Is it Thursday already?  It felt like I just greeted you with my last Thursday words.  Probably because it was a short work week for the majority of you (I’m in the minority).  Tomorrow is Live Music Friday #22 of 2012 and our lovely guests will be Broken Mouth Annie.  I like to describe them as an everything bagel, you’re not really sure what your next bite will taste like but you know it’s going to be good.  A great mix of everything that all sounds delicious.  More on them tomorrow.

So with the unofficial start of summer in our rear view mirror, it’s time to thumb through or finger-slide your way to your summer playlist.  Everyone has a summer jam that they can’t wait to blast over their iPod Walgreens beach speakers or wait for that new tune they’ll play over and over again until they pack it up with their board shorts when summer ends.  I have many summer tunes that I love to play but two that are on the top of my list are Joe Satriani’s Summer Song and Bon Jovi’s 99 In The Shade.  Why you might ask? It’s simple. They rock!  Satch’s tune just screams summer with this double humbucking-dive bombing-wah wah-harmonic ode to the heat.  It rules.  99 In The Shade is a deep cut off of Bon Jovi’s New Jersey record.  It oozes summer cheese with it’s catchy chorus and SPF 30 guitar solo.  It brings you back to the day when bajas and OP shorts were cool to wear with your Vision Street Wear fannie pack.

What about the summer jams of 2012?  Well I have two of those that I can’t stop playing.  The first being The Dahus‘ Urgency.  A foot tapping jam that is definitely that song you will be blasting out of your ’93 Miata down the Oceanfront or through one of the tunnels.   Get it right now on iTunes and while you’re at it, Larry and Drew need your help in making their new single.  Throw them a buck and you’ll be rewarded with some cool swag and a kickin’ new tune.  Oh and did I mention they’ll be our Live Music Friday guests August 3? No, well they will.

The other song that I can’t get enough of is Revery’s brand new single Make It Right.  What can I say..this song rocks! The first time you hear this track, you immediately think back to a great memory perhaps back to the best summer you’ve ever had.  Great guitar, catchy chorus, awesome bridge.  This is just simply a great song.  Check it out here along with another great track from them, Redefine. 

That’s all for me today but before I sign off I want to thank everyone for the great feedback I’ve gotten from my album review of Robert Tepper’s New Life Story.   I’ve received some really wonderful tweets, emails and messages from folks from all over about it.  Robert even posted the review on his website and screenwriter Doug Richardson sent out a tweet about it.  Doug wrote the screenplays for Die Hard 2, Bad Boys and Money Train among others.  Pretty cool.

Okay, so  Wednesday was Orientation day at Wavy 10 and I was so excited…so excited that I attempted to plan every moment leading up to it.  By the end of this internship blog you will discover my innate desire to plan just about everything in my life ( I know, I’m 21 years old and I shouldn’t be this way…trust me, I’m working on it!).  I just couldn’t contain myself, I wanted the day to go perfectly  which meant a coffee (okay two to calm my nerves), a good morning workout at the gym to look extra cute and slim in my new dress and flats and a quick review of some of the notes I had written down from Andy Cohen’s book, “Most Talkative”.

None of those things happened, except the coffee (sometimes you have to prioritize )

After my morning cups of coffee I went to the park to run my dog and about half way around the park it started to POUR (maybe if I had looked at my Wavy 10 app instead of my iPhone generic weather I wouldn’t have been in that situation, but I’ve learned) after two miles, we ran home and my transformation began. My hair and makeup were done, but after looking out my window, I realized that the dress and new flats weren’t going to happen. After mourning the dress for about five minutes I decided on khakis, a v-neck and a cardigan. My mini grief session left me with no time to review Andy Cohen’s book, which has  A LOT of great advice about journalism internships.

Here’s the crazy part…none of that even mattered when I got there.

When I got to Wavy 10 I felt so blessed that I was given the opportunity to be a part of something so much greater than myself.  I met all of my fellow interns (eight to be exact)  who shared my excitement and then we were led up to the Conference Room, which has this aura of making anyone that’s in it feel important.  The table was filled with fun freebies like a W8t2txt Wavy 10 ring, The Hampton Road’s Show coffee cup ( which I plan to take full advantage of), bag  and pen among other glorious things. We were fortunate enough to meet the many of the influential people that make Wavy 10 the top rated station in Hampton Roads.  Everyone was so welcoming and encouraging it definitely got me even more excited for Monday.

