tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-118678542009-03-03T21:09:08.911-06:00Here is where you will find the things I did not have time to mention during my daily weathercasts. A few rants and raves perhaps and hopefully some good info on Earth Science. Dan SatterfieldDan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1155481778899096602006-08-13T10:06:00.000-05:002006-08-13T10:09:38.920-05:00

I have decided to move my blog to my own web space. All of my previous posts have made the move, too.You can now find me here: Dan's Wild Wild Weather JournalThanks for visiting, please follow the link above for future posts!Dan

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1151351476672675922006-06-26T14:45:00.000-05:002006-06-26T14:51:16.686-05:00

I know this blog has not been updated in awhile. It is not that I do not have anything to write about, I do! Right now though I am finishing up a Master's degree and this is taking ALL of my spare time outside of work.I will be done in about 4 weeks and then you can expect at least 1-2 per week. If I find a little time between now and then I might even get a short one out. There is a great story

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1138866519501601362006-02-02T01:24:00.000-06:002006-02-02T01:50:49.806-06:00

I did a blog awhile back on the 8 planets in the solar system. That's right 8 planets. Not the 9 that your grammar school and high school text books say. Well today my view of the solar system got another boost. Seems that astronomers have detected another big object orbiting the sun. It's official name is UB313. The discoverer wants to name it the planet Xena. Before you think this is just a

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1136414798372517692006-01-04T16:37:00.000-06:002006-01-04T16:46:38.390-06:00

I have been on holiday for much of the past 4 weeks. It is actually good to get back to work.If you have never been to the Canadian Rockies, I highly recommend you see them. If you are not a cold weather lover like me, then go in the Summer. I took a 5km hike up to a frozen waterfall in Banff National Park. It was -20C at the time but with an elevation gain of 350 meters, I was soon sweating.

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1133771578330698762005-12-05T02:23:00.000-06:002005-12-05T02:32:58.330-06:00

Snow is the toughest of all forecasts to make. Especially around here since people are not used to dealing with it and it seems to play havoc. I learned a lesson about forecasting snow in Alabama when I first moved here. I mentioned on air that we could see a heavy dusting of snow. Minutes later the phone rang in the weather office and it was a school superintendent telling me they were canceling

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1131593914005269182005-11-09T21:29:00.000-06:002005-11-09T21:38:34.020-06:00

I know we have had some crazy weather of late but today takes the cake! A tornado hit Hamilton Ontario around 4 pm today. Canada does have some damaging tornadoes from time to time. One last Summer near Toronto was exceptionally strong. A Twister in November however, is exceedingly rare. Do not get the idea that this means a warm Winter. It does not. (See my blog on the winter forecast-I have not

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1130450555400267902005-10-27T16:53:00.000-05:002005-10-27T22:23:28.776-05:00

Our weekend anchor Amber Moody made it back to Huntsville last night. What a wild 7 days she has had. First getting married (That will scare anybody!) and then off to an idyllic honeymoon...in Cancun!When she got my message last week (It was short and simple.."Get out NOW!") she tried to get a flight but it was already too late. The already heavily booked flights were all full. She has some real

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1130208113933993102005-10-24T21:36:00.000-05:002005-10-24T21:44:59.236-05:00

The warm weather crowd in the newsroom is already grumbling. This is already to much for them! For those of us that like the cooler weather, this is hog heaven!Last night, I opened the window and turned up the old electric blanket to well done..and slept well!This pattern is going to continue all week with a deep upper trough in the jet stream parked over the eastern half of North America. If

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1129849442529896882005-10-20T17:54:00.000-05:002005-10-20T18:04:02.540-05:00

If you had asked me Tuesday night if a hurricane could intensify by 50 millibars in 8 hours, I would have probably laughed. Thirty or even forty perhaps..but even that would be stretching it.So there I set in bed in the early morning hours of Wednesday..my WiFi laptop in front of me and my wife sound asleep beside me. I decided to see if there was a new recon report on Wilma. There was. 901

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1128985440012356942005-10-10T17:41:00.000-05:002005-10-11T13:18:18.596-05:00

Twenty years ago making a 6 month forecast was for the fool hardy. Things have changed dramatically since then. Our knowledge of how the atmosphere reacts to the oceans is still in the fundamental stages, but we do know enough to make some guesses.Season long forecasts look at things like El Nino and La Nina. A Pressure pattern called the Arctic oscillation and even the number of Hurricanes in

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1128383543523580632005-10-03T18:51:00.000-05:002005-10-04T09:52:23.956-05:00

They are calling it Xenia and now they find it has a moon as well. Still if you ask most astronomers, this is not a planet. For that matter, neither is Pluto. Even the discoverers of Xenia agree there are doubts.Funny thing is, there is no actual definition of what a planet is. Pluto was called a planet after its discovery but in the years afterward, most astronomers realized it was probably a

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1128121350362369472005-09-30T17:49:00.000-05:002005-10-29T23:04:19.933-05:00

We have added 2 new weather net stations in the last couple of weeks. One at Hampton Cove and another at Collinsville over in Dekalb county. Not to mention the one in August at Bob Jones high school in Madison. This now gives us quite a mesonet of real time reporting stations. Thanks to the sponsorship of Bill Penney Toyota we will be adding another live camera and some more stations soon as well

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1127464033417891652005-09-23T03:07:00.000-05:002005-09-24T00:01:40.733-05:00

