The teacher that passed me on the sidewalk today summed up the weather just right: “Boy, oh boy, is it hot out here!” In fact, the Bowling Green airport reported a high temperature of 98, which is only 2 degrees off the record for Sept. 10th set back in 1919. If nothing else, at least the dew points remained in the mid 60s all day, so it wasn’t oppressively humid.
Now that the sun has set and a shower passed through the area, temps have dropped back into the upper 70s. Tonight’s rain was the first recorded rainfall for the month of September.
Tomorrow will be hot once again, and the possibility for a pop-up storm exists during the afternoon hours. Expect a high near 96 and DPs around 70 making for a very hot and humid day. The chance for/type of rain will be much like what we saw today: very slight and short-lived.
Thursday and Friday will both be in the mid 90s and just as humid as tomorrow without any rain for relief.
Considering how hot it will be the next few days and how low our rain chances are, it will be important water the lawn during the cool morning hours and to put the lawn mower at a higher setting. This will prevent a loss of moisture from the grass throughout the day. Healthwise, make sure to drink plenty of water before, during, and after any outdoor activities. Heat indices will be above 100 through Friday, so make sure to keep a close eye on family members that have to be outdoors for an extended period of time.
Today was another hot day here in Bowling Green as our high temperature reached up into the low 90s across our area. While the heat may be unpleasant, the sunshine is certainly appreciated as we enjoy our last few weeks of meteorological summer.
Tonight, high pressure will remain dominate in our area, keeping sky conditions clear overnight. These clear skies will be allowing our overnight low to drop to 65°F, providing brief relief from the heat.
This relief will be short lived however, as high pressure will remain dominate throughout the day Tuesday leading to another hot and sunny day. Our afternoon high will reach the mid-90s, with unpleasant dewpoints in the upper 70s contributing to another hot and muggy day.
Tuesday night looks to again be mostly clear, with another slight break from the heat as our temperatures drop to 70°F overnight.
I could say that this past week was a wonderful because of blue sky and calm weather but it was uncomfortable for some people especially during mid-days. the weather will continue the same scenario with high temperature rise up to 89 °F this afternoon and dew point at mid 65 F°. It is sunny day and uncomfortable since the dew point has a high value. The night time will be slightly different because the night will be partly cloudy and there will be a chance for light rain with low temperature drop to 65 °F. in synoptic scale, the cold front is dropping across the Midwest, meeting a low level moisture and continue to move into southern Indiana and central Kentucky. This will enhance some instability which will suggest isolated to scattered showers and develop some storms along and ahead of the front but if any storm will be developed, it will likely be weak.
Moving to hurricane Dorian`s news, the hurricane is moving to north west along Northern Carolina coastline. the system will continue moving at same path and dragging the cold front into, and moisture air from Great lake.
Overall, high temperature will be between mid and upper 80s this afternoon and next few days and low will be between upper 60s and lower 60s. This weekend weather will be between clear sky and partly cloudy as it is showing in summary.
After quite a beautiful week, it’s time for all of our weekend plans.
Friday will start off cool with temperatures in the low 60s. If you happen to get cold easily and need a light jacket while heading to that 8am class, you will be able to shed it by mid-morning as temps will start to edge up into the 80s. While temperatures will top out in the upper 80s Friday, it’s the dew point temperatures that will make for an uncomfortable start to the weekend. DPs will be near, if not above, 70 tomorrow, which is fairly oppressive. There is also a very slight chance for a light, passing, shower in the area Friday evening, but nothing that will necessarily ruin any outdoor pans. The warm mid-levels will likely prevent any rain from occurring, but a cold front passing through in the evening hours could be enough to force a few showers.
With the cold front moving through Friday evening/overnight into Saturday, winds will be out of the north bringing in much drier air for Saturday. DPs will be in the low 60s, and temperatures will be a little cooler with a high around 85.
Sunday will be a little warmer than Saturday, but at least it will still be manageable with dew points in the low to mid 60s. Looks like the perfect weather to do some yard work and then head to the pool for a refreshing dip if possible!
Overall, the weekend really couldn’t be much more ideal for this time of year especially for those that have any outdoor activities. If you have the time, take advantage of the warm, weather, clear skies, and low dewpoints Saturday and Sunday especially. A quick look at the beginning of next work week shows temps taking quite the jump into the 90s, so be ready to take it easy with any outdoor sports or activities next week.