After they left, Typhanny Wiggins and Stephanie Cooke gave us great words of advice that I could tell came from the bottom of their hearts which left me feeling really inspired.

I left the room on Cloud 9 and we received a tour of the building, which I may forget where everything is  because I was so caught up in the fact that I was even there!  The tour ended and we were given the run down on all things parking and safety ( he was so nice and told us if we ever had any problems to call him, which made me feel  like I was a part of the Wavy family).

Okay I know I wrote a lot this time, but I can’t help how excited  I am about my summer at Wavy 10!

Quote of the day: ” Don’t ignore the red door because the green door  may be on the other side” -Stephanie Cooke

Oprah Aha! Moment of the Day:  Don’t get caught up in the little things (like your brand new internship dress) because you’ll miss the big things (like this AMAZING internship opportunity)!

Above is my dog Mason and I playing with one of the freebies I got today and a picture of my new notebook to record EVERY experience this summer

Heavy rain fell across parts of the region yesterday. Especially over the Outer Banks.   Last night Beryl became a post-tropical cyclone, but as it made the transition it still dumped heavy rain along the coast.  There were a few wind gusts over 40mph down across the Outer Banks, but rain was the big story as advertised.  Several areas got some much needed rain, so Beryl was not a bad thing for everybody.  But other areas had too much rain too soon.  Here is the estimated rainfall from our radar:

Estimated Rain Totals

 Keep in mind that the rain totals go back 24 hours, but some rain fell before that point.  Norfolk International Airport had 2.10″ of rain.  Elizabeth City only had 1.71″.  I say only because my weather watcher Greg in Currituck had 3″ of rain.  Donna in Blackwater (S. Virginia Beach) had 1.5″.  Mike in Whaleyville had 2″ and he says there is a lot of standing water in the fields in southern Suffolk. That is becoming a problem for a lot of farmers lately.  They have had trouble getting in the fields and harvesting wheat.  Finally, Scott in Yorktown had 0.5″ of rain.  I did have one OBX viewer email me, Don in Kitty Hawk.  He said he had 4.5-5″.  I believe it.  Look at some of the photos that were sent in from our viewers yesterday.  The first one is from Kim Moreland in Kill Devil Hills.  She said she was going out for Chinese food when she rain into this:

Flooded Streets In Kitty Hawk

 The next photo is from the same city.  It is from Debbie Relich. 

Flooding In Kill Devil Hills

 There were a lot of flooded streets down that way.  In fact some people got their cars stuck in the high water.  This last photo was sent in from Teresa Streb in Nags Head.  It shows a couple of firefighters trying to assist a person who was stuck. 

2 Vehicles Stuck In High Water

 There were some flooded streets in Hampton Roads as well. I heard about some street flooding around Volvo Parkway yesterday, but didn’t see any photos from there.   Now Beryl is long gone, and we’ll get a chance to dry things out today. 

Satellite/Radar

 High pressure is building in behind Beryl.  A weak cool front will move through, but it will dry things out more than it will cool things down.  In fact the front is expected to stall out over North Carolina later today, and may not cool down that area at all:

Today's Weather Map

 The front will pass back north as a warm front by late tonight.  Tomorrow we’ll heat up with a strong south wind with gusts up to 30mph.  The heat and humidity will return as well.  Highs will be in the upper 80s to low 90s.  Along with that, some stronger upper level winds will ride overhead.  This will create some strong/severe thunderstorms across central Virginia and North Carolina.  The storms are expected to move very slowly.  So the models don’t show rain for Hampton Roads metro until about after 9pm.  If the storms can get here sooner, then we could see some severe weather.  I do think some isolated showers and storms are possible tomorrow afternoon/evening, but the stronger line of storms isn’t expected until overnight Friday.  The storms should move through quick enough that I don’t expect the same type of rain that we saw with Beryl, but a few cities will see heavy rain again.  Those scattered showers and storms will continue into Saturday morning with the passage of the next cold front.  After that we’ll clear out and have some nice weather Saturday afternoon and Sunday.  Highs will be near 80, and the humidity will drop.  Finally, a return of some comfortable (less humid) air. 

Love you too hun….  Oh sorry I was texting while blogging and got the words mixed up.  : )  Have a great day.

