Watch possible in western Indiana

Mesoscale discussion map

There is a 40 percent chance that the Nationsal Weather Service will issue a weather watch that would cover most of the western half of Indiana this afternoon, according to a mesoscale discussion the Storm Prediction Center issued at 1:29 p.m. EDT.

Slight risk of severe weather all weekend

Convective outlook map

Parts of northern Indiana are at risk of severe weather between 12:30 p.m. EDT today and 8 a.m. EDT tomorrow, according to the Day 1 Convective Outlook that the National Weather Service (NWS) Storm Prediction Center (SPC) at 12:24 EDT today. Other parts have the same level of risk between 8 a.m. tomorrow (Sunday) and 8 a.m. Monday. Today’s slight risk area includes all but the easternmost counties of Indiana. In IMO SKYWARN quadrant two, today’s slight risk area includes all or part of the following counties: Whitley, Huntington and Blackford. Other counties in the area can expect thunderstorms but have an insignificant risk of severe weather today and tonight. The main risk today is for a few storms in the slight risk area to become well enough organized to create damaging straight-line winds. The highest chance of severe weather today, however, is west of Indiana.

Tomorrow is a different story.

Convective outlook map

A slight risk area includes all Indiana and Ohio counties in IMO SKYWARN quadrant two, plus a large part of east central Indiana and western Ohio, according to the Day 2 Convective Outlook the SPC issued at 1:31 a.m. EDT today. Morning storms in the area could bring damaging winds an possibly a tornado.

Slight risk of severe weather in Indiana tomorrow (Oct. 5)

convective outlook map
Yellow area: Slight risk of severe weather. Green area: Thunderstorms, but insignificant risk of severe weather.

Much of Indiana has a slight risk of severe weather tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 5, according to the Day 2 Convective Outlook that the National Weather Service (NWS) Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued at 1:30 p.m. EDT today. The slight risk area includes all Indiana counties served by the northern Indiana NWS office, except Steuben, DeKalb, Allen, Adams, most of Jay and the eastern half of Wells. In IMO SKYWARN quadrant two, the slight risk area includes Whitley, Huntington, western Wells and Blackford Counties.

Forecasters expect lines of multiple thunderstorms to form during the afternoon tomorrow. The main threat is for damaging straight-line winds. Some hail is also possible as is a tornado.

We’ll know much more about the risk when SPC issues its Day 1 Convective Outlooks tomorrow, beginning at about 1 a.m. EDT. Meanwhile, if you have any outdoor activities planned tomorrow, it would be wise to have some means of receiving weather warnings and be prepared to curtail the activities should severe weather approach.

Hurricane watch for parts of Florida, Louisiana

The National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch for parts of Louisiana and Florida because of Tropical Storm Karen, which has formed over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. The watch does not at the time of this writing include metropolitan New Orleans.

Tropical storm Karen forecast map

Work on Weather Radio site to continue

NOAA Weather Radio logo

The NOAA Weather Radio transmitter in Fort Wayne returned to the air last evening, after a day of repair work at the tower site, according to a Public Information Statement the National Weather Service issued at 8:54 p.m. last night. The statement also indicated that additional work is needed and that the transmitter might therefore be periodically off the air again today.

Fort Wayne Weather Radio work scheduled

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
953 PM EDT TUE OCT 1 2013 /853 PM CDT TUE OCT 1 2013/

...FORT WAYNE NOAA WEATHER RADIO WILL BE OFF THE AIR WEDNESDAY...

THE FORT WAYNE NOAA WEATHER RADIO TRANSMITTER WXJ-58 AT 162.550
MHZ WILL BE OFF THE AIR WEDNESDAY...OCTOBER 2...2013 WHILE THE
TRANSMITTER ANTENNA IS BEING REPLACED. THE RADIO IS EXPECTED TO BE
BACK ON THE AIR BY 8 PM WEDNESDAY EVENING.

AN ALTERNATE NOAA RADIO BROADCAST FOR THE FORT WAYNE AREA WILL BE
KXI-94 AT 162.425 MHZ FROM ANGOLA.

FOR THE LATEST WATCH AND WARNING INFORMATION SEE OUR WEBSITE AT
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/IWX.
 
 

Cool kite video from radio-controlled helicopter

One of my other hobbies is kite flying, especially dual-line and quad-line sport kites, which allow the flier to control the direction of the kite’s flight. Some of my friends in the kite world recently made a really cool video, with the help of a video camera mounted on a radio-controlled quad-rotor helicopter. What you’ll see are members of a kite performance team, flying quad-line sport kites (two lines controlled by each hand with the aid of a handle). Enjoy!

Hear a Star 88.3 interview about Associated Churches Active in Disaster

Star 88.3 logo

WLAB Radio’s Meslissa Montana interviewed Associated Churches executive pastor Roger Reece about tonight’s informational meeting hosted by the Associated Churches disaster ministry, Asssociated Churches Active in Disaster. Give it a listen:

Roger Reece- Associated Churches | News | Star 88.3

SPC watching storm trends, damaging winds possible

Map showing outline of mesoscale discussion
Area to right of red line being monitored for thunderstorm intensification and potentially damaging wind gusts. Source: SPC MDC 1901.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center expected a gradual intensification and eastward development of thunderstorm activity in extreme northeastern Indiana and in northwestern Ohio through the remainder of this afternoon, according to a mesoscale discussion they issued at 3:47 p.m. They did not expect that conditions would warrant a severe weather watch but the risk of potentially damaging wind gusts was not out of the question. The SPC indicated it would continue to monitor weather trends in the area.

Slight severe weather risk for today no longer includes Indiana

Wind probability map from convective outlook
Probability of damaging thunderstorm winds or wind gusts of 50 knots (58 mph) or higher within 25 miles of a point.

The risk of severe weather in Indiana today and tonight is less than slight, according to the Day 1 Convective Outlook that the National Weather Service (NWS) Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued at 8:47 a.m. EDT. The outlook covers the period from 9 a.m. EDT today to 8 a.m. EDT tomorrow.

The outlook indicates that most of Indiana has a five percent probability of damaging thunderstorm winds or wind gusts of 58 mph or higher within 25 miles of a point. But five percent is not enough to warrant use of the slight risk category. In most of eastern Michigan and a very small part of northwestern Ohio, however, the probability of those severe thunderstorm winds is 15 percent, so the SPC considers those areas to have a slight risk of severe weather.

Yesterday, you might have heard that some of northeastern Indiana would be at slight risk today, but by early this morning, it became clear to SPC meteorologists that severe weather is much less likely in Indiana than previously forecast.

That said, do not rule out the possibility of an isolated severe thunderstorm this afternoon and/or evening. And even if no storms become strong enough to rank as severe, locally heavy rainfall could cause flooding, especially in areas that received rain yesterday, according to the Hazardous Weather Outlook that the northern Indiana NWS office issued at 4:49 a.m. EDT.

Severe weather, ham radio & anything else I feel like writing about