Shea, it looks like rain...

Isn't weather a wonderful thing? A little rain (okay, a lot of rain) is threatening the Mets weekend series with the Marlins that will close out Shea Stadium. It would be a shame, I suppose, that the Mets wouldn't have the same opportunity as the Yankees had to say farewell to their home for the last 40 or so years. Worse though, is the effect that it could have on the playoffs this year.

Let's say the Mets/Marlins game gets rained out Friday and Saturday. They'll have to play a doubleheader against Florida on Sunday, but that only makes up one game. Every game is going to count, because the Mets are one of three team vying for two playoff spots, so they would presumably have to play on Monday as well. Adding even more bad news is they may then have to play a play-in game against the Brewers (or Phillies) on Tuesday. The playoffs then start on Wednesday, with no rest. Yay, fun!

Of course, they could always play in a neutral site, something that as of this morning MLB had no plans for. Or they could push the playoffs back. In which case, the heads of all the Houston players would instantly explode, as they were told that the playoffs could in way shape or form be pushed back, thus forcing them to play the Cubs at a neutral site called dubbed by Cub fans as "Wrigley North."

I think I can say with 100% certainty that MLB is not praying for rain.

Hurricane Venus

I comes as no surprise the Earth is not the only planet that has weather on it. Mars, with its planet-wide duststorms, have made scientific headlines in the past. Today is Venus' turn. Space.com has an interesting article on recent findings about the winds around Venus. Like a lot of Space.com articles, it hits broad-brushed facts pretty well.

My forecast for Venus: hot and windy.

Weather procedure

After a tumultuous last few weeks on the weather front (including two tropical systems), suddenly everything is quiet. It's like the cold front that just cruised off shore was part colonscopy, part frontal system. Weather models are showing that outside of the the coastal southeastern U.S. and the Gulf coast, there's very little chance for precipitation in many areas for the next couple of days.

Aftermath of Ike

Ike was a devastating storm by any metric and clean up is going to a long effort. Help if you can. I'm certain it will be appreciated.

Storm surge guidance

Storm surge is a pretty big deal with hurricanes. Heavy rain and wind can wear down natural and mad-made objects in the path of a hurricane, but storm surge is just as big a deal (if not more) in areas that are situated near the coast. If the town that you live is basically at or near sea level--like Galveston or New Orleans--a storm surge of 15 feet it obviously going to be devestating, even without the wave action.

But check out this graphic from the National Hurricane Center showing the maximum storm surge for Hurricane Ike. Looking at the graphic (which may change over time with the forecast... I've saved it in case any wants to see it), model guidance shows an appromiately 13 foot storm surge for Galveston Island. The international airport at Galveston is at an elevation of 6 feet.

This is guidance and may not actually be as bad as this. It is a sobering look at one possible outcome and useful tool as well.

Certain death?

So, Ike is kind of a big deal right now. Check out this news article via msnbc.com. The National Weather Service actually issued a statement that said the following

"Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single-family one- or two-story homes may face certain death. Many residences of average construction directly on the coast will be destroyed."

Certain death. Heavy-handed? Frankly, no. I mean, we saw what happened with Katrina back 2005. The NWS issued states warning about massive flooding, storm surges, and breaking levees and there were still over a thousand people killed and many more stranded in New Orleans with, inexplicably, no one coming to their aid for days. Hurricanes as strong as Ike is going to be (potenially a Cat. 3 storm) in the shallow waters along the Gulf coast bearing down on the 4th largest city in the U.S. need to be taken seriously. The current track of the storm is going to take it just to the west of Houston. If you or anyone you know live in the area, urge them to head inland.

Judging from the lines of cars fleeing the coast, I'd say that people are taking it seriously. That's good news.

Santa's giving swimming lessons

While I called "bull" on sensationist reports like this one from earlier in the year (admittedly before I had a blog or a website), it's not as though the threat of global warming is going anywhere. I'll tackle the issue in greater detail at some point.

But is this report is a little sobering regarding the extent of polar ice melting (the "death spiral" is a little heavy-handed). Get out the boat, people! It's time circle 'round the North Pole. Unfortunately, it may not be for the last time. Ice melts every summer in the North Pole. That's what happens when the sun doesn't set for weeks at a time. But this... not so much. This is something different and something worth noting. So long as the Earth doesn't go all Waterworld on us, I'll be happy.

Weather! In! Space!

Most of the time, my weather posts are going to be related to the weather on, you know, Earth. But once upon a time, I was going to be an astronomer and sometimes I still find myself looking checking out space stuff. Well, a while back I saw this, a lovely example of clouds on Mars. They don't last long, and they certainly don't yield precipitation, but it goes to show you that even someplace as dry as Mars, the forecast isn't always as simple as "Sunny and cold."

Incidently, in looking for the link to that video, I found something else. Someone is a smart ass.

Test post

Hi, just testing.