In my last blog update, I touched a little bit on the changing weather pattern and how it will look more like July than late May. Well, interestingly enough, we have seen a rapid drop off in severe weather for the last few weeks. I'm not really complaining, but it is interesting to see how things have really quieted down over the central US. The Storm Prediction Center went 10 days without issuing any watches for the United States, and in the month of May, that is VERY unusual. The storm track has been so far north and it's probably going to stay there for several more days.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Lebanon,+MO&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=32.939885,56.25&ie=UTF8&ll=37.514083,-92.504883&spn=2.060849,3.515625&z=8&iwloc=A

Now that summer is unofficially here, are you planning any summer trips? Millie and I will be headed to Lebanon, MO soon for a float trip down the Niangua River. I've been on the river before, but it was back when I was in college. It's been about 6 or 7 years, but it was so much fun and relaxing too. The scenery down the river is quite amazing and I'm sure I'll have some pictures to post when I get back. I'm going to see if Mother Nature will accept my offer to keep the storms away during those particular dates that I'll be down there.

Have a great week.

Looking Like Summer

This week's weather looks like a July weather pattern with high pressure keeping us dry and in some areas, hot. It is going to remain this way until the end of the week when the pattern turns a little more unsettled, just in time for the holiday weekend.

We had a successful live blog Sunday night on KWCH.com. There were several good questions regarding tornado safety and I had a chance to expand a little more on VORTEX 2. By the way, new research is now suggesting that if you get caught in flying debris during a storm, staying in your vehicle may not be such a bad place to seek shelter. It is suggested that you should keep your seat belt on, roll up the windows, keep the engine running, and duck as low as you can in the car or truck. One of our bloggers asked a great question Sunday night. Why do you keep the engine running? In the event of a front end impact from flying debris, the air bag will deploy if the engine is running.

The VORTEX crew has to be very disappointed in the weather pattern this week. There will be no chasing as Mother Nature just isn't going to throw anything our way. From Texas all the way into the Dakotas, there will not be much going on this week weather wise. I'm sure they don't mind a little down time, but an entire week is going to signifcantly cut into the amount of data they can collect before the first phase of VORTEX 2 ends on June 13th.

Have a great week. Enjoy the sunshine and don't forget about Eye on the Storm, Thursday night at 7:00.

VORTEX 2 Follow Up

I had a great trip to Norman, OK last Friday to check out the VORTEX 2 equipment that is out in the field searching for tornadoes to study. A well known weather researcher told me that it will cost up to 15 or 20 million dollars by the time all of the data is collected and the scientists get a chance to do the research. There are so many questions about tornadoes that we still want to try and answer, so hopefully this research will give us more answers, but I'm sure more questions will come about too. By the way, I'm doing a live, interactive blog this Sunday night. You will be able to log on to KWCH.com and talk to me about what kinds of things are going on with VORTEX 2. Should be fun.

We still have good chances for rain and severe storms into the weekend. Be sure to stay tuned.

Our weather special is going to air next Thursday night, May 21st. It will be on at 6:30 in the evening so set your DVR or VCR (if you are old school like me)

I'll be back on the air this weekend.

VORTEX2

We are about to enter a very exciting time for meteorologists and scientists that are involved with weather research. Perhaps you've already read something about the big research project that is going to get underway on May 10th here in the central Plains, but I'm actually going to be a part of it for one day. Friday, May 8, is Media Day at the National Weather Center in Norman, OK where several media outlets will be conducting interviews and getting a first hand look at the tools that will be used in the VORTEX2 study. This project is a continuation of the first VORTEX program that was conducted in 1994 and 1995. The purpose of this research is to try and learn as much as possible about tornadoes. It is also important to study the atmosphere in which they are developing. The more we know about tornadoes the better we can be when it comes to predicting them. There is going to be a fleet of 40 different vehicles used in the study, including 10 mobile radars to create a network in and around thunderstorms. Here is an example of one of the mobile radars that will be used in the program. I'll be taking pictures and gathering as much information as I can about the project and I'll have all of the great information next week.