Posted inKentucky Weather|Comments Off on Looking to the Weekend
Hopefully everyone enjoyed their first week of school! If not hopefully you were able to recuperate over the long weekend.
The big weather event on everyone’s minds right now is hurricane Dorian. Dorian’s maximum winds have backed off bringing the hurricane down to a category 2. Here is a current picture of what the system looks like right now.
Dorian will continue its track up the east coast affecting Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and southeast Virginia.
Greatest flood risks
There are storm surge warnings along the eastern coast coinciding with the flash flood risks. Thankfully we’ll stay outside the risk zone.
There is a cold front that has crossed over the state and is actually sitting on top of Bowling Green right now. That cold front is helping to brings some clouds into the area for this afternoon into this evening. Temperatures will start to go down just slightly.
Hopefully everyone has been enjoying the warm weather and sunshine today, as there is more of that to come this week.
Tonight a high pressure system will continue to move into our region, keeping sky conditions mostly clear overnight with a low around 65°F.
High pressure will remain dominant Tuesday bringing more sunshine to our area, with a high around 90°F. Tuesday night will remain clear with a low around 68°F
It was another early start for the WKU storm chasers as we planned to drive from Salina, KS to Texas. Our target for the day was Gainesville, TX, which is north of Dallas. It was a 6 hour drive, and storms were initiating early in the morning.
The drive from Salina, KS to Gainesville, TX.
We knew this chase day was going to be a bit different, because we will be showing up to our target as storms are already occurring. The Storm Prediction had yet another Convective Outlook across Texas and Oklahoma. We were focused on the Enhanced Risk, a level 3 out of 5 for severe weather.
SPC severe weather outlook
Atmospheric Set up and Target Decision
This active pattern continued today with ample shear, lifting, instability, and moisture. We have chased every day except the day we drove from Hays, KS to Amarillo, TX to prepare for the High Risk day. While we prefer to chase further west in Texas, specifically the Panhandle, we would not make it there in time for storms. Instead, we chose to go just north of Dallas, and arrive as storms were already going on. This area is challenging though, as there is a lot of traffic and many trees. We decided to go for the area anyway, and made it work out well.
We made a very quick stop for lunch in Moore, OK. We all preordered Jimmy John’s and had them waiting for us when we pulled in the parking lot. It’s tricky eating a tasty sub in the van going down I-35, but we had storms to see.
Chase
Immediately as we arrived in Gainesville, TX, there was already a severe thunderstorms. We found a storm cell we liked on radar, and decided to chase it near Josephine and Nevada, TX.
We tried to find a good area to get better visibility of the storm, and after doing so, we were able to spot a funnel cloud. Can you spot the funnel cloud?
Can you spot the funnel?
We continued to chase this cell, and eventually saw some ground circulations. These were possibly landspouts, but could have also been very weak tornadoes. We continued to chase, and then ran into more visibility problems.
Trees are not good when trying to view what a storm is doing. Trees are not good when trying to view what a storm is doing.
We continued to chase east of Dallas, near Canton, TX. There was a reported tornado, but we did not get a visual of it. Instead, we begin to see some minor tornado damage, and had to take alternate routes while trying to navigate around the storm. We had to turn around a few times due to road closures.
Lines of cars and emergency vehicles up ahead. We had to turn around.
Now well east of Dallas, we continued southward, chasing storms with decent rotation but impressive lightning. We captured quite a few lightning strikes rather close to the van.
This bolt was about 200 yards away.
In the picture above, you can see the fireball that the lightning created from contact with the ground.
As you can see from the radar, there were lightning flashes surrounding us. We stayed in the van for safety, but the entire van would shake each time the thunder roared. It was such an amazing experience to see lightning like this.
Lightning strikes all around us.
We ended our day by driving to the hotel in Athens, TX. We decided to celebrate the epic day by going out to the Jalapeño Tree.
We chased a total of 7 different storms in a relatively small area with low visibility. Overall, it was another great chase day. We saw more funnel clouds, ground circulations, and epic lightning. Thanks for stopping by, and make sure to follow @wkustormchase on Twitter for current updates.
Posted inKentucky Weather|Comments Off on WKU Storm Chase Day 11
Today was one for the books for sure. We woke up in North Platte, Nebraska after a full and exciting day from Day 9. The enhanced risk from yesterday had centralized into a moderate risk for today located over the Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri borders.
