How Many Watches, Warnings, And Advisories Can You Have?
Like many, we headed home for the holidays. Since I only see my family a few times each year, Christmas is a very special time for me. What I didn’t count on was the adventure of getting and being there.
We had planned for travel on Christmas Eve. There was a lot to do yet, including packing, cleaning the house for the cat sitter to come (yeah, I know.), etc. A quick look at the weather through Wisconsin revealed a winter storm warning starting Wednesday at 3:00 a.m. No unnecessary travel. This was just after the winter weather advisory ended at 7:00 p.m.
So, with an hour’s notice, we drove down to the Chicago area. This is where my Blackberry shone. Viewing the weather on my now favorite mobile weather website, Weather Underground, the radar showed no weather until Illinois. We trekked on.
Well, Illinois certainly had the winter weather thing happening. Snow all day on top of the 10-12″ already there. Temperatures dropped, but at least we made it.
Ah, but wait, there’s more. From 20 degrees to 60 degrees by Saturday caused flash flood watches and flash flood warnings as the melting snow combined with the heavy rain increase the risk for flooding. Did I mention the tornado watch too?
The warming temperatures combined with the frozen ground also created some of the thickest fog I’ve seen in awhile. You got it, dense fog advisory. That was followed by yet another winter weather advisory because of the ice and sleet.
The wild weather had one more hand up its sleeve. The fluctuating temperatures brought a wind advisory.
So there you have it. In the space of five days, there were seven different watches, warnings, and advisories. I ask you, how many can you have? Photo by elisfanclub
It was a very busy day, in west central Illinois, 9 counties under severe thunderstorm warning, some twice, 3 under tornado warning, 25 counties under tornado watch.
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:37 pm