Despite the cold weather and even worse weather forecast for Saturday morning, thousands of people showed up for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

With snow and rain were predictions I thought for sure there'd be a small turnout... but I was sure wrong!  Thank you everyone for participating, it was my first time at the walk and was inspired by the many brave breast cancer survivors.

I had an email from a viewer yesterday telling me that I say "basically" too much.  I went back to watch some tapes and you know what...she was absolutely right....wow, I was annoying. 

First of all, I will work on that, I promise, (it's amazing how easy it is to develop verbal crutches). 

Second of all, no matter how I say it I hope the message gets accross this weekend...it will be wet and cold.  If you plan on being outdoors or driving you need to be ready for what's coming...the real possibility of snow in the valleys.

So, more or less (my temporary replacement for basically), get ready for Winter in October.

Two of the main weather models are said to be in agreement that "much colder" temperatures with some areas of "heavy precipitation" can be expected this weekend as of this evening.

When the models start "coming together" like this it is a good indication that the weather will generally develope in the anticipated manner.  It used to be that "5-day forecasts" were fairly changeable and that rarely did they even mention much confidence in a "7-day forecast".  However with advances in technology and valuable experience gained, the accuracy in forecasts beyond 36-48 hours has increased dramatically over the recent years.

I remember reading a "weather discussion" last fall sometime about 8-days before there was a very significant storm.  The weather had been in a fairly stagnant eventless pattern and one day there was talk that one of the models was starting to lean toward a very cold and wet system headed right this way.  Because it was only one model not many of the local weather people mentioned it, but that particular model kept insisting that we would be affected by an abrupt change in the weather.  A few days of this went by before some of the other models began to agree with the "outlier".  I noticed that the local 7-day forecasts began to vary widely on both temperatures and precipitation amounts.  Then about 36-48 hours before the event most of the local weather anchors were giving the same message that a significant storm would be here in less then two days.

While this weekend is still some days away, the fact that the period is within the time that accuracy can be reasonably expected and that the models aren't "scattered all over" any more puts quite a bit of faith in the upcoming weekend having a bit of a chill to it.

With the recent storm I have noticed the leaves really starting to fall from the trees.  Personally, I would not wait until you have five inches of leaves all over to start cleaning them up. 

Isn't that interesting, it's still warm enough to have to mow and weed yet have to clean up falling leaves.  In a couple of months, wait, I'm not ready to put away my gardening things just yet...

Because the September opportunity to see Mercury was quite dismal, I just checked a few dates and times courtesy the "Farmer's Almanac" for the approaching early morning apparition of Mercury which will be far better than the September apparition for reasons I've already explained.  The only problems will be that Summer has packed up and left for the winter and it's a bit of an early hour to get up unless you're already up.

Now if Damon, Brett, and Jodi can "arrange" some cloud and haze free mornings in a couple of weeks this should be worth it provided your eastern view isn't obscurded by mountains, buildings, or trees.  Of course light polution would not be good either.

The maximum amount of minutes that I found that Mercury had set after the Sun in September was on the 5th at 51 minutes.  (For relevant trivia's sake, Mercury had risen 117 minutes before the Sun!  This is important because it shows how the angle of the Ecliptic affects rise and set times of Objects along the Zodiac.)     Now for the upcoming morning apparition of Mercury, which will be best seen from October 19th through the 26th when Mercury will rise in a completely dark sky at least 90 minutes before the Sun a bit north of where the Sun will be.

Unlike the September apparition Mercury will not be competing with twilight to be seen and there will be no other bright "stars" around in the immediate area to confuse It with.  Last fall Mercury was near Spica, a 1st magnitude star- but Spica is "bluer" so It could be easily be distinquished from the more "yellowish" Mercury.  But this year Mercury wiil have the "spotlight" all to Its' self.

P.S. Tomorrow morning, October 7th, Saturn should rise almost 2h and 25m before the Sun allowing It to be decently above the horizon befor the morning twilight starts to compete with It.

Is there anything better than blue skies, fall colors, and snow on the mountians?  This weekends storm really shook things up....I went to bed on Friday night and we were in the 70's and woke up to the 40's.  Now that the storm has moved on it feels great outside again and we'll be back in the 70's before you know it.

How was the storm for you?  Anybody have some pictures they want to share?  (I like to use them in my weather forecasts).

And, by the way, the next possible storm looks like it could be colder...stay tuned.

What a weekend.  Eighties and fifties are pretty comfortable for most people and that is what we've had for the last several days (and will continue to have for the next several).  There have been some mostly mountain showers and thunderstorms firing up in the afternoons but for the most part they have stayed in the higher elevations and we'll see the same type of pattern through early next week. 

It looks like by next weekend we should see our first Fall-like storm of the Fall season.  The charts are going back and forth a little but since Friday are showing a colder system dropping in from the Northwest and cooling us down to normal and below normal temperatures.  I wouldn't cancel outdoor plans yet but it is something worth watching over this week.

Hope you can get out and enjoy the comfy weather this week.

Tropical Storm Kyle has formed in the Atlantic. The satellite photo clearly shows the first tropical system ever recorded with two eyes…… and a green hat with earflaps too.

