Weather, Storms & Hurricane Blog

Update: 8:02pm ET Edds On Tornado Warned Storm

Nowcasting for Jim Edds, who is currently on the Elk County, Kansas tornado warned cell. Jim has a nice little Supercell in view with nice banding per his last update. He is in Fredonia, KS.

 May Plains Storm Chase Season Opens - Moderate Risk Kansas

We open the month of May with a moderate risk of severe storms and possible tornadoes over parts of the central Plains States. Eastern Kansas is looking like the start of the main show later today, and Storm Chasers from around the nation are likely converging in this area for expected Supercell storms later this afternoon and evening. May 1^st normally really kicks off Plains chasing, especially for non- Plains resident chasers that fly or drive in for chase-vacation either for a week or for the entire month of May.

Nowcasting For Fellow Chasers In The Short-Term

Today, I’m nowcasting for two Florida chasers in Kansas this morning that are gearing up for storms. Jim Edds is in Wichita, Kansas, and will be moving into place as things organized by late afternoon. Chris Collura is in Lawrence, Kansas and doing the same. I have been on the phone with both of them several times already this morning, and they are pumped to be chasing on May 1^st. I’ll have updates later today as things get fired up in the target area.

Florida Breezy Dry Conditions - Fire Weather Risks

Back home here in Florida, were dealing with gusty winds and low moisture levels that have fire risk elevated today. Looking at the extended forecast models, Florida should remain dry through the remainder of the week, and one last weak front on Sunday. This should be the last front to penetrate Florida as the western Atlantic ridge becomes the new dominant featured for the summer season. One can hope! Looking for that wet season to kick soon.

More updates later today on the Guys chasing in Kansas…

(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Florida Wildfire And Dust Devil Chasing Soon?

The weak frontal boundary that I had so much hope for bringing some rain, came and went without a drop. A pre-frontal boundary that moved through overnight Monday, setup over the far southern region of Florida, mostly over the extreme southern Everglades. This was the only decent convergence and moisture pooling out of this whole system for Florida, and a few showers and storms developed in this area. We picked up nothing in the rain gage, and the rest of the week looks to remain dry and breezy. So, now looking at almost 15 days since the last good rainfall, and that nice little bump of rain totals into Lake Okeechobee in early April, is already starting to show signs of dropping fast.

Late May Will Give Way To The Annual Wet Season

Normally, April can be dry like this and as we move into May, the wet season will soon begin. It’s almost like clock work with the rainy season, as most years by mid to late May it comes alive as moisture level surge above 1.8-2.0, and the western Atlantic ridge gets settled in for the long summer months. One good thing is this past 2008 dry season was nothing like the 2007 dry winter and much of spring. Last year at this time, we were well into numerous wildfires each day, with horrific smoke conditions making it hazy and hot, and not to mention the bad smell.

Luckily, only a few small brushfires so far this season, and isolated fires throughout the state. Once the lightning storm season kicks in here in the next few weeks, there is always the window of lightning, and dry conditions in May, that lead to wildfires before things get saturated from the rains and the deeper seasonally moisture levels that surge in from the Caribbean. So, no matter what, expect to see a few wildfires entries here before the good thunderstorm stuff gets going.

(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Devastating Virginia Tornadoes Remind Us It’s Spring

I wasn’t near any computers during the second half of yesterday, and was not aware of the large tornado event that raged through parts of Virginia until this morning. Pretty sobering video and pictures from the 3 Virginia tornadoes from Monday evening airing on CNN this morning, and hitting some of my favorite blogs. Best wishes to those cleaning up today, and to the some 200 people hurt in yesterdays storms.

Celebrating 34 Years On Earth - Trying To Lineup The Next 34

I know it’s truly Storm Chase season about this time of year, because it’s my birthday, and there is always something severe weather-wise going on in the nation in and around my birthday. There have been many big tornado events surrounding, or on April 29^th. The month of May is now knocking on the door, and Plains chasing is a must for the Storm Chaser in May on the Plains. I’m still looking over my options for this spring, and will likely be spot chasing better patterns this spring. We’ll have to see how things pan out.

