KristineKahanek.com » Weather

Here We Go Again….

Kristine — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:02:50 +0000

Another winter storm is poised to bring North Texas our 4th snow event of the season.

The most memorable storm of the season so far… the Christmas Eve blizzard that wrecked havoc with holiday travelers. This next storm, while it’s not expected to be as nasty of the Christmas Eve storm..it’s definitely one to watch. The ground is colder now and if snow and a winter mix does fall, it’s more likely to impact not just our bridges and elevated roads, but all roads, especially those less travelled. What we fortunately won’t have are the wild winds.

The models continue to show a slow start to the event. Dry air in the lower levels will keep the snow aloft through much of Wednesday night and Thursday morning. But by Thursday afternoon and evening as the upper low gets closer and lift stronger, we should start to see a steady light snow or winter mix that could begin to accumulate late Thursday and especially Friday morning when I expect any travel problems to be at their worst.

Some of us, could see 1-3″ of snow. The exact track of the upper low is key, but locations hit by some of the heavier bands could see more. Schools and businesses need to be aware that travel may be dangerous enough by Thursday night and Friday morning to cause closures.

Temperatures will be tricky as they usually are. If the cloud cover holds off until late tonight, we’ll easily drop into the mid 20s. But clouds coming in quickly ahead of the system will trap the cold air tomorrow. The lingering dry air as precip falls into it Wed night and Thursday morning will allow for enough evaporational cooling to keep temps near or below freezing especially along and north of an Eastland to Athens line.

Here’s a graphic from the National Weather Service -Ft. Worth homepage this morning showing the areas that are most likely to see accumulating winter precipitation.

Stay tuned to your favorite local news station for the latest forecast. I’ll be posting an update by Wednesday afternoon giving my take on this next storm.

Then looking ahead to the weekend and early next week…

Once this storm shifts east it will allow another reinforcing shot of cold air to plunge in Sunday morning with possibly a few snow flurries. We will clear out quickly Sunday, but it will continue to remain cold through at least Monday, but at least we’ll see the sun.

Anyone ready for spring?

Love Weather?

Kristine — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:15:14 +0000

I encourage you to join a special grassroots group of weather observation volunteers called CoCoRaHS (sounds just like cocoa cocoa razz).

It’s easy to sign up. Just log onto
www.cocorahs.org
You’ll find all the information you need about the program and requirements.
It is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and NOAA.

By taking a few minutes to sign up for CoCoRaHS, your reports go into a nationwide database of rainfall and storm data. It’s a terrific way to contribute to a growing weather and climate observation network. This network needs more volunteers and it’s so easy to participate.

Storms on the Way…

Kristine — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:11:58 +0000

It’s been a very dry winter, and rain is desperately needed all across North Texas. We would need more than 8″ of rain to catch up on moisture lost since January of last year! La Nina is the main reason, keeping the storm track north.

But temporary changes in the storm track this week are finally going to bring us some rain and because the Gulf of Mexico is wide open…we’ll have the low level moisture back and ideal wind shear for strong to severe storms.

Storms developing in the Panhandle and West Texas tonight may bring some strong storms across the DFW area in the morning around daybreak, but the main show is expected Tuesday/Tuesday night as a second strong disturbance crosses our region. There is some discussion that this could pose as our first significant tornado threat of the year.

We’ll see how all the ingredients come together..so stay tuned to the latest forecasts on CBS 11. You’ll want to watch the weather closely between now and mid week. Could be an interesting ride!

Where’s Kristine?

Kristine — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:37:21 +0000

This week, I am attending a weather conference in Steamboat Springs, Colorado called “The Weather Summit.” I have been attending this conference off and on for the last 10 years. It is an invitation-only conference of broadcasts meteorologists from across the U.S. and North America. I am very honored to be on the list.

Because there are only 20-25 of us, we have the opportunity to learn and interact one-on-one with some of the nations leading scientists and meteorological experts in their fields. At other professional weather conferences like the AMS or NWA, the groups are so large that each presenter only has 10-20 minutes to share the latest on their topic or research. It can often be intimidating to ask questions and really get the information you are looking for with 500-600 people in the room. Not here, each expert/presenter spends at least 11/2-2 hours sharing with us the details of their research and then we have lots of time to ask questions and share in some often “spirited” conversation.

The main theme this year is Climate Change. We are also recapping the 2008 hurricane and tornado seasons. On the schedule are experts like Dr. Neil Frank (former Director of the National Hurricane Center) and Dr. Howie Bluestein with the University of Oklahoma. He is one of the nations leading tornado researchers.

Of course, Steamboat loves to have us here too because we all do live shots for our viewers back home. And now with new technology being introduced at the conference this year, we are able to stream video from our sessions LIVE.

Want to learn more? Just click here.

Thursday I will be live from Steamboat during our 4 p.m. newscast, sharing some interesting tidbits from the conference. So I hope you’ll tune in.

Just in case you were wondering….there’s a 40″ base on the mountain.

It’s been sunny and in the upper 20’s, so the snow is packed. The good news, lot’s of new snow in the forecast by the end of the week. Powder, Baby!

Gustav Forecast

Kristine — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:21:58 +0000

The center of Hurricane Gustav is currently located about 35 miles to the north-northwest of Lafayette Louisiana. Maximum sustained winds are at 75 mph.

Current radar shows the heaviest weather is to the north of the center of circulation. This area, which contains very heavy rains and wind gusts to near hurricane force, will pass through Alexandria and central Louisiana in the next several hours. It will then head in the vicinity of Shreveport by tomorrow morning.

There are several feeder bands rotating into the system on its east side, and storms within these bands have produced isolated tornadoes today.

IR Satellite continues to show a weakening system as cloud tops continue to warm as the system moves further inland. This weakening trend will continue with the hurricane being downgraded to a tropical storm later this evening or early Tuesday morning. It then could be a depression by late Tuesday or early Wednesday.