Yet another glancing blow of cold air for the First Coast so an inland light freeze/frost early Wed. will be followed by quickly moderating temps. the rest of the week. Highs will be back near 70 degrees Thu. & Fri. High pressure moving off the upper east coast this weekend will swing winds around to the east/northeast which will bring in somewhat cooler air off the Atlantic but nights will still be well above freezing.
Of more significance is the lack of rain. We're rapidly drying out, so the fire danger is increasing. I don't any appreciable rain for at least a week to 10 days. That means pollen counts will stay high as the cold temps. will not be low enough to kill the pollen & there will be no rain to "wash" the pollen out of the air.
The buoy located about 40 miles E/NE of St. Augustine is no longer funded & will likely eventually stop functioning. The buoy density is already low off the First Coast & not having this buoy won't help matters. This buoy was especially useful as tropical storm "Beryl" moved west towards the coast in late May. From the N.W.S.:
SUBJECT: DUE TO LACK OF FUNDS, NDBC BUOY 41012, OFFSHORE ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY
THE NATIONAL OCEAN SERVICE (NOS) COASTAL STORMS PROGRAM (CSP) HAS DISCONTINUED SPONSORSHIP OF NATIONAL DATA BUOY CENTER (NDBC) BUOY 41012. THIS BUOY IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE UNFUNDED. BUOY 41012 IS LOCATED ABOUT 40 NAUTICAL MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, AT COORDINATES 30.042 NORTH, 80.534 WEST.
THE ANNUAL COST TO OPERATE THIS BUOY IS ABOUT $60,000, PLUS U.S. COAST GUARD SUPPORT TO SERVICE IT. AT THIS TIME, THE BUOY IS FULLY OPERATIONAL AND TRANSMITTING DATA. IF PROBLEMS WITH DATA TRANSMISSION DEVELOP, THERE IS NO FUNDING TO REPAIR THE BUOY AND IT WILL NO LONGER TRANSMIT DATA. THERE IS NO WAY TO DETERMINE HOW LONG THE DATA WILL BE AVAILABLE.
BUOY 41012 WAS DEPLOYED IN JUNE 2002. THE CSP IS NOT AN OPERATIONAL PROGRAM AND TYPICALLY DOES NOT PROVIDE LONG TERM FUNDING FOR PROJECTS. THE CSP AND NDBC HAVE BEEN WORKING TOGETHER FOR THE PAST
FEW YEARS TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE FUNDING SOURCE FOR THIS BUOY BUT HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL TO DATE.
PLEASE PROVIDE ANY COMMENTS TO THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL ADDRESS WITH THE SUBJECT LINE: UNFUNDED BUOY 41012:
MARINE.WEATHER@NOAA.GOV
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
IN THE NORTH FLORIDA AND SOUTHEAST GEORGIA AREA...
AL SANDRIK
WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGIST
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
904-741-4370 EXT. 223
AL.SANDRIK@NOAA.GOV
NATIONALLY...
WAYNE PRESNELL
METEOROLOGIST, MARINE AND COASTAL SERVICES BRANCH
SILVER SPRING, MD 20910
301-713-1677, EXT. 103
WAYNE.PRESNELL@NOAA.GOV
Quite a sight in the sky as Jupiter is in very close proximity to the moon. The photo below is from Mike Rosset in Mandarin. Jupiter is just off to the right of the moon.
