WeatherNation Meteorologists

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GULF COAST - According to the National Hurricane Center, Tropical Storm Francine is likely to become a hurricane soon. Francine will encounter warm waters as it travels north-northwest. This will allow for strengthening up until landfall. A trough will start to turn Francine to the northeast on Tuesday and also pick up its forward speed. This system is expected to make landfall as a category 2 hurricane on Wednesday with maximum sustained winds of 100+ mph. It will quickly move inland and dissipate into Thursday.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 205951-1725937238100.jpg">A Hurricane Warning (red) has been issued for the Louisiana Coast from the Louisiana coast from Sabine Pass to Morgan City. A Tropical Storm Warning (orange) has been issued for the Louisiana Coast east of Morgan City to Grand Isle and from High Island Texas to Sabine Pass.Tropical Storm Watches (yellow) extends south to Brownsville, TX, and east to New Orleans, LA.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 210058-1725937317648.jpg">A Storm Surge Warnings has been issued from east of High Island, TX, eastward to the Mouth of the Mississippi River, Louisiana, including Vermilion Bay.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 151021-1725916238350.png"><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 123922-1725907172359.jpg">Heavy rain and flooding are expected from Texas to Louisiana. Widespread areas of 4-8 inches are expected, especially in southern Louisiana, with some localized areas surpassing a FOOT of rain! As Francine moves inland, deep Gulf moisture will be pulled into the Mississippi Valley states, bringing totals upwards of 4-6" into Arkansas.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 124736-1725908152449.jpg">With the addition of saturated soils from recent rainy weather, the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) expects flooding Monday through Wednesday; mostly for areas bordering the Gulf before pushing inland. They've upgraded areas of Louisiana into a MODERATE risk for flash flooding on Wednesday (level 3 out of 4).<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 124701-1725907941217.jpg">While this system will be all about the heavy rain, storm surge, and elevated winds, don't forget about the severe component of it too. During landfall, areas in the right front quadrant of the storm could see numerous tornadoes spin up. Right now, the Storm Prediction Center has highlighted the coastal areas on Wednesday with the best bet to see those.<video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/09-09_rsc svr outlook-1725937394140.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video>There are other areas to monitor, in the Atlantic AND the Pacific Basins. Read more about those here: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.weathernationtv.com/news/atlantic-basin-becoming-active-again">Tropics Heating Up</a>

Alana Cameron

Hurricane Warnings Issued for Francine

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Alana Cameron was born and raised in Canada in the city of Mississauga, just outside of Toronto. Alana is the oldest of 4 siblings, all close in age, and grew up playing outside with them in all types of weather. After graduating high school, Alana moved to study at the University of British Columbia in Kelowna for a year before transferring to Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she completed a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Atmospheric Science. Upon completion, Alana moved back to Toronto where she completed a post-grad degree in Meteorology at York University. After her post-grad, she went on to complete another post-grad in Broadcast Journalism - TV News at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. During her final year of studies she had the privilege of interning with the best in the business in Canada at The Weather Network. Once she finished her internship, she got the call from small-town Denison, Texas where she accepted a job as an on-air meteorologist at KTEN-TV, right in tornado alley, covering severe weather from Sherman/Denison (North Texas) to Ada (Southern Oklahoma). After the most active tornado season Oklahoma had seen in May 2019 (105 tornadoes!) Alana is excited to join WeatherNation to cover weather all across the nation. If you're interested in following her on social media she can be found @alanacameronwx!

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SOUTHWEST - Numerous records broke this weekend in California and Arizona after a dangerous heat left millions under heat alerts. On Monday, new records broke in California. Here are some locations that tied previous records for September 9th.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 210554-1725937597028.jpg">Excessive Heat Alerts remain in effect through Tuesday across California and Arizona for the dangerous heat that will continue.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 210704-1725937632628.jpg">Many spots will be at least 10° above average through today. Make sure you are staying hydrated and planning for the heat! The coast will also be relatively warm, but cooler than areas further inland. <img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 210745-1725937685381.jpg"> More on your Western Regional Forecast can always be found :50 past the hour on WeatherNation.

Record Heat Coming to a Close in California

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Originally born in Spokane, Washington,  Jackie's Dad was in the Air Force which led her to a life of travel. She has lived in Wichita, Okinawa, Japan, Baltimore, New Jersey, Indiana and South Carolina.  After graduating from Kadena High School, in Okinawa Japan, she got a full basketball scholarship to Coppin State College. On the court she was a 4-year starter and reached over 1000 points in her basketball career. She was also named Athlete of the Year for the whole university in 2002. Off the court, she earned a degree in Broadcast Production/English.

