For the second day in a row, NASA has been forced to delay the scheduled landing of the space shuttle Atlantic. Thunderstorms have prevented the shuttle from returning to its home base on Saturday, keeping the astronauts circling Earth after a successful repair job at the Hubble Space Telescope.

Offshore storms were what prompted the space agency to skip both morning landing attempts at the Kennedy Space Center. Sunday's forecast isn't looking too good either, but NASA is still opting to wait out the bad weather instead of taking a detour to California.

The Atlantis crew are hoping to soon wrap up their Hubble repair mission, which started on May 11. It was NASA's last visit to the now 19-year-old space observatory, and the $1 billion overhaul and repairs are expected to keep the telescope working for a good five to ten years.

The shuttle's backup landing site, Edwards Air Force Base in California, is expected to have good weather all weekend. However, NASA is holding off on using the backup landing site as it takes quite a bit of time and money - about $2 million - to have a shuttle ferried across the country.

A study spanning sixty years has shown that overnight temperatures in Ohio have gradually risen, and experts are left wondering what it means. Ohio State University researcher Jeffrey Rogers is now looking into whether the warmer Ohio nights may be a sign of global warming.

Rogers figures indicate that the difference between average summer nighttime low and average nighttime high temperatures in Cleveland is 1.5 degrees. In Columbus the difference is much greater, with nighttime temperatures having increased by 3 degrees. Day time temperatures have remained largely constant.

What Rogers and his fellow researchers currently believe is that increasing clouds and humidity are making heat retention more likely, thus the higher nighttime temps. This theory falls in line with other global studies, says the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

According to my car's temperature reading, it was as cold as -12°F this morning. Factoring in the 10 to 12mph winds we have blowing across Northeast Ohio this morning, and temperatures easily feel as if it's at least -25°F. In extreme cold such as this, it is important take take several precautions to protect not only yourself and your loved ones, but also your pets and home.

The number one tip for cold weather is to limit your outdoor activity, and cover any exposed skin when you do have to venture out in the cold. At the temperatures forecast, frostbite can occur in just a few minutes. Keep warm by dressing in layers and try to stay dry. Now is not a good time to go sledding, as tempting as the nicely packed snow may be. Avoid prolonged exposure to the cold, hypothermia can easily set in.

If you have pets, make sure they stay indoors. If they must be left outdoors, make sure they have shelter, extra food, and water. Pets burn more calories trying to stay warm, and dehydration can be a serious problem in the winter.

Fire officials in California said that winds of "near hurricane force" have now grounded some of their water dropping aircraft, as firefighters in northern Los Angeles continue to battle a wildfire that has already forced thousands to evacuate and that has burned 10 homes.

The California Highway Patrol shut down a section of Interstate 5 near Sylmar early Saturday as flames spread west towards the freeway, marking the second freeway closing recently due to the fire.

5,000 residents in the area have been evacuated since the fire began late Friday. More evacuations are under way, and patients at one hospital were evacuated when the fire knocked out power.

A separate fire is also blazing through the Santa Barbara area community of Montecito, which began on Thursday 100 miles northwest of LA, and has since forced the evacuation of 5,400 homes. At least 100 homes have been gutted by the blaze. There have been no reported fatalities, however, 13 have been injured, three of which are suffering from burns and 10 suffering from smoke inhalation.

It snowed in Chardon, Ohio yesterday, the heart of the snowbelt, and who can forget the scenes of Pennsylvanians digging out their drives after their first big snow fall of the year yesterday? Well today it was Cleveland's turn to get their first taste of the fluffy white stuff, with some local residents waking up to a coating of fresh white snow on their cars. Closer to the lake and in the city of Cleveland, snowflakes have been spotted falling through the crisp fall air.

Are we in for an early winter? Will we get socked with snow this year? According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, Cleveland falls in the region known as the "Lower Great Lakes", which spans west from Milwaukee, WI and Chicago, IL to Syracuse, NY in the east, and also includes Indianapolis, IN to the south and Detroit, MI to the north. Their prediction for this winter for the Lower Great Lakes region is as follows:

As Hurricane Ike battered the gulf coast last month, it slowly made its way up north and into Ohio, where it existed mostly as a very bad windstorm. With gusts more than 70mph, near hurricane strength, the storm caused more than $550 million in insured losses in Ohio.