For now, I plan to relax today, and wait for any rain to move through along the weak front. My lawn really needs it! I received for my birthday, a Pro Azden wireless Mic system (thanks Dee Dee), and a 500GB external hard drive from Kersten, so I plan to play around a little today with some video stuff. It’s cloudy and overcast, so it’s not the best beach day or I’d be heading for the coast, so think I’ll hang around the house and bum my B-day away doing whatever I like.

Edds and Collura Great Plains Bound For The Week - Wait-up Guys!

I also have Jim Edds en-route to the central Plains for some mid-week chasing, and he might remain out there for a few weeks if things get more active. I’ll be nowcasting for him throughout his little expedition, so check back here for updates on his chasecation. Also heading out is my fellow chase partner Chris Collura, and he is flying out for some chasing this week as well. Looking for a more steady pattern so I can maybe join them on a few chases. Updates on both my buds throughout the week.

So, that’s about it for today. Going to finish my coffee and then do nothing but fun stuff today, at least what I find to be fun. Have a great day!

(2 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)

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Doing The Florida Rain Dance, Come On Rain!

Oh wow!, could it be true? There is rain in the forecast for later today through Tuesday night. We are so dry again that any rain is very welcome at this point. After all that rain in late March and early April, the last several weeks we have been stuck under a ridging pattern and very dry atmospheric conditions. I’m back to having to water my lawn twice a week to keep it sustained in this now almost May brutal Florida sun. It’s dry out there, and there were several wildfires over the weekend, which I was not surprised to see with low afternoon humidity levels and gusty winds.

Later today, moisture levels are expected to increase in a return southerly flow, but the moisture looks a little shallow, but still expected to be enough for showers later today and isolated thunderstorms on Tuesday. The front will slowly move into Central Florida and interact with area sea breeze boundaries on Tuesday, so maybe even a strong storm or two is possible, but really just a few hours of steady rains would make my day. After this small window for rain the next 48 hours or so, we’ll return to a dry pattern under more high pressure expected to build in by mid week.

Hurricane Season On Horizon, Hurricane Presentation May 5th

Just a few more weeks, and Florida will begin it’s annual wet season pattern, and we can return to Florida sea breeze thunderstorm chasing each afternoon, just how I like it. Were also beginning to count down the weeks here until the start of the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season. The new season begins in just over 4 weeks from today. I’m booked to speak at the Wellington Community Center in West Palm Beach, at the WRC Meet for this years annual pre-Hurricane Season program. If you can get out there May 5, 2008 at 7:30pm, I’ll be doing a presentation on past Florida hurricanes, intercept video, and discussing this upcoming season, so come on by if in the area.

(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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Looking For Some Real Weather, Head To The Plains?

Well, I’m about over  all this nice, stable weather here in Florida. This ridging, and abundance of dry air, sinking motion, and lack of anything is beginning to take it’s toll on me. Early April had me out everyday shooting storm video, and now all I’m left with is rain free forecasts. Hoping for a pattern change as we get ready to close out the month of April. The extended look into the forecast computer models is not very promising over the Southeast and Florida for rain. The next possible decent shot looks to be around Monday / Tuesday, with the passage of a moderate cool front. Then next week looks like we might be in another blocking pattern into the extended forecast if you were to believe the GFS. Ugh!

Getting Out On The Trails, Good For The Heart and Mind

All this nice weather has allowed me to get out and Mountain Bike some trails, and over the last two days I’ve biked about 23 miles of trails. Brought along a small Mini-DV camera that I mounted to the bike incase I came across anything worth shooting video of, which last night was the sunset. The amount of wildlife you can come across while well off-road is quite impressive. I’ve seen about 5 snakes in the last few days, two of them being Rattlesnakes. I’m sure a lot of animals are moving around a bit in search of food and water since it’s been so dry lately.

