Halloween Pictures!

The past few days have been filled with Fall Festivals, Trick-or-Treating, and lots of candy! WooHoo. We accomplished the goal of getting enough candy for the two boys and myself! Here are some of the pictures from the past couple of days. This first one is of the boys and me resting after a night of walking the neighborhood. My oldest boy had ditched the costume at this point! My wife took the picture, so you can't see her costume... She didn't dress up.... she's always a "princess"!

This next picture is the mean and ferocious lion! ROOOOAAAARRRR! He seemed to have a nice Halloween experience. He's just like his older brother and daddy... he loves Smarties!

Every good lion needs a scarecrow as a sidekick and what better "sidekick-scarecrow" to have.... His Big Brother!


Here's another picture of Shad.... playing in the Spooky Fog. When your dad is a science geek, you get to play with dry ice every now and then! I love dry ice! Hopefully many of you got to see my little experiment with it yesterday during WSFA 12 News at Noon!
Finally, here's another pumpkin. I have been practicing this year (as many of you know) to be a "pumpkin artist". Here's my favorite this year. I carved this one last night.... Can you tell who it is? If not, ask your kids if they know. If they know, then it worked!

I hope all of you had a great Halloween. Now let's get some rain in here today!!! Don't hold your breath though... rain chances aren't "that" high!

Take care,
Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Happy Halloween

So, was my costume a hit today? I had hoped to be several characters today, but decided on one. The stores are sold out of all the Halloween gear already! Therefore I went as the headless weather guy! This costume works well at work, but I will not try it tonight....
It's hard to breath, see, and speak when you have no head. It was nice to put my head back on for the next weather segment! I did sport the bright orange shirt today. It's not everyday that you can wear a bright orange shirt and bright orange tie. I thought it was kind of "hip"... but Tonya thought it was a little too bright. I'm thinking it was a little of both!

Is everyone geared up for Halloween? I'm a big fan of the day. I think it is because of the candy! Isn't it great to have leftover candy!!!

Here's something to chew on today...More and more people are not celebrating Halloween or they are calling it something different because of it's pagan history. I'm a little torn on this subject though... If you do your research, almost every holiday we celebrate has a pagan root to it. Go ahead and test me.... Google search any holiday you want and put "pagan history" on the other end of it... some of the stuff you will find may surprise you. If we boycott one holiday because it has pagan ties, should we boycott all holidays??? I'm not sure... I'm still tricking and treating tonight, but I wanted to give you something to think about when you're are bored at work or at home today! LOL

Take care everyone and have a great Halloween, or Fall Festival, or whatever you call it these days!
-Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

New Movie

A new movie comes out tonight called simply "The Weather Man". This movie has already had some Oscar buzz, but I already have a problem with it before I even see it. Do you see the milkshake coming down his jacket? Apparently people throw things at this weather guy everyday. Nicholas Cage stars as the weatherman and to see the trailor for this move, check the website by clicking here.

I sure hope this doesn't make people throw things at the weather guy! That would not be cool!!! If you go see the movie this weekend, email your review. Take care and have a great weekend!

Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Hmm... Jeff Right?

As of now, I'm going to say Jeff was more "right". There are a few clouds out there, but I have almost a cloud-free sky at my house. Looking at satellite, I would still count my forecast accurate because there are some clouds that have moved in, but I'm a fair guy... According to my observations at my house... Jeff is the weather geek of the day. Isn't it fun that he wins and I can still call him a geek??? HaHa... We're both dorks!

If the clouds increase in the next hour, I will post a picture and claim victory! As of now though... Jeff wins, but it was close!

Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Who's Gonna Be Right...

The contest is on this afternoon. Gerber took afternoon and evening clouds out of the forecast on the noon show. Who will be right??? ... Who will be wrong??? Who will have "weather-geek" bragging rights tomorrow?

I already see clouds in the Wiregrass and the clouds to the northwest are quickly moving in! The picture above is a Satellite image from 12:30pm. I think the National Weather Service also went cloud free.

