I genuine wish this was a Halloween prank. As I have stated, over and over and over, the BIG money is on the the pro-catastrophic global warming side. The entire #exxonknew movement has collapsed (as it should have) because, It wasn't true. Highly unethical behavior by prosecutors  Collusion with green groups. The collusion between 'green' groups and big money is far deeper than people outside of our industry might imagine. So, with the election a week away, please read this article . 

From the readers' reviews at Amazon: This proves there is validity to the old saw, "you either love it or you hate it." And, what book might be the subject of this dichotomy of views? This is what Trump's book, The Art of the Deal  looks like: And, if you are curious, here is what my book's looks like. I'll sure be glad when this election is over!!

The over wing chute has a guardrail. Very clever design of the 767's slides. And, this photo shows reinforces a video I have seen on Facebook. Almost no one was going down the rear-most slide. Remember: The nearest exit may be behind you!

FedEx at Ft. Lauderdale Via Twitter There is a ground stop; no planes may take off for Ft. Lauderdale.  That plane caught fire on landing. American Airlines at O'Hare Via Twitter There has been an incident at O'Hare. From what I can determine, an American Airlines plane blew a tire on take-off and somehow caught fire. NBCChicago is reporting that everyone evacuated safely. There is ground stop in effect for O'Hare, meaning no planes can take off for O'Hare at the moment This may inconvenience people headed to the World Series, but the important thing is the passengers are reported safe. Weather does not appear to be a factor: South at 13 mph with high clouds and good visibility. Photo below via FlightAlerts. Here is the audio of the incident where ATC tells all aircraft on the ground at O'Hare to stop . The audio of American 383 (the plane that caught fire), click here . There is now a report that seven have been taken to the hos...

As you know, Mr. Pence's plane overshot a runway at LaGuardia Airport last night. Fortunately, it did not end up in disaster. Here's how that was a accomplished . If you are interested in the technical details, they are here .

From The Wall Street Journal: This also demonstrates, unfortunately, how politicized NOAA has become. 

Without going into the technical aspects of Pacific Ocean water surface temperatures and 500mb teleconnections, the evidence that the California drought may break in this season is getting rather strong. This radar image, from AccuWeather earlier this afternoon, shows rain falling in much of the West Coast states. As we have previously discussed, rainfalls are running well above normal in the water-critical areas of Northern California, even without these latest rains. If we look west out over the Pacific , we see a pattern more favorable to bring substantial storms to California and the West Coast than we have seen in years. In just the next five days, the forecast is for heavy rain in the Sierra and California coastal mountains will have more substantial moisture. The computer models reflect this pattern with unusually heavy rains forecast for the first half of November.

The title of this piece is from the old saw about the headline the New York Times  would use to announce the end of the world. I was reminded of that when I saw the headline below(h/t Anthony Watts). The story is so silly I am reluctant to link to it, but here it is. It begins that Bangladesh has had flooding and cyclones (aka, hurricanes) in recent years. That is as newsworthy as saying the United State has had tornadoes and flooding in recent years. Those storms have always been part of the climate of Bangladesh. As to blaming global warming for child marriage, that makes as much sense as blaming it for prostitution (oh, wait, California Rep. Barbara Lee did just that ). The horrors forecast by climate 'science' the last two decades have not come to pass. So, they are increasingly desperate to find something, anything to blame on global warming. Meanwhile, more people are worried about clowns than global warming.

California receives much of its moisture in the mountains which is stored in reservoirs, so the amount of rain and snow over the Sierra is crucial to the state's welfare. Here is the departure from normal (inches) for the region for the last 30 days which is solidly above normal in the mountains.  And, the forecast for the next seven days is more of the same.  California has a long way to go to end the drought but these are nice first steps...err, inches.

We haven't done a sports posting in a while. I thought it would be fun to check out the prices for World Series tickets at Wrigley. Turns out you can buy a small car for what they cost!! Standing Room If you want seats Behind Home Plate ? Those will set you back about $13,000, each! And, finally, b ehind home plate and a little higher up  will set you back a cool $15,000! Have fun!

The "water year" in California is from July 1 to June 30. Many parts of the state have, so far, above normal precipitation. More is forecast over the next seven days.

As many know, I am not a fan of Google. Having disclosed that bit of information, I believe it is worthwhile to bring the controversy over the (possibly illegal) firing of the Register of Copyrights in Washington, DC to your attention.

I have seen a tiny part of this region. I have never been able to adequately describe it. Photos by "Wichita Eagle" You can get more information here .

Here are the forecast rainfalls for the next two weeks (courtesy: Dr. Ryan Maue). While much more is needed, this will help the drought in California.

The Wikileaks show what many of us suspected: a dirty campaign to undermine Dr. Roger Pielke, Jr. Has the climate changed? Yes. Have human beings been responsible for a portion of the change? Yes. But, the catastrophic global warming movement is about money and politics, not science.

Just click here .

Sorry I am late getting this up. I am on the road today and tomorrow so I may not have a new posting until Saturday.

A fun story from Wired . 

