“Up” floats high above the weekend box office competition

“Up” beat other newcomer “Drag Me To Hell” easily, but its estimated $68.20 million also beat last week’s number one “Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian” ($16.63 million) by more than 2-to-1.  “Star Trek” is still slowing its descent, losing the least of its audience and falling slower than the rest of the top 10 movies… a trend not as strong, but reminiscent of “Iron Man” last summer.  We’ll have to see if “Star Trek” can hold on another 16 weeks and/or earn another $118 million to match “Iron Man”… or if this summer’s blockbusters are just too much to keep it around long enough.

Overall, the weekend pulled in an estimated $162.99 million, that would make it the 3rd best weekend so far, but down 4% from the memorial day weekend that stands as the biggest weekend of 2009 (actual $169.81 million).

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Up” – $68.20 million (1st week)

2. “Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian” – $25.50 million  ($105.29 million total)
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 53% of audience from last week)

3. “Drag Me To Hell” – $16.63 million (1st week)

4. “Terminator Salvation” – $16.14 million
(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 62% from last week)

5. “Star Trek” – $12.80 million  ($209.50 million total)
(4th week, was #3 last week, lost 44% from last week)

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Here’s the Severe Weather Outlooks for the next three time periods. SPC thinks the best chance of severe will be just south of our area. The threats will be marginal wind and hail, with the heaviest rain and the best chance of severe weather down in Indiana.  Here’s current Michigan weather observations, the latest Grand Rapids NWS discussion, Grand Rapids NWS radar, Great Lakes radar, national radar.

Today is the anniversary of the famous “derecho” thunderstorm outbreak of 1998. Around 5 AM that Sunday morning, the storms blasted through West Michigan with winds as high as 130 mph in Grand Haven and Walker. According to the Storm Prediction Center, this episode ranks as one of the top thunderstorm events in World history. A large area of significant wind damage occurred from South Dakota all the way to the East Coast. In Michigan there were four fatalities and 153 people were injured. Not a single stoplight was working between Grand Rapids and Baldwin. The toll would have been much worse if the storms would have come through in the afternoon instead of in the early morning when most people were in houses.  I went out to visit Spencer, S.D. where the worst tornado occurred as the supercells first formed.  The cells formed the line that eventually raced from eastern S.D. to Massachusetts.  Eleven years later you can still identify swaths where most of the trees were blown over.  Read more here, here, and here.

Wow!  The high temperatures Sunday at Grand Marais in the U.P. was only 40! It was 51 at Gaylord and 46 at Munising.  Muskegon’s high was 61 – that was 11 degrees colder than average with full sun!  We have Freeze Warnings and Frost Advisories up for 7 states from Pennsylvania to Maine for June 1.  Check out these Sunday AM temps:  32 – White Cloud, 30 – Big Rapids, Cadillac and Manistee, 25 – Pellston, 23 – Leota (north of Mt. Pleasant) and also Kenton and Doe Lake in the U.P., 22 Atlanta (northern Lower) and Stonington (U.P.) and 21 at Spincich Lake in the U.P.   It’s snowing over Quebec and should snow over the higher elevations of New England tonight. The graphic is May 2009 temperature in Canada relative to average. Look how COLD it’s been!! Churchill, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, has been 9.9 degrees colder than average this month. The last four days have had HIGH temperatures in the mid 20s!  There’s a lot of cold air to tap and that’s just one factor that leads me toward a slightly cooler than average summer with very few days that have the combination of +90 heat and +70 dewpoints.  I’ve mentioned before that some years in the past with this pattern have brought us an early frost, early snows and extended cold weather in mid-winter.  I’m doing the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon on WOTV4 this afternoon.  I’ll write again this evening or tonight.  Have a nice Sunday!

Saturday 10:15 PM Not a lot of rain in our area today.  At 6 PM in G.R. it was 72 degrees with a dewpoint of 40 and a humidity of only 31%.  It’s hard to get a shower going much less a thunderstorm when the air is this dry.  The wind has really died down after getting gusts of 30-35 mph today.    It’s was only 54 on the beach at Muskegon at mid-afternoon and the mid-lake buoy showed an air temp. of 45.5 and a water temp. of 40.6.  It’s snowing right now north of Lake Superior at Geraldton and Armstrong Station. Pickle Lake, Ontario is 30 degrees, snowing and the wind is NW 20.  Kinross near S. Ste. Marie is already down in the upper 30s at 9 PM with a stiff, cold wind.  There was one marginal severe weather report in Michigan, a gust to 60 mph near Oscoda.  Severe weather did hit central Indiana and southern Ohio with several tornadoes, wind damage and hail.   Sunday should be dry, cool and pleasant.  Here’s the visible satellite loop (daytime only).     Up to 3.8″ of rain fell in Eaton and Ingham Counties Weds. Night.  Some people had to be rescued from their vehicles this evening near Lansing!  High temps. Wednesday:  59 Mt. Pleasant, 61 in Big Rapids, 78 Grand Rapids, 51 Port Hope along the Lake Huron shore.  80  in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek.      Here’s some 24-hour rainfall totals (Fennville – 1.77″, Montague – 1.68″, Grandville – 1.46″, Holland – 1.43″, Grand Rapids – 1.33″) current Michigan weather observations, the latest Grand Rapids NWS discussion, Grand Rapids NWS radar, Great Lakes radar, national radar.