When I mentioned the clouds drifting in later today, I said it would be a "mix" of sun and clouds. So when these clouds do arrive (if I'm right), it will not be an overcast.... just partly cloudy. It's still fun to have a little competition. Most folks don't care if it will be sunny or partly sunny, but I like to bug Gerber... so hopefully we see a few clouds roll in late today.

The reason I think we'll see a few clouds this evening is because of a little disturbance or wrinkle in the atmosphere (upper-level trough) that is moving through the South over the next 18 hours. I showed this impulse on one of my "weather nerd" maps this morning. This disturbance should be just enough to help prevent some frost tomorrow morning as I think we'll see a little more wind and few more clouds... We'll see what happens, but when you see a few clouds make for a gorgeous sunset this evening, you can bet I'll be calling Gerber at home! HaHa

Take care everyone!

Ryan

rvaughan@wsfa.com

I'M LATE!!!!!

Ok, so I got to work about an hour late today.... I didn't even set the alarm clock last night! ARRRGH! I made it here though and slapped a show together for you... could you tell? I hope not... Anywho, A lot of folks have been asking, "when will see some rain?". Well, we should see some rain next Tuesday Night into Wednesday. I hope this pans out because I want the Nationwide Tour Golf Tournament to be dry and I want Halloween to be dry. As of now, It looks like we will luck out.

One last thing for the ladies. We went shopping yesterday and mMy wife has a complaint to all clothes designers out there... Why the heck are "petite" pants still too LONG! I guess petite to New York designers is 5'8". And another note to those in the retail business... If I ever go home with a security tag on my clothes again... I"M GOING TO SNAP!!!! You've been warned!!!

Well, eveyone have great day... Hopefully you were able to find your ice scraper this morning. Can you believe we had frost this early in the season!?!?! Wow!

Take Care,
Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Frosty Night?

On average our first frost is not until November! In some cases, late November. With that said, we may get an early frost this year. Many places tonight will see their first frost of the season. With light winds and a clear sky, the area will be prime for what we call "radiational cooling". This is more or less a process that radiates any heat near the surface of the Earth...Out! You may be doing some scraping tomorrow morning on the windshield!

Have a great Tuesday Evening,

Ryan

rvaughan@wsfa.com

Rosa Parks 1913-2005

I'm ashamed to say that I learned more about Rosa Parks this morning on our morning show than I have learned in my entire life. Do I blame my school teachers, my parents, society, or myself? I'd have to say myself. Why have I lived in Montgomery for a few years now, yet have never gone to the Rosa Parks Museum and Library? Why have I never talked with Arlam Carr, who works at WSFA, about the history of Mrs. Parks and the Carr family? Sure, I have studied Civil Rights from time to time and I have talked to Arlam about the desegregation of schools, but I feel like I have done myself an injustice by not knowing more...

I think today is a good day to remember that the Bible says to love all people. I'm sure that is something we all are guilty of not doing...

Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

PS- Much of this post was deleted because I "went off" about how racist all of us still are today. "Us" meaning the entire human race.

Dangerous, But Entertaining...

You know that the storm is getting bad when Jim Cantore goes live with the goggles on! I must admit that I am like everyone else, I watch these crazy folks report live from the middle of major hurricanes. It's not the safest thing in the world... Jeff Morrow learned this first hand as some debris almost hit him in the middle of the storm! (below)
The funniest report came from Al Roker. First, he showed us that someone was actually showing his legs to keep him in place. He joked that he wished he had his weight back!
The guy holding Roker's legs let go of him and down he goes!!!
After he fell, he crawled back inside and the rest of the of his weather segments were done inside! I wish more people would realize that you can cover a hurricane while reporting indoors! I would LOVE to be there, but what is wrong with pointing the camera out a window? Just wondering...

Take care,

Ryan

rvaughan@wsfa.com

Pumpkin Carvin' Night..

Our friends and my family had a pumpkin carving party last night. Nothing beats a big bowl of vegetable soup, some cornbread, about 10 cookies , and some pumpkin carving to get you in the fall spirit. This was my first time to carve pumpkins with this crew and they really take pumpkin carving to the highest level! Checkout this guy (Adam) below... he has an electric pumpkin carver!!! Not too shabby eh?


