Dust storm over eastern Australia Courtesy: NASA
Yesterday morning, folks in eastern Australia had a rude awakening. A nasty dust storm, the worst in 70 years, swept through the most heavily populated area of eastern Australia causing canceled flights, respiratory health problems and dangerous commuting. Gusty westerly winds following a cold front in combination with one of the worst droughts to hit Australia kicked up a massive amount of dust. So massive, in fact, that it could be seen from space. The image above was taken from the NASA Terra satellite on Wednesday September 23. You can see the large orange swath of outback dust kicked up and passed out into the Pacific Ocean.
Below is the surface map taken yesterday. In the Southern Hemisphere, low pressure centers rotate clockwise and in this case winds blew from west to east over the continient.
Mean Sea Level Pressure Analysis Courtesy: National Meteorlogical and Oceanographic Centre Bureau of Meteorology
The sky turned an eerie orange color as a result of the heavy dust in the air. The picture below is of Sydney’s famous Opera House.
The Opera House in Sydney, Australia obscured by dust. Courtesy: REUTERS/Tim Wimborne
The skies did clear that afternoon but the dust storm left a film of rust-colored dust on car windshields and just about everything else. Geese, can you imagine that morning commute?
Photo Courtesy: Jack Atley/Bloomberg
Kristin Clark
Meteorologist, WeatherNation, LLC
Hi there and happy Wednesday everyone. Today is the first FULL day of fall and it certainly feels like it in the Rockies! A “Rex Block” is in place over the western half of the country, which is keeping much cooler than normal condition present there. The image below shows the wacky jet stream, winding, through the the weather features. A Large, backwards “S”, with a high pressure centered nearly over the area of low pressure marks the “Rex Block” – and – it literally is a blocking pattern. Weather systems tend to move very slowly from west to east in this type of pattern, so the weather probably hasn’t changed much where you live over the past few days, has it??
The latest weather models indicate a change in the winds as we get closer to the weekend. It appears the cut-off low over the central Rockies will hook back up with the strong upper level winds by Saturday and quickly exit the mountain region. Here’s the upper level weather map for Saturday:
After the low passes, temperatures will begin to fall through the Upper Midwest. High temperatures early next week may have a tough time making it into the 60′s for a few locales – feeling more like fall.
Atlanta Flooding:
Heavy rainfall and flooding claimed the lives of at least 8 in the Atlanta area, rivers are still running high and structures are still under water, but the rain is tapering.
Madison, WI Flooding:
Heavy rainfall in Madison, WI yesterday set records. 3.67″ of rain set a record for daily rainfall. It also set a record for the most amount of daily rain in the month of September. The other interesting stat was that the 3.67″ rain was the 8th greatest daily rainfall amount ever on record in Madison! Here’s a picture from the Madison Area Technical College, which was relayed to the National Weather Service out of Milwaukee, WI:
Portland, OR Record Heat:
The 92 degree high temperature reading in Portland, OR on Tuesday was the 24th day in 2009 that the mercury rose above 90 setting a record of the number of occurrences in a year. The previous record was 23 days in 1987 with an average occurrence of 90 degree days in Portland happening only 11 times per year. The “Rex Block” can be blamed for the heat in the Pacific Northwest.
That’s it for now, hope you enjoy the rest of your first full day of fall 2009… Make it a good one!
Autumnal Equinox
Hello and happy Tuesday everyone. Welcome to your first day of fall in the northern Hemisphere. At 5:18pm EDT, the sun’s most direct rays will pass over the Equator on its way to the southern hemisphere marking the beginning of fall in the northern hemisphere. It’s feeling a little more like fall after a 40 degree drop in temperatures in the Denver, CO area from Sunday to Monday. Monday featured Colorado’s first snow of the season in the higher elevations with nearly 11 inches falling around 10,000ft. On the warm side of the front, showers and t-storms broke out, which produced hail and high wind reports from the mid-Mississippi Valley southward into the south central part of Texas. Take a look at the storm report map below
Atlanta Flooding
Notice all the green dots located near Atlanta, GA. Rainfall records are dropping like flies in these parts due to continuous heavy rains. 7 days rainfall amounts have been ridiculous, up to 10″ or more in spots, which have, unfortunately, led to at least 8 fatalities since the weekend. The image below shows the radar rain estimates over the past 7 days, notice the white coloring near Atlanta, GA; this is a rain estimate of nearly 20″. Incredible flooding will continue today.
There are a number of rivers and streams running extremely high with the Chattahoochee River running at major flood stage and above the 100 year flood category! The good news is that the rain is tapering and shouldn’t be as extensive as it was over the past 3 to 5 days.
Portland Heat
The sultry summer that won’t stop in the Pacific Northwest is at it again. Temperatures today are expected to climb into the 90′s for Portland, OR, which is nearly 25 degrees above average. Today record high temperature for Portland is 93, which was set in 1994 and we should see that at least. If and when we make it into the 90′s it will be the 24th time this year that the temperature has climbed into the 90′s or better in the Portland area, which is another record. The previous record was 23 days in 1987.
That’s it for now, don’t forget to check back each day for more interesting weather and fun facts. Enjoy that last little bit of summer and your first day of Autumn.
Tomorrow morning the autumnal equinox will occur at 4:18 AM Central Time. The equinox occurs when the sun is directly above the equator. The planet will be vertically aligned such that it is not tilting towards or away from the sun. Tomorrow, the length of the day and night is approximately the same. This, of course, happens only twice a year, in March and September. Tomorrow will be first official day of fall. 
Weather conditions around the country seem to be reflecting the seasonal change as much cooler conditions move into Colorado, Wyoming, and into the Midwest as well. A cold front will be passing through the Midwest and temperatures to will dropping back to where they usually are this time of the year. In the Dakota’s, highs were in the upper 80s only a few days ago and today the highs will be struggling to get into the mid 60’s. The western half of the US will be experiencing a wide array of conditions from snow in the Rockies to highs in the 80s and 90s in the Pacific Northwest. The cooler weather in the Denver area won’t last for long, highs will be back into the 70s by the middle of the week.
Another beautiful weekend for the Midwest, but after two weeks of pure sunshine and temperatures in the 80s the scenario is expected to change drastically on Monday. The Dakotas will see the thermometer drop almost 20 degrees tomorrow and the Twin Cities could finally see some rain this month. There are not expected to get a lot of rain, just some showers to moisten the ground. As of now, this has been the driest September EVER recorded in Minneapolis/St Paul, St Cloud and Eau Claire, WI with only 0.01″ of rain at the airport.
Big changes will also come to Colorado and Utah where fall will be arriving one day earlier. Temperatures are expected to drop almost 25 degrees and the mountains could see snow… yes snow! So officially, summer will be saying goodbye in a cool fashion the same way it made its entrance because according to the NOAA this was one of the coolest summer’s in the United States.
Do you remember that Low pressure system that brought over 10 inches of rain to Texas? Well, it is still around and it will continue to bring heavy downpours to the Ohio Valley and to the windy city and will continue to track to the northeast increasing the chance of precipitation over the Mid-Atlantic states for the beginning of the workweek. According to the models, we could get more than 3 inches of rain anywhere from Kentucky all the way into southern parts of Michigan.
The countdown to Fall has begun, because it will officially be here September 22nd at 5:18 ET so time to buy the pumpkins and take the jackets out of the attic. Au revoir!
