Longing For Some Rain

(STS missions from the past during day light from Cape Canaveral)

There's some local banter going on as to which launches are better - - night vs. day. I think that hands down day launches are better. There's more to see and photograph as you can see above. Night ones are 'pretty' per se, but the overall picture is not nearly as dramatic. I did watch the launch last night, then ran back inside to see the replays on TV which were better, thus not posting any pictures from what I saw..as there really isn't anything to see but a bright ball in the sky. Video would do it a lot more justice, but I expect there will be lots of that on the web before day's end that will well surpass what I saw. Recorded some of what was on TV on our local channel which I might post though.

Weatherwise, today not much change from yesterday but there will be some differences. Danny is pretty much out of the picture now and the dominating weather feature today is a long wave mid-upper level trough poised along the U.S. east coast. Drier than normal mid-upper level air streamed in as feared yesterday, suppressing most convection north of St. Lucie county. Today will be much the same. Expect a light seabreeze to form from the Cape and points south around 1-2pm and penetrate no further west than US1. At this time there will be a chance of a very light sprinkle from Canaveral South...but greatest storm coverage should again be from St. Lucie county in towards Lake Okeechobee as the afternoon progresses. The sea breeze, assuming it does form, may actually retreat by late afternoon and be all but gone as stronger mid level winds from the WSW over run the area late this afternoon.

There are hints that a pocket of moisture now over the eastern Gulf of Mexico will be moving into the area at that time..thus continuing a minute coverage of possible showers, mostly along the coast except for the better aforementioned areas where storms may linger until sunset. Don't think we'll see as much overall cloud coverage today since there won't be storms going up further west that will send their remnants overhead, creating the mostly cloudy sky we ended up with yesterday.

The temperature along the immediate coast may feel a tad uncomfortable today as it will warm into the low 90s with very humid conditions (as it was yesterday). It might feel very moist out there, but rest assured that just above ground level there is a significantly and unseasonably drier air mass in place.

Sunday-Monday: Expect much the same scenario as Saturday..with a small transition beginning by late in the day Sunday as greater moisture starts to overrun the region. By Monday we should be back to seasonal norms temperature and precipitation wise with storms induced by sea-breeze convergences from both coasts over the interior and making their generic penetration toward the coast and fizzling along the I-95 corridor.