Wednesday, November 3, 2010 10 a.m.
There is nothing like a first nice soaking rain after nearly 5 weeks of not seeing much more than a few drops. Jacksonville recorded .16" of an inch yesterday. The Jacksonville Landing was filled with folks last night that gathered after one of the best voter turnouts in North Florida history. They were also rejoicing about the rain. If there was a column on the ballots to vote for rain, I think it would have won by a landslide. I think I even saw some dancing out there in the rain. It was the first election day I have been a part of where people were cheering on their candidate and the weather. No matter what the outcome we were all winners last night by getting out to vote and nature took care of the rest!
It reminded me of the feeling I got when anticipating the first snowflakes of the year. This was certainly the next best thing. I even enjoyed Christmas music yesterday while enjoying the radar and cleaning around the house. No, it is still too early for me to go shopping...LOL. Of course I changed around a few of the songs to match our weather here at home. Let it snow...quickly became let it rain, let it rain, let it rain. If I would have known singing to holiday music would bring us rain, I would have tried this weeks ago. Our plants, lawns and even blooming roses seem much happier this morning as you can see above. Our world this morning is brighter and in this forecast it will only get better. It is all roses based on the latest meteorological data.
Model amounts range from .54" to .92" of additional rainfall but I think they may actually be under doing it! No, I do not think I am wearing the rose-colored glasses. Look no further than Pensacola that has been pummeled and pounded with 7 inches of rain this morning. Now we need rain, about 15 inches of it but we do not need it all at once like they are seeing in the Florida Panhandle. There are also severe thunderstorms popping up that our weather models usually do not do a good job factoring in when it comes to forecast rainfall totals. So the numbers above are just rough averages and I am still leaning for us to receive over an inch of rain in many locations just like I discussed on the air on Sunday night when I was trying to contain my excitement so I would not pop through your TV set..LOL. We do have a chance of thunderstorms developing not only later today but Thursday. I think we will see our best chance of storms and heavier rain tomorrow.
The big difference-maker in the atmosphere is an upper-level low has now replaced the high pressure that has made its home over us the past few months. This high blocked all of our moisture from the Gulf of Mexico that is a huge player in Florida receiving its rainfall. Even the astronauts on the International Space Station were amazed by our tranquil weather. Astronaut Douglas Wheelock took this fantabulous picture above which tells the story about how quiet it has been. Look at the bright lights over the southeast and Bahamas. How about that moonlight over the ocean! Well this morning the Gulf of Mexico is open for business in a big way. Check out this nice satellite picture below full of moisture over the southeast!
You see the swirl...and thunderstorms popping up nicely. The orange, yellow, and even red areas on this satellite picture are the higher cloud tops where you normally find the heaviest rain. This storm will be moving right over us tomorrow and tomorrow night! In its wake...are you ready sitting down? Some areas may see their first frost in our viewing areas. I am not forecasting frost for Jacksonville at this time but it is something to watch because if this system phases just right over the next 24 to 36 hours with a Midwest system, that forecast low of 38 for Jacksonville may have to be lowered. We will talk more about this here on the blog tomorrow. Let's just take it one day at a time and enjoy the rain. I will also check out our severe weather chances as this potent storm rolls our way because we cannot rule that out either. If the storm last week was called Autumngeddon (we could still call it that here in Florida because we missed the rain), what should we call this one. It basically is going to bring us all 4 seasons in one week. I would love to hear your ideas. You can comment at the bottom of this page or send me an e-mail at mprangley@firstcoastnews.com.
I will leave you with a picture of the neighborhood kids playing out in the rain yesterday. I am still trying to nicely remind my girls to wear their shoes when they go outside, but I guess they are not the only ones that like to be barefoot. The good news is nature will get the last laugh and it will be too cold for that by this weekend. Thanks for the assist nature! Have a great day!
I am off to running 6.25 miles...Running motivation...It is hump day for some, but you call it running day...where you can just lace up the shoes and get away! The sunshine will not be beating you down. Now you are in control under the stratus clouds one step at at time. You can do it!!
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