Tornadoes and Supercells Active On The Plains

It’s nice to see fellow Storm Chasers out on the Plains already intercepting and capturing beautiful tornado video scenes out over the open rolling High Plains. CNN playing the heck out of some tornado video from West Texas Supercells yesterday. Congrats to all out chasing yesterday, and looks like there is more to come this afternoon with a moderate risk of severe storms and tornadoes in Southern Nebraska and a large portion of Kansas. The Central Plains states look to be the main severe weather action for today. I’ll be monitoring the situation out there via internet while sitting under this outstanding high pressure ridge with all this subsidence. [grin]

(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Getting Outside Today For Earth Day 2008

Starting the day off with a little fog and smoke from some brushfires well south in the Everglades, but this should clear out once the breeze circulations get going. Today is expected to be another fine, warm and dry day, which makes a good day to get out and plant a tree here on Earth Day 2008. I plan to get out and plant a small tree in the yard this afternoon (likely a coconut palm / my favorite ). After that, I plan to get out and enjoy some of the day outside maybe shooting some wildlife video or landscape time lapse scenes. I can’t be spending Earth Day sitting at the computer today.

I hope that you can squeeze in maybe a hour between work, school and errands, to get out and enjoy your world a little today. Time to power down and get outside. Have a great day!

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Slow Weather Pattern Continues and Driving Me Mad

A uneventful weekend weather-wise, and this trend looks to continue through much of this week. Unfortunately, a large mid and upper-level stacked low, will slowly drift over North Carolina and then offshore into the Western Atlantic. This will place much of the Southeast and Florida in a northwest flow and subsidence, keeping things pretty dry. We’ve been dealing with dry weather now for about 10 days, and we had a small shot on Sunday to see maybe a decent shower, and the most we saw was a 10 minute sprinkle with the passage of the old weakening frontal boundary.

Becoming Dry Once Again After A Wet Early April

Late March and the first half of April turned out to be a very wet period, with above seasonal rainfall, and some summer-type sea breeze storm patterns for about a week or so. It greatly helped with our normally dry season, and brought Lake Okeechobee up almost a foot., but now, things are very dry again, and with the higher sun angles this time of year, and getting stronger each day, things will continue to dry out. We have been lucky this year so far with wildfires. Only a few small fires have broken out this spring over Florida, and never lasted more than a day. With things drying out once again and moisture levels somewhat low, I won’t be surprised to see some wildfires in the next week.

Finishing Up Projects While The Weather Remains Non-active.

The rest of this week looks to have minimum rain chances, and my bored weather pattern will continue, so I will likely continue with several projects that I’m working on here before the Hurricane Season gets cranked up later this summer. First, I’m trying to wrap up a A/V Script for a upcoming documentary film that I‘m producing and plan to release sometime during the hurricane season. I have to finishing writing the last scene and the ending, and then finish up the last of the pre-production. Next week I plan to begin some of my interviews with NOAA National Weather Service staff at two Florida offices, and shoot some self interviews in Miami Beach.

The other project is nothing related to weather, storm chasing, filmmaking or stock video. Kersten and I have been doing some major spring cleaning around the house the last few days, and plan to work on it through the remainder of this week. Over the weekend we did some major clothes condensing in the closets, and donated a bunch of stuff we never wear anymore to Goodwill. We have been in this house for just over 3 years, and I can’t believe the junk and clutter that can add up. It feels good to clean out stuff we never use and get ride of some boxes. Also plan to pressure clean the house and patio decks before the rainy season begins.

So, no weather to really blog about or chase, which is depressing to me, but a lot of other daily projects keeping me busy. I’ll keep you posted on my progress and weather mental status with all this boring weather locked in this week. Have a great week!

(2 votes, average: 3.5 out of 5)

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