4/22 - 6:30pm - Great Start to the Week, Rain Ahead in Starkville

Today's weather has been just perfect for our Earth Day here in Mississippi but tomorrow is going to be even better! Temperatures will top out in the middle 70's with a few clouds around so be sure to make time for outdoor activities tomorrow. Rain and storms will move through as a cold front does during the morning hours of Wednesday, but luckily no severe weather is anticipated with this. We'll clear out the storms for the end of the workweek. Check out my LAST-EVER Mississippi State University CampusConnect forecast below. It's been a great four years here in Starkville and I'm going to miss all of the great folks down here. I'm looking forward to my new beginnings at WAVE 3 in Louisville!

4/17 - 6:35pm - Severe Weather Tomorrow in Mississippi

A line of severe thunderstorms will move through Mississippi tomorrow, bringing the threat of damaging winds, tornadoes, and hail. The timing on these storms in Starkville will be somewhere near 10pm. Given the uncertainties in this forecast you should be on alert for severe weather in the Golden Triangle between 8pm and midnight tomorrow night. Be sure you have a NOAA weather radio or a smartphone weather alerting app ready to go! All the details on this severe weather forecast are available in the video below.

4/11 - 7pm - Rough Day of Severe Weather, Sunshine to Come

We've had 7 reports of tornadoes so far today across the South as storms really ramped up ramped up earlier in the afternoon. One of these tornadoes caused injuries and a fatality in Kemper County, MS as it moved through there and eventually it moved through Noxubee County into the Macon area. Thankfully the severe weather has pushed off to the east and we'll begin working on clearing out the skies over the next few hours. Check out my latest CampusConnect forecast below for all the details!

4/2 - 10:45pm - After Some Rain, a Warm Weekend in Mississippi

A stationary boundary stretched across Mississippi is giving folks to the south quite a bit of warm weather this evening but we're cooling down here in Starkville as we remain on the north side of it. An associated area of low pressure currently in Texas will move through the region later this week, triggering showers on Wednesday and Thursday. While temperatures will take a small tumble on those days we'll warm up vigorously into the 70's by the weekend. Check out your CampusConnect Forecast below for all the details!

3/25 - 11:35pm - Weather Says January, Calendar Says March

A biting wind brought in much cooler air today across Mississippi and we even saw a few snow showers across northern portions of the state. As a large trough over the eastern part of the nation begins to break down we'll see temperatures in recovery mode as we head toward the weekend. If you're looking for more appropriate spring-like weather, hang on! Later this week and the weekend will certainly feature more of what you're looking for. Check out my Mississippi State University CampusConnect forecast below for your complete outlook.

2/28 - 10pm - Snow Showers Possible in MS This Weekend

As cooler air filters in overnight we'll see chilly temperatures tomorrow morning in Starkville along with cloudy skies. A disturbance rotating through the backside of a large low pressure area over the Eastern US will give us a shot at some flurries and snow showers late Friday night into the morning on Saturday. Just like a couple weekends ago, there could be some flurries flying at the MSU baseball game on Saturday afternoon. Temperatures will begin to warm a bit on Sunday and eventually we'll get all the way into the 60's for the new workweek. Your full Mississippi State CampusConnect forecast is in the video below!

2/19 - 11:30pm - Strong Storms in Mississippi Later This Week

After a nice warm day in Starkville we're gearing up for a cooler, cloudier day tomorrow before storms set in on Thursday. The Storm Prediction Center has issued a Slight Risk of severe weather on Thursday for areas southwest of Starkville. We're right on the fringe of it. Since moisture return and instability look rather limited, the potential in the Golden Triangle for severe weather will be fairly marginal and centered around gusty winds, heavy rain, and frequent lightning. It's certainly something to watch though. Rain should clear out for the weekend and leave us with a warm and partly cloudy stretch of weather. Check out the video below for all the details!

2/14 - 11:55pm - A Curveball Forecast for MSU Baseball

Ready for some baseball? Tomorrow marks the start of the collegiate baseball season here at Mississippi State and the weather will cooperate... for some of the games this weekend. Friday looks good with temperatures in the mid 50's and partly cloudy skies but unfortunately a cold snap on Saturday will bring the chill for the game on Saturday as temperatures only reach into the mid 40's. Look for a bit of recovery for Sunday's double-header games. Next week brings us more rain as we're just drying out from all the rain we had earlier this week. Yuck. The only redeeming value to this will be the warmer temperatures that will accompany the system generating the rain. Get your full Mississippi State forecast in the video below!