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

With the latest update the National Hurricane Center has categorized this storm as post tropical, Beryl still has winds at 40mph and areas of heavy rain but it is moving out to sea very quickly. Overnight tonight the rain is going to taper off and we will see clearing skies.

So far the heaviest rain has been over the Outer Banks with some areas seeing 4-6+”

Rain Totals as of 6pm

Some of the rain totals so far:

• Near Kill Devil Hills: 6.74″
• Currituck Co.: 3.71″
• Ahoskie: 2.78″
• Suffolk: 2.73″
• Ghent Square (Norfolk): 2.01″
• Virginia Beach (Oceanfront): 1.89″
• Elizabeth City: 1.68″
• Gloucester Courthouse: 0.61″
• Newport News: 0.45″

Tomorrow should be clear with plenty of sunshine and a day to dry out. Temperatures will be in the mid 80s. On Friday we have another day with chances for afternoon strong storms, so as we wave goodbye to Beryl, we will keep our focus on Friday.

Meteorologist Jeff Edmondson

All the new Interns pile in Mrs. Cooke's office

Today I had a great day meeting all the new interns and all the wonderful people at WAVY. I am excited to get started on Monday. I know I will learn a lot through this experience and I am ready to absorb it all!!!

We had some heavy downpours across the region already this morning.  Some of it was caused by the high humidity and the dropping pressure, but there were also some rain bands coming off of Beryl.  Here was the view from about 7:45am this morning.  Notice the pockets of heavy rain moving through North Carolina:

Super doppler 10 Radar (7:45am)

 Beryl is still a tropical depression with winds of 35mph, but it looked like it was already heading out to sea.  This will let the system gain some strength, and could become a tropical storm by the next update.  Remember, the cutoff is 39mph.  The storm is likely to move along the North Carolina coast and head east/northeast.  It is expected to pass south of Hatteras late today into this evening:

Forecast Track Of Beryl

 The computer models have trended a little farther south with the storm, and the official track has also shifted south.  Looking at the latest trends, I think Beryl will move even farther from Hatteras, but we’ll see.  This may be indicated in the later morning update from the National Hurricane Center (NHC).  Here are the latest track models:

Forecast Track Models

 Note too that the strongest winds are typically to the right of the storms motion.  In this case that would be south of the storm and offshore.  So the only folks that could see wind gusts over 40mph would be near Hatteras.  That is shown wind the wind contour forecast from NHC.

Wind Contour

Notice that the tropical storm force winds (orange area above) remain south of Hatteras, and that is based off of the latest track.  So there will be no wind impacts for almost all of the viewing area from Beryl, except for a few strong gusts near Hatteras and Buxton.  That is unless Beryl ends up taking a curve northeast later this evening.  The increasing winds are starting to churn up the Atlantic waters again.  So there will be a high threat for rip currents down towards Hatteras.  A Moderate threat elsewhere. 

The big story from this is going to be the rain.  The bulk of the rain has been to the east and north of the center of the storm in the last 6 hours:

Beryl On Radar This Morning

 As the system moves east-northeast, that will bring the semicircle of widespread heavy rain right into northeast North Carolina.   Possibly up to the southside.   The models have bee pretty consistent in showing the heaviest band of rain running right through northeast North Carolina.  A flood watch is posted for Dare county, NC down to Hatteras.  This may get extended farther north later this morning, but we’ll see.  I know northeast North Carolina has already had a lot of rain in the last month.  My weather watcher Greg in Currituck has said repeatedly that they do not need rainfall.  If we get some of the downpours that are forecast, then some crops could be in trouble.  Based off of the latest models and forecasts I am calling for a swath of 2-4″ of rain over Northeast North Carolina up to southern Virginia Beach.  A band of 1-3″ for the heart of the metro.  Then up to 1″ of rain from Northampton county through Yorktown up to the Northern Neck. 

Rainfall Forecast

 This is a rough outline of what we can expect, but it’t not like a snow forecast.  Some of these bands can produce heavy rain in a small area.  So locally there may be higher amounts, and it could be in clusters.  The good thing is that we will get some rain where we need it in the recently dry areas. 

We will see ponding on roadways.  We will probably see some street flooding.  We will not see any tidal flooding as the winds won’t be too strong, and there won’t be much of a fetch anyway.  Plus, the moon is in waxing gibbous phase which is not conducive to tidal flooding anyway. 

