Good Monday afternoon! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, & I just want to say thanks for all of you who have read and followed my blogs over the last week. The feedback has been great! If you have any feedback, see at the end for my email you can contact me at.

So far in my previous blogs, I have been able to share with you on how to better understand how the chance of precipitation is calculated. I have also been able to share a couple of definitions as well. Today I want to share something pretty basic, and that is differentiating between a WATCH and a WARNING.

Now there are multiple watches/warnings that can be issued from the NWS (National Weather Service), including: Severe Thunderstorm, Tornado, Flash Flood, Winter Storm, High Wind, Excessive Heat, and so on (you get the point). 

To simply explain the difference between a watch and a warning, it's like this:

WATCH - Be prepared!

WARNING - Take Action!

For example: You have just made it home to your family from work, you hear your NOAA Weather Radio/Local media alert, and it states there is a Severe Thunderstorm Watch effective for your area. So you know you need to be prepared as the chance for a Severe Thunderstorm Warning could be likely. So you now know you definitely need to stay alert and monitor your local media/NOAA Weather Radio for additional updates. So you are BEING PREPARED!

Time goes by, and you notice its getting darker outside, winds are picking up, you can hear thunder and then all of a sudden your weather radio/local media alerts you that a Severe Thunderstorm Warning is now in effect for your area. Hopefully you already have a plan in place on what you and your family needs to do during severe weather. If you have a plan in place then you act on it, whether its finding a more substantial structure to move to (especially if you live in a mobile home), taking shelter in a more sturdier part of your home, etc. By doing so you are TAKING ACTION!

Hopefully that helps in the understanding the difference between a Watch and a Warning. Be on the lookout for my future blogs this week to share what types of alerts can be issued by the NWS, and also how they go from a watch to a warning (what indicates the severeness?).

Now lets take a look at our forecast for the first full week of August! It looks to be a better looking forecast compared to last weeks; (Forecast is as of 11:00 AM today (8/3/2020) 

Today / Tonight - We will see plenty of sunshine today but we can't rule out a stray shower as there is only a 10% chance of rain. Looks like we will average in the mid to upper 80s for highs. Tonight we have a 20% chance of rain with partly cloudy skies. Tonights lows around the low 60s.

Tuesday / Tuesday Night - We will kick off Tuesday by seeing some areas of patchy morning fog. As the day goes on, rain chances increase to 40% with partly sunny skies. Highs will be around the upper 70s to low 80s. Tuesday  night looks to be about the same, 30% showers, partly cloudy with lows around 60.

Wednesday / Wednesday Night - Wednesday will be the first day of this week that there is no chance of rain. We will see partly sunny skies with highs around the low to mid 80s. Wednesday night looks to be mostly clear with lows around 60.

Thursday / Thursday Night - Another day without a chance of rain, it will be beautiful as mostly sunny skies are forecasted with highs in the mid 80s. Thursday night will be clear with lows around the lower 60s.

Friday / Friday Night - To end the week on Friday, it looks like it will continue to be beautiful & warmer, as we should see sunny skies and highs around the upper 80s. Friday night an increase in clouds will make for partly cloudy skies and lows will be around the mid 60s.

Weekend weather as of today, looks to be warming up as temps on Saturday & Sunday will average in the upper 80s, possibly hitting 90. We will have the chance of showers re-enter the forecast for the weekend, currently around 20% on Saturday & 40% for Sunday. Other than that it looks to be mostly sunny.

Disclaimer: The forecast is subject to change, when it does I will be sure to update as soon as I can.

That's it for today's blog! Don't forget to email me and let me know what you would like to see in my blogs! Hopefully soon, I will be able to incorporate some local weather photos.

Thanks again & I hope you have a wonderful Monday!

Email: crystal@shorelinestations.com

-Crystal