1/29 - 5:45pm - Serious Severe Weather Concerns Tonight

Latest Severe Weather Updates

Tweets by @RyanHoke

A severe weather setup that we see normally in the springtime is about to unfold on this late January night across a large expanse of the Southeast. While not "unprecedented" or "once-in-a-lifetime", this outbreak is going to impact quite a few people and it's important that everyone have what they need to be prepared and safe. This post is mainly for folks in North Mississippi and West Tennessee, but you can figure out pretty well how you'll be affected if you're not in these areas by some of the maps and information below. Everyone needs to be aware of what's going on because this will be happening at a very bad time of night when even the night owls are asleep.

Fast Facts

A MODERATE Risk of severe weather has been issued by the Storm Prediction Center for the overnight hours in West Tennessee and most of North Mississippi. Tornadoes, damaging winds, and hail are all on the table for these areas as storms move through. Even though places like the Golden Triangle in Mississippi are just outside of the Moderate Risk area I would treat this as if you were in it because these storms are going to be very, very strong still as they move through this region. Please, please, please have a weather radio or smartphone app that's armed and ready to alert you if a Tornado Warning is issued for your location tonight. This will be hitting when most people are asleep so it's a very dangerous situation.

Timing - North MS and West TN

8pm - Midnight - Small chance for some isolated storms. These would carry a tornado, wind, and hail threat.

Midnight - 2am - Slightly better chance for isolated storms, small line of storms may try to form ahead of main line.

2am - 7am - Main line of severe thunderstorms moves through. This will affect everyone. Tornadoes, severe damaging winds, and hail are a good bet during this time.

Discussion

A line of storms stretches from the Great Lakes to Texas right now and will continue to move eastward through the evening. A few reports of severe weather have come in already from this but the main show will be overnight as this line of storms encounters a more rich environment for severe weather.

The main storm mode for tonight will be a squall line of storms with embedded rotation in portions of it (AKA what's termed a QLCS). Supercell storms will be possible ahead of the main line of storms too and could easily produce tornadoes if they develop. Tornadoes in QLCS lines of storms like the one we'll have tonight are more difficult to identify on radar since they're embedded within the line. While not as strong as supercell tornadoes, QLCS tornadoes can be strong and cause massive damage in the right environment.

While directional shear, which is needed to produce tornadoes, isn't very good for this event, the speed shear or tendency for winds to increase in speed with height will be very good. But, the directional shear may just be enough to cause problems. When you combine helicity (caused by shear) with instability in a formula you get what's called the Energy Helicity Index (EHI). This, in my mind, is a good determinant of tornado ingredients in an environment. The NAM model has increased levels of the EHI throughout West Tennessee and Mississippi tonight as this squall line is moving through so these QLCS tornadoes may have some kick to them if they develop. Not good news at all.


Also, since winds at 850 mb (about 5,000 feet) will be howling it will not take much for any part of this line of storms to pull these winds down to the surface and create straight-line wind damage. I wouldn't be surprised if folks affected by the worst of these winds thought they were hit by a tornado. I'm hearing the word Derecho being thrown around a bit with regard to how this system will develop tonight. That's certainly a possibility with this system but I think it's a relatively small chance.

One more thing to mention, and this is not the least important at all, is the fact that moisture and warm air continues to stream in from the south in advance of this system. When the dry line that's triggering these storms hits this richer air tonight you'll know. The whole line of storms should really begin to light up by then. Having air this warm and moist in January is never a good thing because Mother Nature intends to correct it in a violent way.

Follow me on Twitter and my Facebook page for the latest updates tonight!

1/20 - 2:45pm - Bitter Cold Air is Arriving Soon!

Temperatures in the 30's were common last night in West Tennessee and North Mississippi but temperatures are poised to drop much further than that tonight. A dry and relatively marginal cold front is moving through West Tennessee right now and that cold front is the first of two cold shots for the region. This will put lows down into the mid 20's in West Tennessee and lower to mid 30's in North Mississippi as cold air pours in behind the front. This cold air won't allow temperatures to rise much during the day tomorrow either, with highs in the upper 30's closer to Jackson, TN and closer to 50 down toward the Golden Triangle in Mississippi.

