First Fall Game Day - Big Game!

There is a big game for the NC State Wolfpack today as we take on the #1 Florida State Seminoles! This is the first time the #1 team in the nation has ever come to Carter-Finley Stadium to play, and the weather is going to be nearly perfect for this first-time event!

Does it get better than this?!

The low pressure system which we have been experiencing here in NC for the past few days has moved up to the Northeast and our weather is being driven by the lone Canadian High pressure system sitting over the Great Lakes. What does this mean for us? Fantastic weather. Kickoff temperature for the game tomorrow should be around 77, which is also the high for tomorrow. Skies will be mostly sunny and there will be a breeze throughout the day. 

NCSU - FSU History

The annual trend between traveling to Doak Campbell Stadium and Carter-Finley Stadium could be considered...sinusoidal. Like a roller coaster, if you will. Here is a year-by-year for the last 6 years:

2008: FSU wins 26-17 at Carter-Finley

2009: FSU wins 45-42 at Doak Campbell

2010: NCSU wins 28-24 at Carter-Finley

2011: FSU wins 34-0 at Doak Campbell

2012: NCSU wins 17-16 at Carter-Finley

2013: FSU wins 42-13 at Doak Campbell

NC State has a tendency to play big games when big games come up, but FSU obviously is no pushover team. I cannot wait to see what happens today!

How to Prepare?

1. Hydration

2. Sun screen

3. Game Face

Carter-Finley needs to be obnoxiously loud tomorrow if NC State is going to pull out another win! Make it loud!

Also, check out these videos when you get a chance!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70gkRU7KsQ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PcsUqKaftU

Autumn is here!

The fall season has finally begun! The Autumnal Equinox was at 10:29 p.m. on this Monday, 9/22/14. Tonight the sun will be down for a full 12 hours, and after today the nights will be longer than the days until March in the mid and northern latitudes.


What does equinox even mean?

So, we have the Vernal Equinox, the Summer Solstice, the Autumnal Equinox, and the Winter Solstice. The solstices are the extreme dates, and the equinoxes are the balanced dates. The earth always receives direct sunlight (incoming solar radiation contacting the ground perpendicular to it), but at what latitude that direct sunlight is hitting is determined where in our orbit we are. The Southern Hemisphere receives direct sunlight between the Autumnal equinox and the Vernal Equinox, the Equator receives direct sunlight ON the Equinoxes, and the Northern Hemisphere receives direct sunlight starting after the Vernal Equinox and before the Autumnal Equinox.

The word "Solstice" stems from the Latin words "sol" meaning "sun", and "sistere" or "sitidium" meaning "to stand still" because the sun seemingly stops it's latitudinal movement before reversing direction. This is as a result of the Earth rotating on its axis around the sun.

The word "Equinox" comes from the Latin words "equi" or "aequus" meaning "equal" and "nox" meaning "night". This is to say that in a 24-hour day, there will be 12 hours of sun after the sunrise, and 12 hours of nighttime after the sunset.

(This information and more interesting terminology can be found at
https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/bien-well/fra-eng/vocabulaire-vocabulary/slstc-eqnx-eng.html! Go check it out!)


What does Fall mean to me?

Fall is a fantastic time of year! After a good long summer tennis and baseball season, it's time for some football! Being in the Power Sound of the South marching band at NC State, I love participating in game-day shenanigans including but not limited to: calling out to people from the bus telling them to go to the game, parading around the football stadium, and playing and yelling my head off in the stands. I play mellophone, which is essentially the french horn shaped like a big trumpet for marching band purposes so that the sound is projected forward. Below is a picture of my pumpkin carving from last year. It's a mellophone!

What else does fall mean to me though? Family time. Spending time in the yard mowing and raking leaves, playing board games, going on family walks, traditions, and Thanksgiving. Our biggest tradition during the fall is to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" as a family, but we have others like carving pumpkins while toasting the pumpkin seeds, and enjoying munching on the seeds later. I also love having fires in the fireplace once temperatures start cooling off, and enjoying a nice cup of hot chocolate on a cool Sunday afternoon.

Thanksgiving is the most important time of fall to me. I serve a God who is alive and active in my life and in the lives of people around me, and we have a national holiday for thanking Him for the blessings He has bestowed upon us. My family's tradition for Thanksgiving is going around the table saying what we are thankful for. Everything! Everything from life, to being able to do medial tasks such as brushing my teeth. This is a wonderful time of year!

I will have another Game Day post this Saturday when we take on Florida State! For now, enjoy the first few days of fall!

(Images found at http://guardianlv.com/2013/09/why-do-we-have-fall/, and http://pichost.me/1785916/)

Gorgeous Gameday!

