Matthew is the strongest storm on earth for the moment. The people of Haiti are still recuperating from their devastating earthquake not too long ago. Prayers to anyone in it’s path.
Above is the latest forecast on major Hurricane Matthew as of 8 am from the National Hurricane Center. Things to note since my last posting:
- Matthew became a category 5 hurricane – the strongest level on a scale of 1 to 5. It has weakened slightly since then but still a major hurricane (major hurricane = 3 or higher on the scale based on wind speeds)
- The forecast path of Matthew has slowed down by the NHC as seen above. It will only be of the Georgia coast by 2 am Saturday. Clouds and rain will be further north. A slow moving hurricane, while it might be good for the US in this case, is not good for where the hurricane is impacting. Slower = more time for devastating winds and rains
Above is a current satellite loop of the hurricane. The eye is still visible.
Where does Matthew go from here? The official NHC track is the darker line. At this time it looks to move north towards the outer banks of North Carolina and then get pushed further to the NE from an approaching cold front later this week into the weekend. As of right now this forecast looks good. But hurricanes can have a mind of their own. As you can see above, there a few models that bring him very close to western new jersey area! Continue to stay current on the storm.
Hurricane Matthew 11am Update
Matthew is now a category 3 hurricane which is considered major. So why am I blogging about this in a western New Jersey weather blog? Well look at the map above and see which way the National Hurricane Center thinks it will be heading. It looks to move up the east coast of the US next week. The big question is how close does it get to the coast and does it curve away at any point?
My early thoughts are it will continue north to near the North Carolina coast. then a cold front which should be moving east across the country next week will act as a kicker to move it further to the east and not have an impact any further north, other than rough seas of course.
Tropical storm Matthew formed today. The storm will stay south of Puerto Rico as you see in the map above. Beyond that the track gets very interesting. As you can see the National Hurricane Center predicts the storm to turn to the north and approach Cuba.
After that things get interesting. Will the hurricane go near Florida? East Coast? Some of the extended models have it moving up the East Coast next week so we need to keep an eye on it.
New Jersey is no stranger to October Hurricanes. Let’s hope we only get some much needed rain from this and nothing more!
Fall arrives this morning but no one told the jet stream. It’s still on summer vacation in southern Canada. But it will return home over the weekend and we should start to see more seasonable weather then.
After today’s high in the mid 80’s, tomorrow will be a repeat but with more humidity. There is a slight chance of a shower Friday evening as the cold front approaches the area. Saturday will be the transition day with breezy conditions and temperatures in the 70’s. Sunday will finally feel like fall with temperatures staying in the 60’s! This wouldn’t feel as cool as it will if we didn’t have all the unseasonable warmth over the past month or so.
September 19, 2016 Rain Totals
1.41″ of much needed rain fell in Stewartsville. Elsewhere in western New Jersey were similar amounts, less to the north.
Look for humid and warm conditions today into the weekend. A cold front will cross the area early Saturday that could bring some rain showers. This front will hopefully bring air temperatures back to normal for this time of year. Believe it or not the normal high temperature is now in the mid 70’s with overnight low’s in the low 50’s!
So far western New Jersey has picked up about 1″ of rain which is much needed!
Look for rain to continue off and on until about mid day. From that point on we should see showers until later in the day.
This week may have the first official day of Fall but it won’t feel like it. Expect daytime highs Tuesday-Friday to be at least 10 degrees above normal with highs in the mid 80’s!
Rainfall forecast for Sunday into Monday
And boy do we need it. Not only western New Jersey but the entire region is in a drought and very dry. The bulk of this looks to fall Sunday overnight into Monday morning. So if this verifies, the Monday morning commute may not be too fun (not that it ever is).
I just hope we get at least half this rain.
Beautiful sleeping weather last night and looks to continue tonight as well. Wednesday will feature a one day return to summer then another nice cool-down that will bring us *closer* to what it should be like this time of year!
Extended outlook has a chance of showers on Sunday but given how dry is has been lately, I wouldn’t worry about them at this point.
Now that Hermine is sorta, kinda out of here, let’s talk about the July like heat in September. And its also very dry in not only western New Jersey but a large portion of the area as seen in the map above.
Unfortunately it looks to continue in the near term. The 8-14 day outlook has continued below normal precipitation for our area.
We will hopefully see some much needed showers and thundershowers later Saturday into Sunday morning but I’m sure those areas that do receive something it will be less than 1/2″
Speaking of heat we do have plenty of that. Upper 80’s are common in western New Jersey today. Look for more of the same tomorrow with even a few more degrees hotter and, wait for it, more humidity! Yay! Not.
Recent Comments