November Chill Reminds Us to Give to the Coats for Kids Campaign

We are down to only two days to help make sure all of our community's children can stay warm this winter. I know we cannot control the weather but here is your chance to make a difference. Make sure to drop off coats, hats, and gloves here at TV-18 on Yeager Road. If you cannot make it to West Lafayette. Here are some other locations you can drop those coats off at:

All Hudlow'a locations through out Lafayette
Arnett Health Plans
415 N. 26th StreetFerry & 26th St Lafayette
Chick-FilaSt. Rd. 26 East Lafayette
AAMCO Transmissions St. Rd. 26 East Lafayette
Twin City Dodge-ChryslerSagamore Parkway S. Lafayette

We only have two more days and the numbers are down compared to last year probably because of all the warm weather. But as we know this will not last too much longer and we all felt the big change yesterday. You need to hurry because coat distribution is at 4th and Fountain Street at the Community Family Resource Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. I look forward to handing out plenty of coats and seeing lots of smiling faces on Saturday. Thanks in advance for all of your support! I have seen over the years what a difference your generosity does make when it comes to the Coats for Kids Campaign. Thanks again.

Speaking of winter, here is your winter weather outlook link many of you have been looking for: http://www.wlfi.com/global/Category.asp?c=100636

So if you missed my Winter Outlook on the newscast Tuesday night here is your chance to check it out. Make sure to click on the link above, then go to the "featured video" section and click on 2008 Winter Weather Outlook. I think there is something for everybody in it, but if you do not like ice you may want to sit down before viewing it. This winter should certainly be interesting just like yesterday's clouds which brings us to our big question.


Blog question of the day:
What were those beautiful clouds in the sky yesterday?

Luckily, I happened to have my digital camera and I think the clouds most folks were talking about were the ones you see on the left side. These are called altocumulus clouds and the can give the sky a dramatic appearance nicknamed the "mackerel sky". This is because the sky looks like it has fish scales that you would find on a King Mackerel. Sound fishy? It certainly look like it. When you see this mackerel sky you can use this famous Hoosier weather proverb:

If you do not like the weather just wait 5 minutes.

Yesterday the mackerel sky lived up to its reputation as our temperatures plummeted from a high of 60 at 2 p.m. to wind chills near 32 by 11 p.m. Thanks to Jim Hunt you can feel free to keep up with what nature dishes out by clicking on his home weather station in Kokomo. He is a regular weather blog reader and I really appreciate his support and enthusiasm to help make this site even more fun and informative. Check out all the nice temperature graphs by clicking this link: http://www.kokomo-weather.com/

Those that live closer to Remington of course can keep up with weather changes by clicking on Mary Anne Best's home weather station: http://maryannes.homeip.net/

Mary Anne is another reason you see me smiling every night. She takes good care of our weather team with constant weather updates. This is very helpful when forecasting our quickly changing weather. Thanks Mary Anne!

The mackerel sky can also indicate an increasing chance of thunderstorms in the forecast, especially with plenty of warm air and humidity. Now yesterday was too dry for thunderstorms. But, these clouds can also mean flurries on the way and sure enough I did put flurries in the forecast on Thursday. Do not expect any accumulations. This is supported by another popular weather proverb:

Mackeral sky, mackerel sky, never long wet and never long dry.

The picture I snapped on the right of the mackerel sky were cold air stratocumulus clouds that took over the sky and became stratus clouds. Our changing sky gives many hints about the many processes taking place in the atmosphere that shapes our weather and does help weather forecasting. So this is why the first thing I do when I get to work every day is LOOK OUT THE WINDOW! :) Have a great day and even though we do not have to worry about accumulating snow, we do have to bundle up and give those heavy coats a good workout. Stay warm and stay tuned. Tonight I will have the latest on your weekend and turkey day. Happy Novemberrrrrrrrrrr!