The lack of blog postings last week was for a good reason. I was back in Raleigh, North Carolina attending the American Meteorological Society broadcast conference. It's a 3 day event where government, broadcasters, and students in meteorology can present different topics related to weather and how it's delivered to you, the consumer. We also get an opportunity to learn about some of the new tools and technological advances that will move our profession forward.
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| Different pieces and instruments that make up the new satellite |
One of the new tools that will be coming in early 2016 is a new satellite called
GOES-R (GOES stands for "Geostationary" - meaning it travels in sync with the Earth) It's going to operate much faster and provide meteorologists with more pictures from 22,000 feet above the Earth than ever before. In most cases, we have to wait 15-20 minutes for new satellite images to come in, but this new satellite will provide some images every minute. The new satellite will also have many lightning detecting capabilities than ever before. If we are able to see significant increases in lightning, it could be the first sign of a strengthening storm.
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| Monday forecast |
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| Tuesday forecast |
The best chances for rain today will be focused over central and eastern Kansas with a weak low pressure in the upper atmosphere. This will then push a little farther east for Tuesday, so the higher chances for rain will be along and southeast of the Kansas Turnpike during that time.
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| Potential developing tropical system |
We will have to watch the development of what could become a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico. If it does strengthen into a storm, it will be called Bill and could make landfall during the middle of the week. The forecast models then bring it across Oklahoma and toward Kansas by Friday, with the heaviest rains expected in southeast Kansas and into Missouri.
Rainfall amounts (ending at 7 a.m. Monday)
Newton: 4.30"
Smith Center: 1.12"
Hutch: 0.94"
Dodge City: 0.79"
Medicine Lodge: 0.56"
Salina: 0.52"
Jabara Airport: 0.43"
Hill City: 0.39"
Hays: 0.23"
Concordia: 0.23"
Winfield: 0.22"
Russell: 0.12"
Garden City: 0.09"
Great Bend: 0.08"
Wichita: Trace
2 comments:
Thank you for the update on weather meteorology advances. Thanks for watching out for us!
Hutchinson's rainfall amounts are never accurate. We need a new sensor or reporting station. All the rain guages I have seen say we had between 1.25-1.50 inches. It's been like this for years. If we were to go by last month's totals as reported into the local stations, it would have calculated to about 5 inches, when in reality we had nearly 8 inches!
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