After college, she landed a job as a radio personality. Jackie went on to have a successful career for 12 years working at KXLY broadcast center. While on the radio, she decided to change career. Jackie went back to school, graduating from the Mississippi State Meteorology Broadcast Program. From snow, to tornadoes, to hurricanes, she has had experience forecasting all these events.

Jackie Brown

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RECORD COLD - Another crisp morning for portions of the east. This morning, Salisbury, MD, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina broke records for the coldest mornings!OVERNIGHTIt was a busy day for portions of Western New York as we saw multiple severe warned storms. Things are much calmer with the loss of daytime heating as we now see a general thunderstorm risk overnight.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/overnight fffff-1725937012301.png">A few storms remain overnight as a trough of low pressure lingers, but the severe threat will be minimal.<video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/overnight fss-1725937218512.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video>After record mornings and cool days for some, temps will be near average to above average. Burlington will see 67° on Tuesday, but by Thursday warm up to 80°. Nashville will see impacts from Francine's remnants this week, including rain and cooler temps. By Thursday, Nashville will see temps drop from the low 90s to the upper 70s. <img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/tuestattt-1725937290617.png">For the latest update on this portion of the country, tune into the East Regional Forecast, at 10 past every hour.

Windy Storms Replace Chilly Start in the Northeast

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Kevin Schneider

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As we approach the climatological peak of the tropical season in the Atlantic basin, it's starting to look like it! The most pressing threat to land at this time will be what spins out of the Western Gulf early this week, read more about it here:<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.weathernationtv.com/news/tropical-system-expected-to-develop-this-week">Francine Forms in the Gulf of Mexico</a>There are a few other areas in the Atlantic to monitor, one with a high chance and the other with a medium chance to develop. One has been dubbed 92L by the National Hurricane Center, meaning they can run models for the system.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 125753-1725908396258.jpg">This system is expected to stay north of the Leeward Islands, but could still bring impacts like some rain and high surf to the area.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 130019-1725908431675.jpg">The other system behind 92L has a slightly lower chance of development. The final wave we're keeping our eyes on is in the Eastern Pacific basin. While it appears this system could head out to sea, some models suggest the moisture ends up in the Four Corners region late this week, enhancing the monsoonal thunderstorms we've gotten used to seeing.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/E Pac Outlook Sun-1725884344080.png">This week serves as a great reminder to sure up your hurricane plan just in case, with the climatological peak on September 10.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Atlantic ACE left-1725901515308.png">We're a little under halfway through Hurricane Season, but the usual peak in activity is still a little under a week away! Stay with WeatherNation for the latest forecast on the tropics in the coming days!

Four Different Areas to Monitor in the Atlantic and Pacific

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Hot and dry weather has been a theme of the summer for many out West. Widespread fire weather alerts remain in place for the western United States including fire weather watches (in tan) and red flag warnings (in pink) for portions of Nevada, Idaho, Utah, and Oregon.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 210944-1725937817941.jpg">The Storm Prediction Center also issued elevated fire weather concern through Tuesday. Please avoid outdoor burning in these areas.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 210951-1725937942215.jpg"><h2>Rail Ridge Fire</h2>A wildfire in Oregon, which was started by lightning back on September 2, has grown to over 145,000 acres. Close to 150 homes are being threatened by this blaze<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/new rail ridge-1725901851837.png"><h2>Line Fire</h2>The Line Fire has prompted evacuations in San Bernardino County as flames burned over 20,000 acres over the weekend. Containment has increased to 3% as of the late morning.<div class="twitter-tweet" style="display: flex; justify-content: center" data-twitt-post-id="1833120673797193838" src="https://x.com/WeatherNation/status/1833120673797193838"></div><h2>Davis Fire</h2>Near Reno, the Davis Fire has brought smoky skies to the Lake Tahoe area, with zero containment so far.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/davis firee-1725901897957.png">For more details on the cooldown, catch your West Regional Forecast at :50 past every hour!