Early this year, 36 wind turbines began operating on Butler Ridge northwest of Milwaukee.  The turbines sit at 1170 feet above sea level and the turbine towers are 260 feet above the ground.  The turbine blades are roughly 300 feet in diameter, so the top of the wind turbine rotors are about 400 feet above the ground on Butler Ridge.  That’s high enough to cause a significant reflection on local radars.  Many Doppler radars can remove interference (called clutter).  However the radars were designed to filter out returned (reflected) energy that has little or no motion. This is effective for removing the returned signals from hills, tall buildings, and towers. Unfortunately, the radar sees the rotating wind turbine blades as targets having reflectivity and motion, hence processes these returns as storms.  It’s possible that in a severe weather situation, storms could be “masked” over the area.  The National Weather Service is conducting an outreach program to ensure that the wind energy industry and developers are aware of Doppler Radar locations and the potential impacts on radar data and on the ability of forecasters to give accurate severe weather warnings.  (picture is from the National Weather Service radar at Sullivan, Wisconsin).

New at Theaters (Friday): “Drag Me To Hell”, “Up”

Best Bet(s): Two very different options this weekend by design this weekend, the Disney/Pixar animated family adventure “Up” and the  counter- programming from Universal Pictures’ horror movie “Drag Me To Hell” from Sam Raimi (”Spider-Man”, “The Evil Dead”).  And you’re on your own here, I haven’t see either on yet, BUT… I HAVE HEARD A LOT OF GOOD BUZZ about “Up”… so if its a family movie you’re looking for, that might be the one to check out this weekend.

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Killshot”, “New in Town”, “Powder Blue”

Best Bet(s): Some solid offerings coming out on DVD: the first good romantic comedy of 2009: “New in Town”, and then two movies I haven’t seen, but the cast should at least make them worth watching: “Killshot” with Mickey Rourke and Diane Lane and “Powder Blue” with Ray Liotta, Jessica Biel, and Forest Whitaker.

 CLICK HERE TO FIND A MOVIE SHOWTIME

Next Week at Theaters: “The Hangover”, “Land of the Lost”, “My Life in Ruins”

Next Week on DVD: “Defiance”, “He’s Just Not That Into You”, “Revolutionary Road”, “Spring Breakdown”

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT/BUY: 

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When it came time for the acts to hit the stage for last year’s Rothbury Festival, I was sitting on the sidelines. And by sidelines, I mean my living room. I was the proud Papa of a brand new baby boy, and that meant trading The Disco Biscuits for Diapers.

Luckily, those folks at iClips.net were there to save me. Streaming sets throughout the weekend, from the big show, right into my house. The quality was great, though obviously an internet stream. It did however bring me as close I was gonna get to the Festival.

It appears that the iClips folks were not satisfied. There’s always room for improvement, apparently. The guys at iClips tell me they have moved to a Flash-based delivery system, and are working to incorporate HD as well – better quality, better stability, and a better product. They also said they’re making the final preps necessary to once again broadcast from Rothbury.

Is it as good as being there? Well, we’re gonna get a chance to find out. iClips has given me access to their broadcast of Mountain Jam this weekend, so that I can review it for you. But I’m not selfish, so I want to hook someone else up with a preview as well. My only request is that you send me a review of your iClips experience when you’re done. Deal? Deal.

I have one (1) single-day code available for this weekend’s broadcast from Mountain Jam – all you need to do it email me before Noon (EST) tomorrow – kindly put “iClips” in the subject line. I’ll pick someone at random, and send the code on over.

Friday Midday Update:  These are the Severe Weather Outlooks out to 8 days from the Storm Prediction Center.  Looks like we’re in the “close, but no cigar” area.  I like the way SPC has no storms immediately downwind from Lake Michigan this PM.  East of US 131 an isolated storm could spring to life with some gusty winds.  Same for Saturday PM…best chance east of US 131 – 30% chance of any one area seeing a storm and there is an outside chance of some strong, gusty winds in a Sat PM t-storm.  Sunday should be dry and Monday the chance is probably greatest along the Indiana border as SPC has outlined.    We have had fewer severe t-storms and tornadoes this year than last year. This has been the case nationally and in Michigan and that trend will likely continue as we transition to a weak El Nino.  It’s too early to say for sure where we will be this winter, but I’ve been warning you that weak El Ninos can bring in frost and snow early (1951) and often to Michigan in the fall and also result in a stretch of pretty cold weather through mid-winter (1976-77).  Note, these graphics will update.  I’m writing this on 5/27 – so if you’re reading this blog a week from now, the situation may be different.  

More than 225 fatalities have been reported in the wake of Cyclone Aila which roared ashore Monday in Bangladesh. Another 500 people are reported missing. Hurricanes are called cyclones in the Indian Ocean. The v-shaped Bay of Bengal is particularly susceptible to strong storm surges from even small tropical cyclones. Aila has also left 500,000 people homeless. Significant damage is reported to crops from heavy rain and the push of salt water into coastal fields from the 10-foot storm surge. High winds downed trees and power lines and several landslides have been reported. Thousands of relief workers from the Red Cross and the governments of Bangladesh and India are involved in relief efforts. Crews are clearing debris from roads so workers can reach the worst hit areas.