A New Lake in Kansas

I made my way across central Kansas on Wednesday headed back home for a few days and I couldn't believe what I saw in Barton county. Cheyenne Bottoms, if you are not familiar with the area, is located just outside of Great Bend and is a wildlife refuge. However, after passing through that area, it looks like Cheyenne Lake after all of the rainfall in May. I've heard some reports saying the water backs all the way up to Hoisington, which is north of Great Bend about 11 miles. Although I didn't see any boats out on the water, it certainly looked like a place to spend a weekend boating, fishing, and camping.

Millie (my storm chasing partner) was traveling with me and we stopped to take pictures of the flooded area. I don't think I've ever seen that much water in Cheyenne Bottoms, but for those that have been around longer than I have, perhaps you've seen this before. I'd like to hear from you if that's the case.

Have a great weekend.

Memorial Day 2007

We owe a special thanks to all of those who have served our country, both past and present on this Memorial Day weekend. My holiday weekend has been spent tracking flooding rainfall which doesn't want to ease up on Kansas. I'm going to add up the amounts in the next few days, but some areas of the state have had well over 12 inches of rain this month alone. We hate to complain about the rain, but a stretch of dry weather would be much appreciated in central and eastern Kansas where the flooding has been extensive. The aerial pictures from Salina are impressive to say the least and with more rain expected this week, we know the situation could get worse before it gets better.

Some of the wheat in south-central Kansas doesn't look bad considering the cold temperatures we suffered through in April. I'm sure the rain has helped the wheat recover in some ways, but at the same time, I've read a couple of articles that suggest it might be suffering from rust with all of the recent rainfall. Hopefully things will turn around soon in Kansas weather.

Enjoy the rest of your holiday.

A Busy but Special Afternoon

I had a wonderful opportunity to speak to the students at South Hutchinson Elementary and what a great bunch of kids. We did the cloud-in-a bottle trick, talked about weather balloons, and spent some time discussing severe weather. One student in particular, Garrick Beasley, a sixth grader at the school, has a true love for weather and was the one that invited the KWCH Storm Team to come visit about weather as part of their career day. Be sure to check the attached picture.
Garrick has a collection of the TV meteorologists from this area neatly filed in a notebook along with pictures of his very own weather station in his parent's basement. He has already attended storm spotting classes and has developed an internal sensor as to when there might be severe storms.

I'm still not exactly sure why, but most meteorologists say they discovered a love for weather at a young age and sometimes, it just takes one good storm to catch their interest. I can definitely relate to this and that's why when I meet students like Garrick, I want to do my part in helping to further educate them on weather and how the atmosphere works. I wish I could've visited with the students for a little longer, but severe weather cut our time short. I spent a great deal of time in SatCam Wednesday evening monitoring the storms across central and western Kansas. Fortunately, no significant tornadoes to report but the flooding is causing enough problems and concerns.

Have a great and safe holiday weekend! (the unofficial start to summer)