Hello, I’m Storm Team 9 Chief Meteorologist Phillip Williams.  I will use this blog for entries regarding Tropical Storm Fay.  As of this entry, Fay has just crossed Key West, Florida on general northward path.  Max winds are 60mph and South Florida is getting soaked.  The National Hurricane Center forecast track takes the circulation center of Fay toward Jacksonville, Florida by Thursday and then turns the system northwest into Georgia as it weakens to a Tropical Depression.  Of course, much can change between now (Monday) and then.  The reason for the late period change in the forecast track is that high pressure is expected to build down the coast and this will help to steer Fay back to the left of the current motion.  This high pressure is a dry air mass that could very well prevent Eastern North Carolina from getting any rain from Fay.  Winds will increase over the later this week because of the difference between the high and low pressure.  Onshore winds will increase tides and increase the rip threats for swimmers.  As of now, I don’t expect problems from these winds unless Fay does something unexpected.

Stay tuned for later updates and feel free to ask questions or add comments.

Phillip Williams
WNCT Storm Team 9 Chief Meteorologist

Hello, I’m Storm Team 9 Chief Meteorologist Phillip Williams.  The Winterville Watermelon Festival is nearly here.  I will be emceeing the Young Miss, Little Miss, Junior Miss, and Miss Winterville Watermelon Pageants Saturday Night, August 16th, at 7pm at South Central High School.  It is always a fun evening for the young ladies and thier families and friends.  Come on out and support these upstanding young people.  The Queens will ride in the parade the following Saturday at 10am in downtown Winterville.  I will have more information on the actual Watermelon Festival in later comments on this blog.  Fee free to add any of your knowledge about the festival here. 

Have you heard of the dog days of summer?  Well, there is a real reason they are called the dog days and it has to do with a star...not a celebrity star, but a real heavenly body.  Persius, known as the dog star, shines in the sky every August.  Since August is typically a hot month, then over time, the dog star appearance has coincided with hot weather.  Hence, the hot days of August are called the dog days.  So, it really has nothing do with lazy dogs.  Every year our newsroom has a little disagreement about whether a producer can call a hot July day a dog day of summer.  I always say no, save that for August, the real dog days of summer.  Feel free to comment.

How do you like the On Your Side In Your Hometown series we’ve been doing in July?  I can tell you it has fun and informative for me.  I grew in Eastern North Carolina, born and raised in Rocky Mount and then came to Greenville after graduating from NC State in the late 1980’s.  While I’ve travelled all around the area over the years, I still learned a lot about the towns and cities I went live from in July.  I just wrapped up my last city, Greenville, tonight with Allan Hoffman.

The places I was assigned included Atlantic Beach, Morehead City, Hamilton, Swansboro, Oriental, and Greenville.  Here are some things I learned along the way. 

Atlantic Beach began to thrive when they built a bridge from Morehead City.  It was first a toll bridge with a wooden pagoda collection house on the bridge.  The circle at Atlantic Beach got it’s name because people had to keep circling around to find an open parking space.  The circle is actually shaped like a triangle.

Morehead City flourished when the railroad terminus was put there in the 1800’s.  The train from Raleigh would bring visitors to enjoy the water.  The large Atlantic Hotel was a bring draw until it burned down in a blaze of glory.  Morehead City was named after Governor Morehead.  You can learn much more from the friendly people at the History Place on Arendell Street in downtown Morehead City.

Hamilton had its most prominent period during the Civil War.  A confederate fort was just down the Roanoke River from the town.  Boat traffic was big here with steamers coming in from the Albemarle Sound.  Many old homesites continue in Hamilton and the historic preservation of the town is keeping it a history buff’s destination. 

Swansboro is a beautiful town along the White Oak River near where it emptys into the Atlantic Ocean.  This Onslow County town boasts many quant shops and restaurants and is a destination for beach goers who want to shop and stroll the streets.  Ship building put Swansboro on the map and the first steamer built in North Carolina was built in Swansboro by Otway Burns. 

Oriental is known as the sailing capital of North Carolina.  While the town has less than 1000 people it has about 3000 boats.  Oriental is located along the Intracoastal Waterway and is a favorite stop for boaters going up and down the East Coast.  Sailors from all over the world are familar with Oriental.  Sailing regatas are frequent happenings here.  The Neuse River joins the Pamlico Sound just down from Oriental.  The Neuse is the widest river in the United States here. 

Greenville is the hub of business, culture, science, medicine, and education for Eastern North Carolina.  Greenville is the 10th largest city in North Carolina with more than 76,000 people calling this city home.  East Carolina University, the third largest in the state, is continuing to grow with nearly 30,000 students.  University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina is booming with $600 million expansion underway.  The ECU Medical School and Pitt County Memorial Hospital are known worldwide as a place for cutting edge surgical technology including the DaVinci Robot and the Gamma Knife. 

There is so much more to mention, but my fingers are getting tired now.  Feel free to add comments on other tidbits you are aware of or tell me why your town would make a good future destination for On Your Side In Your Hometown.

Sincerely,

Phillip Williams

They say curiosity killed the cat, but it is a great way to learn.  Therefore, I’ve started this blog for those of you that are curious about some aspect of weather or television.  Use this forum as a place to ask questions.  You can ask about all kinds of weather or how we create weather maps or how we produce the weather or anything like that.  Have you ever wondered what makes a hurricane stronger or weaker?  Maybe, you’ve been curious why I can’t wear bright blue on television.  Anyway, ask away. 

I’ll check back here from time to time to see what questions have popped up.  If nothing is asked, then I’ll assume no one is curious anymore. 