It's that time again in Raleigh! After an extremely successful trip down to Tampa Florida for the Wolfpack, we return home to take on an opponent of 84 years: Presbyterian College. Now, there is a little history between these two schools...emphasis on little. PC has played against NC State once back on November 1, 1930, and won by a safety...and only a safety. The final score was 2-0. I have a feeling it will not be that low-scoring of a game today.

I entitled this post "Gorgeous Gameday!" because that is exactly what it is turning out to be!! Temperatures in Raleigh will reach just over 80 today with only around 50% humidity. Skies will be mostly sunny and the temperature will drop to around 78 degrees F by kickoff. There should also be a cool northerly breeze throughout the entire day with a 0% chance for precipitation. The low for tonight will be in the low 60s with partly cloudy skies. You can see on the left the hour-by-hour for today, tomorrow, and Monday morning. It is going to be a glorious couple of days.
*This image above is the "Hourly Weather Forecast Graph" used from the NWS Raleigh's website here: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=35.79925&lon=-78.72331824699967&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical

From a Tropical Standpoint, there is not much activity. Tropical Storm POLO is currently just Southeast of the Baja Peninsula and will dump some rain in the southern Baja before heading back out toward the Pacific. There is only a 10% chance currently of tropical cyclone formation but we will keep watching this potential disturbance to see if anything comes up.

That's all for now! Go enjoy some Saturday afternoon football!

Stationary Fronts...Why you no move???

Yep! You guessed it! There is another stationary frontal boundary sitting over the Carolinas, Georgia and other Southeastern States with the Low pressure center located just off the NC coastline. With this front, we can expect rain in Central and Eastern NC for the next few days. I am actually surprised that we have not yet seen more rain in the triangle yet today, but the moisture is rising near the coast. Storms are appearing in Lumberton, Whiteville, and Tabor City, NC and in Loris and Little River, SC. South Central and Southeastern NC as well as Northeastern SC are under a flash flood watch for this afternoon.

BUFKIT was showing very little Atmospheric CAPE this morning. CAPE is a measure of atmospheric instability. What will be common is the forced lifting in the atmosphere. A Stationary front is when two frontal boundaries, typically a Cold Front from the North and a Warm Front from the South collide. The cold front forces the warm moist air to rise and cool, causing condensation and precipitation.

As is visible by observing the differences in the profiles from 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. above, as the temperature rises, so does the convective instability in the system. Isolated storms will be common this afternoon.

TROPICAL UPDATE

We have another tropical storm in the Atlantic! Tropical Storm Edouardo is very far offshore, and will not be moving toward shore. It is another tropical storm though so there is some reason to get excited!

 GAME DAY! GO WOLFPACK!

It's Gameday again in Wolfpack Country! Except today it's not actually in Wolfpack Country. Today The NC State Wolfpack Travels to face the University of South Florida Bulls in Raymond James Stadium located in Tampa, Florida. Weather is looking up for kickoff as skies should be partly sunny with fairweather cumulus present in the sky. The end of the game could get a bit interesting though as Showers and Thunderstorms are likely for Tampa in the late afternoon early evening, about 5:00 p.m. We will see what happens as the Game progresses. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend the game today, but I will be cheering from my couch at home!

If you do go to the game:

1. Wear sunscreen and drink plenty of water
2. Bring your rain gear for later on in the afternoon
3. Be the 12th man and Cheer our Pack on to another victory!!

MiScan5000: Oh sky PLEASE don't rain on our parade!

MiScan5000: Oh sky PLEASE don't rain on our parade!: It's game day again in Raleigh, NC! Last week was hot and humid with minuscule cloud cover with a slight breeze throughout the afternoon...

Oh sky PLEASE don't rain on our parade!

It's game day again in Raleigh, NC! Last week was hot and humid with minuscule cloud cover with a slight breeze throughout the afternoon. Today is a different day.

A cold front is pushing through the southeastern United States right now and it should be over Raleigh today, sometime in the early evening, right around kickoff. Chances have decreased throughout the past couple of days. The chance for thunderstorms has fallen from 60% to 30% with chance for isolated showers accompanied by thunderstorms after 2 pm. The forecasted high temperature is 92 for today with humidity around 65%.

The skies will be mostly sunny this afternoon for the Power Sound of the South's rehearsal, Parade of Champions, and March Around, but cloud cover will be increasing into the evening to mostly cloudy tonight. Unfortunately, band, we will need to carry our ponchos tonight. There is weather, and then there is band weather. If we bring our ponchos, it won't rain. If we don't bring our ponchos, the sky will open up its floodgates.

It looks as though the rain will continue over the next few days. What does this cold front and rain mean for our temperature here in Raleigh? Cooling off and feeling a bit like fall. It will not yet be jacket weather, but the temperature will be in the upper 70s on Monday and Tuesday. Quite a change from the 92 with 98 heat index we will have today.

For the game today:
1. Stay hydrated
2. Bring rain gear
3. Get hype!

We will see you all on the field! Go Wolfpack!