The Middle Child Saves Christmas; Our Weather Goes from Frosty to Fantabulous

Sunday, November 7, 2010  12:00 p.m.

What a few days it has been..and no I did not forget about you. I apologize I did not get back to you sooner and have lots of cool stuff to talk and post about. Where do I begin....St.Augustine Light House had 1.35" of rain on Thursday, downtown at WTLV/WJXX we had 1" of rain! We went from summer to spring storms straight into winter weather! We had reports of frost in Middleburg and Woodbine the last 2 mornings. Some folks even had to use their ice scrapers. The cold spot this morning was Ocean Pond in the Osceola National Forest with a low of 28. There were a few camper reports of frozen soap! But if you were out at the beach a few clouds and breeze kept you closer to 50 like they were in St. Augustine. We had a shrimper boat report a low of 60. I just cannot get enough of this stuff! So yes I have been like a kid at Christmastime...doing sprints around Everbank Field, rebuilding cool radar images and really "geeking out" with all this interesting weather. Chief Meteorologist Tim Deegan and I were chatting up a storm about the great Florida and Georgia weather we have, or is it Georgia and Florida weather. I am surprised we found time to fit in a few weather shows. You can see where I have been. I have been researching all the interesting clouds...here is a picture of the gust front that jarred our building with 40 mph wind gusts to go with those heavy downpours. This impressive cloud is created by the warm tropical air being lifted by the rain-cooled rush of air out ahead of the thunderstorm.

Okay so how about our weather and who is that child above? That is my middle child Abbey and yes she has a lot of love in her life and she has saved Christmas at least for my my family this year. I have been at home today and between shows I am helping my family put up our Christmas tree. We have averted a major crisis. We got the tree out of the attic and decorations without any trouble, but the ornaments were missing. I must have checked every box in the attic ten times. I was up there for at least an hour and if you think Chevy Chase is sentimental about Christmas you haven't seen anything. I am the kid that went to bed at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve awaiting Santa's arrival. Nowadays I am usually doing a late weather show, but I get home and go to bed as soon as possible and still put out milk and cookies. Anyway Abbey went through a container bin we already had opened and noticed the ornaments were neatly packed under newspapers...so much so that it looked like there was nothing underneath them. But Abbey knew better and looked under the newspapers and found 16 years of Christmas memories. It was the equivalent in my book of what it would feel like if you found that pot of gold at the end of the double rainbow you see below that was sent to us from West Lafayette, Indiana . Thanks! You had rainbows and then a few flakes of snow in Lafayette on Friday. I see more snow in your forecast by later next weekend. It is that time of year. I would put up those Christmas lights for those of you from the southside to Northwestern Avenue and Yeager Road. Monticello, Monon, and Kokomo, you probably already have them up. Once it turns wintry next weekend I think it holds well into December. Be ready and stay safe on those icy roads when they develop.

I love you Abbey and yes I will put in a great word with Santa for you! It was the best feeling I have had about Christmas since the big Christmas snow that hit Lafayette, Indiana in 2002. We had 7.3 inches of snow and on the way to Wisconsin the next day I will never forget that the roads were so bad in Chicago that it was like driving on the beach. Here in Jacksonville it was a nice day with highs of 67. This year my Christmas forecast for us in Jacksonville is for temperatures in the 70s to possibly near 80. If you are reading this from the Midwest, you will be in the storm zone with maybe a rainy Christmas for Lafayette (this could change) to heavy snow by time you head up into Wisconsin where most of my cheesehead family lives. That is where my wife's family is from at least and they always have good food and are great company.

So why all this Christmas talk and are the Prangleys' crazy for putting up our Christmas tree so early. It is not even Veteran's Day!! Weather rules my life and nature gave me a sign....a cold sign that now is a great time. You see our weekend anchor Deanna Fene sent in this picture of the Junior Roar Cheerleader team that was smartly dressed for the weather and wearing those layers on Saturday morning. They are ready to cheer on our Jaguars on when the Cleveland Browns come to town. Deanna's daughter did not complain at all. It may have been a different story if they were in the shade. Now today's forecast high of 64 looks on track and that is actually the average high we have in Jacksonville on Christmas day which is only 48 days away. Here in Florida we are still at least another week away from rain, more like 10 days and I do not see another cold blast like this through at least Thanksgiving and we will start to warm up by Monday afternoon. I did not put my shorts away in the attic that is for sure. How impressive has this cold spell been. It was in the 70s in Billings, Montana and Bismarck, North Dakota or about 10 to 15 degrees warmer than us here in Florida yesterday. So enough is enough. Well almost!

• Join me tonight at 6, 6:30, and 11 p.m. and we will talk more about the frost on the way tonight and like last night we will have huge temperature differences across the area. Freeze warnings are also in effect for Brantley, Ware, Charlton, and Pierce Counties. In Florida, Freeze warnings have been issued by the National Weather Service in Jacksonville for Baker, Union, Bradford, and Columbia Counties.  Here were the morning lows from today.
• 28 Ocean Pond (Osceola National Forest)
• 29 John Bethea State Forest
• 32 Macclenny
• 32 Waycross
• 32 Homerville
• 32 Cecil Field
• 34 Woodbine
• 34 Brunswick
• 34 Lake City
• 35 Middleburg
• 35 Gainesville
• 36 Keystone Heights
• 37 Jacksonville
• 38 St. Simons Island
• 41 St.Johns
• 44 Fruit Cove
• 44 Jax N.A.S.
• 45 Jax Beach
• 46 Palm Coast
• 49 St. Augustine

 Karen from Woodbine, Georgia wrote in and even though she had a low of 34 they still had a frost start for the second morning in a row. Tonight I will explain why even if you have above freezing temperatures frost is possible...I will also throw in your winter outlook update...is it looking colder for us now after this big blast of cold air? I will have that and more. Check back here on the blog for more updates where the weather is always interesting. See you soon. Have a great day.

Yes, running motivation today...the cool crisp air will get you moving and you will not want to stop or it could get chilly. Just don't stop and enjoy the fresh breezes!