Orlando, Florida to Manchester, New Hampshire

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I like writing road trip forecasts, but doesn’t this seem backwards? It’s getting into the depths of November, and the plan is to leave Orlando for New England? It’s going to take two days, including one that is quite a bit longer than the first to cover 1324 miles. The pace, largely taking I-95 northward, will be 66.7mph, covering 534 miles on the first day, and leaving a grueling day on Friday. The best we can hope is that the weather cooperates.

DAY ONE (Friday)

Orlando, Florida

Low pressure that has moved out of the middle of the country, and is parked in the now over the mid-Atlantic. An associated cold front is now pushed into the Atlantic, with colder air digging into the southeastern United States. The air will be stable behind the cold front, which means clear skies and breezy, but fairly easy driving to Vander, North Carolina, just outside of Fayetteville.

DAY TWO (Friday)
Wrap around moisture is a big deal on this feature, bringing pretty heavy snow into the northern Appalachians. We will be in the dry sector, in the lee of the Appalachians to start the drive, but by the time we reach Washington, we’ll start to encounter some light precipitation. Fortunately, on this side of the system, it will be warm enough that precipitation will be falling as light rain, and will continue to fall as such until we start our turn inland in Connecticut. Some of this light rain will mix with light snow in western Massachusetts, and a wintry mix is in store for our arrival in Manchester.

Manchester, New Hampshire

Manchester, New Hampshire to Gulfport, Mississippi

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We’re headed Gulfward to start the new week. This drive doesn’t quite mirror our drive leading into the weekend, and will lead to a longer drive, lasting into a third day, while also at a pace that is faster, covering 67.5mph. This will allow us to cover 539.7 miles the first two days, leaving the rest of the 1519 miles for Wednesday.

DAY ONE (Monday)

Manchester, New Hampshire

In a manner that is frighteningly similar to the one seen on our way up to Manchester last week, a wave will be moving into the Mid-Atlantic just as we are driving through the area. The drive through New England and downstate New York should be dry, if increasingly cloudy. The threat for rain will pick up around Allentown, and will persist through the remainder of the drive through the Keystone State, as well as the snips of Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia we see (We will touch 8 states in all through this drive). The day will end with some light rain, as it will have been spotty throughout the afternoon, in Stephen City, Virginia, which is on the south side of Winchester.

DAY TWO (Tuesday)

A big lingering area of low pressure is hanging out in the Gulf Stream, and is slowing down any progress through the Eastern Time Zone. There won’t be an organized system, so to speak, but the lingering showers will turn into morning fog on Tuesday up against the Blue Ridge Mountains, with rain picking up pretty quickly again as the day begins. As we start to get into the mountains, we’ll eventually get to the western face of the mountains, in Tennessee, and we should start to enjoy some drier pavement from about Bristol to Chattanooga. It won’t remain entirely dry, as a reinforcing shot of cold air might bring some more wet weather to Tennessee as the lingering moisture starts trying to organize late in the day. We won’t spend much more than 15 miles in northwest Georgia, but we are still going to post up for the night in Slygo.

DAY THREE (Wednesday)

The NHC is monitoring a developing feature off the coast of Nicaragua, which will start drifting further to the north through the next couple of days. Models are starting to agree that it is looking more and more like it will become a tropical storm, and ultimately, a hurricane before making land fall, unfortunately probably along the Gulf Coast. Guidance suggests that landfall will come around Fort Walton Beach on Thursday, which furthermore means our drive on Wednesday towards the Gulf Coast will be very dependent on the pace of the storm. I suspect we will see a little bit of rain in Alabama, but it will clear out fairly quickly. Ironically, moisture will be flowing off shore, which isn’t generally a great way to produce a lot of storms, so I don’t think we will see much rain. In fact, I would say by the time we reach Gulfport, it should be dry. Won’t last, but my forecast doesn’t go beyond Wednesday.

Gulfport, Mississippi

Columbus, Georgia to Manchester, New Hampshire

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These East Coast trips are perhaps even more susceptible to inclement weather. The weather isn’t worse, but the travel is more urban, and a bit of rain can really tie things up. We’ll take two days, including longer day on Saturday, to get from southwest Georgia to southeast New Hampshire. It’s a 1,245 mile journey, taken at a 63.7mph pace. The first night day will end, theoretically, after about the 510 mile mark, leaving a monstrous second day of travel.

DAY ONE (Friday)

Columbus, Georgia

The remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon, which brought heavy rain to the Carolinas is now drifting northwestward along the Gulf Stream. The rotation wrought by the storm throughout he Eastern Seaboard is continuing to bring some clouds and spotty rain showers, especially in northern exposures of the Appalachians, and even as far south as the Smokey and Blue Ridge Mountains. Fortunately, this does not include Georgia, but there will be some drizzle and overcast in the Carolinas, leading to additional slowdowns through the Piedmont and Charlotte. Traffic will be thinner, but the spits and starts of rain will continue to Christianburg, the city at the Blacksburg exit in Virginia.

DAY TWO (Saturday)

I’ve got something from the good news department: Our route is not taking us through DC, Philadelphia or New York City. This is great, because it means we will avoid all the traffic brought upon by a stationary boundary setting up between the remnants of Gordon and a wave rippling through northern Ontario. We are likely to see rain in at least 4 states, starting around Winchester, Virginia, continuing through West Virginia and Maryland, and continuing to Pennsylvania. The rain will start to wind down as we approach Allentown. Even after that point, however, we will be arriving in the moisture rich environment in the wake of Gordon. While the more widespread rain will be behind us, especially as we hit Connecticut and Massachusetts, the chance for a spit of rain can’t be ruled out.

