Webmaster Weblog/Journal

Yesterday, NOAA and the National Hurricane Center released the first 2005 hurricane season outlook. The 2005 hurricane season is looking to be another active one with a prediction of 12-15 tropical storms, 7-9 of those becoming hurricanes, and 3-5 of those becoming major hurricanes. Just like last year, I will be following any tropical storm activity closely and will be providing up-to-the-minute details, links, and graphics here on this blog.

It's been a long time since my last post. I've been very busy with classes as well as working on a new front-end and back-end to this website. A new design, more functionality, and new features are currently in development. In a few days, an alpha version of the new design will come online, and I will be posting details on it here. Also, a list will be posted with planned features and additions to the website.

Please check back to this blog for the latest updates on changes to the site!

There is an Email being forwarded around the Internet with this image attached. This image is fake, or at least it is not of the December 2004 tsunami. Snopes.com, a hoax debunking website, has a reference page explaining why this is the case.

However, there are plenty of real videos and images of the incoming tsunami and aftermath available here:

• Tsunami images hosted by Archive.org
• NBC 10 Video Blog: 31 Tsunami Videos
• NASA maps and images (also see "Other images" on this page)

Resources

• How the earthquake affected Earth
• West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center
• Tsunami.gov

Just in time for the winter solstice, the Midwestern United States was blasted with large winter system that has dumped over 24 inches of snow in some locations and spawned tornadoes in the South. On December 25th at 1:20AM EST, the temperature reported by the weather station here was -6.8°. Yes, that's negative. In a few hours, a lot of folks are going to be unthawing their way to Christmas morning festivities.

Over 375,000 people in Central Ohio alone were without power at the height of the snowstorm (correction, ice-storm), and some 200,000 are still without power. AEP says that their crews are working 24/7 to get the power lines back up and hope to have the area back up and running by Sunday evening or Monday morning. I will post some pictures on here in the next few days of ice damage (trees fallen, power lines down) just north of Newark, Ohio.

I also just noticed that the anemometer (wind speed instrument) on the weather station appears to be frozen in place from the layers of ice/sleet. I'll get that fixed tomorrow morning.

• Interactive snow map from the NOHRSC — You can zoom in on your local area to find total snow coverage (Updated every 6 hours or so)

Snowfall in NW Columbus, Ohio

Measurements taken at the weatherUSA.net weather station.
11:25PM EST 12/22/2004: 7.75 inches
01:40AM EST 12/23/2004: 8.25 inches (0.1" ice sheet)
07:00PM EST 12/23/2004: 8.5 inches (0.9" ice sheet) — see photo at right

NWS unofficial snowfall reports

Here are the top 10 snowfall reports for Ohio:

Sources: Wilmington, OH; Cleveland, OH

Location	Total Snowfall	Time
Geauga Co (Ohio)
Chardon	27.0"	07:00AM 12/24
Darke Co (Ohio)
Greenville	24.0"	07:00AM 12/23
Montgomery Co (Ohio)
Trotwood	22.2"	09:00AM 12/23
Hamilton Co (Ohio)
Harrison	22.0"	09:00AM 12/23
Logan Co (Ohio)
Bellefontaine	20.0"	09:00AM 12/23
Miami Co (Ohio)
Troy	20.0"	09:00AM 12/23
Hardin Co (Ohio)
Kenton	19.0"	09:00AM 12/23
Preble Co (Ohio)
Eaton	18.0"	06:45AM 12/23
Ashtabula Co (Ohio)
Hartsgrove	16.0"	07:00AM 12/24
Wyandot Co (Ohio)
ODOT Shelter	16.0"	10:29AM 12/23

News reports

Welcome to Winter

This past week, a strong low pressure system brought cold air down from Canada that collided with a fairly warm airmass over the midwest. Close to 2 dozen tornadoes were reported in the South, killing 4 people, and numerous other severe thunderstorms & tornadoes were reported on Wednesday. A tornado also touched down near the Indiana/Ohio border. Southern Michigan received over 6 inches of snow in some places. This happened only a few days after this article was posted:
A Second Season of Severe Weather?

Now that the strong weather has passed, I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving break. Happy Holidays!

In other weather news:
TV Meteorologists Undergo Tougher Testing
Forecasters command market's attention