Downburst & Dolly

Driving home Tuesday evening I did see the downburst that hit Sedgwick county. It was impressive, but I wasn't close enough to really get a good picture of it (the picture posted comes from a viewer in North Newton). They are often hard to distinguish because they are usually surrounded in rainfall, but this one was clearly visible. Downburst winds are the strong winds that descend from a collapsing thunderstorm and they can produce winds up to 100 mph, which sometimes does more damage than a weak tornado.

Someone posted a comment on the blog asking about Hurricane Dolly and whether or not she will bring some rainfall to Kansas. At this point, I would say no, because Dolly is moving to the west and most of the moisture will fall in the mountainous regions of Mexico. Tropical storms and hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico can bring significant moisture to Kansas, but in this case, the upper level winds are not favorable to drag the moisture this way. I know those of you in western Kansas really need rainfall. It might be several days before we get anything substantial into that area of the state. Thank goodness we have not had too much in the way of wind because 100 degree heat AND wind would really have us in a bad situation.

Hurricane Season 2008

The tropics are active tonight with Cristobal moving away from the United States and now we watch Dolly churning into the Gulf of Mexico. It will likely strengthen to hurricane strength by Tuesday, but by the time it gets to that intensity, it will be very close to Mexico. It is possible that Dolly's moisture may affect Kansas down the road, but that would be a week or so away before it could get here. It will of course depend on what is going on in the upper levels of the atmosphere, which this week, will be dominated by high pressure. If you are hoping for rainfall, we have slim picking on rain chances, so be patient. It is a typical weather pattern for us in July. Have a great week.

Mowing Surprise!

Maybe you knew this already but I like to mow and I've had some strange things happen to me while cutting the grass. I've been chased by hornets and mowed over a few snakes, but I've never had someone or something ride on a push mower before. Tuesday morning while mowing, a frog jumped on the mower and stayed there for about 15 minutes while I made several different rounds. When I stopped to take a picture with my cell phone, I was almost sure he would jump off, but when I came back, he had moved over to the wheel. So I had to take a picture of Kermit and Millie. I'd like to say that Millie is good help mowing the yard, but she normally stretches out in the shade and watches me work. If she had some thumbs, I'm sure she would offer to run the trimmer and do the edging. At any rate, there seems to be a significant increase in the number of toads and frogs lately. Most of them look pretty healthy and I think it's because they are feeding on the significant number of mosquitoes that are annoying the heck out of us. Have a great week and beware of the mowing frogs and toads.