Local Meteorologist Begins Work on "Storm Trackers" Documentary.

       For those of you who follow local weather in our area (WJET-TV in particular) should know who Jason Berry is.  He is a Meteorologist for JET-TV ,FOX 66 and in his spare time manages Reliaweather.com, a weather website devoted to his hometown in Northwestern Ohio.
      On March 21, Berry announced that Reliaweather.com will be creating and airing a production on storm chasing.  Airtime will be in late May on his website and later in June on local Northwestern Ohio T.V.  Titled "Storm Trackers", the documentary will be mainly based around severe weather in Northwestern Ohio.  However, some footage of severe weather in Pennsylvania will also be shown.  Local Northwestern Pennsylvania storm chaser Steve Marshall has volunteered some of his work for this documentary which includes video of local weather events such as tornadoes in Oil City.
        The documentary should be very interesting as Berry is no stranger when it comes to storm chasing. A few days ago I asked Berry about his past chasing experiences. 

"I've experienced 9 tornadoes... mostly EF-1s or less while chasing storms in the Plains.  The strongest however, was an F-4 that hit Van Wert and my hometown in Northwest Ohio November 10, 2002. "


      Storm Trackers can be seen on the Reliaweather.com Video Channel in late May.  Updates will be posted as they come.   

Check out these links if you would like to know more:

Official Stormtrackers Webpage
Reliaweather.com
Article
ReliaBlog
Reliaweather Video Channel


Source:   http://www.reliaweather.com/articles/storm_chasing_doc.html

Spring Photos & Warmer Temperatures

Good Evening!

Finally, temperatures have become more seasonal!  It is nice to finally be able to look out the window and see more green than white!  Sunday, we were able to get a nice taste of summer with temperatures soaring into the lower 70's and upper 80's for our area.  Erie actually managed to set a new record high temperature for the day (82), beating the old record of 81 set back in 1945.  Townville managed to hit 77 that day.  Unfortunately, I don't have any past records for Townville so I am unable to determine whether it was a new record or not. Meadville tied its record of 79.

I managed to take some pictures on Sunday and a few a week before.  I figured I'd share them with you.  If anybody has any pictures they would like to share, please send them to info@townvillepaweather.com.  I would love to post them on here!

Great day to head down to Presque Isle! 
Many people took the opportunity to get out
and enjoy the warm weather.  Click to Enlarge

Motorcycles could be seen all over the area.

After a long winter of waiting, bikers were thrilled to get out and ride.

(Photo: Looking South Down State Street in Erie, PA.)  Click to Enlarge

Just a week ago, ice could be seen from the shores of Presque Isle. 

The ice melted quickly after a week of warmer temperatures. Click to Enlarge

The Return of Severe Weather

Hey Everybody,

Spring time is here (although some days it doesn't seem like it) but it is here and warmer temperatures are on there way.  With the increase of temperatures, the risk of severe weather increases.  A couple weeks ago, a tornado ripped through an area east of Pittsburgh, causing some damage to houses and a school.  Events like this will only increase as we head through the spring months so I figured it would be appropriate to list some stats about past tornado seasons for the nation and our area as well.  Enjoy.

Tornado stats since 2001 for the  U.S., PA, Northwestern PA (Erie, Crawford, Warren, Mercer, Venango Co.'s), and Crawford County.

Year               US              PA                  NW PA                Craw. Co.

2001                  1219                12                      1                              1
2002                    938                16                      6                              3
2003                  1394                  9                      0                              0
2004                  1820                26                      4                              2
2005                  1262                11                      0                              0
2006                  1117                 8                       0                              0
2007                  1102                 7                       0                              0
2008                  1685                 5                       1                              0
2009                  1305                 7                       0                              0
2010                  1545               15                       2                              0
2011                    235                 1                       0                              0    * As of April 7th*

Source: NWS SPC


Random Facts About Tornados...

• Tornadoes have been reported in every state, and every season.
• The strongest winds ever measured from a tornado?  301 +/- 20 mph from a Doppler On Wheels situated near it.
• The longest path length a tornado has traveled was 219 miles.  It traveled through three states: Missouri, Illinois, & Indiana.
• The widest tornado ever recorded was 2.5 miles wide.  (That would almost be from Townville to Maplewood High School)

  Source : Wikipedia

Tornado Safety Tips can be found HERE

March In Review: In Like A Lamb...Out Like A Lamb?

There's that old weather saying...In like a lion, out like a lamb.  That is typically how the month of March is.  Stormy, cold weather early on and then warmer more pleasant weather towards the end.  This year it seems we kicked the lion out (for the most part) and just went with the lamb the whole month.  March started out slightly below average in terms of temperatures but was fair in terms of weather.  Definitely more lamb like weather than lion.  About mid march, we experienced some warmer temperatures, with a few times reaching above 60.  As the month came to an end, high pressure gripped our area for a few days and temperatures were well below average.  Even though it was cold, most of those days saw plenty of sun.  March managed to leave like a lamb and overall it was a quiet month in terms of weather.  So looks like in and out like a lamb. 

March 2011

High Temp:  62  (March 18)        
Low Temp: 8 (March 3)    
Average Temp: 35
Rainfall Total:  4.84 inches
Max Wind Speed 26 mph (March 18)