Need The Rain: Some of us will see some much-needed rain today or tomorrow but some of the area will remain dry.  The cold front that pushes through tonight into Saturday morning will give us the best chance for showers and thunderstorms but they will be scattered.  So what's it mean when you hear me say "scattered showers and thunderstorms."  It means that not all of the area will get rain.  In fact if you look at the percentages, it means about 30 to 50 percent of our area will see rain.  When you hear the term "isolated" it means 10 to 20 percent will see rain.  The rain will be more hit and miss. Think of it this way, "scattered" is a lot of  "isolateds" added up.   I'm so glad I could clear that isolated question up for you...now try not to be "scatter-brained" all right?

Clutter:  Speaking of scattered and isolated, I've noticed that if I put an isolated object on my desk, after about 5 days it becomes a permanent fixture.  It's as if it was there from the time I moved my belongings into the desk.  I'm looking at a video tape box right now on my desk that has been in the same place for...oh about a year now.  Why?  Because I needed to look at it once a year ago and pulled it out of the tape room.  After I did that I put it on my desk...just an isolated tape in one small portion of my desk.  The first and second days went by and I didn't put it back, then the third and fourth.  I think it almost made it off my desk that fourth day but I got busy with something else.  Then the fifth day came and went and after that I started to move things around this box.  It became as permanent a part of my desk as my computer keyboard.  I've had other isolated objects become fixtures...the 2 CD's on the left-hand side; the post-it note at the bottom of the computer screen; the round thumb tack-holder with about 100 thumb tacks at the far corner (I needed a thumb tack once about a year and a half ago and never returned it to the person who let me use it).  They have all become permanent fixtures on my desk.  Much like the definition of isolated and scattered showers, these isolated objects have become "scattered" on my desk and it now looks cluttered.  But I'm going to do something right now to fix this problem.  I am going to get up from this computer, take that tape box to the archive room and put it back...here I go. ...There.  I did it.  It's back.  Now my desk looks bigger and less cluttered and I feel good.  I've become more organized.  I feel so good I may just take those thumb tacks back to that person who let me borrow them.  Well, not today.  I don't want to over do it.

Have a great weekend! We'll be playing with the boys and working outside...when the showers and thunderstorms aren't "isolated" or "scattered" right on top of us.  Hopefully the Packers first units will look better this week against Denver. 

Talk to you Monday morning on Good Day Wisconsin.

A Scorcher for One Day:  The saying goes..." if you don't like the weather in Wisconsin wait five minutes, it'll change" and that was never truer than yesterday afternoon.  At 5 pm in Green Bay the temperature was 90° which was the first time we reached 90 this year.  Just an hour later things changed dramatically as a cold front pushed through, changed the wind direction from west at 10 mph to northeast at 18 mph gusting to 30 mph and dropped the temperature 15°!  Now that's a strong cold front! 

Most people welcomed the relief especially the Packers who practiced at 6:30 last night and instead of sweating it out in the heat, were able to take snaps in a cool, comfortable 75°. 

The national weather story is Tropical Storm Fay which made landfall near Naples, Florida at about 4 am today.  Right now it's drenching central Florida as it slowly moves to the north.  For more information on this Tropical Storm or any other Atlantic Storm and Hurricanes, go to http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

More Later,

Pete

How Dry We Are:  Just yesterday  a woman greeted me with the words, "Hey Pete, I'm sick of watering."  I see her point.  Although parts of our viewing area received some much-needed rain over the weekend, most of northeast Wisconsin has been lacking rain for about 4 weeks now.  Since July 21st there has been a total of about a half inch of rain in Green Bay which is  2 to 3 inches below normal for that period.  Even with that deficit if you view the statistics for the whole year it's a different story.  Since January 1st we've had 24.52" of rain which is 6 inches above normal.   It looks like we'll see some possible rain today and again late in the week which will help farmers and gardeners. 

