Gustav/Katrina

Louisiana will feel the brunt of the hurricane Gustav on Labor Day and it should be onshore midday Monday. This storm has some similarities and differences when you compare it to Katrina. Remember, Katrina was a powerful category 3 storm when it hit the New Orleans area and Gustav will likely hit as a category 3 storm as well. Katrina approached the Gulf Coast more from a southerly angle and Gustav will likely approach from the southeast. We hope they are better prepared to deal with this storm and from what we've seen on the news coverage, most people are heading the warning and getting out of town. The northeast side, or quadrant of the hurricane is the where you normally find the strongest winds. New Orleans could very well end up in that area Monday.

This is going to be a very interesting week in Kansas weather. Gustav will continue to track northwest and bring some heavy rainfall to Texas and southern Oklahoma. At the same time, we are watching a cold front coming in from the northwest, which will help intensify some of the rain in our area. So, what this means for you is that we will see some heavier rain showers Tuesday and Wednesday along with big temperature changes. Have a great Labor Day.

Weekend at Cheney Lake

Camping is something I enjoy doing when the weather cooperates and there is time for it. You might remember last year I posted some pictures from El Dorado Lake on a camping trip, but this year it was a trip west to Cheney Lake. The weather was almost perfect Friday evening and into Saturday with a slight breeze and the humidity wasn't unbearable. Millie discovered a love for water a few years ago, but I didn't know she was such a good swimmer until this weekend. She's has a pretty thick coat and when it's wet, it does add some weight, but that helps to build her stamina. She was able to swim about 50-75 feet out from the shoreline to fetch a stick and to hang out with the rest of the swimmers, but at the end of the day, she was pooped. This was my first adventure to Cheney Lake and we really had a great time. I know next weekend will be very busy with the Labor Day weekend campers, but if the forecast holds up, rain might dampen some of the activities..












College football will kickoff this weekend. I'm getting pretty excited to see the Kansas teams back in action. There's been a touch of fall in the air lately with the cooler weather we've been having. I'm not sure how you feel about it, but we haven't had many complaints in the storm center about the October-like weather. I know we need some dry weather though for the farmers to get some wheat planted, but this week still looks a bit unsettled. Anyone attend the Flight Festival this weekend?

Hurricane Hunting

It is something I would like to do someday before my time on earth is over, but it will be difficult to arrange it. I think it would be so cool to fly with the Hurricane Hunters to investigate some type of tropical system. The National Hurricane Center relies heavily on data from the aircraft to estimate the maximum winds inside the hurricane or tropical system. There is some rather sophisticated technology on board, including Doppler radar to help see and locate the actual center of the system. If you have time, take a closer look at the picture I posted. Although it is a little hard to read, you can see one type of radar dish is located toward the front of the aircraft with the Doppler radar in the back. A "dropwindsonde" is dropped out of the plane (hence the name) into the storm to find out temperature, humidity, and other pressures within the rainbands surrounding the eye.

As you can well imagine, it wouldn't be the smoothest ride in an airplane considering the intensity of the storms involved. I did talk to a gentlemen several years ago that flew on the aircraft and he said you definitely need a strong stomach to stand the rough nature of the ride. I'd be willing to try!!