There is a slight risk for severe thunderstorms this afternoon and this evening.  Isolated storms will form that could contain hail and damaging winds.  Saturday evening/overnight we could see more storms.  Saturday’s storms need to be watched closely as damaging winds and heavy rainfall is possible.  With the flooding rain we received this week we obviously don’t need another round of heavy rain. Stay tuned to Fox11 for any weather updates.

The heart of tornado alley has been rocked by strong storms over the past week.  A farm that was featured in the 1996 movie “Twister” was hit by an EF3 tornado. Click here for the full story.  Very large hail fell Sunday near Oklahoma City Sunday, some stones measured 4.75”.  Check out the pictures, click here.

I do it every Monday. And I do it every January 1st. On Mondays I start over on my diet. And on the first of the year I make those crazy resolutions. Crazy, I say, because who really keeps them?

I did one year. Maybe because I wrote them down while a friend was watching.
By the end of the year, when we got together I was so proud at how many I had accomplished. I had set 10 goals. And accomplished most of them. The ones I failed on are the same ones I make every year: lose weight, get organized, get financially fit.

Well I’m making them again. The same ones. Whether I say they are my resolutions or not, they are the three things I want for myself.

And I have one more for 2010. I resolve to blog once a week.

It won’t be easy, but looking over my list, it might be the one that I can actually accomplish.

Good luck to you all! And Happy New Year!

The whole ordeal was pretty uneventful.. Until I met Laurie.

She was wearing a pink hat to cover the fact that she had lost her hair.

But what was most memorable about meeting her was her positive attitude.

She told me (in the 4 minutes or so that we talked) that she had originally gone in for a colonoscopy. (If I remember correctly, it was because a family member had been diagnosed with colon cancer.)

After the all clear on the colonoscopy.. Her docs suggested while she was there she should have a mammogram.

And that’s when they found the breast cancer.

Laurie looks like she’s my age. Her kids are older.. Maybe in middle and high school. But my age!

That’s when it hit me .. How lucky I was to have that piece of good news in my hand.

But it was lucky for her, too, that her doctor urged her to get that mammogram.

It actually took me a year to finally do it. My doctor’s office kept calling to remind me and I kept putting it off. I don’t know what I was worried about. I was in and out of there in about 20 minutes. And it DID NOT HURT. I repeat.. DID NOT HURT. Maybe it’s because I breast fed my children.. but it was a piece of cake.

 
So here’s my October is Breast Cancer Awareness message for you. GET A MAMMOGRAM.

Laurie did.. And it saved her life.

It might feel like summer just started, but today marks the official start of the meteorological Fall. It leaves behind a season full of records.

The average temperature during the meteorological summer, which runs from June through August, was 65.2°. That number may not mean a lot to you, but it means that this summer was the 12th coolest on record!

Not only was it cool, but we haven’t had a lot of precipitation. When you don’t get precipitation, it is hard to get severe weather. The only reports of severe weather this summer were on July 27th, when Green Lake County experienced a weak tornado and small hail. It was the first time on record, that there was no report of severe weather in the month of June.

The National Weather Service, in Green Bay, only issued 29 severe weather warnings this summer. The next fewest ever issued in a summer was 83 in 1997.

Of course it is still possible to get severe weather over the next couple of months, but attention will start to shift towards cooler temperatures.

The average high for this time of year is 75°, but by the last day of the meteorological fall, which is November 30th, the average high is only 35°. During the same time period, the average low falls from 53° to 19°.

If you aren’t quite ready for the cooler temperatures, the good news is that warm weather is ahead over the next week. Meanwhile, the Climate Prediction Center, thinks that above average temperatures will continue over the next three months. This doesn’t mean that every day will have warm temperatures, but as a general consensus, the CPC believes that temperatures will trend warmer than cooler.

But even with above average temperatures, the mercury will continue to slide over the next few months, and the form of precipitation will shift from rain to snow. In fact, Green Bay has even seen a trace of snow by the third week of September. However, on average the first measurable snowfall, doesn’t occur till November 11th.