Lend Me your Ears:  Judging by the size of the ears of corn I saw at this week's Farmer's Market some farmers must be having a good year.  They were huge!  My wife and the boys took a stroll through the Green Bay Market and it was hoppin'.  My only suggestion would be to open up the lanes a bit between vendors.  When you're dragging a 2 and 3 year-old through the tomatoes, blueberries and beans it can get a bit cramped.  Actually what they really want is parked at the end of the aisle anyway...the sponge Bob Square Pants Treat from the ice cream truck. 

More Later.

Pete

It's been a pleasure working in Green Bay and at FOX 11.  I'm sad to leave but excited to start a new path in my career.  I'll be the weekend meteorologist for a television station in Toledo, Ohio.  The people here at FOX 11 both on and off camera have been so great to me and I'm lucky to have worked with such fantastic and fun people.  I've made so many friends in my four years here and I know I'll be back for visits.  I appreciate all of the viewers warm wishes. 
So instead of goodbye I'll say "See ya later"
Tara
:)

So I talked with a friend of mine from high school the other day and she said "Hey there's a solar eclipse next week."  I told her yes, but we won't be able to see it.  She was disappointed but called me "the expert." 
First off, a solar eclipse is when the moon covers up the sun. 
So here's the deal...yes there is a solar eclipse tomorrow but it'll only be visible in Northern Canada, China and Siberia.  Click here to find out where the eclipse will be.  So it's not even possible to take a "road" trip to see it, but you can have a cyber view.  Click here to see a live webcast from China. 

Enjoy!
Tara

My heart sank late last night when I saw on our news that a former WWII pilot died.  Her name was Margaret Ringenberg and I had the pleasure of meeting her two years ago at EAA Airventure.  I was there as a speaker for Woman Soar, an event encouraging young women in aviation.  I sat next to her during lunch and was in awe by her life story and her engaging personality.  I learned so much from her just in that half hour or so.  She was a WASP or Women Airforce Service Pilot during WWII and flew in non-combat air missions.  She told me stories about her missions and also how she still flew in races across the globe!  Imagine being in your mid 80's and still being able to do what you love and to share your experiences with other people.  Not only did I find her fascinating so did Tom Brokaw.  He included her in his book "The Greatest Generation." 
After having lunch with Margaret I grabbed my friend and colleague Becky DeVries and told her she HAD to do a story with Margaret and the other WASP.  Both Becky and I learned a lot from her and the other women that day.  They played an important role during WWII and carved a path for other women aviators. 
Before I left I grabbed Margaret and took a picture with her.  I'm so glad I did.
Click here and scroll down to the video to hear Margaret's story.

I was on my way to visit family friends in Iron Mountain, Michigan Saturday night and was in awe of the neat sunset.  I was a bright orange and looked really amazing...of course I didn't have my camera, which often happens when I see really neat things. 
This morning I was looking online and found out the hazy sunset I saw was caused by smoke from fires in Canada. 
One of our viewers sent in a few pictures...look in the photos section of my blog.  Also to see satellite pictures of the smoke click here

Tara

During flooding or other severe conditions should we expect weather reporters to pronounce the areas correctly? Local weather reporters are usually good about it but when listening to the Weather Channel or other major news sources it tends to be another story which bothers me.

Yes, accents are different in other areas of the country, but if danger is coming my way, and I am lucky enough to be following the weather at that moment, it would be nice to properly hear where the danger is instead of guessing if that is my area or not. Sometimes they zoom in so closely on areas that, unless you are familiar with that state, you wouldn't have a clue where they were talking about. I would think that while working in a news position, whether it is radio or television, the talent would receive a pronunciation note as to how to say a certain word. If they had confusion they should talk to someone before they go on the air.

Maybe I am making a mountain out of a mole hole here, especially because I was told recently I was saying Milwaukee wrong haha BUT, again, it bothers me because I want to know for sure whether or not danger is coming my way.

