from Victoria-Weather
The forecast for Kingston was spot on, at least for one outlet. Accuweather only missed by degree overall, going a little too cool on Thursday morning. This is what happens on a clear day on the east coast, I guess. Accuweather was clearly the best, but it was a good forecast for everyone.
Actuals: Wednesday – High 69, Low 38
Thursday – High 74, Low 43
Grade: A-B
Wine country…. hopefully not whine country.
At 753PM, PT, Santa Rosa was still reporting a temperature of 80 degrees with clear skies. The west coast will continue to remain clear for the next couple of days, and unlike the eastern two thirds of the country, it will be hot. Santa Rosa is in a red flag warning, and a heat advisory.
High pressure centered in the eastern Pacific is bolstered onshore by a thermal ridge. Little change can be anticipated in Santa Rosa, and the heat and fire danger will be in place, particularly with a broad static trough east of the Rockies.
Tomorrow – Sunny, High 93, Low 53
Sunday – Sunny, High 87, Low 49
TWC: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy skies. High 92, Low 56
Sunday – Partly cloudy skies. High 85, Low 53
AW: Tomorrow – Hot with plenty of sunshine; caution advised if doing strenuous activities outside High 93, Low 56
Sunday – Plenty of sunshine High 85, Low 50
NWS: Tomorrow – Sunny, High 92, Low 61
Sunday – Sunny, High 86, Low 56
WB: Tomorrow – Sunny, High 91, Low 56
Sunday – Sunny, High 84, Low 54
WN: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny, High 93, Low 60
Sunday – Mostly sunny, High 85, Low 55
FIO: Tomorrow – Clear throughout the day. High 92, Low 58
Sunday – Clear throughout the day. High 85, Low 51
It’s like we were foreasting for different Santa Rosa’s, judging by some of those highs. I am not sold on as steep a drop in temperatures, clearly, as the others. Now, please enjoy the forecast from another viewpoint, KTVU in northern California.
The Hudson River is home to so many important cities, many of which are overshadowed by Albany and New York. There are plenty of good ones though, not the least of which is Kingston, which is just north of another good one, Poughkeepsie.
At 453PM, ET, it was 56 degrees and overcast near Kingston. The remnants of weak circulation associated with Delta are in Southern New England and are contributing to the cloudy skies in the area, though rain seems to have departed from Kingston for the rest of the day. Drier conditions are on the way tomorrow as a strong jet trough organizes a well developed extratropical cyclone in the Great Lakes.
The low will shift to the north as the jet trough becomes more well developed. The jet trough development is indicative of cold air surging into the center of the country, and a cold front developing west of the Appalachians. Ahead of the developing cold front, warm southerly flow will make things unseasonably warm for at least a day in Kingston.
Tomorrow – Partly cloudy, High 69, Low 41
Thursday – Partly cloudy, breeze, High 75, Low 43
TWC: Tomorrow – A mainly sunny sky, High 68, Low 40
Thursday – Abundant sunshine, High 74, Low 42
AW: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny, pleasant and warmer High 69, Low 38
Thursday – Sunny to partly cloudy and warm; breezy in the afternoon High 74, Low 42
NWS: Tomorrow – Sunny, High 68 , Low 41
Thursday – Sunny, High 73, Low 44
WB: Tomorrow – Patchy fog in the morning. Sunny. High 67, Low 41
Thursday – Sunny, High 72, Low 43
WN: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny, High 58, Low 41
Thursday – Mostly sunny, High 73, Low 41
FIO: Tomorrow – Clear throughout the day. High 69, Low 40
Thursday – Clear throughout the day. High 73, Low 44
I’m on the warm end on Saturday. I believe in the power of sunny skies and south winds. Here is the radar, showing rain shifting out of town.
Two weekends ago, meteorologists were diligently watching the Gulf of Mexico in anticipation of the development of Tropical Storm Delta. Delta did develop into a hurricane and moved through the Mississippi Delta (no relation) and towards the Great Lakes. It was tough to think of the tropics before that in Atlanta, as the temperatures, particularly the morning lows around the 50 degree mark, were positively autumnal. The Weather Channel did earn victory on the forecast. They’ve been in Atlanta getting pumpkin spied lattes for a couple weeks now, and surely had some more intimate knowledge of the conditions.
Actuals: October 5th, High 77, Low 50
October 6th, High 79, Low 51
Grade: B-C
Wow. What a wild month September was. Then again, September is the wildest of them all, almost every year. There are hurricanes, wild fires. every thing that can go wrong thanks to the stored heat of summer. No wonder, then, that it was Forecast.io, the robot army, that could keep the level head needed to secure this honor.
| Outlet | year wins | |
| The Weather Channel | 9.5 | |
| Victoria-Weather | 9.41 | |
| Weatherbug | 6.49 | |
| WeatherNation | 5.08 | |
| National Weather Service | 4.91 | |
| Forecast.io | 3.83 | |
| Accuweather | 3.75 |
We will travel from one capital city to the other over the next week or so, headed from the bustling Atlanta to the more serene Olympia over the course of 5 days. The drive will cover 2718 miles at a pace of about 68mph, and with a goal of 544 miles on any given day. I think it’s time we pack our things. Will we see any other capital cities along the way?