Captured just now on Twitter... In the real world, the United Nations' survey of 10,000,000 people ranked climate change dead last. They want access to clean water, sufficient food and hope for their children.

There is a low pressure area that is being watched by the National Hurricane Center that may form over the next few days. Keep an eye out in the Southeast.

This is a lot of fun when it can be done safely and it fascinates children. A great place to do it is along Kansas 177 between El Dorado Lake and Cassoday. It parallels the BNSF Railway.

This is an "only in Wichita" (the aviation capital of the world) event. Click here to see it.

So much for #ExxonKnew! Anthony Watts has details .

Now, it's peer-reviewed!!! From yesterday's Wall Street Journal: By BJORN LOMBORG Oct. 13, 2016 7:20 p.m. ET 257  COMMENTS Once a year or so, journalists from major news outlets travel to the Marshall Islands, a remote chain of volcanic islands and coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean, to report in panicked tones that the island nation is vanishing because of climate change. Their dispatches are often filled with raw emotion and suggest that residents are fleeing atolls swiftly sinking into the sea... Using historic aerial photographs and high-resolution satellite imagery, Auckland University scientists Murray Ford and Paul Kench recently analyzed shoreline changes on six atolls and two mid-ocean reef islands in the Marshall Islands. Their peer-reviewed  study , published in the September 2015 issue of Anthropocene, revealed that since the middle of the 20th century the total land area of the islands has actually grown. How is that possible? It see...

Yes, tornadoes occur in all 50 states. This occurred this morning in Oregon. The NWS in Portland has had to issue 10 tornado warnings so far today. Previously to today, they had to issue 11 tornado warnings in the last 20 years! Unfortunately, there has been damage (don't know about injuries). Via Twitter and Fox 12 Oregon come these photos (more on Twitter):

Of course, the reason it wasn't worse -- and, it was quite bad, just anyone who lives in the Carolinas -- is because of the work of meteorologists. 

Take a look .

You can see the launch if you live in the concentric colored circles. The full details are here .

After a nice thunderstorm overnight in Wichita, here is the 7-day rainfall forecast.

How does AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions help an international university protect its students from the extreme weather experienced by New Orleans and its other campuses? We explain here .

...but, may be too much, too fast over the next seven days.

I nearly spit out my oatmeal I laughed so hard when I saw the headline in today's  Wichita Eagle. 

click to enlarge As I have stated many times, we have the ability to make outstanding forecasts and we did. Yes, I thought the eye would go inland which means I was off by 20 miles. However, that was about the diameter of the eye at the time. We have gotten really good, but not perfect. The thing to keep in mind is that wind force is a squared function.  Here are some real examples that I measured on this blog while the storm was 17 mi. off the coast of Florida : 70 mph squared = 4900 units of force 123 mph squared = 15190 units of force I don't want to take the chance that that a slight wobble (which eye's often do) would have brought catastrophic winds inland that very few miles. So, it is my opinion that weather science did -- again -- an outstanding job with this storm when it counted. 

This photo from Catholic Relief Services in Haiti. When Matthew went across Haiti, it was a Cat 4 storm. Wind force is a squared function, not linear. Let me explain. 75 mph squared = 5625 units of wind energy. This was the wind speed along parts of the Florida coast. 145 mph (the wind speed over Haiti) squared = 21025 units of wind energy! When you add in the less capability level of building construction in Haiti, Matthew was yet another catastrophe for the beleaguered island.  

AccuWeather says much better weather is ahead other than a few showers along the Florida Atlantic coast.

Some areas have had more than 20" of rain. Severe flooding is occurring in a number of areas.

Wasn't it just two years ago that global warming was going to cause warmer winters? By George, yes it was ! In fact, two years ago, the NYT was telling us it was " the end of snow ." Well, there is one thing about which we can be sure: The Science Is Settled ™ ! ADDITION: A friend sent this 5-year old article. In 2011, [Un] Scientific American  wrote that Category 6 hurricanes were coming "soon." It is five years later. Haven't happened. Guess the science wasn't settled after all

Hurricane Matthew finally made landfall a little while ago near McClellanville, South Carolina. It was a Cat. 1 storm at the time. However,  the US's amazing record of 4002 days (as of today; blue bar at the right side of the graph) without a major  hurricane (Cat 3 or higher winds) striking our coasts is just amazing. This wonderful string of good luck is more than double the previous record set from 1900 (after the Great Galveston Hurricane) to 1906. Our last Cat 3 was Wilma in 2005. While the 2016 hurricane season has more than a month yet to run, the chance of the record being broken this year is unlikely.

Here is the latest AccuWeather track and wind intensity (by category) forecast for Matthew. As feared, highly extensive -- past Columbia -- tree damage has occurred due to the wet ground which means extensive power failures. The power failures are so great -- North Carolina to Florida -- that some people may be without power for days, maybe two weeks. There is also extensive storm surge and heavy rainfall flooding. Below is the additional  rainfall from 7am to 7am CDT Tuesday. The storm is now moving northeast 12 mph, pressure is 963 mb, and maximum sustained winds are 75 mph.