During the day tomorrow the second of two shots of cold air will pour in as another cold front passes by. This one will bring the über cold weather that we'll see on Monday night and Tuesday morning. The winds behind this front will be out of the north, meaning the source region (AKA where the air is coming from) for the cold air we'll see during this time will be in the Upper Midwest where they'll be below zero. While that kind of cold isn't expected, mid to upper teens will be common in West Tennessee with readings closer to 20 or 25 degrees down toward North Mississippi. A low of 16 or 17 degrees in Jackson, TN on Tuesday morning looks pretty reasonable given the intensity of the cold air spilling down. While our neighbors to the north may scoff at this being branded as "bitterly cold" in the South, this is still some incredibly cold air. Pets will certainly need to be inside during this time and people need to be bundled up as much as possible. Limit your time outside on Tuesday morning, if possible, and be sure to cover any exposed skin if you do have to be out. Temperatures during the day on Tuesday will warm to a more reasonable lower 30's in West Tennessee and lower 40's in North Mississippi.

Temperatures will moderate during the week thanks to the return of wind flow from the south. This return flow means more moisture in the air across the region. You might guess that this warmer air and more moisture will eventually lead to rain chances... and you'd be right! A low pressure system and associated upper-level shortwave disturbance will track through near the end of the week, bringing rain chances. There's some disagreement between various models over whether this will start on Thursday or Friday. The GFS model's timeline on this is posted below. My guess at this point is that the timeline you see below will be delayed by about 12 hours, so expect rain chances to creep into the region ahead of this low on Thursday afternoon and continue through the night into Friday.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that a little bit of wintry precipitation may fall on the backside of this system on Friday. If cold air flows in behind a cold front associated with this system fast enough then some of the last few rain showers could mix with or change over to a brief period of snow. The GFS identifies Kentuckiana as being the prime target for this but we all know that model has been trending too warm lately in all the winter weather events we've dealt with. So in my mind, West Tennessee is in a potential area for this mix or snow switchover to occur. We're too early for specifics on this so the forecast will have to be fine-tuned during the week. Stay warm!

11/12 - 2pm - A Frigid Fall Return in Progress!

The clouds are clearing earlier than expected across Mississippi, which is good news for those looking for a more picturesque day outside. Unfortunately this will not save us from an incredible drop in temperature this evening across the Golden Triangle. The cold front that came through earlier this morning is allowing northwesterly winds to bring in an arctic air mass that will help plunge us to around the freezing mark by early tomorrow morning. If you're looking for something a little warmer than that, just wait. Temperatures will break into the 60's again by Wednesday as sunny skies continue to stick around through most of the week. Your full forecast with all the details is available in the video below!

11/5 - 2:15pm - Quick Shot of Rain on the Way in Mississippi

Showers and a few storms are moving eastward through the I-55 corridor of Central Mississippi right now. The eastern extent of these showers and storms are just about to enter Oktibbeha County and we'll keep them around until we get to midnight or so this evening. Temperatures overnight will get only into the mid 40's thanks to the rain and cloud cover, but get ready for cooler temperatures for election day tomorrow with highs near 60.

An interesting aspect of tonight's rain is that the area of low pressure associated with it will be the same one that will exit off the east coast of Florida and blow up to be a significant Nor'easter by Wednesday. This comes on the heels of Hurricane Sandy causing devastation in the Northeast so folks up there are not looking forward to the one-two punch. This Nor'easter will certainly hamper clean-up efforts but the good news is that it will not be as strong or as long-lived as Sandy.

Full sunshine will return to Mississippi by Wednesday and temperatures will recover well into the 60's to 70 or better by the weekend. We'll be watching a storm system make its way through the middle of the country next weekend that has the potential to impact us on Monday of next week. It's not entirely clear how severe the storms we'll have will be but just keep in the back of your mind that we could be off to a stormy start next week. Check out the video below for your complete forecast for the Golden Triangle area.

9/24 - 2pm - Ringing in Fall with Great Weather!

What a great day outside it is here at Mississippi State! We're still in the lower 70's at this hour and the dewpoint is staying low in the mid 40's too. This translates to a beautiful day with low humidity that's not terribly characteristic of September in Mississippi. Nevertheless, what great weather to ring in the first week of fall! Sunny skies will continue throughout most of the workweek but temperatures will rise through the 80's as we move forward. This change in temperature, and unfortunately an increase in humidity, will be due to a more southerly wind component coming into play that will bring us more moist air from the south. It's not looking like we'll hit 90 this week for a high at any point, but we could get close to it. A system pulling through by the weekend will increase our shower and storm chances a little bit by that point but it's not entirely clear when the best chances will be at this point. Check out my CampusConnect forecast below for all the details!

