Weather Blog

About eight months ago, NASA launched a new spacecraft named Phoenix. Since then, it has been cruising toward a rendezvous with Mars, and it’s now just a week away from landing. On Sunday, May 25th it is set to land, but this one will be different. Unlike the Mars Rovers which landed near the equator in 2003, the Phoenix spacecraft will explore the Martian arctic.

Another difference - The twin rovers have each covered more than 5 miles in their historic trek, which against all odds, still contines 5 years later. But the Phoenix lander will be stationary. And because of its landing place in the polar regions, it is only expected to survive for 3 to 5 months. But it will be historic in its own way. Phoenix has an extendable arm, with a trenching tool on the end. It will dig into the Martian permafrost, and then examine the soil and ices under a microscope.

Here’s a link with more information on the mission:

http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0513_Phoenix_Prepares_to_Land_on_Mars.html

And here is a photo of an artist’s impression of what Phoenix will look like as it nears touchdown:

Ken Kalthoff did a story this afternoon on a Dallas link to the Martian spacecraft. A local professor built a spectroscope that will be used to analyze the spectrums, and determine the mineral content of the soils and ices that the trencher digs up.   Here’s a link to Ken’s blog:

http://kalthoffonthefence.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/utd-to-planet-mars/

Mia the Golden Retriever loves to go places, either on foot, in the car or in the plane!  She even has her own doggie headset!!!

She’s enjoyed the ride to Missouri, to Oklahoma and around Texas.

Just like a kid though, she has her limits, a long time in the plane, or turbulence makes her long for the ground!

By Steve MacLaughlin

I have this love affair with the dew point. I’ve written about it before. I tell my friends about it. I talk about it during my newscasts quite frequently. The fact is, it is the most important number in all of weather, even though most people don’t quite know what it means. But it is everything, and today is a great day to talk about part of its grasp on our lives.

I won’t get into all the science of dew point; it is complicated. The basic definition is the temperature at which condensation occurs. In other words, the temperature to which the air temperature has to fall for all of that moisture floating around in the air that you can feel but can’t see (gas) to turn into moisture we can see (liquid) as clouds or fog or dew or rain or even solid snow or ice. When the air temperature drops to the dew point, the relative humidity is one hundred percent, the air is saturated and condensation and usually precipitation occurs.

The much easier principle to understand needs very few words. If you were outside on Saturday and outside again on Sunday, then you know what the dew point is.

On Saturday, the dew point was 73 degrees before the storms rolled thru. That is incredibly humid. About as bad as it gets around here. If you were outside, you got hit with what felt like a wall of water and the heat index soared to the triple digits with all the humidity.

On Sunday, behind a cold front, northwesterly winds not only cooled us off, but dropped the dew point to 33 degrees. That is incredibly dry. As dry as some winter days. If you stepped outside it felt like a different part of the country. It simply felt wonderful. That is the low dew point and the very dry air.

If you work outside or like me, run outside, you look for low dew points because when it’s drier, it not only feels better, but our bodies are more efficient at keeping cool. Today’s level of moisture is a gift; a rare commodity as we enter the late spring and summer.  Most summer days feel more like Saturday than Sunday.  With high dewpoints in the 60s and 70s, the air temperature feels even hotter. That is the heat index; the temperature our bodies think it is because humidity (high dew points) makes it harder to stay cool.

Enjoy, Happy Mothers Day and have a great week,

Steve Mac

By Steve MacLaughlin

A cold front slammed into Norh Texas Friday morning. Although the front moved thru the metroplex with no more than some rain and lightning, the line of storms quickly went severe east of Dallas. The 11th tornado of the season hit Canton in Van Zandt County.

9 of the 11 twisters happened in what turned out to be an incredibe and remarkable April. Below is the April summary issued by the National Weather Service in Fort Worth and also available on their website:

Perfect is a relative term - especially when talking about the weather.  One person might enjoy cold and snow while another loves those 100-degree days in the summer.   It’s hard to say that the weekends we’ve had lately aren’t perfect, though!  Today will be another great day - highs should be in the upper 70’s to near 80 for most of North Texas, and there will be plenty of sunshine to go around.

But, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.  Rain will return to the area on Monday, and there is the potential for severe weather across DFW by Wednesday.  We’ll should change back to a more favorable weather pattern for the latter half of the week.

-Michael Hammer

In recent weeks, we have had a number of severe storms roll through north Texas during the middle of the night. When people are asleep, they obviously aren’t watching TV, listening to the radio, or checking the web for the latest radar images. And Emergency Sirens aren’t always audible indoors, even when they are being sounded. So a lot of people are shocked when their home is hit by hail, damaging wind gusts, or even a tornado.When you are asleep, the single best way to keep your family safe from severe storms is to own a NOAA Weather Radio. I own one, and every home, school and business in north Texas should have one too.

That’s why NBC5 has partnered with Midland Radio Corporation and local Walgreen’s stores to bring you a special deal. A state of the art emergency alert radio at the special discounted price of $29.99.

These radios have proved so popular that in some Walgreen’s stores, the shelves have been emptied. But more deliveries are expected in the coming days, and they should soon be back in stock. Be sure to call ahead to your local Walgreen’s to be sure they have the radios on hand.

Once you have your radio, you need to program it to sound alerts for your particular county. Then it should sound an audible alarm, and turn on automatically, whenever a warning is issued or when a test alarm is given. Here is the statement from the National Weather Service on their usual test procedures:            

Last Saturday morning I participated in the Tarrant County Race for the Cure, along with about 19,000 of my new friends.  The 5K (3 mile) race itself was delightful.  Some walked.  Some ran.  And many of us did some of each.  The weather was great: sunny, with light winds and temperatures in the 60’s.  And of course, together, we raised a lot of money to help find a cure for breast cancer.

But as nice as the race was, the “after party” was even better.  Sure, there were some nice refreshments, with local companies contributing food and drink to the cause.   NBC5 had a big contingent there.  Deborah Ferguson was the emcee for the event.  Meredith Land did some stories for the evening news.  And several other reporters were there as well, to do live shots, or to just run with the rest of us.  Here I am with some of my co-workers, Kristi Nelson, Susy Solis and Melissa Newton:

I also had great opportunities for some one-on-one discussions with a number of cancer survivors, and their family and friends.  I was amazed to find out just how many women have contracted breast cancer in their 30’s.  I thought Jennifer’s case was really unusual.  But I discovered that cancer among younger women is much more common than I had realized.  But some of the women I talked to had been cancer survivors for 30 years and more:

I was able to spend “quality time” with a lot of enthusiasts about finding a cure for breast cancer.  This group was great fun!  

 I made a lot of new friends at the Race for the Cure Saturday.  And you can see why I will be looking forward to participating again next year!  Let’s find a cure.

Chief Meteorologist David Finfrock