KATC StormTeam 3 Weather BLOG

With impending tropical weather threatening Acadiana this weekend I wanted remind everyone to stay apprised of the weather conditions very closely as there will likely be big changes ahead.  Part of that obviously (or hopefully) is watching KATC TV and following us on katc.com.

In addition our weather page, you can find pertinent links to very important web-sites on our Hurricane Center Page.  Our hurricane Center includes a tracking map and links to the local National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center and Emergency Preparedness information.  These links are all essential to have on hand during a storm.

During the last two plus years I have found Facebook and Twitter as excellent tools for not only disseminating information but gathering it.  They both have strong and weak points, but Facebook in particular I think is important to have on hand, and on your smart-phone, for a hurricane or any emergency situation where traditional lines of communication may be compromised.

Facebook is easy to use and it’s a great way to stay in contact with loved ones and friends…and say what you will about social media, I believe at the very least, it is a great tool in an emergency situation.

During any emergency KATC will be broadcasting live and streaming on the web on katc.com, but you can also follow us on twitter too.  The “tweets” from the Weather Lab meteorologists can be followed right on our weather page so you don’t even have to mess with setting that up if you don’t want to.

On Facebook, I would highly recommend following KATC’s page for the latest news, Dave Baker, Natalie Noah and me (Rob) for the latest weather updates.  If you click on the aforementioned links make sure you “like” the page to get our information streaming to your home page.

Good luck with the storm this weekend and for the rest of hurricane season.  Rob

You might have noticed over the last several weeks that we have been somewhat remiss on the number blog entries…but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been working in the Weather Lab!  Obviously the crude disaster has kept us in an elevated state of weather and news coverage and the approaching “busy” hurricane season has us preparing for the active months ahead. 

But we are also adding major software and hardware upgrades to our weather facilities as well.  In addition to recent processor upgrade to Power Doppler 3000 (which gives us the highest definition radar in all of Southern Louisiana) we have unveiled the KATC Interactive Stormtracker.   The interactive tracker takes National Weather Service Doppler radar imagery and allows the user zoom down to neighborhood level and gives full control to the user to watch weather in Acadiana or anywhere in the U.S.  In addition, other tools such as user controlled animation, satellite imagery, land and water temperature contours and lightning data, there are exclusive tools for tracking severe storms, including the same TITAN storm tracking capabilities that we use here at KATC.  And if that isn’t enough, there is an intergrated hurricane tracking program included and the utility even has overlays for tracking the oil spill in the Gulf.   Check it out and give it a spin!

Finally Dave, Chris and I have been working weather products on the latest “state of the art” platform of TV weather graphics.  This system is definitely the “next” level platform that will bring high definition satellite, radar imagery, and graphics to Acadiana.  The “TruView Max” system (from WSI, the leading commercial weather graphics and data company) features a continuous live weather engine that ingests the latest satellite-delivered weather and computer forecast data with no rendering time.  The weather imagery and graphics to be simply put, are awesome!  Look for the debut of this system in June…we can’t wait to show it off!

It’s been an exciting day in the Weather Lab and at KATC as we have unveiled our new iPhone App.  Search “katc” on iTunes and you will find our free app.  On this app you will find all the breaking news, weather and sports information that you will find on our website including video, Power Doppler 3000, our Futurecast computer models, wind forecast maps and the ever popular 24-hour, 8-Day forecasts and Weather @ Your Desk. 

Weather-wise look for breezy and warmer conditions for our Wednesday with a general increase in cloud cover in advance of a frontal system that will approach the area Thursday morning.  Today’s Futurecast model runs have become rather aggressive on the chance of showers and storms in Acadiana during early morning hours on Thursday.  Skies should clear by Thursday afternoon with a pleasant Friday and weekend (with some qualifiers to follow) on tap.  Another frontal trough will approach by Saturday night into very early Sunday which could lead to another round of showers…but this event is still rather dubious as return flow moisture may be quite limited.  But as we head into the last few days of March and push into April storm systems usually can get cranking with less dynamics than we see in the winter months which makes this past Saturday’s forecast more interesting…as it was generally a bust on the rain chances.  Occasionally the thermal internal boundary layer that sits off the coast of Louisiana acts as a wet blanket on any storm dynamics.  The marine layer chilled by the cooler shelf waters of the Gulf can be a big stabilizing factor when it comes to storms…but not always, which makes forecasting for Acadiana in the spring-time that much more challenging!