Wildfires Erupt Out West

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Brittany Lockley

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Are you thinking about heading to the beach in Florida? You may want to reconsider. The "Sunshine State" and the Southeast are experiencing heavy rainfall, with a stalled front causing rain for the next few days. Rain showers will continue not only in Florida but throughout the Southeast. A frontal boundary stretched across the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama will stick around for several days. This front will bring in additional rainfall before the influence of PTC Six (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.weathernationtv.com/news/tropical-system-expected-to-develop-this-week">related article here</a>) brings heavy rain to Louisiana by Wednesday. &nbsp;<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 060848-1725883866809.png">Portions of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas could see flooding due to the heavy nature of the rain. Fortunately, there's not a high risk of flooding, but at least some ponding of water will be possible, along with minor flooding in isolated spots.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot 2024-09-09 060912-1725883827918.png">Expect heavy rain near the front, with the strongest storms and highest rainfall rates this afternoon and evening, and flooding will be possible with any storms that develop.<video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/09/jojfojof-1725908331067.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video>The second west low that lingers in the Gulf will move back to the north next week, bringing flood chances back to Texas and Louisiana. Make sure to tune in to WeatherNation for the latest details.

Front Stalls in the Northern Gulf, Scattered Downpours Expected

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Pumpkin spice lattes are back at coffee shops, and the Halloween décor has popped into retail locations, which means fall is on the horizon. As the summer season wraps up meteorologically on August 31st and astronomically on September 22nd, Mother Nature heralds in the tell-tale signs that Autumn has arrived with the changing colors of the leaves.&nbsp;&nbsp;But forecasting the changing leaves is a difficult task with variables that can sometimes be difficult to track. &nbsp;Weather plays an important role in the timing of when leaves will change, and while some locations have seasonal averages for peak foliage, nature has the final say on when the brilliant colors will arrive.&nbsp;WHY LEAVES CHANGE COLOR:&nbsp;The change in season sparks the transformation within deciduous trees. Deciduous trees typically have large, broad leaves and use flowers to reproduce; think your oak and maple types. These trees get the deciduous classification from the Latin word “dēciduus” which means “to fall” because of their tendency to drop their leaves once they reach maturity. &nbsp;Coniferous trees are your evergreen trees. These trees tend to have needles or scales and reproduce using cones. Coniferous trees typically hold their needles year-round as they help with water conservation for the tree to continue producing food for itself during the long winter and summer months.&nbsp;Because of the deciduous tree's leaf shape, they are the ones that transform into brilliant plumes of color as the days get shorter. &nbsp;So, what’s sparking the change?&nbsp;According to the Smithsonian, in fall, the days start getting shorter, meaning less sunlight, and in turn, cooler temperatures. This signals the trees to end their food making process. The chlorophyll within the leaves that helps conduct photosynthesis begins to fade allowing other chemicals within the leaves to shine. &nbsp;<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot 2024-08-28 135520-1724874946511.png">WHAT DO FORECASTS LOOK FOR:&nbsp;“The ideal weather we’re looking for is sunny, warm afternoons, and clear, cold nights,” said Evan Fisher, the founder of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://ExploreFall.com">ExploreFall.com</a>. Too much drought or rain can vastly impact the colors produced by the trees. &nbsp;&nbsp;Heat can induce stress on the trees and allow them to show color early. Fisher said maples are susceptible to stress, such as a warm summer, like many along the Eastern Seaboard have seen in the 2024 summer season. &nbsp;“The hardest part of predicting fall color is accounting for the extremes.” Fisher elaborated. “[Drought] that can do crazy things to the fall color. If you have a little bit of drought it may delay the color. If you have a lot of drought, it may accelerate it. But we don’t really know exactly where that line is exactly in between. And sometimes the same goes for really moist conditions.” &nbsp;Another important factor for forecasting foliage is the amount of daylight too. “I like to say that daylight opens the door for fall colors. Once the days get short enough and the temperatures are cool enough, we start to see the colors progress,” Fisher said.&nbsp;You can learn more about forecasting fall colors below:&nbsp;<div data-youtube-video=""><iframe width="640" height="480" allowfullscreen="false" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GyZbO8Rh3Ug" start="0"></iframe></div>WHY ARE THEY DIFFERENT COLORS: &nbsp;The color each tree presents depends on what’s present in the leaves. According to the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry, xanthophyll and carotenes are already present in leaves as the green chlorophyll fades away. These pigments give leaves yellow and orange coloring, similar to how they color other plants such as carrots.&nbsp;Other chemical reactions can happen at the same time as the fading green color which produces anthocyanin pigments, which give leaves a reddish and purplish color. The Forestry Services of Scotland says if temperatures stay above freezing, more of these anthocyanin pigments are produced. If autumn remains sunny and dry, even more trees will begin to produce pigments to give even more red color. The process is slow though, which is why you sometimes see trees with a mix of greens, yellows, and reds all at once.&nbsp;WHY DO LEAVES DROP:&nbsp;In the spring, trees create little tubules between the leaves and the branches to transport nutrients back and forth between the leaves. As the fall creeps in, the tree begins producing a hormone that builds up a waxy layer between the leaf and the branch that reduces nutrient transportation. Eventually the leaf will be weak enough to be carried away by the wind, rain, or snow, said Michael Davidson on his Molecular Expressions website via Florida State University. &nbsp;By dropping their leaves, deciduous trees will spend less energy through the winter and converse moisture throughout their systems. The dropping of their leaves also prevents external stress that can occur when heavy snow weighs down a tree’s branches. &nbsp;

