Friday, August 29, 2008

Quadruple Trouble in the Tropics & Heating up Here at Home

I am checking in before Kelly Greene's going away party! She will be dearly missed and the good news is she will not be far away in Fort Wayne. Kelly joined us as a part-time weekender about 4 years ago and has blossomed into a wonderful meteorologist. I will miss all of our laughter and yes even our heart to heart sessions when forecasts did not go quite the way we thought. This is the hardest part of this business...when you see friends come and go. I will never forget digging her car out in the blizzard of 2007 and she will always be a part of our WLFI family. I know she will make us proud in Fort Wayne. Way to go Kelly!

In the world of weather I finally get to show you rainfall tonight. If you take out the big rain we had earlier in the month it is our driest August since 1996. Some lucky dogs got .25" of rain but that was the exception to the rule and our best bet for rain over the next couple of weeks will be from what is left of major hurricanes that will likely hit the United States. All interests from the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, and even up the East Coast will have to monitor things very carefully. Right now I see two hurricanes making landfall in the next 7 days and maybe two more on the way by the middle of September before things settle down. I will have their tracks on the news tonight and post the latest on the blog. Also, keep cool thoughts because our hottest weather of the season is on the way. Here is a good way to keep cool....

Snowfall is still looking slightly below average for us this winter with milder than normal temperatures moving in after Christmas and continuing through much of January and February. Our biggest snowstorms this year could very well be in November, December, and March. It is fitting that it will be another strange season. The autumn outlook looks like we will stay drier than average through October before we get our rain and snow that we are used to in November and through much of the winter. We will still have an early frost in September, but also plenty of Indian summer in October. More details on the way....we will name all the snowstorms this year just like they name hurricanes....send in names..I will have the forecast number of snows and monthly totals posted this evening. Things will start getting back to normal here on the blog. I have my second wind and I have a thousand things to write about! Have a wonderful weekend!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

With Nov and Dec being one of our best chances for snow I hope we get snow on the holidays!!!!

We will miss Kelly, Mike hope you don't go anywere anytime soon!!!!!

Justin in Lafayette.

Brenda@CoffeeTeaBooks said...

We will miss Kelly. She almost made getting up early in the morning delightful. :)

Anonymous said...

Hey Mike been watching this Hurricane Gustav and oh my goodness what a storm it is!!!!!
I got a friend like I said in baton rouge LA, and by the look's of the path now they are going to be on the east side of the storm which as you know is the stronger side.

This morning when I got up I looked at the map's and it was a CAT 3 by around this afternoon it went to a CAT 4 and looking at some future map's it's going to be a CAT 5 in around 24 hours.
Also in new orleans they are already getting people out of there. This is really a BIG storm!!!!!

And on top of all this don't forget about Hurricane Hanna.

Justin in Lafayette.

Anonymous said...

Hi all, I have been on here for awhile, due to work, sure glad we havent had any big storms!

Justin, I have been watching Gustav as well, This a frightning situation, thank goodness many are choosing to evacuatate and this time they are able to take their pets. They have even moved animals from shelters for safty.

I have family in path of the hurricane, and so far can not get in touch with them via cell.

What a beauitful day for us in Indiana! all enjoy your long weekend!

Teri in Laf

Anonymous said...

Well Teri hope your family dose stay safe!

Im glad we don't live down in the tropical area's.
But yes a really nice day out there today a nice cool morning.

Justin in Lafayette.

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to hear more about yearly snowfalls and cooler Sept! My kids are just going crazy waiting to wear their new fall sweatshirts and sweaters! May just have to pump up the air in the house and pretend huh?

Anonymous said...

The Animals Need You after Hurricane Gustav:

Animal rescue experts urge people to prepare for disaster and evacuate with pets. A Zogby International study found that 44 percent of those who stayed behind when Hurricane Katrina hit did so because they wouldn't abandon their pets. Animal rescue and disaster preparedness for pets has become vital for saving human and animal lives.

On Thursday, we received a frantic call from a woman in Mississippi asking us where she could take her pet because she had to evacuate. The hotel the woman had found wouldn't accept pets. It's unbelievable, three years after Katrina, that there still aren't enough pet-friendly hotels. People died because they wouldn't leave their animal family members behind and had no place to go with them. This kind of tragedy can't be allowed to happen again.

Yet even though Hurricane Katrina precipitated the largest animal rescue operation in history, chronicled in our book, RESCUED, and the PETS Act provided federal incentives for states to include pet evacuation in disaster planning, complacency has returned.

Many people are simply not prepared with a pet disaster kit that contains food, water, photos of their pets, and medications. They haven't compiled a list of pet-friendly hotels along evacuation routes. (See www.rescuedsaving animals.com for items to pack in a pet disaster kit and tips for preparing to be safe in any emergency.) This means they are putting their lives, the lives of their pets, and the lives of animal rescuers at risk.

When we did interviews in New Orleans for RESCUED, we visited Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO). The executive director told us a story that we'll never forget. She explained that volunteers in search of abandoned animals after Hurricane Katrina found an entire family that had refused to evacuate because they couldn't bear to leave their pets behind. The family's cat, starving and nearly dead, was lifted off a woman's lap by the ARNO rescuer and brought to their shelter. The entire family had perished. We all had tears in our eyes while listening to this tragic story. People choose to stay in or return to dangerous situations rather than abandon their pets."

Below is a partial list of some of the organizations that are on the ground right now. They all need donations of money, NOT ITEMS, to keep them doing the good work of saving animals. It's a VERY costly process. Please consider making a donation.

United Animal Nations, uan.org
MuttShack Animal Rescue Foundation, muttshack.org
Animal Rescue New Orleans, animalrescuenreworleans.org
Humane Society of South Mississippi, hssm.org
Humane Society of Louisiana, humanela.org
Houston SPCA, houstonspca.org
Pets America, petsamerica.org
Hopeful Haven, hopefulhaven.com
Code 3 Associates, code3associates.org
Louisiana State Animal Rescue Team, lsart.org
International Fund for Animal Welfare, ifaw.org

Also Lafayette Red Cross