Manchester, New Hampshire

A fine New England weekend

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That first weekend after the 4th of July is the first intensively “summer” weekend of the year. Laze around, if you want to, go to the lake or the cabin or whatever it is that you do. That first weekend in Manchester was pretty great. Temperatures were in the 80s, and an inactive cold front Friday into Saturday morning brought dew points down a little bit, and kept it from getting uncomfortable. Victoria-Weather and Forecast.io came together for the top forecast, hedging warmer for highs and cooler for lows.
Actuals: Friday 7/8 – High 86, Low 65
Saturday 7/9 – High 82, Low 61

Grade: A – B

Manchester, New Hampshire

Ryan Henning 1 Comment

Manchester in the US is in New Hampshire. In England, Hampshire is nowhere near Manchester (which is its own county, between Lancashire and Cheshire). There is a Portsmouth in both New and original Hampshire, but we’re here to talk about Manchester.

At 253PM, ET, Manchester was reporting a temperature of 82 degrees with mostly cloudy skies. Low pressure over the Atlantic, south of Greenland was parenting an inverted trough over northern Quebec that ran to central Ontario. Between the two disturbances was a rife spot for some midlevel instability, and some spotty clouds. Disturbed weather to the south is more impressive on satellite, but is not going to pose a wet threat for Manchester.
The remnant wave in pursuit of the Greenland low will pivot into New England through the day on Friday. The parent remnant trough will actually start to redevelop, and with it, so too will the local jet. By this point, moisture associated with the feature will be spent in the White Mountains, and instead, a crisp change to the air mass will take hold overnight Friday into Saturday, making for a pleasant summer weekend.
Tomorrow – Partly to mostly cloudy, High 87, Low 64
Saturday – Clearing and pleasant, High 82, Low 62

TWC: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy skies. High 86, Low 63
Saturday – Sunshine and clouds mixed High 81, Low 64

AW: Tomorrow – Clouds and sun High 87, Low 65
Saturday – Mostly sunny; a beautiful start to the weekend High 80, Low 63

NWS: Tomorrow – Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, High 86, Low 62
Saturday – Sunny, High 79, Low 61

WB: Tomorrow – Partly sunny, High 86, Low 65
Saturday – Mostly sunny, High 79, Low 65

WN: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny, High 86, Low 61
Saturday – Mostly sunny, High 79, Low 61

FIO: Tomorrow – Mostly cloudy throughout the day. High 86, Low 64
Saturday – Partly cloudy throughout the day. High 81, Low 62

That looks like some nice weather on it’s way! I’m surprised the forecast wasn’t a bit warmer tomorrow for a lot of outlets, but I wasn’t going to go any higher, so maybe I shouldn’t be that surprised!

Pocatello, Idaho to Manchester, New Hampshire

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It is a hot and active time in the northern US right now. Where there are no storms, there is blistering heat, but where there are storms, the heat abates. What will we contend with? The heat? The storms? Certainly the humidity? The only way to know is to look into the future, as we forecast for this 4 1/2 day trip, which will cover 2,463 miles. We will collect 532 miles a day. at a modest 66.5mph

DAY ONE (Tuesday)

Pocatello, Idaho

DAY ONE (Thursday)
While things have been a bit tumultuous this week, the biggest, baddest area of low pressure in the Plains is lifting towards Hudson Bay, as though it were a regular winter feature. This will provide a modicum of relieve for waterlogged farmers in the northern Plains, and a great deal of relief for anyone navigating the wilds of Idaho and Wyoming, as we will. There won’t be much to get in our way as we trek eastward, stopping in Egbert, Wyoming by night’s end.

DAY TWO (Friday)
Flow over the mountains will continue to be westerly, and as it ever does, it will fill in the gap behind the previous system with another lee trough. It will be tapped of moisture, though, and will function only to accelerate the warm air from the Gulf to the Plains. Hot and stick in Nebraska, and western Iowa, where we will alight upon Wiota, west of Des Moines, for the night.

DAY THREE (Saturday)
That advancing area of low pressure will start causing problems on our Saturday drive. The GFS, generally agreed to be more reliable in the longer term is indicating widespread precipitation from Iowa to Illinois and Indiana, though I suspect that is a resolution issue. Instead, it’s going to be hot and humid all day, with only a stray thunderstorm here or there. Granted, those storms will likely dump a lot of rain where ever they do show up, which will severely cramp our style. The drive will end in Howe, Indiana, off of the Indiana Toll Road. when we get there depends on how bound up a stray thunderstorm makes Chicago.

DAY FOUR (Sunday)
That area of low pressure from earlier in the trip, the one that we noted would be headed towards Hudson Bay? Well, he’s still going to be there, just hanging out. This will lead to much of the eastern third of the country being active, though not in a terribly organized way. Scattered thunderstorms cropping up in the heat of the day, without any semblance of a plan. This will require us to be vigilant with the wipers from Howe to Syracuse, though there is a chance those showers start tapering off as we role into Syracuse for the night.

DAY FIVE (Monday)
The mishmash of showery humid air will organize a bit to start next week. In New England and New York, this can be a bit more dangerous because of all the tree coverage. A bit of wind can block roadways for hours with the debris. don’t be surprised to see extra traffic through Albany and on to Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.

Manchester, New Hampshire