Why Millie?

I received a phone call from a viewer Saturday night wanting to know why I chose the name Millie for my dog. It's a simple answer. My cousins had a dog named Millie several years ago and I remember her being a very smart dog. It was an Airedale (shown in the picture), so it's a little bit bigger than my Millie. It didn't take me long to settle on the name. In fact, by the time I picked her out of the litter, I already knew I would call her Millie. Sometimes, I call her much worse (like the day she left her initials on my sofa)

In broadcasting, we are supposed to leave our personal opinions out of our delivery. But I'm loving this weather and I could take about 3 weeks with these kind of temperatures. What do you think? Usually by this point in July, we are medium-well done (talking in terms of steak here) with temperatures well into the 90s and low 100s. We had 107 last Tuesday here in Wichita, making it the hottest temperature we've had in just over 2 years. The weather pattern is different now and there's no sign of 100 degree heat coming back anytime soon. It could be the 1st or 2nd week of August before the hot, high pressure system moves back to our region. As of right now, our long range computer data suggests the heat dome will reside over the western half of the country (out near Las Vegas)

This may be an active week with storms occurring in the evening and overnight. There will be some severe storms, so check in with us during the week. Have a good one. I like hearing from everyone, so share your thoughts on the 80 degree temperatures.

Nighttime Surprise

I received a call at 6:15 Wednesday morning from Dan Dillon at KFDI to join him on the radio with the storm warnings off to the east/northeast of Wichita. It was a little surprising to see this activity, but it often happens in the summertime. The main area for severe weather shifts into the northern Plains and with the right conditions, the storms move right down into Kansas. In this case, the storms just popped up over central Kansas just after 5 a.m. The interesting thing to me is that when I went to bed, the sky was absolutely clear, but with the right wind speed and direction and a little moisture, you can get storms to pop up even in the overnight hours.

We are about to see our 2nd heat wave here in Kansas. I heard someone reference the "death dome" the other day and they are referring to the huge dome of high pressure that is going to set up for the rest of the week and into next week. When we see this on the weather maps, the better chances for storms usually occur on the outside edges of the high pressure. We sometimes refer to this as the "ring of fire" because storms fire on the outside edges of the high pressure system.

I'm not counting the days, but fall is just about 2 months away. I like warm weather, but when it gets above 100, it is too hot for me.

Harvest Help

I had a chance to help my parents harvest wheat this week and the crop was very good. There was some worry that the wheat would be damaged with the late freeze, but it didn't affect central Kansas as much as the southern part of the state and especially those in Oklahoma. The yields were good and so was the quality. Millie and I lucked out on Thursday when a storm developed in Rice county. On the way to the elevator, we saw the heavy rain and wind, which actually looks like blowing dirt from the dust bowl days in this picture. The rain cooled the air and temperatures fell back into the 70s and 80s for the rest of the evening. It felt really good.

Friday was hot with highs in the 90s and the humidity has just been unbearable. We should have a nice break from the excessive heat for at least a little while, but headed into July we know it will soon be back.

What are your plans for the 4th of July? It won't seem like much of a holiday this year since it falls on a Saturday.