SPC Day 1 Outlook
The Set-Up
The route from North Platte to Southern Iowa is a 6-hour drive. The long drive was cutting it close for time of initiation, which made us rethink our initial target. The set-up for today was classic with the warm front and dry line boundaries.
The surface observations at 21 Z (4 pm)
The typical chase would involve chasing the northeast part of the low. We decided to take the risk and chase the southwest part of the low, where the moisture and winds converge. This method is a risk due to the smaller area with all the ingredients, however, if anything were to develop, the cell will be a beautiful, isolated supercell.
The Chase
Around 5 hours of driving, we ended up in the Hays, Kansas area. We stopped in Stockton at Shirley Mae’s Deli for sub sandwiches. After burning some time, we drove around the lovely city of Stockton and ended up in the little town of Walker, Kansas. We parked the van on the side of the road and noticed cumulus clouds started to tower. After some time throwing the football, we saw that 2 landspouts were reported on this storm. We saw the landspouts forming from the towering cloud and piled back up in the van to chase it.
A screenshot of the radar reflectivity on the storm when landspouts were reported (3:59 pm)
From one pixel to several in a few minutes, this storm was growing fast and strong. We drove closer to the storm and noticed the tornado sirens going off in the town of Walker. By the time we pulled over to watch the storm, the reflectivity started showing widespread rotation. This storm was now a supercell in the making.
A picture of the growing storm just after the landspouts lifted.
The growing storm started taking on rotation (4:49 pm)
The storm started moving away from us, so we got back in the van and chased it. The reflectivity was now showing tight rotation and a “hook” feature on the south-side of the storm which is conducive of tornado circulation.
The “hook” feature on the Reflectivity (top window) & tight velocity signature (bottom window) (5:26 pm)
While chasing, a tornado was reported on the ground. While we were so close to it, we could not see it. The tornado had become rain-wrapped, disguising it with the rest of the storm.
Our sight of the storm when the tornado was reported (5:28 pm)
We turned East on a road and notice the power lines down ahead. Multiple power lines were snapped in half from the tornado that had passed minutes prior.
A gif of the down power lines.
We turned around due to the road closure. The hook feature on radar was now to our backs. We started driving away from the storm with hopes of getting on a new road to catch up to the storm.
The hook was really defined and the rotation was impeccable. (5:29 pm)
One of the students on the storm chase team, Luke Rogers, kept an eye out in the back and saw a beautiful tornado emerge from the rain. He exclaimed about the stove pipe tornado behind us and we stopped the van and all piled out.
Stove pipe tornado center screen.
We watched the tornado for minutes and soaked it all it. This time was the moment that most of us were waiting for. It was truly a rewarding time for all of us. We saw the tornado rope out and eventually dissipate into a long elephant trunk.
A great picture of the tornado roping out.
We piled up back in the van to keep up with it, however, the roads made it hard to keeps eyes on it. We eventually decided to head to Salina, Kansas for the night. We had burgers at the hotel and reminisced on the success we had on this trip, especially on Day 10 of chase day.
It was another long but eventful day as our team woke up in northeastern Colorado in the town of Sterling, CO. Once again, the visibility within the Front Range of the Rockies was absolutely spectacular and the setup and ingredients for severe storms were all coming together to make for an epic day of chase.
THE SETUP
The setup consisted of a large trough with the center axis over the Four Corners region of the United States. An area of low pressure developed off the Rockies during the first half of the day and moved northeastward in northeastern CO, this feature was the main focus for the forecast team.
The WKU Storm Chase team ironing out Monday’s forecast.
As the center of low pressure at the surface moved into northeastern CO, ingredients conducive for the development of severe weather circulated counterclockwise into northeast CO. With the main forcing mechanism for thunderstorm development being the surface low; combined with shear, instability, and moisture, our forecast target for the day was in the vicinity of Fort Morgan, CO.
BUSY DAY FOR WKU STORM CHASERS
The team woke up bright and early in Sterling, CO and began the day with some breakfast and a group forecast discussion. The chase target that the team aimed for was located in north-central Colorado, in the vicinity of Fort Morgan, CO. After the forecast discussion, the team had some time to spare before thunderstorm initiation and development. With a few hours of some downtime, the team played a very fun card game called “Cover Your Assets”.
Playing cards and waiting for thunderstorm initiation.
Lunch at Mi Ranchito!
