Hawaii and Guam Concerns; Record Warmth Spreads Eastward; Heavy Snow for Sierra-Nevada; Severe Weather for the Plains

A very active spring pattern with tropical concerns across the Pacific. Heavy rainfall will continue to impact Hawaii this weekend. Meanwhile we continue to monitor a developing typhoon that may affect Guam into early next week. For the Lower 48, heavy snow for mountains of California this weekend, increase threat for severe thunderstorms next week for the Plains and record warmth spreads east. Read More >

On Monday, August 21st, 2017, all of of North America experienced a solar eclipse of the sun. The path of the total solar eclipse was from the Plateau to much of southeast Tennessee to southwest North Carolina. The maximum solar eclipse occurred between 233 and 236 pm ET. Due to the moon’s blockage of the suns solar radiation, temperatures (red line) dropped as much as 10 degrees between 2 and 3 pm Monday afternoon. However, the temperature drop varied greatly across east Tennessee, southwest Virginia, and southwest North Carolina. The dewpoint temperature (green line), which is measure of moisture in the air, generally increased during the eclipse. The graphs below show the different temperature and dewpoint observation traces across southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, and southwest North Carolina.