What happened to the days of triangle eyes and mouths with three teeth? The standard ole pumpkin.... Do you think we'll ever see that guy again? I'm not sure.... With pumpkin patterns, pumpkin knives, pumpkin saws, pumpkin picks, and pumpkin artists... the days of triangle eyes may be gone. Who knows....Everything goes full circle, right? I bet one day the standard pumpkin will make a comeback. It's like everything else... kids today look like they did in the 60s. I'm sure the standard pumpkin will make a comeback too! I wonder if the "mullet" will ever be cool again??? If so, I'm growing one!!! Back to pumpkins... here's me carving... do I look focused or what?

After a few cramps in my hand from making all of the little holes around the pattern and after sawing away at all of the little curves... This was the outcome, what do you think?

Well, I hope to post another entry in a little bit. I am sitting here watching these reporters and meteorologists out in the middle of Hurricane Wilma and I am wondering when one of them will get seriously hurt. I hope to chat about that later!

Have a great Monday!

Ryan

rvaughan@wsfa.com

Another Weather Geek Map...

This map shows you what will be going on at the 850 millibar level on Tuesday morning (or at least what this computer model thinks will be going on!). That is at about 5,000 feet above your head. While this map can tell us a few things about what is going on in the atmosphere, we are going to focus on the color contours of the temperatures at this level. Looking at the temperatures at 5,000 feet above helps us determine our high temperatures for the day. Click image to enlarge.

This time of the year we see what the temperature is will be at 850mb (in Celsius) and add about 13 degrees to it. In the summer we add 15 degrees Celsius and in the Winter about 9-10 degrees. We then convert it to Fahrenheit. If you ever need a quick temperature convertion you can click here.

According to this computer model, we may not make it out of the 50s Tuesday!!! This may be a little optimistic for the fall-lovers. I think we will be around 60, which is MUCH better than the upper 80s we had earlier this week!

I added the red line to show the jetstream. Notice the big "U" in the East. That is a big trough that will stick around for awhile. 80s should be a thing of the past for a couple of weeks at least. Bring on Fall!

Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Vacations Ruined...

Here's a look at the radar out of Cancun this morning courtesy of the Mexican government. If you are big fan of vacations in Cancun or Cozumel, then you may not like Wilma too much! You can clearly see the eye of the storm and some of the heavy rainbands moving into the Yucatan Peninsula. Wilma is still expected to move into Florida. Most likely sometime Monday night. I'm off to go do some editing. I added your comments to the Walmart post and also blogged a little last night too...

TGIF!!!!!
Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Great Roadtrip!

I had a nice little roadtrip today. Photojournalist and News Operations Manager Jeff Harrison and I went to Camden to visit Blackbelt Treasures. If you haven't heard or seen of this place, then I STRONGLY recommend you check it out! They have a website, but it really doesn't do the place justice... Seeing this art in person is much more amazing! If you want to visit their website, click here.

I went there to do a County Road 12 segment and left with several more stories to cover in the future. Tomorrow night's County Road 12 will just be an overview of the work there. I believe the better stories will be in the future when I sit down individually with the artists! By the way, the above picture is a piece done by Charlie Lucas from Selma (The Tin Man). Isn't it cool!

After we went to Camden, we went north to Selma where I spoke with a great group of third graders at Clark Elementary. They were very polite and intelligent young kids. As always, we had a little science experiment to do in the end. Instead of exploding something... we imploded something. Hopefully you'll catch the video Friday morning at about 6:40 or so.

Well I better get these boys ready for bed. It's Bunko night, which means guys night here! For those that don't know what Bunko is...google it! Hopefully I'll blog sometime tomorrow... I guess I should mention Wilma shouldn't I???

Have a good night!
Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

PS-Watch County Road 12 tomorrow night (Friday) at 6:00 pm!

PSS- I have added your WalMart comments below!

Non-Weather Entry...

Do you like Walmart? I have a love-hate realtionship with the store. I have a feeling I am not the only one. Everyone says they hate Walmart, but they all go there!!! They are the biggest company in the world... SO, somebody is shopping there!

It seems like I am there everday. It's just so convenient. Where else can you buy motor oil, yarn, and lettuce all under one roof? It was a genius idea!

