I Like Ike!!!

Sorry for the delay in sharing the pictures I promised the other week from the trip to the USS Eisenhower. The one above is of a jet getting ready to take off from the catapult.
Just to refresh your memory, the other week field meteorologist, Greg Majewski, videojournalist, Dave Wertheimer, and myself went out to the USS Eisenhower to do several stories. In order to get out to the Eisenhower we had to drive to Jacksonville and then catch a military plane from there and fly out into the Atlantic where the Eisenhower and her supporting ships were conducting exercises in preparation to being deployed. One of the coolest things was landing and taking off from an aircraft carrier. Talk about cool! The feel is similar to a rollercoaster although the intensity is much higher because you are landing on or being slung off a moving object.
You might be asking... what were you doing on an aircraft carrier? The point of the trip was to come back with several stories. Being a meteorologist, the obvious one was to do a story on the challenges a meteorologist faces on an aircraft carrier. We found that there are many... forecasting winds so aircraft and take off and land, forecasting for the weather on a ship that is always moving, forecasting the weather at the location of targets that they are bombing, etc.
Unless the ship is facing into a 20-25kt wind planes can not take off or land. So, it is up to the meteorologists to forecast what the wind direction will be at various points of the day. If they fail to get it right, it can be very problematic as you might imagine.
A second story will be about the sailors on the boat. It is amazing to think of 5000+ people united in one cause... to get the planes on and off the boat. It did not matter if we talked to someone who worked in the bottom, top, bow, or stern they understood their role and why it was important to the greater good of the ship. We even got a chance to speak with several sailors from Georgia.
Finally, we were able to witness a training exercise where a simulated fire started from a bomb attack and the crew had to put the fires out. The hanger deck was filled with smoke and every detail of the sailors and their ability to fight the fire was scrutinized.
The things that were most amazing would be the size of the ship. The Eisenhower is 70 longer than the Bank of America building is tall! Think of that next time you look at Atlanta's tallest building. With the boat being so big you might also be surprised to know that there are only 4 elevators and all 4 are for planes. That means you have to take the stairs to go up and down all 24 floors! Needless to say our camera guy deserves a pat on the back for lugging a 40lb camera up and down all those stairs. The food was actually pretty good which might surprise some of you. Apparently the Navy has the best food of all the Armed Forces because they figure if you are going to be stuck on a boat for 6-9 months you better be fed well to keep morale up.

The stories are going to air later in May and I hope they bring you closer to what the men and woman aboard the aircraft carrier face on a daily basis. Have a great week!


--Chris

HAIL!!

Photo courtesy of Judy & Terry Hines of Hoganville.

We'll it's April and it's time for storms! Often in Georgia, we get a wide range of spring storms from benign thunder to damaging winds and even tornadoes. This week, we had three days in a row with rough stuff. Thanks to the wonders of technology, we can show you the storm tracks with our cool First Track 3-D radar. This tool lets us show you what is the primary storm threat and where the lightning is. As you may know, we cover a large 54 county area that stretches from the Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina borders and down to near Macon. When spring storms begin to form, we rely on you, the viewer to get critical pictures of one of the most common, yet least feared threat - hail.

Of course, when you boil it all down, hail is just balls of ice that form in the cold part of the storm, usually above 9000 feet. As these large stones fall to earth, they sometimes melt and get smaller, but if they fall too quickly, there isn't time to melt and we can get some pretty large ones. They'll ding your car or break windows. Farmers fear harm or death to poultry or livestock.

We classify the hail based on how large it is on a diameter scale. This can range from 1/4 inch to 3 inches or greater. To get a sense of these sizes, we can translate using the following:

Pea - 0.25"
Penny/Dime - 0.75"
Quarter - 1.00"
Half Dollar - 1.25"
Golfball - 1.75"
Tennis Ball - 2.50"
Baseball - 2.75"
Grapefruit - 4.00"

On Wednesday, this week, several hail storms dropped golf-ball size hail in Hoganville in Troup County. We also received these pictures:

Courtesy Hillary Caswell from Hoganville.

Courtesy Curtis Mock - Franklin (Heard County)

Blame the weather!!!

If you are among the nearly 25 million Americans who suffers from Migraine headaches you may be able to blame something... the weather!

I did a story earlier this week on the correlation between migraine headaches and changes in the weather. It was pretty interesting stuff. We talked to Kim Parker who typically has migraines when there are changes in the weather. Apparently, 30-40% of migraines are triggered by the weather.

The challenge for doctor's is to figure out what weather changes impact each person. Regardless of whether they can figure out the type of weather that triggers the headache... the big problem is that we can not change the weather! So Dr's typically treat the migraines with medications to abort the headache once one begins or with medications to prevent them before they even start.

If you want to see the story then click here... Migraine Story

After I finish with the 11pm news Sunday night I have to grab a couple hours of shut-eye before leaving for Jacksonville at 4am Monday. Once in Jacksonville I am catching a plane out to the USS Eisenhower. The Eisenhower is an aircraft carrier. Our field meteorologist, Greg Majewski, photographer extraordinaire, Dave Wertheimer, and myself are all going. We are going to do stories on the pilots and meteorologists aboard the aircraft carrier. The meteorologists have very tough and important jobs on aircraft carriers. We hope to share that with you.

To learn more about the Eisenhower click here

I will try and post a picture or two from the boat if possible. Regardless, expect to see pictures and some stories from the Eisenhower in the weeks ahead.