9/17 - 2pm - Tropical Rains Overtake Mississippi

Like heavy rain? Neither do I. That's what we have going on right now across most of Mississippi as an approaching cold front and a low moving onshore from the Gulf of Mexico are combining to give us a good soaking. The downpours and storms across the Golden Triangle area of Mississippi are definitely tropical in nature because moisture is streaming in right from the Gulf as the low pressure center out there continues to move our way. Storms will continue, and rain be at times heavier, this evening across the northeast quarter of Mississippi. Storms will remain likely tomorrow morning but thankfully the front will be moving through at that time and replace the rainy, tropical air with much more pleasant dry and cool air from the north. The middle of this week behind the front looks beautiful! Check out your full Mississippi State University CampusConnect forecast below for all the details on this week's forecast.



Like the new intro video and 5 Day Forecast background in the above forecast? I've been working on those graphics for the past few months and we're rolling them out today as we kick off the official start of our CampusConnect forecasts for the year here at MSU.

9/10 - 4pm - Cooler Weather to Stick Around!

The break in the heat across North Mississippi has made it hard to go back to work and school today but at least it's sticking around for awhile! 90 degrees is not in the forecast for Starkville and the Golden Triangle for the foreseeable future. What we do have in the forecast is sunny skies and temperatures only nudging into the upper 80's over the next couple of days. By the time we hit the weekend we'll increase shower chances a little bit since more moisture will be flowing in with more southerly winds, but it doesn't look like an all-day washout. A reinforcing shot of cool air could make it as far south as Starkville by the start of next week. Your latest detailed CampusConnect forecast is just a click away in the video below!

9/5 - 11:35pm - Stormy Week, Cooler Weekend, and TV Tomorrow!

It's been a stormy day across West Tennessee and North Mississippi as a complex of storms moved through the region this evening generating multiple instances of severe wind. The storms that caused these are still moving southeastward through Northeast Mississippi but have lost their severe punch. Even though it appears these storms will miss Starkville and the Golden Triangle in Mississippi there is the possibility that an isolated storm or two will try to form off the western end of these tonight.

Storms will once again be a possibility tomorrow but they shouldn't be as potent or widespread. We'll have the moist, warm air in place to fuel storms but there won't be any real trigger besides a small upper-level disturbance or two that could try to form and move through. Friday night will be the best chance for storms in the near future though as a cold front sweeps through West Tennessee and North Mississippi. Since these storms will move through earlier in the evening across West Tennessee there is the possibility of a few of these going severe. The chance for severe weather decreases as you move southward into North Mississippi thanks to the later timing during Friday night that they'll be moving through. Will the rain be out of the picture in time for the Mississippi State/Auburn game on Saturday at 11am here in Starkville? It looks like that may be the case at this point but it's too far out to know for certain since the front will be exiting the region sometime during the morning. The big story instead of the storms will be the much cooler, much drier air behind the cold front. We're talking about highs in the upper 70's this weekend in West Tennessee and highs in the lower 80's across North Mississippi, both with low humidity. What a change! We just have to get through a Thursday and Friday full of the deplorable heat and humidity we've seen lately before the wonderful weekend weather arrives.

Looking for something to do tomorrow night? On the Travel Channel at 10 pm/9c tomorrow night a show called Extreme Tours will be airing and the first segment of the show will feature me and my pals at Storm Chasing Adventure Tours! A crew from the show came out to film and interview us as we chased this past spring in New Mexico and their footage along with clips from my library of tornado video will be airing. This program will showcase what we do as a tour group and how we make it happen. Quite a few of our tour guests and tour guides were interviewed for this and the camera crew that came rode along with us for a few hours. I did a sit-down interview with them along with an extensive round of showing off our vehicles and equipment. This should be a good show tomorrow and I'm certainly looking forward to my first appearance on a non-news national TV program! If you can't make it home in time to watch tomorrow be sure to set your DVR.

8/27 - 9:30pm - Update on Isaac's Expected Gulf Coast Landfall

Tropical Storm Isaac is teetering on the edge of becoming a hurricane this evening with winds of 70 mph as of this writing. The threshold for a Category 1 hurricane is 74 mph. The storm motion has slowed down over the past few hours, now moving northwest at only 10 mph. Issac continues to run into issues that prevent it from rapid intensification, which is certainly good news. The latest issue is a batch of dry air that is currently being pulled into the center of the storm. Without an uninhibited source of moist air the storm cannot form a defined eye or intensify very well. The dry air is why Isaac is lopsided right now with most of the intense winds on the south side.

