Sunday severe weather - windy week ahead

Tornado reports

Wind Reports

After one of the slowest starts to the severe weather season in history, it certainly took off Sunday afternoon for areas to our east. An EF3 tornado in North Carolina touched down last Friday, making it the latest first major tornado to touch down in a calendar year in the US. I don't know how many tornadoes there were yesterday, but there were several reports and even a few long track tornadoes. Saturday really turned out to be a dud for most of the area. Temperatures in the mid levels of the atmosphere were a little too warm and the main part of the system was just too far west. But Sunday is proof that when everything comes together at just the right time, you get some very violent weather. I'm posting storm reports from Sunday and you'll see the string of tornado reports from Arkansas, which is the same one that went through Mayflower.  The storm must have produced a tornado for more than 2 hours. Storms that position themselves in just the right environment can survive for very long periods of time. I'm not an expert at storm damage assessment, but it looks like at least EF4 damage and we will certainly find out some more information later today.

Hail reports

Because of this big system, most of the Gulf of Mexico moisture will be pushed well south and east of Kansas. So our severe threat is essentially nil for the rest of the week. Our biggest concern will be wind... and a lot of it. I would expect some wind all the way through Thursday and probably into Friday as well. This HUGE system just won't move much, so we will be under it's influence for quite awhile. The month of May will pick up where April left off in the fact that it will continue to be very dry. Our best hope for moisture this week is a chance for showers Tuesday, but that will likely be it for the rest of the week. I keep hoping for some big rains, but we just can't seem to get one of these systems to work it's magic over our state. Let's hope it changes soon.

Had a great time running the Hard Charge Saturday at the Kansas Coliseum. It was 4.2 miles and 23 or 24 obstacles. Nothing like getting dirty and wearing a bunch of mud for a few hours. I love looking at the pictures when it's all over to see how gross everybody looks, but it's a good time.