Wednesday, January 2, 2008

The Weather outside is frightful...

Well 2008 arrived and so did the snow!

Storm totals vary from 1.4 inches north and west of the city to 8.1" down in the Porter, IN snow belt area.

But winters grip just does not threaten the mid-west and north east but even Florida is under a threat of flurries!

However the biggest threat is not just the snow but the wind and the wind chill effects. The Meteorological Observation Network in Chicago, Ill at buoy marker (CHII2) Harrison-Dever Crib, approx. 3 miles offshore reports the following. See Metadata File for full description of instruments and parameters. See Map for detailed location map.

Conditions at 08:20 am CST on 01/02/2008 (DOY 002 14:20 GMT)
(Updated at about :03,:18,:33,:48 minutes past the hour)
Wind Speed: 14.42 kts (7.42 m/s)
Max Wind Speed: 17.90 kts (9.21 m/s)
Wind Direction: 283° (WNW)
Air Temperature: 8.2 °F (-13.2 °C)
Wind Chill: -9.7 °F (-23.2 °C)


! Wind Chill Advisory (11:25 PM CST)
Alerts Nearby:
Wind Chill Advisory in IL: Boone , Cook , DeKalb , DuPage , Grundy , Iroquois , Kane , Kankakee , Kendall , Lake , Livingston , McHenry , Will
Wind Chill Advisory in IN: Jasper , Lake , Newton , Porter
Snow and Blowing Snow Advisory in IN: Starke
Lake Effect Snow Advisory in IN: La Porte
Snow and Blowing Snow Advisory, Wind Chill Advisory in IN: Pulaski
Lake Effect Snow Warning in MI: Berrien


MARITIME NOTES

Lets talk about frightful weather!


A cargo ship is seen in the English channel. A large container ...


Container ship runs aground in English channel

Wed Jan 2, 6:38 AM ET

A large container ship ran aground in the English Channel south of Dover on Wednesday, but all on board were safe and there were no reports of pollution, coastguards said.

The German-registered "LT Cortesia" became stuck on the Varne-bank, a large underwater sand bank about nine miles south of the port, said the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

The 90,000-tonne vessel was travelling from the Thames estuary westbound towards the Atlantic Ocean when it ran aground around 5:00 am, it said in a statement.

"The vessel has 27 people on board who are all uninjured. Crew members are checking for damage on board but the cargo is reported to be secure and early indications are that the vessel is watertight," said the agency.

The English Channel is among the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and the stretch near Dover is its narrowest point, where traffic from the North Sea and the Atlantic squeezes through between England and France.

There was no reported pollution from the stricken vessel, the English coastguard adding that an emergency tug, the "Anglian Monarch," was on the scene to assess the damage and possibilities for salvaging the ship.

"Dover Coastguard and the Anglian Monarch will warn any approaching vessels of the potential navigation hazard posed by the LT Cortesia while she is aground," it said.

The container ship is carrying 42,785 tonnes of cargo, the agency added.

Efforts to pull the ship off of the underwater sandbank were initially working against a falling tide. The next high water was expected by early evening, around 1830 GMT.

Winds on the scene were reported as Force 4, a light breeze during the morning, but were expected to strengthen with gale-force winds possible later in the day, coastguards said.


RS