Tropical Storm Bertha formed today near the Cape Verde Islands which is just off the west coast of Africa.  Do you remember Hurricane Bertha of 1996?  That was the first hurricane to hit our area in many years and pretty much started the trend of hurricanes hitting the East.  Fran followed later that year then Bonnie arrived in ‘98 and Dennis and Floyd hit us in ‘99. 

The current Bertha is expected to move toward the west northwest over the open Atlantic for several days.  The water temperature below the storm is marginal for development and will actually be just below what is typical for development over the next couple of days.  After that, the system should be over warmer waters.  There is a weakness in the upper air pattern over the central Atlantic that could pick up the storm and keep it well away from land.  If Bertha remains weak, it could miss the central Atlantic upper air pattern.  That would give it a better chance of coming closer to land in about 10 to 14 days.  So, basically, if Bertha strengthens over the weekend, then it will likely turn north well before threatening the US.  If it remains a system, but a weak one, then it has a better chance to at least reach the western Atlantic.

Here are some computer model forecast tracks as seen from wunderground.com.  When you view these computer model tracks, realize that the BAMM is built for storms that are not very deep with thunderstorms.  BAMD is built for storms that are well formed and strong.  LBAR isn’t very reliable.  GFDL does quite well for most storms.  GFS can be a good model, but seems to switch forecasts a lot with weak systems.

There is plenty of time to track Bertha.  Pick up your Storm Team 9 Hurricane Guide at your local Chevrolet dealership.

Phillip Williams

Saturday, June 21st is the beginning of Summer!  We have already seen days above 100 degrees, so this seems anticlimactic.  It will be cooler this first weekend of summer than most of Spring.  Some scattered thundershowers will keep part of this weekend with below average temperatures.

Do you have any good memories of summer?  I do. 

I grew up in Rocky Mount, North Carolina and can remember a lot of fun summers as a kid.  I was one of those kids that loved to get in the mud.  We had a large play area behind my house.  It was the land used for the Fair when it came to town.  When it rained I would get out there and have a ball.  You’re probably wondering if I had sense to get in out of the rain and the answer is no.  My father bought us some oversized umbrellas that were made of a thick coated canvas-like material.  There were great during heavy rain.  As long as it wasn’t thundering, I was outside in the rain, usually without shoes, splashing my way up and down the gutter of the street.  I got a few other kids on my street to join me most of the time.  Sometimes, I think I should splash around now for good stress relief.  haha…

Feel free to share your summer stories here.

Happy Summer everyone!!

Phillip Williams

The cold front that moved through Wednesday turned winds so that smoke from the Pocosin National Wildlife Refuge wildfire spread westward.  A dense smoke advisory has been in effect for areas from New Bern to Kinston to Snow Hill to Greenville to Williamston to the Northern Outer Banks.  To avoid the smoke, stay inside.  Check on those with respiratory problems, heart problems, and the elderly and very young.  Also, don’t forget your outdoor pets.  Dense smoke is dangerous for them just as it is for us.  Bring them inside.

Wildfire smoke can travel hundreds of miles.  It is made of very tiny particles about 1/30th the width of a human hair.  It is composed of a variety of gases and water vapor.

Leave your comments and questions about this wildfire smoke here.

Ah yes, I get that question a lot. 

To break down the science behind the heat, we have to talk about high pressure.  Are you bored yet?  Don’t be, it gets better in a minute.  High pressure is sinking air.  When air sinks, it heats up because the compression or squeezing of the air from above increases the temperatures.  It’s like football.  Lost?  Let me explain.  In football, during a tackle, the guys pile on top of each other.  The one on the bottom of the pile feels the pressure from the weight of the ones above.  Depending on his temperment, he may or may not get mad about that, but in the weather, the air at the bottom of the pile, gets hot.

The position of the high pressure can add to the squeeze on the air.  When the high is centered south of us then we get a westerly wind around it.  Hmm...what is west of us?  The mountains, you say?  Ah yes!  When air blows down from the mountains it compresses or is squeezed again because it is coming downhill.  That is an extra way the air heats up.  If you want to get the hottest day possible, have a hot air mass over us and then have a wind coming down from the mountains and then bring a cold front toward us.  Yes, the approach of a “cold” front will give us our hottest day.  Why?  Because then the air is squeezed or compressed from the side too.  The colder air on the way here is heavier and denser than the hot air over us. 

So, to answer the question “why is it so hot,” the answer is: our air gets squeezed by high pressure sinking from above, it gets squeezed from air tumbling down from the mountains and it gets squeezed from the side by the approach of a cold front.  All that compression or squeezing makes the air very hot.  Add to that the heat absorption of asphalt and buildings and you get a very hot pattern.  Humidity in the air holds heat in at night, too.

You want some good news?  The heat wave is about to break.  The second half of this week will not be as hot with no more flirting with 100 degrees.

Feel free to comment or ask questions. 

Hello, I’m Storm Team 9 Chief Meteorologist Phillip Williams.

Washington County is under a State of Emergency this Tuesday Night because of dense smoke from a wildfire in Northwestern Hyde County.  The smoke is drifting north and northeastward and is covering Eastern Washington County, much of Tyrrell County and Northwestern Hyde County.  39 homes in Washington County are being evacuated because of the dense smoke.

Live VIPIR 9 is detecting the smoke.  The lowest level of Live VIPIR 9’s doppler radar beam is around 3900 feet over the fire.  I have tracked several flare ups of smoke this evening.  Areas from Phelps Lake to Creswell to Columbia appear to be the ones with the most smoke.  Visibilities are reduced and driving can be hindered by the thick smoke.  People sensitive to smoke or those with chronic breathing problems should leave the affected areas.  Heading west toward Plymouth or Williamston is a good plan.

I expect the wind direction to remain from the south or southwest the majority of this week.  The winds will pick up Wednesday afternoon before dropping off by Friday.

If you live in these affected areas and want to share your story, please do so here.