School Update

Back in May I decided to go back to school for Meteorology and keep you updated on the blog on my progress...I just realized I have yet to do that. In fact...I haven't even posted this week. The reason? I blame school. So it's time for an update. Over the summer I completed my first semester of Mississippi State University's Broadcast Meteorology Program and am now taking courses covering Geography and Synoptic Meteorology. Between my work here at CHEX (and Channel 12 in Oshawa), my involvement with the cadet program and planning a wedding (October 3rd is the big day...woo hoo) school has really been a challenge. Challenging but fun! I am also really learning a lot about weather. I have always considered myself a "weather buff" but, through this program, I am now taking that understanding to a new level. Over the last few months what I have really learned is how much I didn't know about weather...very humbling. So for the next few months I 'll continue to post updates on my progress and my new love of calculus. (Okay...a little sarcasm on that last one). And thanks for being so patient with the lack of blog posts lately. So as for semester 2, so far so good. As for the weather? Well, we could catch a break this weekend. Details tonight at 6pm.

"Shear" Luck!

I love delivering good news. This last week has been all good news for weather locally. Or a total lack of local weather...gotta love that high. So let's talk about Puerto Rico for a second where some "weather" is actually happening. Erika is no longer expected to become a hurricane or even remain a tropical storm for much longer. Erika is currently sliding west at arounf 15km/h with sustained winds of over 70 km/h. Central pressure is 100.8 kPa. A fairly potent little cyclone but it will likely fizzle out over the weekend and be nothing more than a strong "Low" by Saturday night into Sunday. Good news for the folks lving (or vacationing) in the islands and great news for the Maritimes who have already had to deal with two tropical systems in as many weeks. Gotta love that windshear!

Brought to you by the letter "H."

First off, what a weekend! I know it was cold and, for the most part, rainy. But talk about a great time on Saturday. I was dunked 7 times in the dunk tank at Wal-Mart in support of Red Cross Canada and then (after drying off) checked out some amazing wakeboarding and live music from "The Wolf's Big Deck" at the Canadian Wakeboard Championships. Mother nature even gave us some unexpected sunshine on Saturday afternoon to take it all in. We were lucky as Saturday was expected to be a wash out.

Now on to the forecast. Do you see that "big blue H" in the pic. Aside from the fact that my Microsoft Paint skills are improving, that is a great site. That area of high pressure could stick with us for the next week and beyond. In fact, that is a screen shot I grabbed from the latest GFS run for next Monday! Keep in mind that you have to look at a long range forecast with a big grain of salt, but if the trend holds true, we could see sunshine for the next week and a half! Let's hope this model plays out. I'll break it all down for you tonight and also have a update on Hurricane Jimena on the Pacific coast and what could become a new named storm in the Atlantic.

See you tonight on Newswatch at 6pm!

Jay