Robert's Post....

Today and Tomorrow will be about perfect if you ask me. I couldn't ask for better weather conditions for the first day of spring tomorrow. We will see temperatures around 72 and 75 for Friday and Saturday, with temperatures in the 40s over night. Our next weather maker will be Sunday night into the overnight hours. Currently it looks to be mainly showers with a few embedded thunderstorms. This doesn't look to be a widespread severe event for us due to lack of instability (Cape,lapse rates) shear will be around so if we can get some storms to fire off along the frontal boundary then we could see a few severe warnings issued.

I have been looking at some literature on recent and forecasted solar activity. In the 11 year cycle we are currently exiting the minimum phase. Generally this means we have had low sunspot activity on the sun. Theoretically the more sun spots the more radiation is emitted towards the earth which can affect satellites, satellite transmissions, magnetic fields, and even global climate. It is believed that for the past 50 years we have been in a highly active phase and we are beginning to shift to a very low period or solar minimum. Some studies even show that this solar minimum can even counter global carbon based warming.

The most well documented minimum occurred during the period of 1645-1715, known as the Maunder Minimum. Coincidentally or not it match up with The Little Ice Age of that same period. This period saw the coldest average global temperatures in over a 1000 years. However scientist have yet to be able to connect the Little Ice Age to solar activity. Other reasons could be connected to high volcanic activity, global ocean currents variability, or even the huge die off of humans during the black plaque and Columbia exchange, which would have limited carbon emissions.

Robert Elvington
robert.elvington@gmail.com

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Wonderful Weather!

We get to enjoy some absolutely wonderful weather today and tomorrow across the region. More on that in a second.

What a great first day of the NCAA Tournament yesterday. The first four games were decided by a total of 12 points and included a double overtime game. Lots of other good games through the remainder of the day as well. Thoroughly enjoyed the action.

My bracket is still in pretty good shape. All of my Elite 8 teams are still alive, and I only have lost one Sweet 16 team.

My Bulldogs (I am still recovering from the devastating loss to Kentucky last Sunday) host North Carolina in the NIT tomorrow. This week has been spring break for the MSU students, so while it probably won't be as rowdy as a normal basketball game is at The Hump, I hope it is still packed and a great atmosphere. Go State!

Back to the weather, we will have sunshine with highs in the low to mid 70s today and mid 70s tomorrow. Spring officially begins tomorrow afternoon, and we get to welcome Spring with some fantastic weather.

I think we will squeeze in a large portion of Sunday with dry weather before showers and some storms arrive by Sunday night. A few strong storms are possible, but it is not a great severe weather setup here. It bears watching though.

Clouds will linger at times with cooler temps Monday and Tuesday, and a stray shower also looks possible as the upper level low moves right overhead.

Wednesday and Thursday will feature a good but of sun with highs warming back up to the upper 60s to lower 70s.

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From Robert.....

Cloudy conditions for most of the day with clearing skies as we go into the overnight. The rain should stay along the coast with little or no chance for a shower here today. Friday and Sunday will be about perfect with temps in the low 70s.

For the most part the weather for the U.S is quiet so there isn't much to talk about. It is still a little early for me to consider a tropical outlook for the Atlantic so I will concentrate on basketball.

OK, I know you all are going to roll your eyes but lets talk NIT. We may have a possible in-office match up. Matthew is a Mississippi State grad and I am a NC State grad, if MSU beats Carolina (please) and NC State beats UAB we will play in the third round. However, if Matthew's team can't pull it out we still get to play Carolina in Carmichael. The potential to beat Carolina in Carmichael would be pretty magical. Being a NC State fan though we all know how things will turn out, a UAB blowout.

As for the NCAA tournament I always try to stay away from favorites that all the analysts are picking.

Some of my underdogs advancing from the first round: N Iowa, SDSU, Ga Tech, Wofford, Washington,

Missouri, Minnesota.

Final Four: Syracuse, Texas AM, Kansas, W Virginia

Champion: Syracuse

Robert Elvington
robert.elvington@gmail.com

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