Wichita and much of eastern Kansas could be in for a stormy Sunday, the National Weather Service says. A strong cold front is sliding down from the northwest, and will collide with a dry line moving in from the west.
Storms are expected any time from Saturday night into early next week, but Sunday appears to be the most likely time for severe weather.
Forecasters say it’s too early to know what forms of severe weather are most likely, so monitor future forecasts.
It is probably too soon to announce this is evidence of a distinct pattern, but thunderstorms appear likely east and southeast of the Kansas Turnpike again on Thursday.
Wichita, meanwhile, is likely to stay dry. There’s a slight chance of rain for the metropolitan area for Thursday, forecasters say, but “slight” truly is the key word.
The city received a healthy soaking on St. Patrick’s Day from the storm system that later flooded portions of Arkansas and Missouri, but otherwise strong storms have not formed until the systems are east of Wichita.
That’s reminiscent of 2003, when storm after storm formed just east of Wichita and went on to pound the Flint Hills and eastern and southeastern Kansas.
Is this going to be deja vu all over again? Stay tuned.
The National Weather Service reports that a few severe thunderstorms are possible Thursday afternoon and evening across southeast Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, southern Missouri and western Arkansas.
A strong cold front is expected to interact with a moist and unstable air mass. The primary threats will be large hail and damaging winds, according to the weather service.
Residents of Chanute, Coffeyville, Parsons, Pittsburg, Fort Scott and the surrounding areas in southeast Kansas should pay special attention to conditions on Thursday.
On this date in 1948, a strong tornado struck Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City. Its path was just 100 yards from the tornado that occurred five days earlier. The second twister hit 84 planes, destroying 35 of them. Damage estimates reached $6 million.
It was the first tornado ever successfully forecast, ushering in the modern era of forecasting severe local storms – though tornado warnings for the public were still years away.
Wondering if your garden’s ready for planting? The Old Farmer’s Almanac has an easy way to find out: Grab a good handful of it. If you can form it into a ball, the soil is too wet. If it crumbles through your fingers and reminds you of chocolate cake, it’s ready for planting.
If the soil is ready, give it a good stirring and let it sit for several days. Then top-dress it with compost or well-rotted manure and plant beets, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, radishes, parsnips, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnips. Scatter spinach or lettuce seeds around emerging bulb foliage to make wise use of your garden space and have a leafy green crop at the ready to cover the bare spots left by deadheaded spring flowers.
Wichita’s weather appears to be setting up well for planting: while there are slight chances for showers over the next few days, the daylight temperatures should reach the 50s and 60s and the overnight readings in the upper 30s and low 40s.
There’s been so much snow in New Hampshire this winter that the Old Farmer’s Almanac has announced a “snowmelt contest:” Whoever picks the day on which the snow in the middle of the publication’s parking lot finally melts away wins a prize.
Dublin, N.H., recorded “several feet” of snow this winter, the editors say. They didn’t say what the prize would be, but we’re thinking a snow shovel would be appropriate.
Don’t try to enter the contest. The deadline passed last week. We’ll let you know the “winning” day — but it may be a month or three.
The Associated Press quoted a meteorologist with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center saying the jet stream’s been “on steroids” so far this year.
Really?
“It’s normally really strong this time of year,” said Chris Jakub, a meteorologist with the Wichita office of the National Weather Service.
They’re strong, Jakub said, because there can be significant differences in temperatures between warm and cold air masses.
When the edge of this large weather system moved through Wichita on Monday and dumped nearly two inches of rain on parts of the city, the storm cells were moving at 50 miles an hour. But that’s not unusual for early spring storms, Jakub said.
And it’s why meteorologists have long said it can be dangerous to try to outrun tornadoes in a vehicle – because they can be traveling 50 or 60 miles an hour or more in the early spring.
As much as a foot of rain fell in parts of the Midwest earlier this week, but Jakub said that’s not because the jet stream is any stronger than usual. Storms just kept moving over the same areas – known as “training” because it’s as if the cells are on a set of railroad tracks – and that allowed the rainfall totals to soar.
Maybe they’re prophetic.
Fresh from a year of ice storms, tornadoes and flooding in Kansas, the state history museum opened an exhibit on extreme weather today.
Organizers swear the timing is a coincidence, because they have been working on the exhibit for more than a year.
But they also say it’s a reminder of why Kansans routinely look to the sky and what outsiders remember most about the state.
The Kansas Museum of History’s exhibit in Topeka is called “Forces of Nature.” It will run through Jan. 4, 2009.
Winter officially bows out today, and few folks are mourning. It was a season packed with plenty of wintry precipitation, and it seemed to come every few days.
According to the National Weather Service, 22.1 inches of snow fell in Wichita this winter. That’s more than 40% above normal. The city averages 16.5 inches of snow a year.
Be forewarned, however: snow in April is not unheard of in Kansas, so the current total should not be carved in stone just yet.
…….massive flooding has hit parts of the Midwest. At least 9 people have been killed in Missouri and Kentucky, and at least two others are missing in Missouri and Texas.
About a foot of rain fell in parts of Arkansas, and 10 inches was reported in Missouri’s Cape Girardeau County. Evacuations are under way in Missouri, Arkansas and Ohio, and flood and flash flood warnings have been posted from Texas to Pennsylvania.
The same storm system dumped 1.86 inches on Wichita Monday, which local weather officials say is the most rain ever recorded on March 17 in the city. Only isolated minor street and yard flooding was reported around the city, however, because the rain was sporadic enough for the water to soak in.
“We definitely dodged a bullet with this,” said Robb Lawson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wichita.