Last night I went with oldest son. We had two things to buy and we walked from one side of the store to the other side of the store looking for the shortest line... I f had just picked one and stayed with it, I would have been faster! The express lines should be 10 or less items and not 20 items or less! That's just my opinion though. Don't even get me started on people that have 50 items in the express line!!! ARGH!

Last night I also met a person that reads the blog while in line. Luckily she only had 3 items... she was following the express line rules. She thought for a moment that she picked up an item without a bar code. We found it though! I know she would have felt bad if they had to get a "price check". We had just talked about how crazy WalMart is sometimes! (espcecially when your 2 year old is running around all of the candy!)

My favorite thing about WalMart... you can buy some McDonald's fries when you swing by to pickup your milk! That rocks!!! Especially when you need a little snack before dinner!

Email me your thoughts and I'll post them on the blog!
Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Your Email:
Ryan,
Thanks for the Blog mention, I am now the envy of all my friends!

Anyway, if I had thought about it, we should have cut to electronics, I was there earlier and NO ONE was there, and they have little candy. Oh well, lesson learned. Thanks for the props, I’ll keep secretly reading at work while snacking on Smartees!

Many thanks!
Anonymous

I left your name anonymous so that you don't get busted at work! ;) I might try the electronics depatment one day... who knows. I worked at K-Mart (which you said you hated in line yesterday :( ) for five years and I hated it when people came through the Garden Shop with a full buggy with no garden supplies. It really irritated me for some reason!


Ryan,
I happen to love going to Walmart. It does have it's draw backs, but I can wander around happily for some time. I think a successful trip requires a certain mind set and attitude. We all know the circumstances before we go, so why expect it to be different. Of course, I've reached an age and stage in life where rushing just doesn't get it anymore :)
However, I do wish we had more of those wonderfully helpful people featured in the TV commercials.
Danna

Eveything in my life is still rushed... I'm really lookigng forward to the "not-so-rushed" life!

Dear Ryan,
Just wanted to say hi. About Wal-mart, I have the same love-hate thing with wal-mart too. One of the things that gets me about wal-mart is they have all those check-out lines and every time I'm there (even at christmas) not even half of them are used. But like you said where else can you get everything you need under one roof. I love to read your blog everyday.

Tonya from Millbrook

Thanks Tonya! You bring up a good point... why are those lines not opened?

What a storm, What a season...

I can't believe this hurricane season. It has been absolutely amazing. If you read my earlier post today, then you know that Hurricane Wilma now carries the record for the lowest pressure reading since records were kept. Since my last post it has gone down even further! Here's an updated graphic for the top storms in history. Keep in mind that the lower the pressure, the more intense the storm (typically).

I am going to say it here on the blog first, but will not say it on-air just yet. In my opinion, Wilma will not be a Cat 5 when she comes into Florida. In fact, I think she could go all the way down to a Cat 2. I hope I am right about this. I am glad I am not forecasting this one down in Florida. You have to walk a fine line with storms like Wilma when it will affect your viewing area... You don't want to freak people out by saying a Cat 5 is coming, but you don't want to go lightly on the storm either. Luckily it is not going to affect the WSFA viewing area this time!

(EDIT 7:45- I just noticed something...The National Hurricane Center also thinks Wilma will be a two at landfall, that's good news!)

We'll keep you up to date with the latest information. We know that there are a lot of folks with family in Florida and if needed, evacuations could bring some Floridians our way. We'll try to make everyone happy with the latest information on Wilma, while continuing to give you our local forecast as well. You're watching more Tropical history unfold folks!

Have a good day!

Ryan

rvaughan@wsfa.com

WILMA NOW CAT 5!!!

Not only has Wilma gone from a Tropical Storm to a CAT 5 hurricane in 24 hours, but she is the most intense hurricane EVER! She is just another hurricane this year that has been added to the some of the strongest ever. Keep in mind that the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm. Here's a list of the top storms:
The storm titled "Florida Keys" was a storm back in 1935. In 1935, they did not have names yet. I am still in shock at Wilma's strength! More on the blog later today...

Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Colorful Nerd Map

Do you see that? Do you see the big trough (U-shaped thing) digging in from the North! We have an upper-level low diving North out of Canada later this week right on the tails of another upper-level low that will be a big weather-maker itself throughout the week. This big low will sit over the Great Lakes for a few days bringing spurts of clouds and reinforcing shots of cool air next week. (It's early in the season, but it looks a little like a polar vortex.) While our mornings have been cool the past few days, this weather pattern will make for cool afternoons as well. The reason we are seeing the cool mornings now is because the air is so dry, winds have been fairly weak, and we have had a clear sky. It's what we call radiational cooling. The afternoons have been very warm though! In fact, we could tie or break a record over the next few days! Not next week though! If you want to learn more about these nerdy maps (500 mb) click here.

For those of you that are not real interested in my colorful nerd map this morning and are more interested in seeing something funny, here's a video link to a reporter on The Today Show that made a situation look worse than what it was and got busted on LIVE television. Now I know why the media sometimes gets a bad name! Click here

One more nerdy note to pass along... The trough digging into the eastern part of the country is actually protecting us from HURRICANE Wilma (just upgraded as I typed this). Look at the forecast track and you can pickup on this as well!

Here's a look at WSFA Storm TEAM 12 Hurricane Tracker. It takes the storm in Saturday Evening, somewhere between Ft. Myers and Tampa Bay. This is the last thing that any of us need, especially Florida.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!
Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Other Weather Guys... Good and Bad

Good Monday morning everyone! It's hard to get going on a Monday morning after being off work for a week. The coffee tasted a little better this morning, but still not as good as the coffee at home! It has been nice to sleep in lately. I got a couple of notes to pass along to you this morning about a couple of weather guys in the business. First the good news...

We now have a lot of New Orleans residents here in Alabama after Katrina. Before they (or you) came here, they likely got their weather from a friend of mine, John Gumm. Even if you aren't a New Orleans resident, you likely caught John's story on here shortly after the storm. If not click here and click here. Just like many others in that area, he lost his house. Since he is not from that area, he decided to move home. I must admit... I can't blame him! If something like that happened here. It is safe to say that I wouldn't stick around. I would go home to Nashville too. Anywho, here's an update from John that I got over the weekend:

Hello everyone,
We are safe and sound and just wanted to pass along our new contact information to you. Connor and Jennifer are both doing well and are happy to be in their new house. In fact last night Connor got to finally sleep in the crib we bought him in Metairie, LA way back in June. I know it's a small thing, but it was quite meaningful to us.

I have managed to land a weekend meteorologist job at WKRC-TV, the CBS affiliate in Cincinnati, OH. While this is a bit of a step down for me career wise (slightly bigger TV market but a move back to weekends from weekdays) it is a step much closer to family since Cincinnati is my hometown and Jennifer's parents are just 2.5 hours away. At any rate, I feel very fortunate to have landed this position so quickly given the circumstances. I start my new job Monday, so wish me luck.

John

Good news from him! I've been praying for them to land smoothly on their feet and I am glad he landed a job in his hometown. It's a small world though... John actually filled the job that was left by another one of our good friends who left to go to Indianapolis. This TV world is much smaller than I use to think!

Now to some bad news from a weather guy. Check out this story from a newscast in Pennsylvania...click here. I want to hear you comments about this "issue" that arose on-air. I have always liked Joe Snedeker, but it appears he really screwed up this time! I wonder if there is another side to this story??? Ouch....

Email your thoughts and I'll post them throughout the day on the blog below.

Take care,
Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Your Comments:
Ryan,
So glad you are back and that you had good time off. I missed the blog!
As for your fellow weather guys, the good news was wonderful. But I think Joe was out of line and unprofessional.
By the way, ask the NWS what's wrong with Yoda and Zena to finish the alphabet :)
-Danna

Danna, I agree... why can't we have the last few names with the alphabet? By the way, if you watch Joe Snedeker at www.wnep.com, it appears they have made up, click on NewsWatch 16- Monday 6:00am and then watch his forecast.... I still love Joe's style on weather and I now really feel like he is sorry for what he said. -RV

