The heat is building into Hampton Roads today.  The heat wave is on for a large section of the country.   Highs will be in the 90s and 100s for more than half of the United States:

Forecast High Temps

 So today we start what I’d call hot temperatures.  Highs will be in the low/mid 90s.  The average highs area in the mid 80s.  The good news is that it is still pretty dry outside.  Dewpoints in the entire region are in the 50s.  That is pretty comfortable:

Dewpoints (Measure Of Moisture)

 That factor can make a big difference.  The heat index will either be near or even below the high temperatures for the day.  That’s right! The heat index can be below the air temperature.  In fact that’s what happens a lot out West.  Basically it means that the air is so dry that a very small amount of evaporation will cool you off greatly, and make you feel cooler than it actually is.  There will be a lot of sunshine though, and so sitting in the sun for a while will counteract that cooling.  We’ll have a light southwest breeze at 5-10mph.

Tomorrow the heat will build in stronger from the west.  Highs will rise to the upper 90s with a few 100s around.  The heat index will be up to 105.  I put our high up to 100 on Saturday, and I think we’ll be in the upper 90s on Sunday.  I do think a few storms will try to sneak in from the north Sunday as well.  That leads to a bit of a nerdy subject concerning the heat.  Typically you get a heat wave like this when there is a strong upper level ridge (A hill like shape in the jetstream).  That will help to create a lot of sinking air and strong high pressure.  However, in this case the ridge will be more flat, and the center of the high will be more towards Alabama.  So most of our heating will come from the hot air blowing in from the west (warm air advection).  Plus, there will also be some downloping winds off of the mountains which will aid in heating.  This weather pattern also means that a few storms may try to sneak in on a couple of days.  Especially on Sunday.  There will be some cooling in the Ohio Valley where some of the stronger storms will form.  A few of those may try to push southeast.  This will have to be monitored over the weekend into Monday.  Overall, the forecast is dry, but stay tuned for updates.  The 90s are expected to last through the middle of next week.

There are several stories that are tied to the heat in the U.S.  The first one by far is the wildfires out west.  They are creating a really bad fire season especially in Colorado this Summer.  Also, we may be looking at some major crop losses across the U.S. heartland.  There are conditions that are similar to the drought of 1988.  This will have a huge impact on corn and food prices.  The drought is tough in many parts of the country.  Moderate drought is affecting at least part of 40 U.S. states. 

Drought Monitor

The once-tropical system “Debby” brought some drought relief to Florida and southern Georgia, but it is now well out to sea.  It is now just a disorganized area of low pressure that is riding east along an old frontal boundary. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

Teleprompter!

Prior to arriving to teleprompter everyone kept telling me it was really mindless. I wasn’t too intimidated while I was sitting beside Justin as he was running it until he turned to me and said,  ” Your turn”.  My palms started to sweat and I was sitting on the edge of my chair

I successfully ran the prompter for a part of the 5:30 and the 6!

Let me tell you, the teleprompter is no joke.  Without the person running prompter the anchors would be looking down reading off of paper.

Quote of the Day: ” You can run prompter now, just don’t mess up… no big deal not like this isn’t your future” – Justin

Oprah aha moment of the day: Without the teleprompter the news would not be the same! It’s a talent running the prompter and reading from it.

The past couple of weeks I have been working with both the web department and the production department.

Web has been  very educational. I have learned how to post stories to the web page, how to cut clips, and how to create photo mojos.  All of these things will help me in the future and I am thankful to have learned about it. 

Web was the most interesting when break news would occur. Seeing how fast a story would appear on the website after they have received the information amazed me. Everything happens so quickly to ensure the viewers get as much information as possible.

The most interesting day I had in web was during the storms on June 25th when the internet crashed. It was impossible to
post any information on to the website. This made everything extremely stressful. Once the internet started working again it was no time before everything was up for the viewers.

Production is what I really want to do in the future. This department was the one I was most excited to work with. So far I have worked with directors and with audio. I got to see how everything works for live television. So much goes on behind the scenes that no one ever gets to see and that is what I am interested in the most. Working with the production department has just increased my passion for producing/directing.

Everyone has that particular place they call “theirs”.  That place where it’s always the default answer of the question: ‘Where should we go to grab a drink?’.  That place where you are guaranteed to have a hard time remembering the next day and that place where you saw the greatest band you never heard off and have no idea what their name is (and neither does the band.  Colley Cantina is that place for many.

For the last 21 years, the residents of Ghent (and other fine folks of the 7) would pack this hole-in-the-wall joint to drown away their days sorrows with their favorite libations, eat some chips and listen to some great music.  Colley was the place that would give any one rocking out in a garage a chance to play in front of strangers.  From Crissy Babe & The Dastards to The Crushes to The Last Blackouts,  pretty much every band and their mother got their start there.  That is where I first heard Rodeo Clown and knew I had to have them on the show.  (Click here to see their performance).  Saturday, June 30th will be it’s last day and they are planning a grand ‘ole bash Cantina-style.  All day long, from 12p-2a, bands will be paying their respects and blowing the roof off the joint.  So far, The Great Dismal Swamis and The Kill Circuit have been confirmed and they are looking for more bands to fill in the slots, call them at 622-0033 if you want to play.