DAY ONE (Saturday)
For the beginning of our long, cross country drive, all eyes will be to our south, where we will need to monitor Hurricane Delta, which will be expiring in the Mississippi Valley. A dangerous feeder band of showers and storms angling into Delta from the Tennessee Valley. Most of these will be rain storms with little lightning and thunder, but even without lightning or thunder, rogue tornadoes are always a possibility. As Delta erodes and we head north, the rain threat will dissipate, about as we cross the Ohio into Illinois, but it will still be overcast at day’s end. Day’s end will be in Caseyville, a St. Louis suburb.
DAY TWO (Sunday)
Low pressure developing in the plains will be robbed of moisture by the remnants of Delta, but the pressure squeeze of remnant hurricane, to ridge, to deepening area of low pressure will make for a very windy day as we head for the Plains. We will come very close to Kansas and Nebraska, but we will stay on the eastern side of the Missouri River before finally dipping across into far southeast South Dakota, and spending the night in North Sioux City.
DAY THREE (Monday)
There will be a distinct chill to the air as we spend most of our day in South Dakota. A cold front will pass us in the evening on Sunday with little to no fanfare. The after effects will be notable, as temperatures may struggle to climb above freezing. Still, it will be dry, which is a pleasant bit of news. We will clip Wyoming and make it to the ghost town of Hammond in southeastern Montana to end the day.
DAY FOUR (Tuesday)
This drive is looking very familiar. We have recently taken a drive across Montana for another long road trip, and our endpoints before we reached Bellingham, and that we stopped at before we reach Olympia are very similar. This time, we’re going to stop in Missoula after a pretty clear day. The back side of the system we saw in North Sioux City may leave a few whitecaps in western Montana, but it will be dry for our arrival.
DAY FIVE (Wednesday)
A pretty good system will move into the Pacific Northwest from the Gulf of Alaska in the early to middle part of next week. As we get going Wednesday, be sure to drive those mountain curves with caution, as they may be rain slicked, with some snow again possible above our elevation. By the time we reach the Cascade rain shadow in central and Eastern Washington, it will e as though nothing happened. Thanks, geography! When we reach Puget Sound, the Gulf of Alaska storm will have departed, but low clouds, drizzle and fog will remain. It will be a little bit clearer in Olympia, but still a bit dismal. Oh, and to answer the question at the top, despite all this driving will account for but one other capital city.
There was a lot of weather to talk about in September, particularly in the tropics. I’m happy to report, however, that we were able to keep our touch for forecasting across the country. Forecasts for Bellingham were pretty unified across the board, and the verified weather at the end of September was a carbon copy from one day to another, but I can claim that Victoria-Weather was able to secure the victory all by ourselves, even if it was by the narrowest of margins.
Actuals: September 29th, High 74, Low 48
September 30th, High 74, Low 48
Grade: C
Halloween should be the scariest thing this time of year, between COVID and the election, I’m not sure that will be the case. Hopefully, aside from Delta, the weather won’t be added to the list of scary things this autumn.
Kingston, New York
Santa Rosa, California
Wenatchee, Washington
Road Trip from Santa Rosa to Wenatchee
Hanford, California
Road Trip from Champaign, Illinois to Hanford
We’re driving southward today, trying to get to Atlanta before Hurricane Delta finds the coast. We should be able to do it, as our drive will only last a day and cover 505 miles, doing so at a pace of a little over 62mph. Try to limit stops and use hand sanitizer!
Delta hit the Yucatan this morning and is spilling into the Gulf tonight. It pulsed down before it hit Cancun, and will be weakened when it arrives in the Gulf. Still, it’s previous intensity, and further ramping up will entrap nearby atmospheric moisture, and while the eastern US is under high pressure, the sea breezes will be turned off too. The entire drive from Terre Haute to Atlanta will be under mostly clear skies, with seasonable warmth.
All right, Weather Channel, we’re coming for your back yard.
At 852PM, ET, Atlanta was reporting a temperature of 66 degrees with mostly cloudy skies. Tropical Storm Gamma was interfacing with low pressure in the Gulfstream, with clouds streaming across the southeastern United States. Atlanta was at the northern end of of the band of clouds, but Atlanta was the only place that was reporting anything close to overcast conditions.
High pressure is building into the Plains, and that will build into north Georgia as well, rendering the next two days quite pleasant. As Gamma unfurls, there might be a band of showers over central Georgia on Tuesday morning, but nothing well organized or long lived will transpire. Over the long term, Tropical Depression 26 bears monitoring not only for the Gulf, but specifically for the Atlanta area by next week.
Tomorrow – Partly cloudy, High 78, Low 55
Tuesday – Sunny, High 79, Low 57
TWC: Tomorrow – Sunny skies, High 76, Low 52
Tuesday – Partly cloudy, High 78, Low 55
AW: Tomorrow – Pleasant with plenty of sun, High 78, Low 53
Tuesday – Pleasant with plenty of sun, High 78, Low 57
NWS: Tomorrow – Sunny High 77, Low 53
Tuesday – Sunny High 76, Low 55
WB: Tomorrow – Sunny High 75, Low 53
Tuesday – Sunny High 77, Low 56
WN: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny, High 77, Low 55
Tuesday – Mostly sunny, High 76, Low 54
FIO: Tomorrow – Clear throughout the day. High 79, Low 54
Tuesday – Clear throughout the day. High 78, Low 57
Atlanta looks ok today, but as I said, the Gulf bears monitoring.