Ryan,
In response to the weather guy up north with a bad attitude.......let mebegin by saying that the female anchor answered or responded to thegentlemen a lot nicer than I would have. Part of the reason we havekids running around committing crimes today is because their mommawasn't home to take care of 'em when they were sick, well or doing theirhomework and they probably don't know where their kid is now a thismoment...case and point the 'start' of the problem....so I stand behindthis lady 100% for taking care of her children and putting her familyfirst. If all the homes in this great nation would get their prioritiesstraight with God on top and on down the line....we wouldn't be headingto 'hell in a hand basket'. There is a lot of pressure on women in thisday and age to have 'their own' career. So...that leads to....who isgoing to raise the kids?? Well, the woman is expected to do that aswell. There has to be a happy median somewhere....so to all those womenout there who 'have their own career' and are raising their children(either as a single mother or married), I commend you for your effortsand hope and pray you continue with the strength to keep your chin upand 'keep on keeping on!' Its all fine and good to have your own careerbecause I do....but I also am married and would like to start a family ayear from now and know that my 'own career' will be put on hold while Ido that. Any man who condemns me or looks down on me for that...heneeds to think about his mother and how he got into the world! =)

Have a great day!
Wendy

I agree 100% with you. I hope this guy was just poking fun at her like we do in the mornings and accidently said something stupid. I hope I never say anything that makes as many people upest as him! Ouch!
-RV

On Vacation...

Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Good Ole Gerber!

Jeff is a good friend of mine. If you have been a long-time blog reader, then you know we constantly pick on each other, prank call each other, and terrorize each other whenever possible. With that said, I found the best freeze-frame I could find to post on the blog tonight. HA! Gotcha Gerber!

Anywho, Jeff did share some good info this morning that a lot of folks don't know or either forget. This is typically the driest month of the year. March is typically the wettest. That's why it has been so dry lately... because it is suppose to be!!!


It's a good thing that October is typically the driest month because it really helps farmers. Cotton doesn't need a lot of rain during this time of the harvest season. Have you ever seen cotton after a good soaking? The bolls don't look so good... Peanuts also do not need a lot of rain because they will become rotten. Rotten peanuts are no good! I don't know that first hand, but it sure does sounds nasty! (Sidenote: I did eat boiled peanuts for the first time a few weeks ago...yummy!)

Well, It's way past my bedtime... Good thing I don't work tomorrow. I'm still off work. Gerber will continue to hold down the fort.

Take care,
Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

More On That Weirdo Vince...

If you read this morning's blog entry, you already know how weird Tropical Storm (previous hurricane) Vince was. Well, there are a few more odd notes about Vince. Our friends at ABC 33/40 in Birmingham found some more interesting facts! We have a link on the left side of the page to their blog everyday, but if you are too lazy to scroll down (like myself) then click here.

Thanks JB for more facts!

Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Spooky Connection Between Vince and Christopher Columbus!

Christopher Columbus sailed off from the port of Palos (near Huelva) in southern Spain, on August 3, 1492, directing three ships: Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. He was in search for a faster route to Asia for spices. As many of you know, he ended up in the Caribbean and discovered the Americas.

Here's where things get weird. Yesterday was the day we observe Columbus Day. Yesterday was also the day that Tropical Storm Vince plowed into Spain. As if that is not weird enough, Vince was the first Tropical Storm on record to hit the Iberian Peninsula and Spain!!! It hit exactly where Columbus set sail!

Vince was not only odd because of it's location and date, but of it's behavior as well. It was one of the fastest (if not THE fastest) forming and dissipating storms ever. It formed, became a hurricane, and dissipated in just 36 hours!

Vince and it's oddities are very weird. I'm not sure what all of this means, but it is just another puzzle piece among a very weird season.

Anywho, have a great day and be safe. As you will notice, I'm taking a few days off work.

Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

PS- We have one named storm left on the list, which is Wilma. If we pass Wilma, the greek alphabet will start. This has never happened before and many questions have come up about this uncharted water we could face. What if we had to "retire" Alpha or Beta or any of the other names on the extended list. I asked the National Hurricane Center and they said... "We'll cross that bridge if we have to". It is becoming more and more less likely to get a storm strong enough to be retired, but it was question that had to be asked!

Tropical Storm Vince... Not That Vince!

