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Weather changes are coming! I was FREEZING last night on the weather deck and decided that I'm not ready for Winter. I like HOT weather. You may hear me grumble a little when it is over 100 degrees, but you will hear me complain a lot more when it is under 50 degrees. With that said, I'm glad to see the temperatures going UP over the next few days.

The graph above is taken from a program we call BUFKIT. It takes the data from a model (6Z GFS here) and puts many of the parameters in a nice graphical format. Unlike everything else in the world, it goes from RIGHT to LEFT.

If you click on the image to enlarge it, you will notice a few things. First, the temperature and dewpoint will steadily be climbing over the next several days. Of course, it will be cooler at night, but the trend is upwards. The red line is the temperature and green line is the dewpoint.

We have a big game at ASU on Saturday against MTSU and a lot of people are eyeballing Saturday. We are still expected clouds as warmer, more moist air overspreads Region 8. We are continuing with a little 10% chance of rain, but I really expect the weather to be fine and actually pretty mild! Highs will be in the mid and upper 60s for the game!

The best chance of rain will come with a cold front on Tuesday. Right now, the data suggests that parts of Region 8 could get over 1" of rain. That would be good, but we need the rain gone by Tuesday evening because Paragould will have their Christmas Parade. I'm suppose to be LIVE there and be in the parade as well. I'll be tracking Tuesday's weather closely over the next several days!

Have a great Wednesday!
Ryan

I love Christmas. I like presents, trees, the reminder of the birth of Christ, eggnog creamer for coffee, cookies, and family gatherings. I'm not a big fan of Santa, but I we'll save that for you to judge for some other day.

During the Christmas season, I always tend to look at the past. Looking back at old blog posts really bring back some memories! Here are some of my favorites:

• December 2004 when my youngest son was born
• December 2006, putting lights on the house
• December 2007, Son gets Christmas Lights for his Wagon. He was in a Spica Cast and got around in a wagon for 11 weeks.
• December 2011, More kids!

As we go through the Christmas season, try to enjoy it. It's not a time to stress out about how to pay for gifts. It's not a time to spoil your kids. It's not a time to be annoyed by family. It's not a time to try to impress friends by how charitable you are this year. (I'm guilty of all at some point in my life)....

It's a time to reflect on the gift from God. It's a time to appreciate the life of Jesus. Everything else should naturally fall into place based on those principles. If it is not glorifying Jesus, it's probably not right.

I hope everyone has a GREAT Christmas!

Ryan

Doing a forecast for an important game is always difficult. On one hand, you do not want people to be deterred from going to a game because of the weather. On the other hand, you want them to be prepared in case it rains. This weekend is one of those weekends.

ASU has a big game against MTSU on Saturday. Everyone wants a sellout crowd, and that is somewhat determined by the weather. Regardless of what I say in my forecast, the weather is going to do what is it is going to do. With that said, people sometimes get angry with me if I have rain in the forecast, even if it is only a 20% chance.

Here's the deal, if the data is suggesting that there is a "chance" of rain, I am not going to hide that from the forecast in order to boost a crowd.

Let's keep things in perspective though. It is only a 20% chance of rain! As of now, that means there is an 80% chance of no rain. Heck, with the temperatures in the 60s, this is some of the best weather you can get for a December game.

AnyWho, that is my rant for the day.

Ryan

Before I dig into this blog post too much, let me say that I understand that in the midst of the drama that goes with coaching changes, families are impacted. Some impacts are for the better. Some impacts are for the worse. All of the impacts can be stressful. I think all of the families involved can agree that it comes with the territory of the position.

Now, to the blog post. I love watching the circus that is involved in coaching searches. Rumors are flying, coaches are dodging questions, fans are uneasy, media is tracking Flight Aware, pics are floating around on twitter, and people are harassing the Facebook pages of the coaches and their families  I may or may not have been part of some of that. To me, it's just fun and comical.

There are many openings available right now for good coaches. UK, UT, Auburn, Arkansas are just a few of them. In the past 2 days, a lot of people have been tossing Gus Malzahn's name around for the Auburn gig and the Arkansas job. I hate to break it to ASU fans, but this is a GOOD thing. If he were not a great coach, his name would not be anywhere near these jobs. He's good though and if he continues to do good, every coaching job will have his name in the mix. That's OK! If he stays at ASU, that's awesome! If he goes to another school, then he felt that was the best move for his family.

Here's my point. In order to have a "next level" program, you need a good coach. If you have a good coach, people are always going to toss his name out for SEC jobs. That's just how it is going to be here.

Malzahn has always seemed unpredictable. While some people may think it would be crazy for him to turn down an SEC job, he may think it is genius. He and his family are well-liked in our community, they have a great program started, and he fits well with the growth of the program. It's not crazy for him to stay at ASU for awhile. It may be the best thing for him and his family.

I'm not going to go into great length about my thoughts if he leaves, except to say that he knows what is best for his family and career. Nobody can judge that.

In the meantime, I'm going to have fun watching it unfold! I'll be making wise-cracks on Twitter. I may even make a crack or two to him at the Touchdown Club lunch this week. But, in the end... I wish Coach Malzahn and his family the best. Whether it is here in Region 8 or somewhere else in the future.

Election day is tomorrow and that is always a big day for the newsies in the newsroom. They are running around all over the place. Everyone is on duty. We have more live shots than any other day of the year, and it all culminates to a big election night show at 10:00 to say who won, who loss, and what races are too close to call.

As the weather guy, I don't have much of a roll. I try to help where I can, but this is a news night. Typically, it is not a weather night. The weather looks like it will be tranquil, unlike an election night in February of 2008. On that Super Tuesday, weather overtook the election coverage. I was so proud of our management that night! They realized that weather is far more important than an election because it threatened lives. They threw out the election coverage and let us cover weather! Here's a look at that coverage on election day Feb 2008:

Thankfully, tomorrow will NOT be like Super Tuesday. Super Tuesday was a very scary day in Arkansas. People in our viewing area lost loved ones, lost their homes and businesses, and it impacted their lives so great that the scars will be there for years. Every time I drive past the damage path, which is still evident, I think about this night.

Tomorrow, weather is not an issue! In fact, I hope to take in some of my oldest son's basketball game on dinner break. Through the day and night though, I'm going to give you a "behind the scenes" look at the newsroom and maybe even some of the live shots. Follow my feed on Twitter at @ryanvaughan

I encourage everyone to GO VOTE tomorrow and then turn to Region 8 News for the results tomorrow night! What LOCAL elections are you most interested in??? Comment in the comments section.