Donald's MNTornado blog

As of 2:53pm at Flying Cloud Airport

Temperature: 99.0 °F
Heat Index: 100.5 °F
Dew Point: 62.1 °F

I thought those of you who like astronomy might like to see this photo I found on Space.com. This photo was taken with a Canon EOS 1000D and a lens at 70mm. The photographer took this photo from Marseilles, France. The spots you see on the sun are the sunspots that have created so much havoc the last few days.


click on the image for the full resolution version

Quoting ozgalah:
Hi Don, keep cool! Would love to see the Auroras, on the bucket list. Was hoping to come to Minnesota this year for Thanksgiving but since Pete has had more heart stents he is not allowed long haul flights for a while so maybe next year! Hope you are keeping well.

Hello stranger,
Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to take any pictures during the two times I went out. The Aurora just wouldn't pose for me I'm afraid. Here is a link to some great photos on Space.com though.

Link to Space.com photo gallery

There are some great photos on the Weather Underground photo gallery also if you do a search under the subject Astronomy.

Sorry to hear the news about Pete. I hope things get better latter for him. I'm going in to get a CT Scan of my heart tomorrow at the hospital. Been having chest pains that the doctors can't explain since I've had just about every test there is and they have never been able to find anything wrong with my heart. Very strange.

The CT Scan showed up 3 Arteries for sure and possibly 2 others that are showing narrowing due to plague. The doctor doesn't think that this is what is causing the chest pains, but wants me to see a Cardiologist on Friday. I will find out for certain then what I'm dealing with and how it will change my life.

The Friday next week I finally get to see the Rheumatologist and hopefully the rest of the answers to the reasons for all my body pains. I'm hoping that the doctor can also do something to deal with the pain and let me get back to living a normal life again.

Have you ever seen and wondered about how to do or how LEVITATION PHOTOGRAPHY is done. In other words how can you make something look like it's doing the impossible by floating in mid air in your photographs. I've always suspected that this is nothing more and a photo editing trick, but have never done it myself so I wasn't sure of the steps involved in doing this. Well I found a YouTube video that explains it very well using Adobe Photoshop. Mind you the tricks they show here can be done with just about any photo editor that has layers and transparency capability.

Levitation Photography Editing in Photoshop CS5

Hail and high winds up to 79 mph have been reported in Redwood Fall in Lyon County, Minnesota which is West of the Twin Cities. The storm is headed pretty much straight East.

Special Statement
Statement as of 7:44 PM CDT on August 01, 2012

At 743 PM CDT... Weather Service radar was tracking strong
thunderstorms along a line extending from 5 miles northwest of
Winthrop to 6 miles northwest of Hanska to 8 miles east of Jeffers.
These storms were moving east at 30 mph.

One half inch diameter hail and winds up to 50 mph are expected with
these storms.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

This thunderstorm could intensify quickly... so be ready to act if a
warning is issued.

Stay tuned to NOAA Weather Radio... commercial radio... or your local
television stations for later statements and possible warnings
concerning this weather situation.


Lat... Lon 4393 9487 4410 9487 4411 9499 4421 9472
4463 9451 4463 9382 4459 9389 4454 9391
4454 9382 4405 9400 4386 9455
time... Mot... loc 0044z 286deg 25kt 4461 9441 4418 9459
4403 9503


Jlt

NWS Minneapolis WSR-88D to Receive Dual Polarization Upgrade


Photo Courtesy of Reid Wolcott

Dual-Polarization Upgrade to the NWS Twin Cities Radar Complete

The Doppler radar upgrade at your National Weather Service Forecast Office is complete. Although minor calibrations will be made in the coming days to ensure optimum accuracy, the upgrade is complete and radar data is now available. The information below provides more details on dual-pol, including how it works and the benefits of the technology.

Hi Sandi,
Thanks. They currently have me going through Cardiac Rehabilitation Therapy 3 times a week and I've already noticed some progress. I've lost 25 pounds over that last month so I'm making progress in the right direction.


The Yearly ATA BBQ Picnic went out as planned despite the fact that it did rain. It came down pretty good for about an hour, but didn't rain all day as was forecast. It did put a damper on most of the activities we usually have. This year it turned out to be mostly a get together and food.