According to an Ohio Insurance Institute study, such a loss is the highest damage total for any storm in the state since the Xenia tornado outbreak in 1974.

The group surveyed 24 Ohio property and casualty companies, which reported 121,624 claims to have been received from the storm, which knocked down trees and cut out electricity for hundreds of thousands of residents and businesses throughout the state.

The $553.1 million loss figure, however, may not be entirely accurate and is likely higher. It includes data from insurers that represent 68% of the auto insurance market, 72% of the homeowners insurance market, and 1/3 of commercial lines. They are planning a followup study in six to nine months to collect additional data.

The Xenia tornados of 1974 caused $600 million in damages, which in today's figures would be about $1 billion. Other more recently costly storms in Ohio was the 2006 hail and windstorm in Central Ohio that produced $239.6 million in damages and 45,000 claims.

As forecasters indicate that the center of Tropical Storm Kyle is expected to pass near New England, a hurricane watch has now been issued for part of Maine's coast. The watch will be in effect for the Maine coast from Stonington north to Eastport, where hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours. In addition, a tropical storm watch is in effect for the coast south of Stonington to Cape Elizabeth.

Kyle, currently a tropical storm, has top sustained winds near 70mph, and may gain hurricane strength throughout Saturday. The storm is moving north in the open Atlantic at 15mph. It could make landfall anywhere from Maine to Nova Scotia.

At 11am ET Saturday, Kyle was centered 280 miles west of Bermuda, where they are expected to get up to three inches of rain.

Although hundreds of miles away from Hurricane Ike's mainland strike in Galveston, Texas, the state of Ohio also suffered the wrath of the storm. Hurricane-force winds ripped through much of the state, causing power outages in many communities. The storm also sparked several fires across the state.

Dozens of schools and daycares in northeast Ohio were also closed Monday due to a lack of power and damages sustained from the storm.

More than 1.5 million customers across the state were without power on Sunday. 310,000 Ohio Edison customers in northeast Ohio experienced power outages due to the storm's high winds. Restoring power to all customers may take several days, and up to a week in some of the hardest hit areas.

Tearing through the Gulf of Mexico on a fast track towards the nation's fourth largest city, Hurricane Ike is picking up strength as it prepares slam into Texas and leave a trail of devastation.

Nearing the Texas shores this morning, Hurricane Ike's first victim was a 584-foot bulk freighter with 22 people onboard that broke down in the path of the storm. Ike, which was a Category 2 storm at the time with 105mph winds, made a rescue by ship impossible. The Coast Guard's only option for rescue is by helicopter, which itself poses many risks due to the strong winds. The Coast Guard is weighing its response options, and have thus far declined to name the ship or where it was headed.

The eye of the storm is forecasted to hit somewhere near Galveston, Texas late Friday, but has already begun hammering Texas and Louisana. The National Weather Service warned residents of smaller structures in Galveston, who've been ordered to evacuate, that they could "face certain death" if they stay behind.

As Hurricane Ike inched closer to the Texas shores, hundreds of thousands began fleeing coastal areas of the state Thursday under mandatory evacuation orders. Currently a Category 2 hurricane, Ike brings with it 100mph winds and a storm surge forecast to be as high as 20 feet.

Authorities in Harris County, Texas and Houston ordered the evacuation of residents in eight zip codes by noon central time along routes leading inland. The mayor of Galveston also ordered the mandatory evacuation of Galveston Island.

Included amongst the zip codes evacuated are the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and the nation's largest oil refinery. For the second time in two weeks, energy companies evacuated oil and gas production platforms and rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, and temporarily shut down most output.

The National Weather Service said in its most recent advisory that Ike is expected to become a "major hurricane" before reaching the coastline by late Friday. A "major hurricane" is defined as a Category 3 or above, with winds of at least 111mph. Some forecasters are predicting it will reach Category 4 status with winds between 131 and 155mph.