Volcano

Above is a volcano in Alaska...Below is NOT a volcano in Arkansas

I'm getting excited!!!! We may have an Alaskan eruption soon. Mt Redoubt southwest of Anchorage has come to life and an eruption could come in the next few days or weeks. Here's a link to the USGS Volcano site. You can click in for more details on several volcanoes.

There's another site thru the NWS in Anchorage. I still remember the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helen's. Hopefully there will be good images from this mountain if it erupts during daylight.

As for weather.....we are in a temporary warm up for a couple of days....then a cold rain Monday.

Big Ice Storm

Not the best picture....but maybe one of my kids will email better shots once they get power back on in Fayetteville. Terrible storm in the northern part of the state...but luckily we dodged the bullet in Little Rock. We had just a small amount of ice and the streets stayed in pretty good shape. It was cold...we were mostly below freezing for several days.

Changing the subject....remember that next Tuesday marks a significant anniversary. Here's a link to the Surf Ballroom.

Ice Storm for parts of the state

Looks like some nasty winter weather headed for the state. North Arkansas is under a winter storm watch for the possibility of significient icing the first part of the week. They will be below freezing for several days. Here in central Arkansas we can possibly see some freezing rain Tuesday night and early Wednesday. Probably not much for travel problems, but it will be cold with highs not getting out of the mid 30s till Thursday. South Arkansas is looking for warmer weather with no freezing stuff. Keep an eye on the forecast this week.

I had a question on the photo at the top of the blog. That was taken from a turn-out at about 10,000 feet up Mauna Kea and is looking south toward Mauna Loa. Beyond Mauna Loa is Kilauea Volcano.

Ball Lightning

This is thought to be photo of the phenomenon know as ball lightning. I was reading about it the other day in the Extreme Weather book Claire gave me for Christmas. Then I started remembering that someone we all know allegedly witnessed ball lightning as a child. No one believed her....but I do. She will comment herself. Here is a link to more on ball lightning.

Our weather has been on the usual roller coaster. After two straight days of below freezing temperatures things warmed nicely on Sunday. Today has be much cooler and windy. Still very dry. Relative humidity earlier today was only 17%. Better run the humidifier.

Coldest in years

Tonight may be the coldest in 6 years. South Arkansas will see the upper teens for sure. West Little Rock will see 8-degrees if it clears off later. North Arkansas will see mid-single digits with some areas reaching zero or lower.


We has flurries in West Little Rock this morning and Benton and Hot Springs Village received a half inch of snow. The Fayetteville area got a dusting of snow much to the surprise of the kids.


A little warmer weather is expected this weekend.

Cold, cold, cold

The coldest weather of the season is moving into the mid-south. By Friday morning look for lows in the low 20s in north Texas, upper teens in south Arkansas, low to mid teens in central Arkansas, and single digits in the northern part of the state. I would not be surprised to see one of the traditionally cold valley locations reach zero. No snow....continued very dry.

This link to the Plymouth State College weather site has a great map that shows plotted temperatues for the US and North America. Go to this link and scroll down the left side to plotted temp map.

Return to Winter

The roller coaster continues....after 60s on Friday we slide back into the 40s today. Tonight will see the mid 20s. Seasonable for a few days. Then much colder weather coming next weekend. Snow???? I don't know.

Movie Review:
With the new cinema so close we tend to take in more picture shows these days. Went to see Clint Eastwood's new movie Gran Torino. I thought it was an outstanding movie. I strongly recommend. Of course, what drew me to the picture was the title. All the cool rednecks drove a 72 Gran Torino at some time in their life.

Missed Forecast

Wasn't suppose to be Icy....but it was. Interestingly it started at 7:00 this morning with a big thunderstorm that dropped the temperature from 35 down to 31. Luckily the record warmth from Saturday kept the streets from becoming slippery. Only problems were on some bridges and overpasses. Some power outages occurred south of the city. I understand even Pam had some ice on the trees in Plano. John reported a little sleet overnight. Kelly just had rain.

Cold Cold Rain

The winter roller coaster continues. Following a New Year's morning low of 23 we slowly warmed up topping out with a record 77 degrees Saturday afternoon. When I woke up at 6:30 this morning it was 64...the high for the day. Temps were in the low 40s by early afternoon with a low forecast of 33 tonight. Rain tomorrow will really feel cold with a high of only 38. Luckily no ice for us. I do see that Pam may see some freezing rain first thing in the morning, but I doubt it amounts to much. More seasonable weather is expected later in the week.

Back to normal

As we enter the new year there's not a lot to talk about. Christmas decorations are put away, Wii's and iPhones are all still working, The BCS sucks and so far the best bowl game was last night's win by the Utes.

At least 2008 is behind us. The economy is in the tank. This maybe the worst it's been since the great depression. A couple of new songs for 2009 just to remind us of the 1930's......This Land is the Government's Land ...... and Brother can you spare a Credit Default Swap.

As for the weather....it was a busy year in Arkansas. Here is a link to the NWS review of 2008.
2009 started off on a chilly note with a low of 23...but it's been warming up since then and is now in the 60s with the prospect of some rain in the next few days. It will be cooler next week, but not cold enough for ice or snow. Looks like we will see seasonable 50s and 30s for the next week or two.