First Real Signs of Winter

Not only is the temperature dropping significantly for a few days, but snow is also falling or getting ready to fall in numerous regions across the the United States, and winter storm watches and warnings are being issued in a handful of states. Raleigh probably will not be experiencing any of this winter precipitation in the next week or so, but if you are heading to the Appalachian mountains in NC, KY, VA, or TN then you may be in for a pre-winter treat! Raleigh will be cold this weekend.

Mountains

Boone, NC has 3.5 inches of snow forecasted over the weekend, and other areas in the upper elevations have up to 10+ inches forecasted! It has already been snowing in Boone overnight. Depending on how quickly the cold front moves across the mountains, we will see more or less precipitation than that, but those are some rough forecasts.

Coast

If you are headed to the coast for this weekend, then be careful of wind. High wind warnings and small craft advisories are in effect for much of the eastern Seaboard as there is a deepening low pressure system ahead of a intensifying digging trough. (What does that mean? Well, our weather is typically generated by temperature and pressure gradients and trough-ridge systems. A high pressure system is typically associated with a ridge, and a low pressure system is typically associated with a trough. A digging trough means that there is a strong jet stream on the western side of the trough which is enhancing the pressure and temperature differences across the area, making winds stronger and precipitation heavier.) Due to this strengthening trough, precipitation will occur in the mountains and winds will occur at the coast. I do not have the image now, but last I looked the low pressure system was generating sustained surface winds of almost 70 knots (80 mph) so be careful if headed east.

Around the US 

Mr. Bill Bleach took this photograph and Meteorologist and
Storm Chaser Reed Timmer shared the photograph.

Yesterday we had some pretty crazy weather up near the Great Lakes! Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, IL was experiencing some serious storm surge from high winds, and some waves 20 feet tall were breaking and rolling over the road. Parts of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois on the southern coast of Lake Michigan are all under a Lakeshore Flood Advisory.

Western Montana and Eastern Idaho are under a winter storm warning.

Western Utah is under a high wind warning.

Texas is under a child abduction emergency.

North Central California is under a winter storm warning.

Game Day

It's game day again! After a bye last week, NC State is traveling to Syracuse in an attempt to win our first conference game since 2012! We have not had much success this year, and no success in the ACC, but hopefully that will change today! Kickoff is at 3:00 pm today in the Carrier Dome. The weather for Syracuse is cold and wet. The low should be getting down to about 40 this morning and the high will not be much warmer in the upper 40's with a good chance for rain throughout the day. Tonight into tomorrow (Sunday) morning the temperature will drop to about freezing and rain showers could turn into snow showers. These snow showers could last through Sunday as the high temperature on Sunday is only supposed to be in the low 40's, though little to no accumulation is expected.

Cary Band Day

One of the biggest, if not the biggest, high school band competitions in the state of NC takes place at Cary High School, and today there will be 41 bands performing including two exhibition bands: Cary High School Marching Band (the host school's band), and us, the NCSU Power Sound of the South Marching Band. I am so excited about getting to see many of these bands and getting to relive many of the great memories I have from high school. What's more is that our band at NC State is almost 200 marching members larger than the biggest high school band there. We are about 320 members strong this year, more than 3x's the size of many of the bands that will be there, and we can't wait to show them what it's like to be a part of something this big.

So, what is the weather going to be for today? Well, let's just say it's not going to be very conducive to an outdoor band competition. The high is supposed to be very close to that in Syracuse, NY interestingly enough in the upper 40's, and it is supposed to rain until around dinner or even a bit afterward. The Raleigh/Cary area could see up to 0.5 inches of rain today. We will need ponchos for our first performance, but I think we should be okay for the night performance. When we change out of uniform, it would be a good idea to have warm clothes and maybe even a towel packed. If you have your marching band rain jacket, that will be good to bring. I will be using mine tonight.

Daylight Savings Time

Remember that this weekend we fall back! This is the longest 2 day weekend of the year, and I will be taking full advantage of that extra hour of sleep. Don't forget to set your clocks back!