Until Next Time,

Meteorologist Andrew Thut

A Different Kind of Camping

   Welcome back to Packers Training Camp!  It’s a whole new look this year- for everyone involved.  For the players, the new field takes a little getting used to, but the slipping and sliding around of the first day seemed to get a little better on day two of camp.  For the fans, it’s a much better view of camp, as they have a place to watch that is a little more comfortable than dodging the traffic on Oneida.  With the raised stands, they get a better view, and can hear the players better as well.   For the media, it isn’t that much different, though we have a nice afternoon shade spot, thanks to the Don Hutson Center.

   Sunday was offensive penalty day at camp.  Not officially, of course, but it could have been.  False starts, illegal snaps, poor play.  At one point I thought Aaron Rodgers was going to pop someone.  Still, lots of time left in camp to clean that up.  Even with the new system being put in place, the defense looks to be ahead of the offense right now.  Some players have been standing out- Jeremy Thompson looks good in coverage- he told me he lost some weight, trying to get quicker- though he hasn’t be able to get by the likes of Chad Clifton.  No one gets by Chad Clifton in training camp, by the way.  They just don’t.

      Hopefully the kinks will be worked out as they go along.   Hit of camp so far, by the way, Nick Collins giving DeShawn Wynn a forearm shot and de-cleated him!   We’ll hopefully get more fun as the days go on.

     Wimbledon is one of my favorite sporting events of the year.  I generally watch hours of tennis during the fortnight, once even subscribing to HBO (where they used to show much of the early action) just to watch Wimbledon.   I lived in England for four years growing up (and actually went to grade school in the town of Wimbledon for about four months), and though I never got to go to the tournament-the year I was old enough, I got pneumon- I did watch Davis Cup tennis at the facility.  I thought nothing would ever top last year’s finals between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, but this year’s gentlemen’s finals sure came close. 

      Five sets of tremendous tennis, with a fifth set that went longer than many full matches.  That’s some serious drama.  Federer’s win over Andy Roddick cements him as perhaps the greatest player in the open era, with 15 majors, besting the 14 of Pete Sampras.

     What strikes me is the similarities between Sampras and Federer.  Both had big serves, tremendous ground strokes, great net play, and couldn’t play on clay.  Sampras never did get his French Open, while Federer got his this year.  I had the chance to hang out with Sampras at an event in Houston years ago when he and Andre Agassi were trading titles after Agassi’s comeback, and found him very low key, focused and polite.  However, you could tell there was a burning desire to win that went with it.

      Tennis isn’t a sport that a lot of people follow like they used to.  However, it has what I love about sports: the man on man competition, hand-eye coordination, 140 mph serves, power and finesse, no ties; it’s great.  Perhaps the personalities just aren’t as compelling, but the tennis is just as good.  Hopefully Nadal’s knees allow him to be the main competition to Federer for the next couple of years.

   The Packers had their OTA today on Clarke Hinkle Field, and here is a running diary of some of what went on.  Conditions: Sunny, but breezy and chilly.

11:15 am- WR Donald Driver is here!  He’s decided to make an appearance after last week getting thrown about the media with possible contract renegotiation demands.  Seemed to be healthy, and made some nice catches.

11:20- C Scott Wells is in a t-shirt and isn’t practicing.  He is going to have a tough time keeping his starting job this year, I think.  Jason Spitz has looked sharp at center, and with the talent they are bringing back on the offensive line, Wells could be the odd man out when all is said and done.  Needs to get healthy first, however.

11:30- K Mason Crosby gives a wave as I walk by.  Kickers are interesting people.  They are very serious about their craft, but not as serious about their job.   They (kickers) are the butt of a lot of camp jokes, but the get that, and are ok with it.  I don’t know if the other players consider them “football” players as they stretch and kneel on the other side of the field, but Mason is as good as they come.

11:35- A fan drives down Holmgren and honks his horn the ENTIRE length of the field, all the way to the end.  Players don’t even look up.  Impressive honking dedication, however.

11:37- A bus of school kids comes by, with kids hanging out the window screaming for the Packers.  I mean, no where else in the country would have a scene like this, right?

11:40- If you haven’t had a chance to get down to the open OTA, you have missed a very impressive afro by Nick Barnett.  I don’t think he has cut his hair since his knee injury.  He isn’t practicing, but I wonder if his helmet size has increased, he has so much hair…

11:45- Just tweeted from camp.  Ain’t technology grand?  If you haven’t signed up to follow us on Twitter, do it!  Search “fox11sports” to find us.