You didn't hear me talk about this storm this morning, but there is a Tropical Storm (former hurricane) in the FAR, FAR, Eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean named "Vince". I didn't mention it this morning because it will have NO impact on our weather. Why am I blogging about then??? Because I wanted to put Vince McMahon on the blog! Just kidding of course... I wanted to chat about Vince because we have only ONE name left on the 2005 Atlantic List. The next name will be "Wilma".

We talked about this before, but if we run out of names... then we go to the Greek alphabet. After Wilma, we will have Alpha, then Beta, then Gamma, and so on and so on. A question came up among a number of meteorologists this weekend though: What if we have to retire one of the Greek names??? What happens if it is retired and we need to use the Greek alphabet again one day??? I haven't found the answer YET, but I believe the Greek alphabet names will have a suffix of the year too. (i.e. Alpha 05) I'll try to contact the National Hurricane Center today to find out. Heck, this has never happened before! It's like "Deep Thoughts" by Jack Handey! Speaking of Jack Handey, look below for one of my favorites!

Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Deep Thought by Jack Handey:
I'd like to see a nature film where an eagle swoops down and pulls a fish out of a lake, and then maybe he's flying along, low to the ground, and the fish pulls a worm out of the ground. Now that's a documentary.

Weekend Recap...

Here's a quick recap of my weekend. I'll start by saying it was a good one! My dad came into town Friday shortly after I left work and I did what I usually do on a Friday afternoon... I slept! After I scraped myself up from my mid-afternoon nap... we caught the FEVER! That's right... we went to the best game of the night. #1 Prattville Lions versus #7 Carver Wolverines. What a game! As you know, I'm a Prattville guy, so the 28-0 win was cool, but Carver is one heck of a team. The score doesn't reflect the talent they have and the great team Larry Ware has put together at Carver.

If you haven't heard by now, Prattville has a new player on the squad. Number 80... Courtney "Big Easy" Smith. He is a transfer from New Orleans and now I know first hand... he's AWESOME! He's 6'4" (but looks 6'8"!) weighs 192 (looks 200 easy!) and runs the 40 yard dash in 4.62 seconds (but looks even faster!). Needless to say, he's going to be a great addition to the already talented squad at Prattville. I see the Lions to be in the championship game again this year. This time with the "W".

On to Saturday...

Saturday was a doozy... My wife went to an all day "cropping" (you ladies know what that is!). Dad , the boys, and I were going to have "guys day out". We started the day by heading to the Whitewater Festival on the Coosa. On our way there, we stopped at Chik-Fil-A to get some breakfast and to let my oldest son play on the indoor playground. Sounds safe...right? WRONG! After we ate, Shad heads over to the indoor playground... One of the kids at the top says that there is pee on the slide. MY EYES BUG OUT.... BUT, A mother in the room says, "Don't worry, it's just the AC vent's condensation"... I believe her and let him continue climbing to the top. Moments later Shad slides down the slide... walks up to me wet... and guess what he smells like... PEE. MY own kid's pee doesn't bother me too bmuch, BUT this was some other kid's pee! ARRRRRRGH!!!!! Trip back home, cleanup, and new clothes. Off to the the whitewater festival, right?.... wrong!

We get to Wetumpka and go up to every river access possible to watch the competition. We find a bunch of people putting their kayaks in the water (see above), but never find the competition, despite asking for directions. (We searched for 2 hours) ARRRRRRRGH!!!! Time was running out now, Tennessee game was about to kickoff.

We went home, watched Tennessee lose! ARRRRRGH!!!!

Later that night... Vanderbilt loses.... ARRRRRGH!!!!

On to Sunday...

Dad gets up early to head home because he wants to watch the Titans game because WAKA didn't show it this week! ARRRGH! I guess I'll have to call them and complain first thing tomorrow morning. The Titans did win though!!! YAY

We get ready to got to church and my oldest son is too big for all his clothes it seems. We put him in some high-waters and off to church we go. After church we spend 6 hours shopping. I'm a little pooped now, but at least the kids have some new Fall clothes. (I picked up a thing or two also, LOL)

It was an eventful weekend... all-in-all it was a good one except for my son falling in some other kid's pee. I could have done without THAT! Big thanks to whoever let their kid into the "human hamster cage" without being potty trained and without a diaper!!! We all appreciate that...