New owners will soon takeover and, from what I have heard, the place will stay LOCAL!  They might even keep the Cantina name but, as you know, it won’t be the same.  So get out there and give them a sendoff they won’t forget.  Cheers!

Finally, I get to go to the newsroom!  Working in web, especially the 4-8 shift, is really exciting!  Although I am self-proclaimed “technically-challenged”, I actually was able to learn how to work all of the systems involved in my responsibilities relatively easily.  By the second day I was cutting videos, posting AP stories, and making photo galleries!  One of the most interesting aspects so far to me is the complete change of atmosphere from 5-630 (during the nightly newscasts).  I loved the vibe of everyone cheering when we got to a story curse or running around frantically trying to get an on-the-scene witness to call in.  The craziest day was definitely Friday, as all of the stories were thrown out due to the terrible storm.  I got to collect all of the (30) sent in pictures from iReport and quickly make a photo gallery for them so that the reporters could use them on air as evidence for the viewers.  Feeling so involved was so much fun, and now I have a whole new respect for getting a story in first.  After these weeks I’m definitely going to keep up to date on what I’ve learned, and also attempt to gain further knowledge with programs like photoshop and dreamweaver.

While Debby has been bad news for Florida, there is some good news this morning.  It is now a tropical depression (has been since late yesterday), and it is a very weak/disorganized system.  The heavy rain is finally ending across Florida, and residents there will gradually see some relief from the flooding. 

Satellite/Radar Over Florida

 Debby has already made it across Florida, but it is a very elongated low pressure area now.  It is moving ENE at about 10mph back over the water.  The good news is that all of the models and the official forecast keep it well south of our area. 

Tropical Storm Debby

 At this point Hatteras is not even close to the possible path…oops sorry…I meant cone of uncertainty.  Sorry, I don’t like using that term, but that’s what it basically is.  Anyway, Debby could restrengthen if it survives long enough to move over the Gulf Stream.  There is some decent wind shear fighting it right now, but the shear should let up in the next day or two.  So local residents shouldn’t be too concerned about it, but don’t write it off completely.  Remember, these tropical systems often have a mind of their own, and 3 days ago forecasters thought it would head for Texas. 

On the local scene we have some great weather today.  Highs will be in the mid 80s with mostly sunny skies.  High pressure and dry air have really built into the region.  So we are looking good today.  There will be a big difference between this morning’s lows in the 50s and 60s and the highs in the 80s.  The temperature range will be about 30 degrees for some cities.

Today's Forecast Map

 The hot weather roams over the central U.S. today.  It will slide east tomorrow.  While we will heat up to the low/mid 90s Thursday, the core of the heat will still be to our west.  By Friday though we’ll be cookin.  Highs will be in the upper 90s to low 100s.  High pressure will remain strong through the weekend, but we could see an isolated shower or storm along any possible seabreezes.  We won’t have a dominant wind out of the south.  It will mostly be from the west and southwest.  So I don’t think the humidity will be super high, but with a temperature of 100 it won’t take much humidity to make a heat index of 105.

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

Day 2 in Production!

Today I was with Matt  in audio. When I entered into the audio room I was overwhelmed! There are so many buttons, most of which are unlabeled so I had no idea what button did each thing. Matt reassured me that you only have to know what a few of the buttons mean. However, I was still amazed how he never got confused, or mistook one button for another. Audio is such an important part of the news, if he forgets to turn on a an anchors microphone viewers will be watching silent news. Can you imagine that?

He let me control the weather sound for the 7 Day Forecast for  the 5:30 and 6 and although it was just one button I still felt like what I was doing was important.

Quote of the Day: ” In broadcasting the clock is God” – Matt

Oprah aha Moment:  As a news viewer I never realized how much work goes into a newscast and how large of a role audio has on getting the news on air

The quick answer to “What blew through?” is simple.  It was a potent cold front.  So why don’t all cold fronts produce weather like yesterday’s storms?  That’s a lot more complicated to answer.  Before the storms arrived we had plenty of heating and humidity.  Highs were in the 90s and dewpoints (moisture) were in the 70s.  This makes the atmosphere very unstable.  Kind of like when you have a room full of cats, and a huge fluffy mouse walks into the room.  There is a high potential for the cats to get up and chase the mouse.  In yesterday’s case, there was a high potential for air to rise and create storms.  However, yesterday we also had some strong upper level winds which were brought down to the surface through mixing.  In the end we had about 37 reports of severe weather with many more reports below severe criteria:

Severe Weather Reports

 A severe wind gust is one with speeds of 58mph or greater.  Severe hail used to be 3/4″.  Now it is 1″.  that is a recent change by the National Weather Service over the last couple of years.  The strongest wind gust that I saw was 67 mph 2 miles SSE of Sandbridge, VA.  Langley had a gust to 54mph, but that was just below severe limits.  There was a gusts to 56mph in Poquoson, and a gust to 47mph in Elizabeth City.  There were large trees knocked down in York county around Heritage Hamlet.  There were also trees down in Currituck, NC.  A large tree fell on a house at Loxley Place in Portsmouth.  I didn’t have a photo of that tree, but here are some others.  Loren Scott in Hampton had a neighbor’s tree fall on her porch.  Luckily there was no damage to the porch:

Tree On Porch (Hampton)

Here is another photo of a broken tree from Alexis Arrington.  She didn’t give  a location:

Broken tree

 Here is one more from Portsmouth.  It was sent in by Christy Wynne:

A Broken Mess

 We also had several reports of hail.  There was 3/4″ hail near Whaleyville.  There was nickel sized hail in Sunbury and Elizabeth City with numerous reports of small hail around the region.  Doris (my Eastern Shore weather watcher) said that there was quarter-sized hail in Birds Nest, VA.  Don in Toano also had quarter-sized hail.  Overall the area picked up a half up to an inch of rain. 

Estimated Rain Totals

 Most of that rain fell within a half an hour to an hour, but some locations had rain a little longer.  Today, a large area of high pressure will build in and provide us with sunshine.  We will have some breezy north winds which will keep us cool and dry.  Today highs will be in the upper 70s with dewpoints down in the low 50s.  Winds will gust up to 25mph.  We’ll stay dry tomorrow, but we’ll warm up a bit to the mid 80s.  The strong heat will really build back by Friday.  Highs will be in the mid-upper 90s going into the weekend.  there may even be a couple of 100s inland.  We may not get much of a cool down early next week.  Some of that though depends on Debby. 

Tropical Storm Debby is still in the Gulf of Mexico.  It has been producing very heavy rain across most of Florida and southern Georgia.  It was moving slowly east at 3mph with maximum sustained winds of 45mph.  It’s interesting that the cold front that moved through our region quickly pushed south, and was actually located a couple hundred miles north of Debby.  Some of the dry air in the upper levels pushed farther south though.  So I think some of that is wrapping into the storm.  Of course there was already some dry air there to begin with. 

Satellite/Radar of Debby

Also, since it has sat over the same area for a while; Debby is upwelling some cooler water underneath it.  Debby is on a eastward track now which will run it into Florida in the next day or two.  This should all work to weaken the storm considerably.  It is forecast to be a depression as it moves over land.  However, the official forecast is for the system to depart the eastern shore of Florida and head back over water.  If it does this, then it can re-intensify over the Gulf Stream.  The official track also bends Debby north a little bit towards the end of the track.  The GFS and European models, however, keep it farther south. 

Tropical Storm Debby

 There is still disagreement in the models as Debby is still under a weak steering current.  But a big trough in the upper levels is pushing south along with the cold front.  This should help to shove Debby eastward and at a quicker pace.  Here are some of the models, regardless:

Forecast Models

 For now my money is to the east, but I do think it’s possible that Debby could get eaten up.  There are a lot of things working against it.  One other thing that I didn’t mention is wind shear.  It has been working on the storm for a couple of days.   So we’ll have to see if Debby can even survive in the next 24 hours.   Till then enjoy the nice weather today.

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

If you travel through the Downtown & Midtown Tunnels in the overnight hours, be prepared for some potential delays. VDOT is carrying out road work, what it is calling “unavoidable maintenance activities.”

Midtown Tunnel drivers will see alternating eastbound and westbound closures from Tuesday, June 26 through Thursday, June 28, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. That means one lane will remain open while VDOT crews stop traffic to let the other direction travel through the tube.

The Downtown Tunnel will remain open, with lanes blocked for maintenance in the overnight hours.

I-264 Downtown Tunnel West – Monday, June 25, through Thursday, June 28, from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. – alternating lane closures
I-264 Downtown Tunnel West – Monday, June 25, from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. – single, right lane closure
I-264 Downtown Tunnel East – Tuesday, June 26, from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. – single, right lane closure
I-264 Downtown Tunnel West – Wednesday, June 27, from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. – single, left lane closure
I-264 Downtown Tunnel East – Thursday, June 28, from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. – single, left lane closure

PRODUCTIONNNNNN!!!

Monday-  I spent the day with James who does Robotics, when I first heard Robotics and production it took awhile to figure it out. But once we walked onto the set and I saw the cameras moving I was able to put it together.

James does Robotics for the 90 ( which is the 5, 5:30 and 6 newscast). He showed me the various screen taps he does in order to get the camera to do certain things.  He explained to me that the influx in technology with production has replaced 3 people that used to run cameras . He also explained the the acronyms MCU (medium close up) and OTS (over the shoulder), which was really helpful.  When we worked together there was breaking news with weather so the studio was filled with excitement and spontaneity!
Oprah aha Moment: Jobs in  television production  have felt the effect of the increasing changes in technology. I hope that won’t translate into the field of reporting! Regardless, that means I need to be well versed in everything.

Quote of the Day:  ” If you have a job in television you gotta know just about everything because you’re gonna have to do just about everything” – James