I watched CNN during dinner and was shocked to see the reports of thousands of people out of gas along Interstate 45 in Houston. Apparently the contra flow did not start until noon on Thursday.It seems to me that this raises serious questions about trying to evacuate everyone from a city of 5 million. (Has there been an over reaction??)Already there has been one reported death and wire reports

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1127369541224873812005-09-22T00:54:00.000-05:002005-09-22T13:04:11.116-05:00

Two category 5 hurricanes in matter of weeks. Hard to believe. Yet the satellite shots and the dropsonde numbers do not lie. Rita is not just a cat 5 storm tonight..it is a STRONG Cat 5 storm. Fortunately hurricanes do not tend to stay at this level for long and I suspect it will be a 4 at landfall...maybe even down to a 3 (Let's hope so)If it comes ashore as a strong 4 like Katrina, we are

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1126248675887495582005-09-09T01:36:00.000-05:002005-09-15T18:27:00.170-05:00

I have not blogged in the last few days because I would probably say something that gets me in trouble. After years of talking to civic groups about New Orleans and the waiting disaster...well you get the idea.Still, I am in the forecasting business. Once the storm hits, it becomes the news department's problem. I will say that I am proud of the media's excellent (for the most part) coverage of

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1125468007448240892005-08-31T00:40:00.000-05:002005-09-02T17:55:25.836-05:00

I was in New Orleans in June 2003 for the AMS weather conference I attend each year. We stayed at the Hyatt across from the Superdome. I've seen pictures of it in the last 24 hours. Not much left of that very swank hotel.After the conference session I walked through the French Quarter with my wife and son and took a ton of pictures. This may not be here much longer I told my wife when she asked

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1124863130026428542005-08-24T00:43:00.000-05:002005-08-24T00:58:50.033-05:00

Ok. First off my apologies on the long delay since my last blog. Will try and do better in the future.I do have some very interesting news tonight. Astronomers have been watching an asteroid named 2004NM for the past year. It is a type that orbits close to the sun but does pass through Earth's orbit from time to time. In a recent near encounter, a much better fix on it's orbit was attained. The

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1124000002028682632005-08-14T00:57:00.000-05:002005-08-14T01:13:22.036-05:00

My apologies at such a long delay between posts. Exceptionally busy week. We are working on some new weather graphics and I think you will like them. Much clearer and very pleasing to the eye. To be honest I have not been a real fan of the current scheme. The new one is the best I have seen. Just when you will see it on air is uncertain. Probably in a month or so.Many thanks to all who keep

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1123304934029741082005-08-05T23:44:00.000-05:002005-08-06T00:08:54.036-05:00

I have been in Washington all week at the American Metr. Society Broadcast Meteorology conference. While there was little time for sight seeing, I had still hoped to do some. The weather did not cooperate though. The heat and haze and smog were horrible. This was expected of course. There are few places in the USA with a more brutal climate in August than D.C.Still I managed to grab my camera and

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1122368753741130442005-07-26T03:48:00.000-05:002005-07-29T20:42:44.430-05:00

I am not one to fall asleep easily. My wife is just the opposite. I will ask her a question after she has gone to bed and she will answer. I will ask a follow up not 10 seconds later and.....out cold.I am envious. Give me a cold night with howling winds and I will fall asleep quickly. Otherwise... Next week is the annual AMS Broadcast conference. It is Washington D.C. and is being held jointly

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1121924834620772382005-07-21T00:27:00.000-05:002005-07-21T00:47:14.626-05:00

Meteorologists like to break the atmosphere down into scales. We have the microscale and the meso scale and synoptic scales and global or planetary scales. Most forecasters concern themselves with the synoptic scale.If you have a house that is 10 km long it is a mesocale house. Ten Meters long and it is a local scale house. 10,000 km long and your house is a planetary scale house!Synoptic scale

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1121225052126144402005-07-12T22:08:00.000-05:002005-07-12T22:24:12.143-05:00

Right now the weather for the shuttle launch on Wednesday looks pretty good. I would say the chance of a shower scrubbing the launch is only about 25%. When I worked in Florida, I covered several shuttle launches. They truly are something to see. TV definitely does not due it justice. Especially a night launch. When you watch on TV they stay zoomed into the shuttle but at the press site you can

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1120969773469128782005-07-09T23:19:00.000-05:002005-07-09T23:31:17.706-05:00

The recon aircraft sent back a central pressure of 941 mb just before 10 pm tonight. On the Saffir Simpson scale, that pressure would make Dennis a category 4 storm. The winds are not really up to cat 4 strength yet but they will do so shortly I think.The difference between a cat 3 storm and a cat 4 storm hitting a coast line is quite dramatic. If it stays this strong or god forbid gets stronger,

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1120889225048044902005-07-09T00:55:00.000-05:002005-07-09T01:11:59.910-05:00

As of 1 am CDT, Dennis is now visible on the Key West Nexrad. It is off shore and just NE of Havana. All of the 00z models are in now and they are remarkably in agreement. It looks more and more likely that landfall will be somewhere in the western part of the Florida Panhandle or perhaps as far west as Gulfport Miss. That could certainly change but I do not think it will change much. The

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11867854.post-1120806151180101002005-07-08T01:42:00.000-05:002005-07-08T10:56:57.190-05:00

Someone said a few years back that if weather satellites could only be used for tracking hurricanes, they would still be worth their cost many times over. It is certainly true. I myself cannot imagine what it was like to try and forecast these things before real time satellite imagery. Meteorologists have developed a technique for ascertaining the strength of a tropical storm using only satellite

Dan Satterfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17103428750040230969dansat@gmail.com