing under a tree
- 25% occurred on or near the water
The reported number of injuries is likely far lower than the actual total number because many people do not seek help or doctors do not record it as a lightning injury. People struck by lightning suffer from a variety of long-term, debilitating symptoms, including memory loss, attention deficits, sleep disorders, numbness, dizziness, stiffness in joints, irritability, fatigue, weakness, muscle spasms, depression, and an inability to sit for long.
For more information, go to http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/. Source: NOAA
June 21, 2008
Strong Storms Roll In, Leave Some Damage
It was a fairly active weather day across the Piney Woods as scattered showers and storms began developing early in the day and lasted through the mid-afternoon hours.
This storm (Fig. to left) developed outside of Lufkin around 11:15am this morning and rolled through town, bringing with it some heavy downpours, lots of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, and some gusty winds. Along the way, this storm knocked down some trees and power lines, leading to several power outages across the Lufkin area around midday.
Lufkin, however, was not the only area to receive storm reports.
Around 12:45pm, an hour and a half later, a storm popped up just southeast of Nacogdoches, leading to some downed trees outside of town.
Then, around 2:45pm, as the broken line of storms advanced further south, areas in and around Lake Livingston encountered some gusty winds. In fact, the Sheriff's Department estimated wind speeds on the order of 60 mph, as a strong storm rolled on through.
The storms then pushed south and into the Houston area by early this evening, leaving us with just some left over clouds.
The storms were all caused by a weak stationary front draped across East Texas. It was this front that served as a focal point for showers and storms to develop today.
The frontal boundary will shift southward tonight, giving us some slighly drier air and more sunshine for Sunday.
First Day of Summer=Longest Day of the Year
While Summer officialy started last night at 6:59pm local time, today was the first full day of the summer season.
So what does the first day of summer actually mean?
The answer has to do with the earth's tilting on its axis. As you know, our seasons are determined by the tilting of the earth on its axis, which causes certain parts of the earth to see more sunlight than others, while others see less.
During the Summer Solstice, the sun lies directly over the Tropic of Cancer at high noon. This is the northernmost point that the sun reaches throughout the entire year. It is this tilt to the earth that allows the Northern Hemisphere to experience longer days, and therefore, hotter temperatures. The Southern Hemisphere, on the other hand, is now experiencing winter with cold temperatures and long nights.
Speaking of long days, in case you have not noticed, today was the longest day of the year. With sunrise at 6:15am this morning and sunset at 8:26pm this evening, we saw 14 hours and 11 minutes worth of daylight.
For each successive day that goes by from now until December, each day will get a little bit shorter by a minute or so.
June 20, 2008
Light Show
Mother Nature is putting on a nice light show this Friday night. It took a while but an outflow boundary from our east finally pop up a few thunderstorms. None of the activity is severe but the lightning is very impressive. Every cloud to cloud strike lights up the storm and you can see the structure of it. The bigger storm is in Woodville, with smaller storms near San Augustine and Garrison. I do not expect these storms to last much longer. However, enjoy the light show while it last!
June 19, 2008
Weather 101: Outflow Boundaries
The storms that moved through this afternoon came from a weakening storm complex that originated from the Texas Panhandle last night. As the storms collapsed, they put out what we call outflow boundaries, which act like mini cold fronts. It is cold air coming out of the storm that lifts the warm and humid, thus causing more storms to develop. Farther south, the graphic shows you what happened in Houston. As the outflow boundaries pushed southward towards the coast, the sea breeze was moving northward. As these two boundaries collided, severe storms were born. There have been lots of reports of wind damage and flooding in Houston this afternoon. Lucky for us, it did not get that bad. However, tomorrow is another day!
June 18, 2008
Hail Storm This Evening
Storms began exploding late today and one storm went from nothing, to something, then back to nothing in about an hour. This storm started south of Nacogdoches and pushed right into Lufkin. The pic to the left is of pocket change hail from Rusty Nix in Woden. We also had numerous reports of nickel up to golf ball size hail in the middle of Lufkin. This is what can happen in a weather pattern like this and we could see more storms turn severe each afternoon, right into the weekend. You can see more weather photos and video but going to our See It, Snap It, Send It section of our website. It is free to sign up and you can share information with fellow East Texans. Also, while you are there, check out the chat feature where you can see our web cam in the weather center.
Moon Illusion Tonight
This evening, the moon will rise at 8:50 PM. What is special about this moon? First, it is a full moon. Second, it is known as the "Solstice Moon" because it is the last full moon before the summer solstice, which is when summer begins. Lastly, as the moon rises, it will look very, very large! Do not worry, the moon has not changed sizes. It is an optical illusion. The best way to describe the effect is to think of a see saw. When one person is high and the other low, the person in the air looks very large to the person who is sitting on the ground. In reality, your size has not changed. It is just the way our eyes trick our brain. We would love to see your pictures of this full moon. Just head over to our See It, Snap It, Send It section on our website and you can upload your photos there. I will share some tonight on the 10 PM newscast. Enjoy!
