Saturday Evening Post
Saturday Evening Post.. that's a newspaper, right?
* A big thanks to those who passed along happy graduation wishes, and a big thanks for Josh Johnson for covering last weekend while I graduated. Poor guy had to work Mother's Day as well!
* So exciting to hear from our chasers in the Great Plains. They will definitely have an interesting story to tell, and I will look forward to hearing more from them. Thank you guys so much for all that you do!!
* Our weather around here is interesting this evening. A cold front is setting off showers and storms around the area, and a few of these were severe earlier today. This is from the NWS Jackson Discussion, updated at 9:27 PM:
RATHER ACTIVE EVENING WITH A FEW MARGINALLY SEVERE TSRA INCLUDING
SOME GOLF BALL SIZED HAIL...SOME WIND DAMAGE CLOSE TO ITTA BENA...AND
AN INCREDIBLE NEAR 7.5" OF RADAR-INDICATED RAINFALL ON THE CHOCTAW/
WINSTON COUNTY LINE. BACK EDGE OF RAIN SHIELD MOVING E AT 30KTS NOW
AND SHOULD CONTINUE PROGRESSING GENERALLY E OF THE NATCHEZ TRACE
PARKWAY CORRIDOR BY MIDNIGHT. TREND HAS BEEN FOR WEAKENING STORMS
SINCE SUNSET BUT STILL MAY SEE SOME LOCAL DOWNPOURS UP TO ONE INCH.
As the sun has gone down this evening, these storms started to fall apart, and I think we have seen the worst of it tonight. Any remaining storms could have some dangerous lightning as well as some gusty winds.
* We needed the rainfall this evening. As of this post, we still have no measurable rain out at Key Field, so our monthly total is just 0.02 inches. This is approaching 3 inches below normal. If we see below normal rainfall during the months of May and June, there will be less soil moisture when the hottest part of summer rolls around. The sun will have to do less work to evaporate this soil moisture, so most of its work can go into heating the ground, which in turn heats the air. If other factors fall into place, it could mean a hot summer! We will keep an eye on it.
* Looks like nice and cool weather for first part of the week. Humidity values will remain low through the first part of the week with highs in the upper 70s to near 80. We should start a warm-up by the middle of the week and could be talking about temperatures near 90 by next weekend. Looks like our next shot at some rain may come Thursday or Friday in the form of a glancing blow a cold front will deal us. Still a good bit of disagreement about that in the models.
* All in all, looks like a beautiful end to the weekend and a beautiful start to the work week. With kids getting out of school, I'm sure many have a case of summer-fever!
Busy Times...
* Greetings from Auburn, Alabama. My friend Matt graduated Friday, so I'm here for a "going away" celebration. Fun times. My apologies on not posting lately. I had a small fire at my apartment Wednesday night, then two very busy days Thursday and Friday.
* There are a few storms across parts of the area, with another cluster of storms back near the Mississippi River. These will probably affect us tonight. Derek Kinkade will be watching these closely.
* The crew in the Plains has had a fun go of it lately. Here are some of the pictures, courtesy of the
University of South Alabama StormChase Log:
* Be sure to check out Newscenter 11 News at 6 and 10 tonight for Derek Kinkade's full forecast!
Storm Chase Update
* The crew from LDCT and USA continues to move through parts of northwestern Kansas. They are positioning themselves for a very active chase evening! The SPC has issued several "Particularly Dangerous Situation" Tornado Watches for the central Plains today, so there will probably be some violent tornadoes.
* Yesterday proved a frustrating day for the group. The crew missed out on the tornadoes in Nebraska. Storm chasing is a tough, tough adventure! But, they saw some great thunderstorm structure, including this picture of our friend Justyn Jackson checking out a storm:
This is a picture from Todd Beal of LDCT in Nebraska yesterday.
Busy Day...
* Been a busy time today. The morning featured a trip to Clarke County, where I visited with students at Quitman Upper Elementary. We had a BIG time! I can't wait to go back, they were really a great group of students. We'll show video of them tonight at 6 and 10.
* From there, it was back to Meridian. I was Lindsey Hall's guest at the Optimist Club meeting this afternoon. That was another good experience. Good food, and a great speaker! We learned about the latest developments in the cardiac services field here in Meridian. Interesting stuff.
* Now, it's back to WTOK, where I'm working on the forecast for the news tonight. Looks HOT! Tomorrow could see temperatures reaching the 90 degree mark...
* CHASE UPDATE: LDCT and the crew from South Alabama have joined forces in Nebraska City, Nebraska. They are evaluating the latest data and will soon make a decision about where they want to set up shop for what is shaping up to be a busy period tonight and tomorrow. I'll keep you posted on their adventures.
Storm Chase Update
* MSU's LDCT is en route to northwestern Missouri for the night. At last check, they were near Wichita, Kansas and heading towards Kansas City. They are positioning themselves for an active chase day tomorrow.
* South Alabama's Chase Team is heading for St. Louis, Missouri for the evening. They plan to spend the night there and then head to northern Missouri and southern Iowa. They have a website where you can track their daily movements:
South Alabama Chase Log* It looks like a decent chase day in the Plains tomorrow. The Storm Prediction Center has a "Slight Risk" going for tomorrow, and they will probably upgrade this to a "Moderate Risk." It's nice that its not US under a moderate risk for a change! Here's the latest SPC Outlook:
SPC Day 2 Outlook* Our weather will be pretty tranquil for the next few days. Hot and mostly sunny will characterize the next few days, with highs making it into the middle and upper 80's. Our next chance of rain comes by the weekend!
Sunday Night Odds and Ends
* I have a busy week ahead. First, Tuesday, I'm heading to Quitman Upper Elementary to visit with about 200 students there. Wednesday, we will be having our first ever INTERN ORIENTATION. We will have three interns working in the weather department this summer. They are:
Harmony Johnson
Neal McCarty
Kimberly Newman
They are all students at Mississippi State University, and I'm looking forward to working with them over the next several weeks. They will be writing in this space from time to time, so be on the lookout for their work!
Thursday, I'll be working hard on some helpful new assets for our weather department. It's too early to get into specifics, but I will pass along any info as soon as I can.
* We may be dealing with more rain and storms tomorrow that I originally anticipated. A few of the storms could reach severe limits, with hail and gusty winds the main threat. We'll watch that closely.
* Time to hit the hay, it's been a long weekend.
