Steve’s Weather Blog – 08/23/2016
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Today’s Weather –
A decaying frontal boundary along the Interstate 20 corridor is serving as a zone of weak focus for showers in central Mississippi this morning. Unfortunately, the presence of the front won’t aid our rain chances today here on the Coast.
Expect only slight rain chances each day through Sunday, mostly impacted by the sea-breeze effect. Temperature-wise we’ll be in the 90s for highs and mid-70s for overnight lows.
The big news seems to be in the Tropical environ … three systems continue their evolutions in the Atlantic. From the National Hurricane Center:
The National Hurricane Center is issuing advisories on Tropical Depression Fiona, located several hundred miles north of the Leeward Islands, and on Tropical Storm Gaston, located about 450 miles west of the Cabo Verde Islands.
A large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms located a few hundred miles east of the Leeward Islands is associated with a tropical wave. Environmental conditions are somewhat conducive for development of this system during the next couple of days while it moves west-northwestward at 15 to 20 mph near the northern Leeward Island and the Greater Antilles. Large-scale conditions could become more conducive later this week while the system moves near Hispaniola and then the southeastern and central Bahamas. An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate this disturbance later this morning. Interests from the islands of the northeastern Caribbean Sea to the Bahamas should monitor the progress of this system. Gusty winds, heavy rains, and possible flash floods and mud slides could occur over these areas regardless of tropical cyclone formation.
Without question, we’ll monitor this last disturbance. Here’s the latest ensemble output:
August 23, 1992 – The Little Pee Dee River near Galivants Ferry, SC crested at 11.52 ft., which exceeded moderate flood stage of 11 ft.
August 23, 2005 – 3.04’’ of rain fell in Wilmington, NC, and 2.35’’ of rain fell in North Myrtle Beach, SC. There were numerous reports of roadway closures due to flooding in Wilmington. In Chadbourn, NC, 12-15 homes and businesses suffered flood damage from 1 ft. or more of standing water.
August 23, 2007 – 2.40’’ of rain fell in North Myrtle Beach, SC.
Tonight (08/23) – The 2016 Conjunction of Mars and Saturn is taking place tonight and tomorrow night (the 24th). Look for them after sunset tonight just west of due south in an almost straight line with Antares (which means ‘Mars-like’ – likely due to reddish-color similarities).
Perturbation Model
A computer model used to calculate air pollution concentrations. A perturbation model produces a wind field from solutions to a simplified set of equations that describe atmospheric motions.
One of the more fascinating things flying over our heads several times a day is the International Space Station. On-Orbit and Operational for over 6,000 days, the station is our only research platform in low-Earth orbit (LOE) and in which experiments can be conducted in microgravity.
Maintenance and care of the station is a daily chore for the crew there. An interesting aspect of the station is the cupola for observation, which includes hand-crank covers for the windows. The engineering needed to have a reliable mechanical means to open and close those windows is not really all that complex.
However, it’s a very SMALL barrier that keeps the interior of the space station in the cupola from the vacuum of space.
Watch this video from Smarter Every Day:
The Standard Model of Particle Physics includes three fundamental forces: electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity gives us gravity as the fourth fundamental force. It is these four forces that explain … everything … so far. And physicists have not added to this very short list in over 60 years.
However, recent experiments by a team of physicists from the Institute for Nuclear Research in Debrecen, Hungary, have resulted in an anomaly that may have long-lasting repercussions and which could not be explained by anything in nuclear physics.
Does it have something to do with the ‘dark matter’ or ‘dark energy’ that scientists sometimes talk about?
Have a read of an article that might just conjure up some real curiosity … CLICK HERE.
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