Rob Bradley

Getting You Ready for Fall Foliage 2024

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Most of us have a story about the "winter that never seemed to end in 2018." First, there were four nor'easters in three weeks. Then, April began with the coldest temperatures some cities have ever recorded (for weeks). But now Caribou, Maine joins the story with this simple tweet from the National Weather Service.

https://twitter.com/NWSCaribou/status/986801532250263552

So if you think *your* winter was bad, let that statistic sink in! Imagine waking up 115 times in a row to find at least a foot of snow outside your bedroom window! Plus the fact that this season's 115 days in a row was 2nd only to *last* season's record of 132 straight days! We know, Caribou is a notoriously snowy place.

<img class="size-large wp-image-90376" src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2018/04/Capture2-11-728x408.jpg" alt="" width="728" height="408" /> Snow depth in Maine as of Wednesday, April 18

It sits as one of New England's northernmost cities (roughly 47 degrees north latitude, similar to Duluth, Minnesota but slightly south of Seattle, Washington) and averages a whopping 108.6 inches of snow each season.

<img class="size-large wp-image-90377" src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2018/04/Capture3-10-728x408.jpg" alt="" width="728" height="408" /> Northeast snow depth as of Wednesday, April 18

Here's what lead up to this grand statistic.
<ul>
 	<li>December 23, 2017: Caribou wakes up to a snow depth (amount of snow on the ground) of 10 inches</li>
 	<li>December 23, 2017: Caribou gets 8" of new snow</li>
 	<li>Christmas Eve 2017: Caribou has a snow depth of 18"</li>
 	<li>February 11, 2018: Caribou reaches its max snow depth of 36"</li>
 	<li>April 18, 2018: Caribou's snow depth drops below 12" for the first time in 115 days</li>
</ul>
So was it the cold air that made the snow stick around, or new snow that continued to fall?

January 2018: Caribou records a temperature for the month of +1.9° to average

February 2018: Caribou records a temperature for the month of +5.2° to average

March 2018: Caribou records a temperature for the month of +4.2° to average

<img class="size-large wp-image-90378" src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2018/04/Capture4-8-728x408.jpg" alt="" width="728" height="408" /> Caribou, ME earlier this season (courtesy NWS Caribou)

That's remarkable! To be two to five degrees warmer than average and keep a snow depth of at least a foot is very impressive. Thus, it must have been the fresh snow that fell.

January: 38.9" (+13.7")

February: 25.3" (+3.3")

March: 26.1" (+18.3")

As of Wednesday, April 18 Caribou had received the 11th-most snowfall on record and sat at 137.1" for the season. Any more snow coming? Well, maybe a little bit through the weekend of April 21-22.

<img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-90379" src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2018/04/Capture-19-728x408.jpg" alt="" width="728" height="408" />

For those wishing to put these numbers behind them, let's end the story with a glimmer of hope from the National Weather Service. (How does 63° sound, Caribou?)

https://twitter.com/NWSCaribou/status/986866560726945792

(Cover picture of Caribou courtesy the National Weather Service)

For WeatherNation, Meteorologist Steve Glazier

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As we approach the climatological peak of the

Wildfires Erupt Out West

Hot and dry weather has been a theme of the s

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Are you thinking about heading to the beach i

Getting You Ready for Fall Foliage 2024

Pumpkin spice lattes are back at coffee shops