10/30/2013 Daily Update: A Few Light Wintry Mix This Morning, Midwest Severe Weather, X2-flare from Departing Sunspot

Good morning everyone!

Yes, a few sleet and snow showers are showing up on radar across the Berkshires and the hilltowns this morning. These should not last into the afternoon... the rest of the day is dry but mostly cloudy.

TODAY: Rain showers or a light wintry mix in the morning, turning mostly cloudy in the afternoon. Highs in the lower to mid 50s. Winds from the W at 5 to 10 mph.

TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with lows in the lower to mid 30s. Winds will be calm.

TOMORROW: A chance of a shower, otherwise mostly cloudy, warmer, with highs in the upper 50s to lower 60s. Showers becoming more numerous heading into the evening into Friday. A bit breezy with winds from the S at 5 to 15 mph, gusting over 25 mph at times.

A gusty rainstorm is expected to arrive Thursday night and Friday. Although temperatures rise into the 60s, and possibly 70, winds are going to be howling from the SW. Gusts could reach over 40 mph from a strengthening low moving across the Great Lakes.

NATIONAL WEATHER

• Chilly with spotty showers this morning in the Northeast
• Warm and dry in the Southeast with the exception of Florida where a few showers are possible along the coast.
• A round of severe storms for the Missouri valley stretching into Texas. Here's the area outlined from SPC: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk.html
• Milder across the Northwest and the Rockies
• Breezy and cool in the West Coast and the Southwest

WORLD WEATHER

• Tropical Storm Krosa develops east of Philippines and expected to make landfall either as a strong tropical storm or a typhoon.
• Raymond is starting to fizzle in the Eastern Pacific. Down to a depression now.
• Rain doesn't want to stop in the U.K. but most of the other areas are clearing out in the wake of the strong windstorm Sunday-Monday.
• A few showers and storms in northern Australia, this time the south seeking relief from high pressure

Krosa nears the Philippines (Credit: Wunderground)

EARTHQUAKES

• A 6.0 earthquake struck the Ballany Islands Region near Antarctica. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000kqkf#summary
• A strong 6.2 earthquake hit the coast of Chile near Constitucion. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000kr9k#summary

SPACE WEATHER

• Yes, another X-flare again unleashed by Sunspot 1875 on the far western limb of the sun. It was measured as an X2-flare and no direct hit from a CME is expected given the location of the event. By my count, it's the 4th X-class flare in the last 6 days. Sunspots on the eastern side are turning to face Earth and any flaring would most likely be geo-effective. In particular, Sunspot 1884 has a "beta-gamma-delta" magnetic configuration, with energy capable of launching a moderate to strong flare.
• Impacts from past CMEs have caused several magnetic disturbances but none have reached storm levels. A CME may glance Earth tomorrow from an M4-class flare from Sunspot 1882 on October 28th.

Sunspot 1875 delivered a X-class flare as it says good-bye. 1884
has energy for a strong flare. (Credit: SolarHam.net)