--Chris

WATCH FOR MELTING!

We're in for something really different this year for Easter. While it's a serious holiday, it's also a time for kids with candy and such. I've been here since 2000 and there's almost always a threat of rain on Easter and worshippers headed to the top of Stone Mountain probably don't think much of us weather folks. In fact, over the past 6 years, there's only been one Easter where it didn't rain - that was in 2003. Of course last year, we had some nasty storms the night before and morning of Easter. This year - we do a 180 and keep the sunny, warm weather that moved in this week right on into the weekend. The only problem you'll have is keeping that chocolate from melting when the kids go hunting for eggs. For the really curious, here's the breakdown of recent Easter weather:

Year Hi Lo Rain
2000 63 47 Trace
2001 76 58 1.15"
2002 73 56 .38"
2003 71 58 none
2004 70 56 .18"
2005 67 60 2.87"

Would you do it for a Scooby snack??

Isn't it great to know that there are certain things in life that will always stand the test of time? I mean, nothing beats the feel of a good pair of old blue jeans. A McDonald's cheese burger will taste the same way today as it did when you were ten years old. David Bowie's "Changes" LP never goes out of style. And kids will always love Scooby Doo.
It cracks me up that my daughter (3 years old as of Tuesday) loves the same cartoon that I grew up watching.
Back in the day, (the days of no remote controls and only 13 channels) my childhood Saturday morning routine was set. I'd wake up to an episode of Super Friends (sometimes with the Wonder Twins, sometimes without). This would be followed by Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels or Hong Kong Phooey. Sometime in the commercial break there'd be a quick run to the kitchen for a package of whatever brand of pop tarts Mom found on sale at the grocery store that week --- and then that magical sound of the bats flying out of the haunted house and the groovy 60's beat of the Scooby Doo theme song.
Wasn't that a great time???
Now, fast forward thirty years later and there sits "mini-me" (Claudia) with her own package of pop tarts, a sippie cup, blankie, and Scooby on the tube.
In case you've missed it...Fred, Daphney, Velma, Shaggy, and Scoob are all still there. In some of the newer episodes, though, their look has been updated a bit. Now-a-days Fred can occasionally be seen in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Sadly, Daphney, bless her heart, still sports that awful purple and pink outfit. But on the other hand Velma has traded in those ridiculous Mr. Magoo glasses for a slightly smaller and more trendy pair. She's also gotten out of that double-wool-oversized-orange-turtle neck sweater. And although she has stayed with the same color scheme, you can sometimes catch her in short sleeves. Meanwhile, Scooby and Shag haven't changed a bit - nor have they gained any weight... which is something I've never been able to figure out with all the food they eat!
We mix it up during cartoon time at the Huckabee house now. Sometimes we watch old episodes - and sometimes new. But regardless, some things never change - "zoinkes", "jinkies", and "jeepers" are still the vocabulary words of choice. You know Scooby will always go to the end of the earth for a Scooby snack. And most importantly, the crook would have gotten away with it - if it weren't for those meddling kids.

What A Night!

As we had been talking about since last Wednesday, severe weather rolled through Georgia early Saturday morning. So far the National Weather Service has confirmed 4 tornadoes in northern Georgia. Thankfully, there were no fatalities. That same system is responsible for 12 fatalities in Tennessee.

Of the 4 tornadoes in Georgia, 2 were in Polk County and 2 were in Cobb County. Our FIRST Track 3D Radar spotted all 4 tornadoes as they rolled through. The picture at the top of this entry shows our exclusive warning tubes as the line of storms that produced 2 of the tornadoes moved through N. Cobb and Marietta. The picture to our left shows the 100 mph winds that caused significant damage to businesses and homes in Marietta and Alpharetta.

Some pretty significant damage also occurred at the Aqualand Marina on Lake Lanier near Flowery Branch. Our FIRST Track 3D Radar indicated 70+ mph winds as storms moved over the lake.

Thankfully, the weather for the week ahead looks very quiet. Sunshine is expected all week long and temperatures will gradially rise to near 80 by Friday. Have a great week!


--Chris

Stormy Monday

The last time I blogged I talked about how I was going on vacation for a week to rest up for the severe weather ahead. Little did I know I would be greeted with severe weather on first day back!

Before the sun was even up severe storms that killed 24 people in states to our west were rumbling into Georgia. Although the storms had weakened they were still packing quite a punch. All of the reports we received in the StormTracker46 Weather Center were of large hail.
One report came in from near Charlie Brown Airport in western Fulton County. As a storm moved overhead it dumped ping-pong ball sized hail. At the same time our FIRST Track 3D Radar was indicating 1" hail in that exact same spot. Our radar continues to amaze me all the time with all the tools it has and how accurate it is. Needless to say, I am excited to use it more and utilize all its abilities over the months ahead.

Another round of storms may roll into the metro on Saturday. Right now, it is not looking overly impressive for severe weather, but we are watching it carefully.

Oh, as far as my vacation, here is a picture of the sunset one evening down at Grayton Beach, Florida. My folks have a little cottage down there and my fiance and I spent the week visiting them. Almost every evening a group of folks gets together there to watch the sunset and to socialize. One evening we spotted a small shark about 3 feet from shore! A reminder to never go in thr water at sunrise or sunset... that's when the sharks feed!


--Chris