I visited the students at Mary B. Austin Elementary near Springhill College on Friday. The kids are studying the water cycle and tropical systems. We talked about severe weather, hurricanes, and the field of broadcast journalism. I spoke to several second grade classes. Sarah McDonald, a student at Spring Hill College is currently interning at Mary B. Austin Elementary in Mary Sullivan’s second grade class. She asked me to come speak to her class and other second grade students.

It should be quite a funeral…

BOSTON (AP) – Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and tenor Placido Domingo will
perform at the funeral Mass for Sen. Edward Kennedy.
The Rev. Philip Dabney, associate pastor of Boston’s Mission
Church, says Saturday’s service will be a “regular Catholic
funeral” – with superb music.
In addition, there will be a contingent from the Boston Symphony
Orchestra and a soprano from New York’s Metropolitan Opera.
Several clergy members will be on hand. The Rev. Donald Monan,
the chancellor of Boston College, will be the principal celebrant.
The Rev. Mark Hession of Our Lady of Victories Parish on Cape
Cod will delivery the homily, and Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley
will lead the final prayers of commendation.
President Barack Obama will delivery the eulogy.

Father Monan was the President of Boston College when I was a student there.  He is the one who approved my effort to establish an FM station on the campus, WZBC.  He signed the license application to the FCC, and his was the first voice heard on the station when it officially signed on the air. Small world…

Hurricane Katrina - University Of Wisconsin

Do you remember what you were doing four years ago? If you lived on the Gulf Coast then I’m sure you do. We were all watching this monstrous storm bear down on the Gulf Coast.

Personally, I was sent to Louisiana to cover Katrina with our sister station WVUE. Two days before the storm we did live shots from Grand Isle, LA as Katrina grew into a category five storm with winds of 175mph. What we didn’t know then is that wind was building up a historic storm surge.

It was evident we couldn’t stay in Grand Isle, so the day before the storm we got on the road. After the drive up from the Isle we got caught in the New Orleans evacuation traffic. It was chaotic, surreal, and miserable. We spent nearly 6 hours crossing the Lake Pontchatrain causeway before finally making it to Mandeville.

In Mandeville we sheltered with about 300 people at an Elementary School. All night long we did live shots in the approaching storm until the winds made it impossible to get a shot out.

The next day, as soon as it was safe, we got on the road to head back to Mobile. I-10 was flooded from the LA/MS line all the way to the Bay St. Louis exit. My photographer Vania and I stood on the overpass of the Bay St. Louis exit and looked at an incredible sight. The highway was a flowing river with water close to ten feet deep… and the water level had come down. I had never been to Waveland or Bay St. Louis before and I stood there on that overpass wondering what had been destroyed.

The video we took that day of the Mississippi Gulf Coast was unbelievable. There was the flooded highway to Waveland with cars floating in the current. Downtown Gulfport looked like a bomb exploded. People wandered around in shock. Many roads were impassable and bridges were washed away.

In the days after the storm we all came to realize that our part of the world would be forever changed by this storm. Everybody has a Katrina story. What’s Yours?

It’s that time of year when we football fans gear up for another season of America’s past time. If you’re like me, you can’t wait. When you think of perfect football weather what comes to mind? Is it a sweltering September afternoon soaking up the sun in Bryant Denny or is it a cool fall night tailgating in the Grove? Is it a cold November game on the Plains or a swampy early season game at the other Tiger Stadium?
Always the best time for me is that first real cold front, usually in October, where you can open the windows, let the breeze blow in, sit in your favorite chair, lean back and watch all the action in the comfort of your home.
Now that I’ve got you thinking about it, let me know what your perfect football weather is. And remember there’s no wrong answer here.

It sounded like a good excuse to get out of class.  Get to meet Senator Ted Kennedy.

The invitation went out to student journalists and the alternative press in the greater Boston area.  Since I was the news director of our college radio station, I got to decide who would attend.  I chose me.

Armed with a heavy, Sony reel-to-reel tape recorder, powered by equally heavy D-cell batteries, I took the MTA trolley into downtown Boston to a storefront serving as the Senator’s headquarters. This was more than a chance to meet a politician.  All of us in the room were either in fifth or sixth grade when Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy’s brother, John.  We remembered either being sent home early, or watching as our teachers gathered around transistor radios listening to news reports of the assassination.  At the time, we felt Oswald killed a member of our family; a New Englander, and a Catholic New Englander besides.

Meeting Ted Kennedy was a chance to connect with the family about which we had heard so much.

Once his staffers determined the room was full, Kennedy made his entrance.  As he strode to the podium, I hit “play” and “record” and began to listen as he addressed the young people about the upcoming Democratic National Convention which would make the disastrous decision to nominate George McGovern to run against Richard Nixon.

About half way through his talk, I began to wonder why he took the time to meet us.   He was barely half way through his latest term in office, so he didn’t need to start campaigning this early.  And after all, he was a Kennedy in Massachusetts. He wasn’t going to lose.  But it wasn’t about him.  It was about his party.  Maybe he knew what was coming at the convention in Miami that summer.

Years later, I realized he understood two lessons that good politicians always remember.  Never take your base for granted and, it’s better to have the media on your side than against you.