How long will it be until this dry air is finished working through the storm? Probably a few more hours, possibly lasting into the early morning hours tomorrow if current model forecasts are correct. Speaking of models, the current track from the National Hurricane Center takes Isaac right into the Eastern Louisiana/Mississippi Coast areas late tomorrow night into early Wednesday morning as a weak Category 2 storm with 100 mph winds. With the lack of organization we're seeing right now it may only be a Category 1 at landfall. The latest computer model tracks, the spaghetti plots as you've probably heard about and seen over the past few days, have tightened up on a landfall location somewhere around New Orleans. It's worth noting that some of these models are now trending eastward after a massive amount of successive westward jogs in recent days. It doesn't appear that this landfall will take place further east than Biloxi, Mississippi given the current motion of the storm and model data, but the exact landfall location won't be the big story with this storm.

Storm surge exceedance probabilities

The big story here is how big and how slow this storm is. Sure, there will be some wind damage along the coast as the storm makes landfall, but the large area that Isaac covers means that quite an expansive area along the Gulf Coast will experience other effects from it. Storm surge at or above ten feet is possible in locations from New Orleans to Pascagoula, MS and rainfall amounts over a foot are forecast over much of Central and Southern Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana. Isaac will slow down even more than its current speed once it gets over land so heavy rain will be a good bet across much of the Gulf Coast states until we get into the weekend. Inland flooding will be a problem with the deluge that Isaac with unleash on the region as it crawls northward.

Rainfall through 7pm CDT Saturday

As far as local effects in North Mississippi and West Tennessee, Isaac will bring very heavy rain and winds with gusts in some cases near 40 mph. Starkville, MS may be looking at a six or more inch rainfall scenario through Saturday evening and areas in West Tennessee like Jackson will likely see more than three inches of rain. This highly depends on Isaac's exact track so some areas will see much more rain than others.

With just about any landfalling hurricane you can expect the threat of isolated tornadoes, and Isaac will be no different. The turning of winds with height in a hurricane or tropical storm create favorable wind shear for tornadoes to form in stronger parts of it. Due to this potential threat, the Storm Prediction Center has issued a Slight Risk for most of Mississippi and parts of Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.


So overall we're not looking at Isaac to be a major hurricane at landfall, but the effects from it will be widespread due to it's large size. It's a good thing that folks in a wide area are preparing for this storm since it could be a long haul given the slow motion that's expected from it.

4/25 - 12:45pm - A Hot Week in Starkville

The rest of the week in Starkville is going to be hot by most standards. Today through the end of the workweek will see highs in the mid 80's. Sunshine should be plentiful, but Thursday and Friday could have a few clouds thanks to a cold front that will be parking itself right over Tennessee. Warm southerly flow from the Gulf will also moisten up the air in preparation for our next (small) rain chance on Saturday. The video below is my last Mississippi State University Campus Connect weather update for the semester since classes ended today. Look for these to return next fall!

4/18 - 9pm - Rainy End to the Week?

Low off the Gulf Coast on Saturday

After seeing well over three inches of rain yesterday in Starkville we're enjoying much more pleasant weather that's going to continue over the next few days. Southerly winds will be bringing moisture and temperatures near 80 for both Thursday and Friday, but the weekend is a question mark at the moment. Our next system tracking to our south will be sending up rain our way for a good portion of the day on Saturday, but the most recent computer forecast model runs suggest this may be less of an issue than previously thought. Should that system stay well enough south and not send as much moisture our way, Saturday may be showery but not a washout. Sunday should be much cooler regardless but at least the sunshine will return! Your full forecast is available in the video below:

4/11 - 4pm - Quiet Weather Ahead, Storms in the Plains

A stretch of very nice quiet weather is ahead for North Mississippi after a couple days of scattered storms. Cooler temperatures filtering in behind a cold front that came through yesterday will continue to be with us until this weekend and skies will clear out even more too! These clear skies will give us some chilly temperatures tonight in the lower 40's and possibly even upper 30's. The next thing that really will happen with our weather is the approach of a system early next week that could give us clouds and eventually a chance of strong storms by late Monday into Tuesday. This chance is certainly something to keep an eye on. Check out my video at the bottom of this post for more details on this week's forecast.

Speaking of storms, the Plains has a risk of severe weather every day this week through Saturday. Persistent southwest flow aloft coupled with a few shortwave disturbances and eventually a big trough moving through later this week should trigger severe storms in quite a few locations in Tornado Alley. Right now there's a Tornado Watch out for the Texas Panhandle up through Southeast Colorado because of a stalled surface front that is providing a focus for storm development. A supercell that has popped up just north of Amarillo is providing quite a show on radar but has not put down a tornado yet according to the National Weather Service. The risks for severe weather out in that part of the nation will likely become more elevated as the bigger trough moves through later this week. In less than 24 days I'll be traveling the Plains again with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours in my 5th year of being a tour guide with them. I can't wait!