The team left the hotel and stopped to eat lunch at Mi Ranchito in Sterling, CO. Things started getting a little hectic as a storm fired up around the Denver International Airport and began moving northeastward while we were waiting for our lunch. The team made the decision to take our lunch to-go and eat it on the road. The team made its way southwest towards Fort Morgan, CO to watch an awesome rotating supercell produce a wall cloud and a few funnels.
Rotating supercell around the Fort Morgan, CO area!
Gustnado along I-76!
The team continued tracking the supercell as it moved northeastward along the I-76 corridor. The storm produced multiple gustnadoes, sucking up all the dirt and dust in the farm fields. This storm continued to move across the Colorado landscape giving us a lot of opportunities to take some photos of its jaw-dropping structure.
An amazing storm with amazing structure!
As roads became limited in extreme northeast CO, the team decided to track another storm that developed off to the southwest. The second storm we tracked also an amazing beast. We stopped on the side of the road just to the south of Holyoke, CO and captured some amazing photos of the storm while it produced a brief, not fully condensed tornado.
Brief, not fully condensed tornado south of Holyoke, CO!
The team continued to track the supercell as it moved eastward across eastern Colorado and eventually into western Nebraska. The team continued to capture some amazing photos of this epic storm as it moved across the open land. This storm produced a lot of large hail that blanketed the landscape, almost like it snowed. The largest hailstone we found was 2.50 inches in diameter!
Large hail in eastern Colorado!
Amazing structure associated with the same storm!
The team continued onward, crossing the border into western Nebraska tracking the same severe thunderstorm which produced a fantastic lightning show after sunset.
What a day the WKU Storm Chasers had!! We saw two tornadoes, experienced strong winds, saw a bunch of large hail, and some amazing structure across eastern Colorado and western Kansas. We safely arrived in North Platte, Nebraska where we enjoyed dinner at Applebee’s!
Please continue following our adventures across the Great Plains on Twitter @wkustormchase.
It was a long day of chasing today as our team ventured north into eastern Colorado in hopes of seeing storms with better visibility. The smoke coming from the wildfires in Mexico had been impeding our vision, and the storm conditions looked good for eastern Colorado.
The Setup
We woke up this day in Garden City Kansas ready to see storms. The models were showing a surface low forming off the Colorado Rockies in the early hours of the afternoon. This low combined with southwesterly flow would create a zone of confluence where storms were likely to develop. The biggest issue would be initiation time. The SPC and models were both calling for early initiation of the storms, and this would lead them to be more linear rather than isolate and discrete. During our morning forecast discussion we determined that north eastern Colorado would be our best target for the isolate super cells we were looking for. This was a moderate risk day for severe weather according to the SPC outlook, and we were ready for it.
The Chase
With the forecast discussion over we decided to head out immediately since we were a little ways away from where we wanted to be. The first stop of the day was made in Lamar Colorado for a quite bite to eat from Subway, and a chance to gas up the van. We also saw our first cell of the day in Lamar. It had some cool lightning with it, but it fizzled out without doing much.
The gang getting lunch at the local subwayFirst storm of the day in Lamar CO
After we left Lamar we headed further north toward Sheridan Lake Colorado. We were waiting for better storm initiation since we knew the best storms of the day would be later in the afternoon/evening. Near Sheridan Lake we were on a cluster of storms that created a daisy chain of small meso-circulations. These storms were not severe warned, but they were interesting to watch until they formed into a single line of storms.
Three individual weak circulations
After we left those storms we raced north to be on storms that were firing up near Fort Morgan Colorado. We knew these storms would have better visibility, and they had a greater chance of being isolated longer before they formed into a line of storms with embedded circulations. The best storm we saw today was near Wiggins CO. This storm was isolated, and we had a fantastic view of it. There was some circulation to the storm on the velocity radar product, and we did watch it produce a funnel. However, poor road networks prevented us from staying with the storm long term.
While we were on the storms you could see the Rocky Mountains from where we were. In the sunset they looked amazing.
Look the Rocky Mountains!
Conclusion of day 8
After a long chase day we headed into Sterling Colorado for the night. The long days are starting to show within the group, but our hopes are high to see some incredible storms as we move into the second half of our trip. That night we stopped in a place called The Grill @river city for dinner before heading back to the hotel for bed.
![[Image of WPC Flash Flooding/Excessive Rainfall Outlook]](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT05/refresh/AL0519WPCERO+gif/152824WPCERO_sm.gif)