The year is half over and Wisconsin has recorded 25 tornadoes, that's more than the yearly average of 21.  2008 started off a little strange with two tornado touchdowns in January...that's only happened one other time January.  The two twisters hit Kenosha County and one of them was a strong one rated EF 3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.  June was a big month.  On the 7th, 12 tornadoes touched down and another 8 hit on the 12th.  That brings June's total to 20. June 2008 is the third most active June in weather history.  June 2005 had 30 tornadoes and June 1993 had 28. 
Remember the January tornadoes?  Click here to read more. 
Click here to read more on the June 2008 tornado.
Tara

We use satellites to help us show where clouds are but they can also pick up changes in the landscape.  There is a fantastic blog showing "birds eye views" of the flooding in central and western Wisconsin.  This first loop shows the same vantage point but different time periods.  The first image is from a sunny day a in early June but the second image is after the heavy rains.  The second image has a few clouds but try and notice the richer blues that pop out against the green vegetation.  Those are rivers and bodies of water.  Water has a much darker appearance on Some of the rivers look like veins. 
This second loop shows how much rain Wisconsin has recorded during the last 7 days.  Some areas in the southern half of the state has seen 6 to 10 inches of rain.  Many areas are already a foot above average for the year.  The scary part is more rain is on the way.

Tara
Link to Satellite Blog

The flooding that happened in souther wisconsin is amazing when you take a look at the footage. When you see the house of lake doltin just dissipere like it's nothing and county hwy a just taken out of the picture. And there is no end insight later this week we are to get more unneeded rain in some places up to six inches. This is not good. And most of the dams in southern wisconsin are failing. I live in marinette wi right on the menominee river and about less then half a mile is 2 big dams and i just wounder if we were to get a lot of rain what it would do to the dam.

This year as you all may have know this year has been a very bad year for severe weather. There have been almost or more the 1000 tornateos in the us alone. There have been 111 deaths in the us and half of them were from people who took the common mistake by taking shelter in there cars. This is not a good place to take shelter because a car can become airborn.

Latly the storm prediction center has been issuing a pds ( particulery danderous situation ) for severe weather.

Just on Wed June 3 2008 there were over 1600 miles of severe weather streating from the rockys to Washington DC.

As we all know mother nature has here way with weather and she is sure showing her power and streanth.

Comming soon you will beable to see live weather brodcast for local and national weather at my website which is    www.tagged.com/star98. And best of all it will be in high definition.

I remember one year ago today our weather team looking at computer models, radar images and knew a tornado was going to hit somewhere in Northeast Wisconsin.  All of the "ingredients" were there for severe weather and even a twister.  It was something usually seen in the plains but not here in Wisconsin.  I remember graduations being cancelled, many outdoor events and people calling the weather office asking if they should cancel events.  While it didn't storm everywhere there was one large storm what we term as a supercell moved through four counties, Langlade, Shawano, Menominee and Oconto.  It spawned a tornado rated an EF3 which means winds were anywhere from 140 to 160 miles per hour. The tornado took down trees in Menominee County and a few days later a "scar" could be seen from satellites.   One place hit hard was Riverview and The Bear Paw Resort.  Meteorologist Doug Higgins was there and talked with the owner about rebuilding during the last year.
Tara

Why is the weather in June so Crummy it rain's almost every day in Oshkosh and you can't do yard work when it is Raining. is there a forecast like we got alot of snow so now we are going to get alot of rain this season????

Mars has a visitor...too bad its not me, I love to travel :)  A robot named Phoenix is analyzing samples from its polar region.  Scientists are trying to find evidence of ice.  What's really neat are the pictures and movies of the red planet.  Click here to see a movie of the surface. 
Now if that wasn't neat enough a camera orbiting Mars was able to get a picture of Phoenix landing, you can see the parachute opening.  Click here
Enjoy the view from another planet!
Tara
ps...click here to see how a UWGB professor had a part in the Phoenix.

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