Fall begins at 9:45 this morning (we've got about eight more minutes...actually seven now) and it's currently snowing up at Alta.  Just thought some of you would like to know. :).

I cannot understand these people who are refusing to leave their homes, or what's left of them.  What are they holding onto?  Or are they just waiting for the government to offer them a handout?  Furthermore, why is it the governments responsibility to bail all of these people out?  There are people out there discriminating against all the volunteers who've dropped everything to help them, cursing that clean up efforts are not moving fast enough.  It's their own fault. 

After Hurricane Katrina, there is no excuse for not being prepared. 

In my opinion, this weekend's weather was just about perfect...low to mid 80's with a lot of sunshine and cool at night.  We still have one weekend of summer left but it probably won't be as nice as this one was...not terrible just not as nice.

Time to start breaking out the jakets, sweaters, you name it...Fall is coming soon...in fact about mid-week it will start feeling more like Fall.  Enjoy the next few summer-like days everybody.

OK...relax everybody, I am talking about another weekend of rain for me (my weekends are Wednesday and Thursday).  Actually, most people's weekend (this Saturday and Sunday ) looks sunny and warmer.

Anyway, remember this past Spring when it seemed like we got rain at least once a week.  Well, those storms seemed to hit every Wednesday and Thursday (I'm not making this up...Dan, our director,  has the same days off and he was getting upset with me because he couldn't play paintball). 

I have to be honest though...after the dry summer (that was actually a lot of fun to get out and play) it's nice to wake up to gray skies and rain (even if it's on a "weekend").

I noticed making the almanac graphic today that we'll lose another 3 minutes of sunshine tomorrow.  The summer is quickly coming to an end.  I mentioned a couple weeks back that I had seen leaves changing colors up near Strawberry...well now they are getting started all around.

Of course we all remember last year's Winter was a monster...Spring was cold and wet and then Summer was extremely dry.  As far as I am concerned, Winter can't get here soon enough...but I know not everybody feels that way so here is to a nice steady cool down and gradual entrance into Fall.

Fall starts Monday September 22nd a little before 10:00AM

With the unseasonably cold trough passing trough the Great Basin, many of the normally colder locations can expect any unprotected gardens to be killed by the frosty conditions expected Tuesday morning.  In fact, many of the higher elevations above 9000' are hovering around 30*F as of the 1:00 P.m. observations (as of 2:00 p.m. temperatures had warmed slightly into the low to mid 30's).  I did notice a 28* and a 29* around the Brighton area in the mountains just southeast of Salt Lake City!!

Not only will the gardens be exposed to killing conditions, but any water in venerable water pipes could freeze and expand as a result thereby posing the possibility that those pipes could crack resulting in leaks.  Even though the cold air mass will modify through the week, draining those pipes that are prone to freezing would be "insurance" against costly repairs.

I have no experience with livestock but the sudden cold will obviously impact them as well and so whatever needs to be done for them should be as well.

The Weather Service expects a northwesterly flow to be over the area for the next several days and so highs are not expected to climb into the lower 80's until Saturday along the Wasatch Front, with lows near 40 Tuesday morning gradually warming into the low to mid 50's by Sunday.

Congratulations to Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans and Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana for such an early response. After three years of preparing for another Katrina, they are finally ready.  They have learned so much from the last hurricane that ripped through their Cajun paradise. Katrina ripped, ravished, and tore through New Orleans like a schoolboy with a magnifying glass picking on ants. The one lesson the mayor of New Orleans and past governor of Louisiana never did learn and still won’t accept is: who’s to blame for the chaos Katrina brought to Louisiana three years ago? 

Q: Who knews the people of New Orleans and Louisiana the best?
A: Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco

Q: Who lived in this area and knew the needs and demographics?
A: Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco

Q: Who knew the weather the best by living there and experiencing it?
A: Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco

Q: Who knews the road systems and traffic conditions?
A: Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco

Q: Who was given the responsibility to take care of the people of New Orleans & Louisiana?
A: Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco 

Q: Who should take responsibility for the safeguarding of the people, including the levies?
A: The Army Corp. of Engineers was delegated the responsibility to take care of the levies only. Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco  should have known what was happening in their city/state. They were given the responsibility through their election system but still the levies failed and still they pointed fingers. If you work for a company, are in control, and you still point fingers, you will be fired and so was Governor Blanco replaced that next election.

Q: Whose job description listed, “Guarding the safety of the people of Louisiana and New Orleans”?
A: Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco

Q: Who was in control of the Louisiana National Guard?
A: Governor Kathleen Blanco  

So why, if Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco were responsible for the safety of all Louisiana and New Orleans, are the Federal Government and George Bush directly blamed for all the screw ups during Katrina?

Gustav is a category 4, and everyone is frantic about it. The terror, concern, and preparation is a boon for a city that has such a fresh memory of the devastation that a hurricane can inflict. And when the preparation and evacuation in anticipation for Gustav is a success, the mayor and governor will be given more than a pat on the back. So if the Federal Government and George Bush were blamed for Katrina's chaos, then shouldn’t they also receive all the congratulations for the success of the safeguarding of New Orleans?