By tonight Beryl will be moving past Hatteras and heading out to sea.  A cold front will move in and help to clear us out for tomorrow.  Then we’ll see some more rain move in late Friday into Saturday morning.  This will be from a big Midwest low (non-tropical) that will swing a pretty potent cold front through.  The good news is that Saturday afternoon into Sunday is looking good with clearing skies and less humidity.  I won’t mind that one bit.

All-in-all we should be fine with this storm.  However, there will be a few areas of flooding that could impact travel.  If it really comes down, then a few homes and businesses could get some water in them.  We’ll have to nowcast that later today though.  Stay tuned!

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

This is just a brief update.  I’ll have a bigger blog out later this morning.  Beryl is still a tropical depression.  It is over coastal South Carolina, but it looks like it is heading out to sea already on the satellite/radar.  The maximum sustained winds were around 35mph, and it was moving ENE at 14mph.  Most of those strong winds were over the water though.  It has picked up some speed compared to yesterday.  Heavy rain was spreading to the north of the storm.  Also a cold front in central Virginia is allowing for the deep tropical moisture to funnel right through northeast North Carolina into southeast Virginia.  There were already some heavy showers this morning, and this is just the beginning. 

Super Doppler 10 (6:30am)

 Parts of the area will see 1-3″ of rain.  Parts of northeast North Carolina could see 2-4″ with locally higher amounts.  There is a flood watch for Dare county N.C. down to Hatteras.  The stronger winds will stay south of our region.  Hatteras will be closest to the storm.  They may see some gusts over 40mph, but the strong sustained winds are expected to be offshore (south).  There is a high threat for rip currents over the southern Outer Banks, but folks should probably avoid swimming anyway due to possible lightning. 

Again, I’ll post a bigger blog with more details…and pictures by about 9:30am.  Stay tuned throughout the day as the forecast could change. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

This is just a quick update on Beryl.  My previous blog has a lot more detail which isn’t too outdated just yet: “Beryl’s Flooding Rain”

Beryl is still a tropical depression, and it is a little over 100 miles WSW of Savannah, GA. It is slowly moving to the northeast at 5mph.  The maximum sustained winds were still 30mph and the pressure was 1005mb (millibars).  The latest computer models (12Z) came in this morning, and are in a reasonably good agreement.  They pretty much bring it right up along the coast.  More of the track models are over land now through the next 40 hours just north of the shore.  This would keep the system very weak in terms of wind.  The latest forecast track has not really changed from the National Hurricane Center, but if the models continue this trend then it will probably shift north.  Again, this would bring it closer to the southern Outer Banks, but it would also keep the winds weaker anyway.  Regardless I am still seeing heavy rain through the region.  After looking at the latest models, the Flood Watch area (Dare county N.C.), and HPC forecast I think that 2-4″ of rain will be falling anywhere from Portsmouth/Norfolk to Hatteras with a few cities possibly getting 5-6″.  The Peninsula north to the Northern Neck is looking at less rain with amounts up to an inch as well as on the Eastern Shore.  Most of that rain will come from a cold front moving in from the west.  That front will tap into the moisture surrounding Beryl, but will also help to kick Beryl out to sea.  If the track changes, then the area of heaviest rain will move north or south.  However, the NAM and GFS models are in good agreement that the heaviest rain will fall from Virginia Beach south to Hatteras and will stretch back west to Bertie county.  This is the area where the flood watch (could) get extended.  The rip current threat will go up, but I don’t expect any tidal flooding in the area. 

Don Slater will have an update tonight at 5, 5:30, and 6pm.  Then I’ll be in tomorrow morning with the latest radar updates.  Local businesses that are prone to flooding during heavy rain events (think about the last couple of years), should be prepared to raise some of their merchandise off of the floor.  Mostly over northeast North Carolina and parts of the southside.  Unfortunately, at this time I can’t really pinpoint the heavy rain bulls-eye. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

Beryl has been sitting and spinning over Georgia for over 12 hours now.  In that time it has put down some heavy rain.  Doppler estimates from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville, Fl were over 7inches, and the rain was still coming down.  There were several flash flood warnings down there this morning:

Beryl On Radar

 The official wind speed was 30mph, but you can see some of the sites in the graphic above were much less than that.  I think this is a good example of what we can expect as Beryl moves closer to us in the next 36 hours.  Today Beryl will stay well south of us, but lots of tropical moisture and a weakening area of high pressure will lead to some pop-up showers and storms in the local forecast.  By this afternoon Beryl is expected to start a slow northeast movement which will send it along the southeast coast.  There is a high confidence in that part of the forecast.   Back to the local for a second…We will see highs in the upper 80s with a couple of 90s inland.  The heat index will be between 90-95.  Yesterday, folks got to hit the pool or at least go inside if they had the day off.  Folks that work outside today will have to take it easy and drink plenty of fluids. 

