DeltaT13

The Northern Lights were briefly visible last night from our area, too bad it wasnt clearer and didnt last longer (And the moon wasnt so damn full and bright!). That said, they were visible for a short time. A local Rochester photographer takes absolutely incredible shots almost daily around here. Their name is Montanus Photography and they caught another few gems last night. Here is a 30 second exposure they captured from Webster. I was up at the lake trying to catch the Northern Lights when I saw this large cell start to develop from the nocturnal land breeze that was forming over the lake. Apparently the photographer was able to capture an amazing shot of this same cloud, half illuminated with moonlight and half illuminated with lightning. A truly awesome shot.

A sky cam in Buffalo caught a full life cycle of a spout this morning. Pretty nice video.

Anyone chasing spouts along lake Erie this morning? Looks like a perfect day. I really need to get out and do that one of these days. Lake Ontario was throwing up some real nice Cumulus on my drive in to work.

Because it's weather, and it's interesting. Am I supposed to be excited for 63 degrees and sunny? Winds of 30-60mph from remnant systems this time of year usually bring some excitement, Ike took down a lot of limbs and powerlines as it made its way through in 2008. It was quite the spectacle to see strong winds several days after landfall and 1500 miles away. A raw, windy, "tropical", fall day is certainly a rarity around here. Additionally, my real hope was last week when I thought Irma was going to blast into the east coast and get here as a low end Hurricane, thats the dream path. Been waiting all my life for that one. I really am not sure what kind of supposed "weather enthusiast" doesnt want a tropical system to make it up this way.

Well any hope of WNY getting in on the action from Irma is quickly withering away. Guess we'll have wait another 10 years or so. Grrrrr

These latest runs are looking great for a major hit on the East Coast. Been waiting awhile for one of these. I would love to see it track right into Upstate NY. Fingers Crossed!

I was down in Western North Carolina for the Eclipse. Clouds nearly sank us at the last minute but we just barely eeked it out! Probably the most amazing natural phenomenon that I've ever witnessed. Incredible stuff.

It's just one of the millions of variations that can occur. It's basically one of the rainiest spring/summers in the last 137 years for WNY/Upstate NY so you are correct in thinking its cloudier than usual. Large scale patterns around the globe have locked in a persistent upper low over Hudson Bay. This pattern is similar to the large scale blocking patterns in the North Atlantic that give us a colder and snowier winters, such as the infamous Winter or 2015 when we were below freezing for something like 40 days straight. It's just a natural variation. As an avid gardener and lover of plants, trees, etc..... I would much rather a wet cool summer than that brutal drought last year. At least it looks lush and happy outside, albeit a tad bit chilly.

Pretty serious looking velocity couplet. Definitely looks like a tornado.

I guess I was off a little. If you do the most basic interpretation of this excerpt from the NWS then you end up with a return interval of once every 6.8 years for snowfall in May. How rare is snow in May? Since 1900, Buffalo has had 16 years with measurable snow in the month of May and Rochester 17 years. That comes out to roughly 14 percent of the time we see measurable snow in the month of May.

Rochester had snow on May 15th last year. And we had snow on may 9th in 2010. Not unheard but certainly unpleasant. Seems like it has a return interval of about once every 4 years or so. If it's going to happen, it may as well lay down a few inches so we can really say it happened and remember it well. I'm pulling for it at this point.

I really wish we could have broken into some solid sun here. Such a shame to waste a truly high risk setup. Still thinking someone will get some serious straight line damage and flash floods. Things really go into the tank starting this weekend in regards to nice weather. That awful cutoff low just pinwheels over us for 7 days straight. Brutal stuff, we just need to dry out!

We'll be lucky to still have winter at this latitude by that time. At the current rate of arctic ice melt I would expect a radically different climate by 2050 for our region.

I really hope Syr doesnt pick up a crappy .2 inches in the next week or so...looks like one more surge or arctic air before things really retreat for good for the season. Bing deserves this one.

All snow in Rochester now. Grass has slight coating. Impressive!