Hello Oswego! Midterms week is finally over. Can we say, relief? In more ways than one, too. I’m typically a fan of cooler weather (just wait till it starts snowing…), and the recent trend downwards in temps has been more than welcome. Two major weather stories occurred this week, so let’s get to it!

On Oct. 17, a noisy thunderstorm passed through campus during the early evening hours. Before the storm hit, I was able to (safely) capture a few shots of lightning flashes, as well as a shelf cloud, over Lake Ontario. It was quite an unusual storm given the time of year, frequency of lightning strikes, and organized structure. What a “shocker”!

The other big weather story of the week began last Thursday, Oct. 20. A large storm began to affect the Northeast, bringing with it a slug of rain. Nearby official rain gauges reported 2 to 5 inches of rain over the course of 48 hours. Definitely something to put a dent in the lingering drought from this past summer.

The bigger story, especially here in Oswego, is the wind. As the storm wound up, winds howled out of the north across the wide open waters of Lake Ontario. The Oswego buoy station reported winds of over 30 mph at times Friday (10/21), Saturday (10/22), and Sunday (10/23). The weather station atop Shineman Center even reported a wind speed of 51 mph early Sunday morning. A few small tree limbs fell on campus, as a result. Now doesn’t that just blow you away!

Why the strong winds? Two main reasons. 1) The storm system that generated the weekend rain created a tight pressure gradient between itself and an area of high pressure over Canada. When a tight pressure gradient is present, wind speeds increase as they attempt to counteract the pressure imbalance. 2) The wide open surface of Lake Ontario provides little in the way of obstructions that the wind must encounter (hills, trees, etc.), hence locally increasing the wind speeds along the shore.

Looking ahead, a chance for a few snowflakes is coming Thursday morning (Oct. 27). Currently I don’t expect accumulations, but a slushy coating cannot be ruled out. Keep your eye to the sky, and have a great Halloweekend!

Hello everyone! What a week it has been. We all could use a break from midterms, right?!

As always, there’s been some excitement here in Oswego, weather-wise. Let’s get to it.

Photo credit: Matthew Seymour

Saturday, Oct. 8, ended on a brilliant note. As the sun set, the clouds lit up like fire. The surrounding landscape glowed of yellow as the sky became very bright. As the sun continued to set, the color morphed from yellow, to bright orange, to deep pink. It was a surreal experience to stand at the lakeshore and look at the best sunset of the semester so far.

Thank (in part) Hurricane Matthew for the extreme sunset. The clouds from the system, well to Oswego’s south at the time, streamed north, but the edge of the clouds ended just below the horizon as seen in the photo above. This allowed the setting sun to briefly illuminate the clouds from underneath, creating an effect known as afterglow. Afterglow is fairly common among most sunsets, however this intensity is probably only a twice-a-year occurrence in Oswego.

Photo credit: Matthew Seymour

Then, on Oct. 13, a weather system moved through the Great Lakes, bringing with it some morning rain showers. Later in the afternoon, the dreaded Oswego wind moved in. Large waves ensued as the wind blew out of the northwest, some of which likely exceeded 5 feet in height. As the waves came in, some would crash into the rocky shoreline and have nowhere to go but up. Not a good day for boating!

Don’t be fooled, however, waves around here can (and have) reached 10-15 feet in height. Come wintertime, I’ll probably come back to this topic for one reason or another.

Photo credit: Matthew Seymour

The night of Oct. 13, Oswego had a chance to see the Aurora Borealis. I walked down to the lake around 9:50 pm to snap some shots with my camera. While I did not succeed in photographing the aurora, I did still walk away with this cool view of Lake Ontario at night. However, aurora were sighted and photographed around nearby Rochester, as well as several other locations in the Great Lakes region.

Why the lack of visible aurora here in Oswego? A couple reasons. 1) The nearly full Moon added a lot of light pollution to the sky, making it harder to spot the relatively dim aurora. 2) There may have been a “substorm”, or brief uptick in auroral activity, that initiated the flurry of aurora sightings in the region. At the time, Oswego had cloudy skies, with clearing taking place shortly after the time of those reports. Substorms normally do not last more than an hour or two, so Oswego may have just missed the viewing window. Tough luck on this one!

The upcoming week looks like pretty typical fall roller-coaster weather, with near-daily rain chances, warm temps to start the week (chant enough and we might reach 80 on Tuesday!), followed by cooling as the week progresses. Until next time, Oswegonians!!!

Hello everybody! My name is Matthew Seymour. I am from the Ithaca, NY area, and I am a sophomore studying meteorology here at SUNY Oswego. Some of my interests include photography, hiking, hanging with friends, and watching the Oswego sunset.

My journey at SUNY Oswego began in May 2014, when I visited the school for the first time. I immediately fell in love with the school. I applied to a number of other schools, but Oswego had me sold. Some of my favorite aspects included the brand new Richard S. Shineman science building, the scenery (and crazy weather conditions) provided by Lake Ontario, the multitude of clubs and activities offered around the school, and most importantly, the amazing meteorology department.

Currently, I find myself a part of the Meteorology, Photography and Outdoor clubs, as well as serving an E-board position in Waterbury Hall.

I have not considered myself to be one to write a blog someday, but it was bound to happen. My entries will mainly focus on the various weather phenomena Oswego experiences day-to-day. Additionally, I hope to incorporate some of my best pictures that perfectly describe Oswego’s beauty during any season.

That’s it for now – I cannot wait to share my experiences here at SUNY Oswego with you!