Massachusetts was the only state/commonwealth that year to go for McGovern.  As the bumperstickers said later, “Massachusetts: The One and Only”.

Whether you loved him or disagreed with him, you can also now say, “Ted Kennedy: The One and Only”.

Here are some pics from this morning near West Fowl River. Aaron White of Great Days Outdoors Magazine and I went out to do some sight fishing for redfish with flyrods. The water was fairly clear, especially near the grass. We saw 20 or so fish and made these fish eat. The fish wanted a small deer hair popper fished on top. These reds were seen in water less than a foot deep. It’s not uncommon to find reds up shallow in the summer,  especially after these cooler overnight temperatures we have had.

7am Monday Morning

Since when does fall come in August? An unusually strong cold front came through this weekend bringing with it record or near-record lows.

Check this out:

On Sunday morning Mobile tied a record more than fifty years old with 63 degrees. Pensacola dropped to 66 breaking a record that stood since 1931.

But it gets better:

Monday morning Mobile dipped to 60 degrees tying a record and Pensacola came in with 63 degrees breaking a record. Here’s what’s amazing…. Those records were set in 1891. In other words, it’s been 120 years since August 24th has been this cool on the Gulf Coast!

Enjoy it while it lasts. We will have one more “cool” morning on Tuesday and then we will have a gradual warming trend through the rest of the week.

A significant late summer cool front is tracking towards the Gulf Coast. Drier air is on the way, replacing the humid and muggy conditions that we have experienced lately. We have seen a wet month, with nearly eight inches of rain at Mobile Regional Airport this August.

I don’t expect rain on Saturday, as the surface front should be just south of the coast. The drier weather will be here during the day, but temperatures will still feel hot. We won’t enjoy lower humidity until Saturday evening. Overnight lows will be in the upper 60’s by Saturday night along I-10. Inland areas will enjoy lower 60’s. Cooler and drier air is usually delayed in arriving, showing up a good 18-24 hours after fronts slide through, this time of year.

The best weather will arrive on Sunday, with lows Sunday night in the mid 60’s in Mobile and Pensacola. Inland areas will see readings right at 60 degrees, according to the most recent computer model runs.

So, is this the beginning of a fall type weather pattern ? August cool spells are typically temporary, and the hotter weather will return. Cooler weather usually isn’t here to stay until the last week in September. Also, extended periods with cool overnight lows in August are rare. The last significant cool snap in our area in August came in 2004, as Hurricane Charley tracked to our south and east. The coolest temperature ever recorded this month was 59 degrees.

Enjoy the slightly cooler temperatures while they last !

Category 4 Hurricane Bill is churning up the Atlantic and will likely continue to gain strength. It’s a big, frightening storm and if it were to continue on the path it’s going right now it would come crashing into the Carolinas causing enormous devastation…. But we know it’s not. In fact, forecasters are confident it will make a big curve and stay out to sea.

How can forecasters be so sure? Well, past experience shows that tropical systems are often steered by the Bermuda high, a large ridge of high pressure typically parked over the central Atlantic. Tropical Cyclones can’t penetrate the center of this high and are forced to “curve” around it. Of course, forecasters have to figure out a few things about that high… Where it’s at, how strong it is, and how it will change as the cyclone curves around it.

And here’s where the biggest strides have been hade in hurricane forecasting… modeling. Over time the models that are run have become far more precise, especially when dealing with a large steering feature like the Bermuda high.

Up until a couple years ago the best model we had was the GFDL, The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Model. In operation since 1995, this model greatly improved track accuracy, but there were still times that the GFDL would miss a forecast.

In steps the ensemble models… Over the last few years hurricane researchers have been developing models that combine all the other models into “super” models. This has enabled forecasters to take track accuracy up to new levels. Florida State University led the way with creating the Super Ensemble in the 90s. This model directly led to the HWRF, the Hurricane Weather and Research Forecasting model, which went operational in 2007 and is now becoming the backbone of National Hurricane Center forecasts. The HWRF has not only improved track forecasts, but also intensity, surge, and inland flooding forecasts. It also can handle up to 4 systems at a time and is produced every 6 hours.

Now back to Bill… Go to the link at the bottom of the page and you can check out the different model runs. The HWRF is a gridded model so you’ll have to click on the drop down box under initial time and click on Bill. Go and check out the models that have revolutionized hurricane forecasting !

Category 4 Bill

Model Page

From left to right: Christina Leavenworth, Pamela Long Wiggins

Fox 10 News reporter Christina Leavenworth and I were in Circuit Court Judge Frank Bell’s courtroom in Pensacola Monday, sitting right in front of suspect Pamela Long-Wiggins as we waited for her hearing to begin.  She is charged with being an accessory after the fact in the murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings.

Wiggins, who moved ahead of me at the defense table,  maintained her neutral to pleasant expression as the state asked for her bond to be increased to $500,000.  The only change in her demeanor came when a woman who identified herself as Long-Wiggins’ best friend testified for the state.  As the woman tearfully explained that Pamela had asked her to take care of Pamela’s child because Pamela was afraid she would be going to prison, Pamela’s face turned red.

There are still plenty of twists and turns to come in this case, many found in the hundreds of documents released after Wiggins’ bond hearing.  Fox 10 News will be there to cover them all.