Tomorrow Beryl will be on the move.  It will travel right along the southeast U.S. coast, and is likely to move offshore for a period of time.  The sooner it gets offshore, the stronger it can get.  However, the water temperatures are not primed to make Beryl explode as they are only in the 70s.  Typically for hurricane growth you need water temperatures of at least 80 degrees or warmer.  So at this point little strengthening is forecast. 

Track Of Beryl

 If it follows the most likely path (center line above) then the strongest winds would stay south of or right near Hatteras.  This is due to the fact that stronger winds typically exist to the right of the path of motion.  Which in this case will be south of the storm.  If the storm moves a little farther north (over land), then it will be a weaker system and would probably remain a depression.  So I don’t think wind will be the main threat from this storm.  The forecast track models are in fairly good agreement that it will track along the coast.  A couple take it more over land which, again will keep the system weaker if that happens. 

Forecast Track Models

As Beryl moves northeast it is going to encounter a cold front coming out of the Midwest.  This will channel the moisture right overtop of our viewing area.  Especially over northeast North Carolina.  The models all show heavy rain in the region with the GFS model indicating a bulls-eye just north of the center of the storm.  In the last run it brought the bulls-eye up from the southern Outer Banks right into Hampton Roads down to Elizabeth City.  The latest forecast from HPC (a branch of NOAA) has about 2-4 inches of rain in a strip that runs right along the coast south of Hatteras:

Rainfall Forecast

 Some of the models are showing the heavier rain along the front compared to near Beryl.  Either way I think anywhere from Norfolk down to Hatteras could see 2-3 inches with a few areas getting 4-6″.  For now the most likely area for those higher amounts are in the flood watch which has been posted for Dare county NC down to Hatteras:

Flood Watch (Green Area)

 This flood watch may get extended farther north later today.  The cold front will move through early on Thursday and will help to knock Beryl out to sea.  It’s possible that it will slow down a bit though.  That would create heavier rain and farther north, this may be what the models are starting to trend towards, but we’ll see.  We will dry out on Thursday, but then another system (non-tropical) in the Midwest will grow and move east.  This will bring us a chance for rain Friday into Saturday.  Then a stronger cold front will move through and give us some more refreshing air on Sunday. 

Stay tuned for the latest updates on this storm.  Remember, the thing to look for is for the area of the flood watch to possibly change.  This will not be tidal flooding.  In fact, I don’t expect any tidal flooding with the current track of the storm.  Rip currents aren’t a big threat today, but the threat will increase at least for the Outer Banks tomorrow. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

You know the scene.  Rocky just came back home from burying his rival and best friend, Apollo Creed.  He decides to go out for a drive.  He opens the door to his Lamborghini and the drums kick in.  For the next 4 minutes and 15 seconds, you’re taken back to a montage of Rocky’s life with one song as your storyteller: Robert Tepper‘s ‘No Easy Way Out’.  Fast forward 27 years later and Tepper is telling a different story.  A New Life Story.

Striped down from his big sound of the ’80′s, Tepper still gets your toes tapping from the opening strums of the acoustic guitar and simple beat of the drums with Nothing Gets Me High, the album’s first track.  As the lyrics state, ‘It’s the start of the day, a beautiful day’, you sit back and enjoy the ride that Robert is about to take you on.  New Life Story is comprised of 11 songs which each take their turn in taking you on a journey.  From the Wallflowers-esque Hard Concrete to the funky beat of Angel Like You, each song has it’s own unique identity and it works.  The tales of  life’s hardships in Loaded Gun and Hey Son, the uplifting title track, New Life Story and a story of an man not wanting to be forgotten in Shrinking in LA intertwine beautifully and make this record shine.

Bottom line, this is a really good record.  Self-produced and mixed, Robert takes you all the way through this valley of life’s ups and downs.  Do yourself a favor and get it now! As the title track goes, ‘You’ve got the world in your pocket and it looks like you’re ready to go’.  So go get it.

Robert Tepper – New Life Story  ****