Weather! Your opening night Squirrelcast
Thursday and Friday are looking great – almost perfect baseball weather. The weekend is looking slightly more iffy, but won’t be a total loss.
Thursday and Friday are looking great – almost perfect baseball weather. The weekend is looking slightly more iffy, but won’t be a total loss.
High pressure moves back in control for Thursday. Some stray clouds will linger around into the afternoon, but the sun will be back in control. After the depressed temperatures of the last two days, they improve for Thursday, topping out at 76. The clouds continue clearing into Thursday evening, and lows Friday morning will fall into the mid 50s.
First Pitch vs. Reading (7:05pm): Opening Night is going to be fantastic! Temperatures will still be near 70 with mostly clear skies, and not a chance of rain in sight. By 10pm, temps should be closer to 60 – still comfortable, but a little cool. Make sure you stay warm.
The warm temperatures continue for Friday. Clear skies should remain in control for most of the day, and temperatures will soar in response; we should top out in the low 80s without too much trouble. The afternoon begins to look interesting, however. A cold front and associated trough of disturbed weather approach from the northwest and bring clouds and some gusty winds with it. Unfortunately, these clouds also bring with them a chance of rain. I think the rain, if it does appear, will hold off until overnight, and we won’t see much in terms of precipitation. The clouds will also help keep temperatures mild overnight, with lows Friday night/Saturday morning again into the mid 50s.
First Pitch vs. Reading (7:05pm): Temperatures again should be great for the game, still in the mid 70s. The rest, however, won’t be as spectacular. Skies will be party to mostly cloudy in advance of the approaching cold front, and I can’t rule out the chance of an evening shower making an appearance. As long as the rain holds out, it should be an enjoyable night at The Diamond.
The cold front and any rain blow through overnight Friday night and Saturday morning. Any rain will have likely cleared the area by mid-morning, leaving cloudy skies and cooler temperatures in its wake. We’ll see temperatures again close to 70, but it won’t be a very exciting day. Low clouds will keep most of the sun away, but the rain will stay gone as well. Low temperatures Saturday night will fall into the upper 40s, making for a very cool night.
First Pitch vs. Reading (6:35pm): Saturday night will be more of the same, cloudy and cool. Temperatures should be in the low to mid 60s near game time, falling off to the upper 50s by the end of the game.
Sunday features more of the same, with some low clouds dominating the sky and cooler temperatures, especially compared to Friday. Highs Sunday will get into the low 60s, which is slightly below the average for this part of April. Again, there shouldn’t be any rain threat, just the lingering clouds. Low temperatures Sunday night will also likely fall into the upper 40s.
First Pitch vs. Reading (2:05pm): A cool Sunday afternoon for a baseball game. Cloudy skies, temperatures in the low 60s. It will be a little chilly, but again, there’s no threat of rain. It will be a decent Sunday for a baseball game, all things considered.
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Weather Dan
Dan Goff is now a two-time former Richmonder, having departed the River City yet again in favor of southwest Virginia, where he is working on degrees in geography and meteorology at Virginia Tech. Have a question about the weather or weather-related phenomena?
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Weather Dan, thanks for your column and your Flying Squirrels promotion.
Listen, I was wondering if you can do some speculation on what the recent volcanic activity might mean for future weather.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/15/iceland.flights/index.html?hpt=T1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Volcano/
Scott, that’s a great question.
Dr. Jeff Masters at Weather Underground wrote a great synopsis of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption. (Bonus points for anyone who can correctly pronounce “Eyjafjallajökull.”)
Here are a few of the high points from his analysis:
* The volcanic ash is going to seriously distrupt European air traffic for the time being. The UK Met Office is creating volcanic ash forecast graphics. The red line marks ash extent from the surface to 20,000 feet, the green delimits 20,000’ – 35,000’, and the blue one marks 35,000’ – 55,000’.
* Dr. Masters also mentions that most of the climate-affecting volcanic eruptions of the past 200 years have taken place in the tropics. The stratospheric circulation patterns are optimal in the tropics for lifting and distributing volcanic ash. The air in the stratosphere above the tropics rises and moves outward towards the higher latitudes.
Because Iceland is above 60 degrees north latitude, where the stratopsheric air is cooling and sinking rather than rising, it’s going to be hard for the ash to reach to the levels required to block enough sunlight to globally affect the climate.
* The good news (depending on how you look at it) is that there will likely be enough ash in the air to give North America some vivid sunsets beginning next week.
A couple items to point out: Temperatures today are going to be quite warm, and with low humidity values ahead of the cold front, there’s an elevated chance for fires to start today, If you’re doing any burning (after 4pm, before that is illegal), make sure to use caution.
Additionally, the updated forecast models are eliminating just about any chance of rain we might see tonight. Great news for the baseball game!
Thanks Dan.
I am still watching Laki though-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/15/iceland-volcano-weather-french-revolution