11:48- OL Josh Sitton just stopped past to get a drink, and I can see what he has been working on in the off-season: A ‘fro of his own!  I think with Mark Tauscher out of the picture, Sitton and Alan Barbre are competing for “most unruly head and face of hair” in camp.

11:50- Ball security drills.  Cool new one for the offensive line: a bunch of blocking pads are piled up with a ball beneath them.  It’s a fumble recovery drill, and at the whistle the big O-lineman dives into the pads to find the football.  I find myself thinking this would be a fun game for my 5-year-old’s birthday party next week.

11:55- Have a nice conversation with former NFL, AFL QB and Sturgeon Bay grad Chris Greisen about his career.  Our daughters were in pre-school together.  He is going to try out for the new UFL, which has their draft later this month.  Just four teams, with a six week schedule, then a championship game, playing between September and November.  He’s hoping to be able to hook on.  He says they pay pretty well:  $30-200 thousand for just six games= not bad.  Best of luck to him!

12:00- The noon whistle blows, and RB Deshawn Wynn fumbles a kick off return.  I don’t think the two were related.

12:05- Special teams session going on, and ST coach Shawn Slocum isn’t happy with the preparation of the players.   Justin Harrell is urged to please take a gander at the playbook a little more often, though not in those exact words.  This is a family friendly blog, after all.

12:12- Individual drills are starting, and I’m watching the RB’s.  New FB Quinn Johnson (5^th round pick) seems to be the guy they pick on, since he’s the only rookie.  First, Edgar Bennett gets him to jump off-sides, which gives everyone a chuckle, then hitting the sled, he gets in trouble for pin-wheeling his arms before laying into it, provoking chants of “He’s winding up!” from the rest of the players.  Johnson has to do the drill again! 

         I also have to remark that Ryan Grant looks considerably thinner as opposed to the end of the season.  Don’t know if that is on purpose, or just an off-season weight.

12:20- Checking out the Offensive Line drills.  Sitton is a very technically sound lineman, in the drills, at least.  He gets praise from the coaches, and I think will start at the right guard spot this year, if Spitz plays center.   New lineman TJ Lang (3^rd rounder) gets some good encouragement from coach James Campen.

12:26- New defensive line coach Mike Trgovac is very hands on, literally.  He just grabbed new tackle BJ Raji (1^st rounder) by the shirt, moving him around to show him what he wanted.  And BJ is not little.

12:47- WR Jordy Nelson has made some very nice catches this session- will he become a bigger part of the team this year?  This is his time if he wants to step it up.  I don’t know if James Jones is as secure as some think, especially if Jordy can string together some good practices.

12:55- OLB (!) Aaron Kampman just looks a little weird playing in an up stance.  But he just knocked away a pass, and OLB coach Kevin Greene went nuts!  I think it is going to be fun to see Kevin Greene on the sidelines this year.   He has said he doesn’t remember much of his NFL career (“I’ve had a lot of concussions,” he told me a couple of months ago.), but he has the passion, that’s for sure.

12:58- C Jason Spitz just threw a cut block on BJ Raji, who jumped up to complain, but realized no one was going to listen to him.  Welcome to the league, rook!

1:10- Last play of the OTA, S Aaron Rouse gets the pick of QB Brian Brohm.  Back-up QB’s didn’t have a great day.  But hey- that’s what practice is for!

I don’t know about you, but it seems like it always rains over Memorial Day weekend. This thought has sparked my curiosity to do some research on the weather over past Memorial Day weekends.

It turns out that it does rain on most Memorial Day weekends. Since 1975, 76% of the holiday weekends have recorded rainfall on at least one day, whether it is Saturday, Sunday or Monday. That leaves 24% of the weekends completely dry.

In the past fourteen years we have only seen one completely dry weekend, that was in 2003. Ironically the following year was the wettest Memorial Day weekend since 1975. Here is the list of the wettest Memorial Days.

While the statistic do show that rain is common over Memorial Day weekend, that doesn’t mean that all Memorial Day weekends are crummy. Take 2006 for example when the mercury rose to 89° on Memorial Day. In fact on every day that weekend the temperatures topped 80°. It was one of the hottest Memorial Day weekends on record.

Until Next Time,
Meteorologist Andrew Thut