There are 211 posts filed in Weather (this is page 6 of 22).
East Raleigh got pummelled by the tornado
My favorite hyper-local news source, the Raleigh Public Record, has a Google Map showing the damage in Raleigh from last week’s tornado. My initial conclusion that no area was hit harder in Raleigh than East Raleigh’s Lockwood neighborhood are confirmed here, with whole strings of homes completely destroyed by the storm.
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Volunteers assist with storm cleanup
I took some time off from work today to participate in volunteer efforts to clean the storm debris out of the neighborhood streets. The city’s Community Services department collected contact information for interested people to join in with dragging trees to the street.
At 10 AM, folks met at Lions Park for a safety briefing. Then after a waiver was signed, participants received a vest and pair of gloves. Then volunteers were sent to the field staging area at the Raleigh Boulevard Food Lion parking lot, where they boarded buses and vans to move into the neighborhoods. That way a bunch of cars weren’t parking along streets crowded with storm debris.
I took two other volunteers with me in my car and we drove up Millbank. Right beyond the first intersection (Brighton), we found a work crew clearing a yard of tree limbs. Feeling this was as good a place as any to pitch in, we hopped out and began to work. A construction crew was there volunteering as well, and with all the helping hands (and two chain saws), the yard was clear in no time.
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My night did not last long, though. It was too quiet and my urge to put my neighborhood back to right was too strong. I reluctantly left my bed and wandered through a dark home, wondering what I would do without any electricity or daylight.
I ate a breakfast of two cold mini-bagels and cream cheese, with an orange. The fridge temperature was about 50 degrees but I didn’t feel brave enough to get the other items from it. I picked up the paper from the driveway and mulled what to do next. A few neighbors stopped to chat after the sun had come up and we traded stories and tips. I got word that our power would be out for another three days. Turning down a “coffee run” offer, I gathered my gloves and new wheelbarrow and made a decision to go back to Longview to help clear trees.
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Boy, that doesn’t happen every day. A huge tornado roared through the Triangle yesterday, leaving a path of destruction across Wake County. Skywarn spotters reported that the Lowe’s hardware store in Apex was smashed. Other reports told of brick buildings on South Saunders Street being busted. Downtown, there are streetlights out everywhere and trees blocking many streets on the east part of town. Here at home, I’m fortunate nothing happened to our home but we’ve been without power since about 3:45 PM yesterday. I’ve been keeping the dog company while Kelly and the kids are in Virginia for a few days.
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…and what a fine morning it is.
Was a busy weekend with Travis’s last basketball game of the season, followed by a party. Then we played some basketball at home, took the kids to playdates, and watched about 8/10ths of an inch of rain fall yesterday.
I’m beat but happy, and glad to see this wonderful sunshine pouring through the windows today.
We went camping Saturday night at Falls Lake’s Rollingview campground. I’d checked the forecast before we went and saw that the dry air and wind conditions were likely to result in a ban on campfires at the park. Sure enough, when we arrived the winds were whipping around so much that the tent was blowing away before I could assemble it.
After the family and I put our tents together, our friends arrived and mentioned seeing a small sign at the entrance about the fire ban. I was surprised that we hadn’t seen a sign when we arrived: it must have been a small sign. Later, we saw an 8×10″ sign taped to the wall of the restroom building and it wasn’t very prominent. It said “Red Flag Warning: no fires except charcoal or gas.” The place it was posted was right in the middle of the building, though the restroom doors were on either end.
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A warm, spring-like day rolled into Raleigh today, pushing the temperature to a record level. Today’s official high at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport was 78°F, breaking a record that had stood for 68 years. The weather station at MT.Net was even warmer, reaching 79.2°F! The normal high for today is 55°F.
This warmth has been a nice reprieve from the dreary, cold winter we’ve been having (especially since I spent last week in below-zero temperatures in Chicago). We’re going to pay for this warmth, I’m afraid, by increasing our drought. The dry air and winds have also increased the fire danger this weekend. We were considering going camping tomorrow night but the fire danger might snuff our plans.
This taste of spring gives me hope that more comfortable days might be ahead.
Even though I’ve only had my weather station graphing on the Internet since December, it has actually been gathering weather data all year long. Let’s look at the highs and lows, weather-wise, for 2010.
The year 2010 was an exceptionally hot year, with more 90°F + days than any other (the official total was 91 [PDF]). The MT.Net weather station marked its hottest temperature of 106.2°F on 7 July at 1:03 PM. This roughly coincided with the driest recorded humidity of the year: an astoundingly dry 14% (at 1:15 PM that day).
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The National Weather Service’s Raleigh office collected unofficial spotter reports for snowfall totals after yesterday’s snowstorm. I wanted to post this before it disappeared from the net (the report for Raleigh is mine, by the way).
000
NOUS42 KRAH 262059
PNSRAH
NCZ007>011-021>028-038>043-073>078-083>086-088-089-270859-
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
SPOTTER REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
359 PM EST SUN DEC 26 2010
THE FOLLOWING ARE UNOFFICIAL OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING THE PAST 8 HOURS FOR THE STORM THAT HAS BEEN AFFECTING OUR REGION. APPRECIATION IS EXTENDED TO HIGHWAY DEPARTMENTS…COOPERATIVE OBSERVERS…SKYWARN SPOTTERS AND MEDIA FOR THESE REPORTS. THIS SUMMARY IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON OUR HOME PAGE AT WEATHER.GOV/RALEIGH.
********************STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL********************
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I should also say that the state and local officials did a great job managing today’s storm. Salt brine was on the roads days earlier, making the snow that fell very easy to plow. Streets in my neighborhood were wet but clear by mid-day, which is no mean feat for a storm this size.
I give the government crews an A for their efforts. The state missed getting an A+ from me only because the governor neglected to publicize on the state websites the state of emergency she declared. Fortunately most people already knew there was snow on the way so it wasn’t a big deal.
Overall, I’m impressed. A huge swath of the state received snow and I think it was managed effectively.
