14 May, 2011

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TODAY'S TOP WEATHER STORIES
On Weather & Climate Through the Eyes of Mark Vogan

THE GREAT MISSISSIPPI FLOOD OF 2011 latest

BREAKING NEWS: MORGANZA SPILLWAY OPENEND AROUND 3.20P CT

Mississippi River Floodgate to Open at 3 P.m. CDT
ABC NEWS

Louisiana attempts to prevent another Katrina
CBS NEWS

Louisiana Prepares to Open Spillway to Avert Mississippi River Flooding Disaster
FOX NEWS

Official: Louisiana spillway will be opened Saturday
CNN


TODAY'S WEATHER ACROSS AMERICA By Mark Vogan

Low remains stalled over flooded Ohio Valley, wet and messy picture throughout eastern third, new storm enters West Coast.

NEW: Video-Blog looks at US weather for upcoming workweek

The map I'm showing you is from the European model or ECMWF.

TODAY'S WEATHER ACROSS UK & EUROPE By Mark Vogan

Unsettled and cool weather looks set to remain across UK & low countries for next 7 days but slightly milder as flow becomes zonal, trough to send storm into Alps providing heavy rains, mtn snows

surface pressures today

The forecast models suggest a not too great picture for the next 7 day period with a trough looking set to remain dominant across the UK. However, an upper low, supported by a surface low up across Iceland over the next 24 to 48 hours looks set to open the door to a more westerly air flow across Britain. Though this will continue to bring frequent showers, breezy if not windy conditions, it would bring milder air in but not particularly warm from perhaps the Midlands northward where temps may struggle to reach 14C in spots for the next 5-7 days. Unfortunately, though there may be some surface high pressure which may try and bring some good sunny spells across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, the upper high won't be quite as available as it's parked down across Spain. Further south in the UK, despite patchy clouds and always a chance of showers, temperatures should reach 21 or 22C over the London area on Monday but then tail back into the 17-18C range after that as the upper trough and low wants to remain persistent over NW Europe.

surface pressures in 24 hours

As for the rest of Europe. A boundary which seperates the colder air over NW Europe with the warm to hot air over the SW and S. Europe from Spain through southern France, Italy, Greece towards Turkey, this boundary will continue it's slow advancement southeastwards, pushing out the warmth and sunshine over south-central Europe into the Med, leaving only Spain in true warmth while cooler and more unsettled weather settles into the Alps. In 24 to 36 hours, this boundary will reach the Alps and bring very heavy, potentially flooding rains to low levels and perhaps heavy snows over the higher mountains. This may bring a pretty nasty next several days across the Alps region of southern France, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Daytime highs may struggle to reach 1-3C in the higher resort areas where it's snowing hard and perhaps 8-12C down in the valley floors where flooding may be of concern.

The low and hefty rains will by Tuesday-Thursday impact areas further east through much of Italy and into Greece towards Turkey where again in the mountains it may be chilly enough for snow as cold air gets fed down by the trough.

By late week and into the weekend NEXT WEEK, high pressure and real heat looks set to rebound from Spain back across southern and central Europe. In fact the majority of 'mainland' Europe looks warm to very warm as well as settled while the trough and unsettled weather continues to hold stubbornly over Great Britain.

WEATHER TALK
By Mark Vogan

Comparing the Coldest place with coldest 'Perminantly' Inhabitated place on earth

Vostok Station, Antarctica experiences high's of -87, Low's of -98 (F), a lot colder than Oymyakon, Siberia

Interestingly, the numbers out of Vostok Station in the interior of Antarctica have been catching my eye of late and got me thinking.

Despite what we think as cold, literally no other permanent town or city will compare to Oymyakon in Siberia where the hardy souls that choose to live there endure temperatures down to -70 and -80 F during the harshest mid point of winter. Months go by without getting near freezing point.

However, though, it's not a permanent settlement or a town, Vostok Station beats even Oymyakon for cold. Nowhere on earth would survive the numbers experienced at Vostok. Amazingly, daytime maximums over the past couple of days have been colder than the coldest ever reading in Greenland of -86F, the Lower 48 of the USA's coldest ever low was -70F, that's a warm day in winter here.... Just take a look at the past few days.

11th: High -62.4C (-80F) Low -67.9C (-90)

13th: High -66.3C (-87F) Low -70.3C (-95F)

14th: High N/A               Low -72C (-98F)

WEATHER TALK AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST
By Mark Vogan

TODAY'S HOTTEST TEMPERATURES ACROSS SAHEL & SUB-SAHARA

49C in southwest Mali

WHAT'S REACHING TODAY'S BLOGS?

Pakistan Weather Update and Monsoon Alert (May 13-May 19)
Pakistan Weather Portal

THE EXTREMES OF THE DAY

TODAY'S US EXTREMES
COURTESY OF ACCUWEATHER

HIGH: 102 degrees at Gila Bend, AZ
LOW: 21 degrees at Angel Fire, NM

TODAY'S UK EXTREMES
COURTESY OF THE MET OFFICE

HIGH: 66 degrees (18.9C) at Solent
LOW: 32 degrees (0C) at Aboyne

TODAY'S WORLD EXTREMES
COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

HIGHEST

49C (120F) at Niafounke, Mali (Africa)
47C (117F) at Kiffa, Mauritania (Africa)
46C (115F) at Al Hufuf, Saudi Arabia (Asia)
42C (108F) at Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico (North America)
42C (108F) at Culiacan, Mexico (North America)
34C (93F) at Cadiz, Spain (Europe)

LOWEST

-75C (-98F) at Vostok Station, Antarctica
-22C (-8F) at Summit Camp, Greenland
-14C (7F) at Koukdjuak, Baffin Island, Canada
-12C (10F) at Rankin Inlet, NWT, Canada

TODAY'S EXTREMES HERE AT MY HOUSE


HIGH: 56 degrees
LOW: 43 degrees

Thanks for reading.
-Mark