Severe Weather Awareness Week | Severe Thunderstorm Safety

Submitted by Mike Francis, Chief Meteorologist

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012, 10:06pm

Severe Weather Awareness Week | Severe Thunderstorm Safety

Weather geeks, this is day 2 of severe weather awareness week and today's topic is severe thunderstorms. It is all about the wind and hail! I have taken this straight from the national weather service so thanks to them for all their hard work on this!

IMPORTANT NOTE: there will be a statewide tornado drill tomomrrow at 9am... just in case sirens go off and you wonder what is going on.

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Atlanta Weather | Tuesday Evening Webcast

Submitted by Mike Francis, Chief Meteorologist

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012, 8:15pm

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Atlanta Weather | Cold Air Coming!

Submitted by Mike Francis, Chief Meteorologist

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012, 5:16pm

We have all been enjoying a very mild winter across all of N Georgia... The problem is that a lot of the trees are in bloom right now which is leading to a very early pollen season! Trust me, my eyes have been going nuts with all the pollen in the air lately. It appears that we are going to take a step back towards winter as temps will plummet into the 40's for highs over the weekend.

Short Term

In the meantime we had a beautiful day in metro Atlanta as we hit our afternoon high of 62 with sunny skies and just a few clouds. Tomorrow will be another keeper with plenty of sunshine and temps in the 60's, but things will start to change by the end of the day. Winds will start to usher in some colder air by later tomorrow night as a Canadian front moves into the region. Looking at the 850 temps (temps around a mile above the surface) yo can see that we start to see the cold air arriving in the northern sections of the state tomorrow evening.

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Little More Sunshine Today

Submitted by Chesley McNeil, Meteorologist

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012, 8:43am

High pressure will move east of our are today to bring more of a southerly flow, which will allow two things to happen. 1) A return of sunshine and 2) a little more heat. Highs today expected to be in the low 60s.

We will remain dry over the next few days as system will be move to our north and to our south. Wednesday, an upper low will pass over the Tennessee area bring a slight chance for rain to extreme North GA, but I think most of the wet weather will remain far north.

Long Term

There are hints that the next system to bring rain our way would arrive by Saturday, but with lack of moisture from the gulf, right now it looks un-like. This is still a few days out and could change. Stay tuned.

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Severe Weather Awareness Week | Family Preparedness

Submitted by Mike Francis, Chief Meteorologist

Monday, February 6th, 2012, 10:39pm

Severe Weather Awareness Week | Family Preparedness

This is day 1 of severe weather awareness week and today's topic is family preparedness. I have taken this driectly fron the National Weather Service Website so I thank them for all the time and work they have put into the next 5 day's information. It is very important to check this blog daily to see what are the necessary things to do in case of severe weather. Our severe weather season typically starts in early March and goes until around early May.

Topics this week are:

Tuesday - Thunderstorm Safety

Wednesday - Tornado Safety

Thursday - Flash Flood Safety

Friday- Lightning Safety

Again, thanks to the National Weather Service for all the work they put into this

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Atlanta Weather | Cooler Air This Week?

Submitted by Mike Francis, Chief Meteorologist

Monday, February 6th, 2012, 4:59pm

Today was probably the first day in a very long time the actually felt like a somewhat winter day. Not a full blown winter day since I still didn't have to wear a jacket, but I at least had to wear a sweatshirt. Temps just have been so warm lately that all the trees in my area are already budding and blooming out.... I honestly have never seen trees budding out this early in the near 15 years I have been a meteorologist.... I am a bit concerned that we might have to pay mama nature back later in the winter.... There are no scientific signs that that will happen, it is just a gut instinct that tells me that might happen..

Short Term

Temps around 5000ft above the surface, notice the colder air moving into the state Wednesday afternoon

High pressure at the surface will be moving into he region Wednesday afternoon and cool us down a bit on Thursday

The NHC in Miami is watching a region in the gulf for possible subtropical development later this week this

Rain from the subtropical system will mainly affect FL and S Georgia this weekend

Another shot of cooler air will move in as we head into the weekend

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Warm, dry weather could bring busy wildfire season

Submitted by The Associated Press on Monday, February 6th, 3:17 pm

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) - With forecasters predicting an early spring in southeast Georgia, forestry officials are gearing up for what could be an early start to a fire season they fear could be a repeat of 2011.

Three large fires torched nearly 340,000 acres in and near the Okefenokee Swamp last year. The largest, the Honey Prairie Fire, burned about 310,000 acres after lightning started it in late April.

Jason Gillis, interim district manager at the Georgia Forestry Commission's Satilla District office, says forecasters are predicting average rainfall for February. But he said that won't be enough to cut into the drought that has left the woods and swamps dry.

He tells the Florida Times-Union (http://bit.ly/zzmCA8) that conditions mean wildfires could be popping up in a few weeks.

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