Tornado Dog Gets a Nice Rest With Our Finest Friday in 4 Months!

Good Morning! What a great way to start off the day. I am getting used to the new back to school schedule like all the other parents. The kids have adjusted wonderfully. I am still getting there. It takes us older people a little longer I guess. I was a little groggy this morning but after walking outside the weather really has me pumped up for my morning run! I am thinking 8 miles today.

We are going to have our nicest Friday weather in 4 months! We will never forget how we had severe weather and rain for like 100 straight Fridays! Well it wasn't that many but at one point we had rain on 12 out of our last 14 Fridays. There will be no Freaky Friday this time around and the big news is that we have Friday Night Frenzy tonight on WLFI for the first time since last March tonight! We have great "football weather" for all the scrimmages. In other words it will once again feel like autumn out there and instead of nature blitzing us with uncomfortable heat and humidity or thunderstorms and it will be just right with cool breezes, clear skies and temperatures in the lower to middle 70s early this evening. The sports team is all geared up and we will have plenty of highlights tonight from West Lafayette, Mc Cutcheon, and Jeff and that is just a small sample.

Today's weather is also just the beginning of a beautiful pattern. We have a huge double-barreled high pressure coming down from Canada. This is the same system that has really controlled our weather for much of the month of August and has helped to divert the jet stream about 1,000 miles farther south than where it should be. We have only had 2 days of rain in August with cooler, more stable air in place and has helped continue our streak of having no official 90 degree weather at least at the Purdue airport has reached an incredible 67 days!

Usually we are under the influence of a Bermuda high pressure this time of year with plenty of heat and humidity. Having a 90 degree day this time of year is as common as firing up the grill or eating some sweet corn on the porch. Well not this year and I am still concerned about an early frost around September 23rd. The forecast is for an early Frost, an early snow, and maybe a mild winter with an early Spring. There are plenty of mixed signals as we head into 2009 and our winter so stay tuned. Chances of a cold autumn is looking likely at this point. Summer is not totally done yet as the Bermuda High does show signs of making a comeback in our forecast the last week of August and for Labor Day. So if you are looking for hot weather you will have to wait awhile. In the shorter term, the East Coast will still have to watch the tropics carefully and an active tropics usually means a slow-moving weather pattern for us. This is good news if you like sunny, comfortable weather. For those that missed out on the rain yesterday you may want to water the plants because our next chance of rain may hold off until at least the middle of next week and even that is no guarantee. It was very strange yesterday with areas between Lafayette and Battle Ground not receiving a single drop of rain while other areas toward Shadeland picking up between a half-inch and one inch of rain. Luckily, I have not had to water the lawn once this year and the tomatoes have loved the weather we have had this summer. This is an understatement!

I wanted to thank our weather watcher Marty from Otterbein for bringing in some fresh Better Girl tomatoes yesterday. My ham sandwhich never tasted so good last night and they were the sweetest tomatoes I have ever had. Now I am hungry for some BLT's even if it is before 9 a.m. You do not even have to put those tomatoes on anything they are so delicious. Okay, let's keep the good news coming!

Let's get right to our skylights for the weekend:

Tonight look for Saturn, Venus, and Mercury all bunched up in the sky together after sunset. Remember planets do not twinkle, but stars do in case you have trouble identifying them.

The moon will be playing tag with Jupiter which of course has a big storm raging on its surface that is 3 times the size of the earth and has wind speeds close to 250 mph.

Speaking of the moon we will miss the lunar eclipse unless you are heading to Europe for the weekend. But we will not miss out on the FULL RED MOON which is officially Saturday night. It will be a great night for all those heading out to the Indiana State Fair. Nature has you covered along with all the great food and displays

Last but not least have a wonderful Friday and like Teri reminded all the bloggers, it will be a great day to go to the Humane Society Garage Sale to help raise money for those special animals. I will make sure to post an animal hero here on the blog by this afternoon and some other pictures. This dog actually herded her family and warned them that bad weather was on the way last Monday night before the tornado hit Benton County. My nickname for her is TORNADO DOG! Thanks for reading and I will check back soon.