Weather blog – Early morning thunderstorms and then a nice forecast for the weekend

Hello bloggers,

A band of showers and thunderstorms was moving in from the northwest as I wrote this blog at 1am. It extended from St. Joseph to a strong thunderstorm in Beatrice, NE. Here is a preview of this radar image:

It’s a very different scenario than Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning when we had thunderstorms suddenly producing four tornadoes (one in Johnson County, KS; one in Jackson County, MO; two in Miami, KS). It was the night I announced my retirement and then Mother Nature got mad or something. There was no history of tornadoes with these thunderstorms until they arrived near KC.

This band of thunderstorms this morning is being closely watched. There has not been a single warning or watch issued so far. This area will cross the KC subway before sunrise.

Precipitation this month (before the installation of this group):

Rain gauge June

Rainfall for the year:

Rain gauge this year

Everything is lush and green. Three inches of rain above average for the year. Looks like some heat will build up next week with temperatures in the 90s likely for a few days. This year’s LRC will continue to produce cold fronts arriving here, so no prolonged heat waves are expected. A heat wave is defined as three consecutive days with 95° or more. We don’t see one anytime soon.

Flow at 18,000 feet above us: (Valid next Thursday)

Next Level Stream Valid Tuesday, June 16

This map above shows the developing “high”. A cyclone is a stormy system (hurricane, tornado, depression). An anticyclone is the opposite of a storm. Air sinks in the middle of an anticyclone, and this sinking air will lead to heat buildup. This system, or “anti” system, is expected to develop over Oklahoma and Kansas later next week. We may need to increase our predicted high temperatures if this indeed occurs.

The weather this weekend promises to be ideal for the Pride festival and for Symphony In The Flint Hills. I speak at 2 and 5 p.m. Saturday there! I can not wait to be there. The subject is LRC & Kansas weather.

Then I’m going to Milwaukee next week for the American Meteorological Society broadcasters’ conference. The subject there will blow your mind. I’ll show how 2012’s Super Storm Sandy relates directly to the model that returned the following spring to produce the last EF-5 tornado in the United States. The Moore and El Reno, OK tornado setups are directly tied to Super Storm Sandy and the world doesn’t understand. I will present this “order in chaos” that the RCL describes.

Thank you for spending a few minutes of your day sharing this weather experience.

Have a great Friday night in the big city,

Gary