Tornados Strike Eastern VA

So far this evening (Monday) at least 3 tornados have been confirmed by the National Weather Service south of Richmond, extending east toward Suffolk and Norfolk. 

The same front that produced benefitial rain for southwest Virginia, ran into some very unstable air as it moved east. The result? A tornado outbreak that left 1 dead and over 200 injured. Looking at the photos below (WTKR-TV) it's a miracle their weren't more that were hurt. 

• Compared with other States, Virginia ranks number 29 for frequency of Tornadoes
  
• We saw more tornados in Virginia today than we did the entire year of 2007. 

Here's the breakdown from last year. 

• Total number of tornados (2)
• Total people killed (0)
• Total damage estimated ($80,000)

-Meteorologist Brent Watts

Holding On To The Sun

Those that are close to me know I love photography, especially nature. It just so happens my wife sent me an email with some great photos of people "holding the sun." Obviously, an impossible feat made possible through the eyes of the camera lens.

• By the way, holding the sun will get you burned. It's our "closest" star (93 million miles away), but the surface of the sun has a temperature of  5800 degrees. That's  actually about 16 times hotter than boiling water. The center of the sun has a temperature of 10million degrees.  
• Send in your "Holding the Sun" photos and we'll try to use them on the air.
• Click here for More tips on Weather Photography --Meteorologist Brent Watts

Rainy Days are Here, Again...

Man this song brings back so many memories from high school. No, not because I dressed up like a bumble bee and tap danced on-stage during the school play. Umm, it was actually a ladybug costume. But who's counting.

Seriously, this song from my high school years is a fitting now. Today I heard a youngster (under 30) say, "I wish it would just stop raining so much." In return I said, "do you like water to drink?" He said "yes, but we have a well at our house."

Hello, a refresher course about the water cycle: Precipitation, Evaporation, Condensation. Precipitation.....

Basically, to get water into your well, you have to have water in the ground. With "No Rain," we have no water.

So far we have a surpluss of rain for the month of April, but we haven't put a dent in the deficit from the past months. This week on Skytracker 7 Weather, we'll look at the rain deficit and what makes this year different from 2007.

Soak up the rain. --Meteorologist Brent Watts

The Weather is Looking Even Better In HD

High Definition. You either get it, or you don't. But after you see what WDBJ7 news looks like in HD, you definitely want it. Our loyal Weather blog fans are getting a sneak peak at the unreleased  SkyTracker7 HD Weather look. 

Over the past several months, we've taken viewer input and started working on a new and improved set of HD weather graphics that are both eye-popping, yet meteorologically relevant.  The results are, in my opinion, gorgeous.  

SkyTracker7 Weather will be the ONLY local weathercast in high definition. 

As you can see from the new 7-Day planner above, we've listened to the viewers who thought our old 7-Day was a bit hard to read. Now we've changed to an all horizontal format....and just wait and see what we've done with the weekend!

We didn't get rid of the region-by-region forecast, though you will notice an improved look that breaks down the temperatures in more detail. This makes it a bit easier to see what your hometown can expect. The pollen forecast, and water levels are still there too.  Plus new additions that are HDelightful. 

While vivid, it's not just about a pretty picture. We have also upgraded to the latest release of SkyTracker radar analysis software. This means you're not getting technology that is several years old. You're getting the most up to date  real-time 3D radar, storm tracking, wind and hail detection, FutureRadar and Hurricane Tracker.

Oh, did we mention Live neighborhood current conditions and cameras from WeatherBug HD. It's all still there too. 

We're very proud of the new look and hope you will give us your feedback (good or bad).  Our goal is to continue to deliver the caliber of Hometown weather Chief Meteorologist Robin Reed branded over 25 years ago.  The difference is we're making history by bringing it to you in state-of-the-art, widescreen HD format. 

Keep watching to see the new graphics hit the airwaves. 

--Meteorologist Brent Watts

Free Field Trip to the National Hurricane Center

If you've always wondered what it's like to work inside the National Hurricane Center, wonder no longer. Now, an online interactive tour takes you behind-the-scenes of the most advanced hurricane forecast office in the world. The best part? It's FREE. It's almost like a mini field trip. Without the chaperon and the terrible packed lunch.

Meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center follow and forecast the life of a tropical system. It's inside this building that the major landfall and strength predictions are made.

Go Behind-the-Scenes of the National Hurricane Center.

Note: Pop up windows and JavaScript are required. The latest version of Java is recommended.

1. Welcome to the National Hurricane Center – (read audio text)
2. NHC Operations Area – (read audio text)
3. CARCAH (Aircraft Reconnaissance) – (read audio text)
4. FEMA Hurricane Liaison Room – (read audio text)
5. Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (TAFB) – (read audio text)
6. NHC Media Center – (read audio text)
7. Miami Weather Forecast Office – (read audio text)
8. NHC Library – (read audio text)

Check it out. Hurricane season is a little over 1 month away. 

--Meteorologist Brent Watts

Free Field Trip to the National Hurricane Center

If you've always wondered what it's like to work inside the National Hurricane Center, wonder no longer. Now, an online interactive tour takes you behind-the-scenes of the most advanced hurricane forecast office in the world. The best part? It's FREE. It's almost like a mini field trip. Without the chaperone and the terrible packed lunch.

Meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center follow and forecast the life of a tropical system. It's inside this building that the major landfall and strength predictions are made.

Go Behind-the-Scenes of the National Hurricane Center.

