Evening chill
Posted by Ryan
The big thing that made forecasts bust in Lubbock the last two days was the morning low. Dry air and clear skies allowed temperatures to drop all the way to 53 both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Everything else really worked out fine, especially for ourselves and the Weather Service, who hauled in the top forecast.
Actuals: Saturday - High 95, Low 53
Sunday - High 90, Low 53
Grade: C
Lubbock, Texas to Wichita Falls, Texas
Posted by Ryan
What's this? A short road trip? That will only take 3 1/2 hours to go almost due east (actually a little bit north) a grand total of about 210 miles. The rate of speed, interstate free, will be 60.8mph. The hardest part of this forecast is writing the intro.
It's going to be downright lazy, atmospherically when we depart Lubbock. A weak lee trough is going to keep everything pretty calm for west Texas, but winds will pick up, and it might get downright breezy by the time we reach Wichita Falls. And.... that's about it. Temps in the low 80s when we arrive.
Lubbock, Texas
Posted by Anthony
Today (well, tonight, sorry for the late post) we head off to West Texas, were the only thing more bankable than High School football is conditions being dry. Will the trend continue?
At 11:53AM CDT, the temperature in Lubbock, TX was 76 degrees under fair skies. The entire country is kind of in a state of gridlock, weather-wise that is. There's a large area of high pressure sitting off the East Coast, and a cutoff low pressure system has firmly entrenched itself over the Great Lakes region. With broad high pressure sitting over the Rockies and High Plains, systems moving in from the Pacific are forced up and over it through Canada. What's all this mean for the lovely residents of Lubbock? It means warm temperatures and sunny skies for the weekend! Like they haven't gotten enough of that this summer. Well, enjoy the warm weather, hopefully some rainfall is on the horizon for you!
Saturday: Sunny. High 93, Low 59.
Sunday: Continued sunny. High 90, Low 59.
TWC: Saturday: Sunny. High 92, Low 59.
Sunday: Partly cloudy. High 89, Low 58.
AW: Saturday: Plenty of sun. High 92, Low 59.
Sunday: Mostly sunny. High 91, Low 59.
NWS: Saturday: Mostly sunny. High 92, Low 58.
Sunday: Sunny. High 91, Low 58.
WB: Saturday: Mostly sunny. High 92, Low 59.
Sunday: Sunny. High 91, Low 58.
Here we see the storm system sitting over the eastern US, but the central US is high and dry and full of sunshine. A great weekend for West Texas! (Although I'm sure they'd welcome a washout)
Lubbock, Texas to Worcester, Massachusetts
Posted by Anthony
Today we start quite the trek, from the vast open roads of West Texas through the Appalachians to the historical side of Massachusetts. It'll take 4 days to cover to 2,027 miles between the 2, so we better get a move on! We have weather to try and stay ahead of!
DAY ONE
We start off heading east out of Lubbock on HWY-82 towards Wichita Falls, with a bright, shining sunrise blinding us as clear skies overhead make for an easy start to the lengthy trip. A broad ridge of high pressure over the Southwestern US includes the Southern Plains, so we shouldn't have much to worry about through the day. We'll make a northward turn on I-44 heading into Oklahoma and make our way past Lawton then Oklahoma City with only a few high clouds expected. Our quiet Day One will conclude as we continue northeastward past Tulsa to Vinita, OK, our stop for the first night after 515 miles.
DAY TWO
Our day will start off nice and quiet once again as Vinita will be sitting in a ridge of surface high pressure. There may be some surface fog to burn off as the morning progresses, but by the time we're continuing on I-44 through Springfield, we should be seeing sunny skies once again and just a few high clouds. As an area of low pressure shifts into the Northern Plains, a warm front will begin to take shape during the late afternoon and evening hours down through IA/north MO, so clouds could be on the increase as we make our way past St. Louis and cut through Illinois on I70. We'll finish up our 505 mile day in Terre Haute, IN under pleasant weather once again.
DAY THREE
The aforementioned warm front will continue developing overnight and make it's way to IA/IL, igniting some rain/thunderstorms ahead of it. Overcast skies are expected as we start our day heading towards Indianapolis. Some light rain showers are possible as we past the capital and continue on I70 towards Ohio. For most of the day, we'll be outrunning the shield of rain showers being pushed ahead by the warm front, from Dayton, to Columbia and up towards Cleveland. Any rain showers we experience should remain on the light side, as the heavier stuff will continue to trail us throughout the day. Winds will remain on the light side overall as we continue to sit in a small area of high pressure ahead of the front, so that's some good news. After Cleveland, we'll continue along I90 to Erie, the ending point of our 490 mile day.
DAY FOUR
Not a fun weather day for our final leg of the trip, a 529 mile jaunt through southern NY past Binghamton and Albany and onwards into MA. The warm front will start to slow down over the Northeast and Southern New England, dropping steady rains over the region with low clouds. Some wind gusts could kick up through the mountains as we push our way through Eastern NY during the afternoon hours, but the worst of that will, once again, linger off to our south and west. Rains will lighten up as we make our way into Western MA and eventually into Worcester, but finish off a gloomy day overall.
Springfield, IL to Lubbock, TX
Posted by Anthony
A 2-day, 940 mile trip through America's Heartland. Will we see sunny skies or a good old-natured Plains thunderstorm? How about we dabble in both?!
DAY ONE
A large ridge of high pressure has parked itself over the Great Lakes with some patchy morning fog found over Central Illinois. We'll make our way down I-55 towards St. Louis under sunny morning skies and relatively light winds. The high pressure ridge continues into the Southern Plains, so with the exception of a few high clouds later on in the afternoon, the day should be sunny and quiet. Sunglasses will be a must as we continue through Springfield, MO and make our way down I-44 to Tulsa, OK, our stop for the night.
DAY TWO
We head out of Tulsa towards Oklahoma City, with significantly more clouds than we started off yesterday with. A cold front pushing its way through the Plains yesterday has pushed itself further south as well during the overnight. Showers and thunderstorms that continued through the night over CO and KS have pushed ahead of the front into portions of northwestern OK by morning. Overcast skies will take over by midday and we can expect some scattered showers and thunderstorms to wet the windshields as we make our way south out of Lawton, OK and towards Wichita Falls, TX. Chances for showers and storms will remain through the rest of the day into Lubbock, but luckily are not expected to be severe.