Anywho... I need to go to sleep, it's late and this blog entry has gone on WAY to long. See yah in the morning.

Ryan

rvaughan@wsfa.com

Boom Goes The Dynamite!

One of the things I like about Tonya and Judd is that they can laugh at themselves. Before I wrote this blog entry, I asked for Tonya's permission... so here we go:

This morning Tonya had to anchor Sports because Judd was out at the Alabama National Fair. If you are not use to anchoring Sports, then it can get ugly! If you missed it... grab some popcorn and take a look:

Tonya Terry Sports

Tonya's sports report reminded us all of "Mr. Boom Goes The Dynamite". If this Sports clip has not made it to your email inbox yet ... then click on the video link below and get ready to spit out your coffee!

Booms Goes The Dynamite!

Good Friday to yah! I hope you have a great weekend. I'll hopefully post some pictures of tonight's Prattville-Carver game on the blog tonight or tomorrow!

See yah,
Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Gloomy Day...

We have gloomy start to the day! I think we will see some breaks from time-to-time though. The morning commute is a rough one this morning! There are a lot of clinched fists on the steering wheels out on the interstate! Be careful if you are about to head out!

I hope it does slack off a little by mid-morning. Radar trends do indicate a little break in Montgomery is possible. The reason I want a little break is so some family friends will not get wet at the "Pumpkin Patch". I told them yesterday not to cancel just yet... it looked like the entire day would not be a washout. Hopefully they will get the "window of dry weather" they need to have their field trip.

I am SO ready for Friday. Some weeks I could care less about Friday, but this week just seems to be dragging. My dad is coming in town tomorrow, so maybe I'm just looking forward to hanging out with that old dude! (I know he's reading! haha)

Anywho, I'm off to update the WSFA website. I guess I should have done that before the blog.... The funny thing is, people email more when the blog is not updated! haha...

Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

Rain With A Name ©

Tropical Storm Tammy formed this morning. More or less this storm is going to be what I call "Rain With A Name ©" (Yes, it's copyrighted...LOL) Tammy and an approaching cold front will give us a good chance of rain tomorrow and Friday. I hope to see all of this rain out of here by Friday night. We can't sit in the rain at the area football games! I can't wait to see the Prattville-Carver game. I'm a Prattvilian, but regardlesss of who wins... it's going to be a GREAT game.Coach Ware and Coach Clark have done some great things at both of these schools.

Back to the weather... above is the track of Tammy. Notice Tammy's leftovers will be heading in our direction. You'll want to keep up with the latest on Tammy to see how much rain you can expect at your house. Tropical Storm Warnings extend from South Carolina down to Florida...

If you have digital cable, then you probably have WSFA 12 WeatherPLUS. Storm TEAM 12 and the national team of meteorologists will keep you up to date on the latest information regarding Tammy.


Click here to see if you have WeatherPLUS. If your cable provider isn't carrying WeatherPLUS, call them and tell them to get on the ball!

Take care,
Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

PS- I have had a lot of email from people wanting more info about the Bamboo Park I mentioned earlier this week... Here's a link that talks all about it... Click here.

Tuesday Night Football...

When you have to get up early, it's hard to stay up for these weekday football games! A lot of folks are watching this game around the state as I type this blog entry... It looks like Troy is holding their own so far against the Mean Green. I doubt I'll be able to stay awake until the end of this game. I'm sure Tonya will fill me in with all of the highlights tomorrow morning if I miss the second half!!! LOL

Anywho, the Tennessee-Georgia game looks to be the big SEC game this weekend. I'm not an Auburn or Alabama fan, but I will say this... It's nice to have two AWESOME SEC schools in one state! My cop friend that lives next door brought that to my attention today. He followed that comment by saying WAR EAGLE! LOL

Have a great evening folks...

Ryan
rvaughan@wsfa.com

PS- The big game of this weekend is actually the Prattville-Carver game!

EDIT: I just noticed this dude and had to add him to the blog! This is Mean Green himself! LOL