Note: Pop up windows and JavaScript are required. The latest version of Java is recommended.

1. Welcome to the National Hurricane Center – (read audio text)
2. NHC Operations Area – (read audio text)
3. CARCAH (Aircraft Reconnaissance) – (read audio text)
4. FEMA Hurricane Liaison Room – (read audio text)
5. Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (TAFB) – (read audio text)
6. NHC Media Center – (read audio text)
7. Miami Weather Forecast Office – (read audio text)
8. NHC Library – (read audio text)

Check it out. Hurricane season is a little over 1 month away. Fun, fun fun!

--Meteorologist Brent Watts

Above Average Hurricane Season Predicted

Noted hurricane researcher Dr. William Gray, from Colorado State University, updated his 2008 hurricane predictions, stating the Atlantic Hurricane Season would be "well above average."

He comments rising water temperatures in the Atlantic will bring help fuel the increase, which includes four major storms.

Dr. Gray has been issuing hurricane predictions for over 20 years. Recently, he and his staff have been criticized for not quite hitting the mark.

The 2007 Atlantic season saw 15 named storms, six of which became hurricanes. Two were major storms. Not quite as active as Gray and others predicted.

Here are some of the highlights from Dr. Grays outook.

• Calls for 15 named storms in the Atlantic in 2008
• Calls for 8 hurricanes
• Calls for 4 intense hurricanes (CAT 3 or higher)
• Probability that at least one major hurricane will make landfall along the United States coastline is 69%

There's an average of 5.9 hurricanes that form in the Atlantic each year. Remember, these are forecasts based on many uncertainties. You should always be prepared.

U.S. government forecasters at NOAA and the National Hurricane Center will issue their seasonal outlook in late May. Not matter how many storms are predicted, it only takes one to make the whole season a bad one.

The best advice? Be prepared.

--Meteorologist Brent Watts

Cappuccino Coast

These photos and corresponding article were sent in by Tom in Christiansburg. This is the coolest thing. The Pacific was whipped up into an ocean of froth in Australia. The event actually happened in August of last year. Check it out.
---Meteorologist Brent Watts

From: The Daily Mail
It was as if someone had poured tons of coffee and milk into the ocean, then switched on a giant blender.
Suddenly the shoreline north of Sydney were transformed into the Cappuccino Coast.

Foam swallowed an entire beach and half the nearby buildings, including the local lifeguards' centre, in a freak display of nature at Yamba in New South Wales.

One minute a group of teenage surfers were waiting to catch a wave, the next they were swallowed up in a giant bubble bath. The foam was so light that they could puff it out of their hands and watch it float away.

It stretched for 30 miles out into the Pacific in a phenomenon not seen at the beach for more than three decades.

Scientists explain that the foam is created by impurities in the ocean, such as salts, chemicals, dead plants, decomposed fish and excretions from seaweed.

All are churned up together by powerful currents which cause the water to form bubbles.

These bubbles stick to each other as they are carried below the surface by the current towards the shore.

As a wave starts to form on the surface, the motion of the water causes the bubbles to swirl upwards and, massed together, they become foam.
The foam "surfs" towards shore until the wave "crashes", tossing the foam into the air.

"It's the same effect you get when you whip up a milk shake in a blender," explains a marine expert.

"The more powerful the swirl, the more foam you create on the surface and the lighter it becomes."

In this case, storms off the New South Wales Coast and further north off Queensland had created a huge disturbance in the ocean, hitting a stretch of water where there was a particularly high amount of the substances which form into bubbles.

As for 12-year-old beachgoer Tom Woods, who has been surfing since he was two, riding a wave was out of the question.

"Me and my mates just spent the afternoon leaping about in that stuff," he said.
"It was quite cool to touch and it was really weird. It was like clouds of air - you could hardly feel it."

Hurricane Forecaster May Raise 2008 Predictions

This is an iteresting post from Reuters regarding Dr. Bill Gray's (Colorado State University's hurricane forecaster) 2008 hurricane season predictions. Several atmospheric conditions are setting up that could mean an active year in the Atlantic. See below. --Meteorologist Brent Watts

The noted Colorado State University forecast team expects an above average Atlantic hurricane season and may raise its prediction of 13 tropical storms and seven hurricanes when it updates its outlook next week, the team's founder Bill Gray said on Wednesday.

La Nina cool-water conditions in the Pacific and higher sea surface temperatures in the eastern Atlantic are contributing to enhanced conditions for hurricane activity, Gray told Reuters at the U.S. National Hurricane Conference.

"We're expecting an above average season," Gray said. "The big question we have is, are we going to raise the numbers from our December forecast? We might."

"We're not going to lower the numbers," he said.

The average hurricane season produces about 10 tropical storms and six hurricanes -- a standard that was blown out of the water in the record-busting season of 2005, when 28 storms formed, including the hurricane that swamped New Orleans, Katrina.

The Colorado State team issues forecasts several times a year. In December, it said it expected the 2008 season starting June 1 to produce 13 tropical storms, of which seven would become hurricanes and three would be major hurricanes with winds of at least 111 miles per hour (178 km per hour).

Gray said La Nina, a cooling of waters in the eastern Pacific that can enhance conditions for hurricane activity in the Atlantic, will be "on the cold side."

"Also, the sea surface temperatures in the eastern Atlantic particularly off Iberia and off northwest Africa, they are very warm, much like they were at this time in 1995 and 2005 when we had very active seasons," he said.