Monthly Archives: August 2008

A few weather movie favorites

Aug. 19, 20088:00 a.m.

Dick Elder, meteorologist-in-charge at the Wichita branch of the National Weather Service, mentioned a good weather movie: “Let’s not forget “The Perfect Storm,” my favorite.”

Larry Ruthi, the MIC for the Dodge City office of the weather service, prefers a movie indelibly linked to Kansas: “I am not sure whether or not the classic “Wizard of Oz” meets the definition, but I always have liked the tornado scene at the beginning of that movie.”

Greg Carbin, the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., offered this response: “I really enjoyed “The Perfect Storm” too! “The Wizard of Oz” should not be missed. My favorite… “Key Largo” is a classic that should be in anyone’s weather movie list!”

By Stan Finger | Filed under Research, Uncategorized | Comments Off

What’s your favorite weather movie?

Aug. 18, 20088:00 a.m.

I saw a story online recently about “10 Movies You Have to See Before You Die,” and also spotted a couple of discussions about the best sports movies of all time. It made me wonder about the best movies that feature weather as a key component.

“Twister”? “The Day After Tomorrow?” “Key Largo”? Heck, does “Airplane” merit inclusion in the discussion, since a driving rainstorm complicated the landing for the poisoned passengers and crew?

I’m not sure what my #1 would be. I do know it won’t be “Twister.” I vividly remember going to see that movie with several of my siblings in Great Bend (we were gathered out at the farm for one of our annual get-togethers), and we laughed so hard at the preposterous plot points that we annoyed a packed house wanting to believe they were witnessing a riveting drama.

Sorry — when you’ve been through the real thing a time or 12, “Twister” is a real hoot. Great special effects, yes…but a hoot.

Anyway…I welcome your recommendations. I’m sure you’ll come up with some movies I haven’t even thought of.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Research | Comments (2)

A crisp fall morning — in mid-August?

Aug. 15, 20089:06 a.m.

Stepping outside this morning, inhaling the crisp morning air, feeling the heavy dew on the grass….it took me back to fall mornings at the bluegrass festival in Winfield.

I am a regular visitor to the Walnut Valley Festival in mid-September, including camping out there several times. The sounds of musicians picking tunes from their guitar strings, campfires crackling and people laughing and singing are interwoven with my memories of autumn.

The smell of those wood fires is indelibly entwined with my images of fall.

But it struck me that I was reminiscing about autumn because of how a morning in mid-August felt…an August morning in southern Kansas, not Novia Scotia.

It’s been a compelling few weeks here in the heartland.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments Off

About those KSN weather labs….

Aug. 14, 20088:00 a.m.

A reader asked me to check into how accurate the KSN Weather Labs are, since a lab in Augusta recorded a temperature of 107 on Aug. 11 — well above the “official” temperature in Wichita for that day.

I checked with Dave Freeman, KSN’s chief meteorologist, and here’s what he told me:

“The instruments that schools have as part of the KSN WeatherLab Network, powered by WeatherBug, are absolutely top notch, accurate and reliable instruments.

That said, sometimes variables like instrument placement can cause measurements to be different than surrounding areas. And, of course, there are occasional times when a sensor goes bad and needs to be replaced.

We work hard to support all of our KSN WeatherLab Network school partners in properly placing their instruments, and in maintaining them.”

I guess the bottom line is, take the WeatherLab readings for what they are: reflections of conditions at a particular location for that moment in time. If the thermometer provides readings that are consistently higher or lower than surrounding areas, keep that in mind when hearing the latest reports.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Lightning, Uncategorized | Comments (1)

This weather may seem weird for Kansas in August…

Aug. 13, 20084:22 p.m.

…but what Wichita has been experiencing is still a reflection of a classic weather pattern for the Great Plains this time of year.

“Typically this time of year, you get one of those ridges of high pressure that settles over the region,” said Andy Kleinsasser, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wichita. “If something gets trapped underneath it, it’s real tough for that to exit.”

Most of the time, what gets caught under the dome of high pressure is dry air. That air bakes and bakes beneath the dome, often leading to a string of 100-degree days in late July and early August, because the jet stream is too weak to move that air out and bring cooler air in.

Imagine, if you will, an empty slow-cooker that has been left on.

This year, however, the dome has trapped humid air above ground already soaked with a year’s worth of rain. As the heat evaporates moisture from the soil, it adds to an already humid environment. The net result is a tropical climate featuring lower temperatures but persistent rains as small frontal boundaries meander through the area and trigger storms. The cycle just feeds on itself.

“When the flow aloft is so weak…it’s real tough to scour the moisture out of the atmosphere,” Kleinsasser said.

As a result, he said, Wichita and much of Kansas can expect more tropical weather and sporadic showers as August passes the midway point. Sure enough: the forecast for the next several days calls for a chance of showers in the area.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Rain, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Absolutely gorgeous

Aug. 12, 20087:48 p.m.

Face it: it’s human nature to complain about the weather. How many days in a week do we take some verbal swipe at it?

But not tonight. It’s absolutely gorgeous out there (here?), with sunshine, temperatures in the low 80s, and a freshness to the air that hints at the crispness of autumn.

And to think it’s Aug. 12.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments Off

Raining on our (meteor) shower

Aug. 12, 20084:00 p.m.

It wasn’t enough that clouds kept residents of Wichita from getting a good look at the peak of the Perseid meteor shower early this morning.

Those clouds brought more rain to a city that has seen plenty of it so far this year. The .05 pushed Wichita’s total rainfall amount to just under 33 inches, which is already more than the city averages for an entire year.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Rain | Comments Off

Raindrops keep fallin’ on our heads…..

Aug. 12, 20088:00 a.m.

……even in historically arid August.

The soggy weekend pushed the rainfall total in Wichita to 1.72 inches. That’s not a lot, but it’s still .79 of an inch above normal for the month.

For the year, Wichita has recorded 32.92 inches of rain, more than 13 inches above normal for the year-to-date, and more than 2 inches above the total average rainfall for the entire year.

I’m not about to predict that Wichita’s poised to become the Venice of the Plains, where commuters need gondolas to get to work. Anyone who has lived here for long knows that the skies can shut off at any time and stay that way for several weeks at a time.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Rain | Comments Off

Tropical weather…in a Kansas August?

Aug. 11, 20089:06 a.m.

Gray, misty skies…
Temperatures hovering in the low 80s…
Humid, hardly moving air…..

Yep, sounds like Kansas in August.

Just kidding. Actually, it sounds more like the tropics, which explains why a friend told me recently that the weather the past few weeks in the Wichita area reminded them of what it was like during a vacation to the tropics.

I’m sure there are plenty of folks who are grumbling about all the rain over the past few days – ball players with wrecked game schedules at the NBC tournament come to mind – but remember this: Kansas could be baking in day after day of triple-digit heat instead.

Which would you rather have?

By Stan Finger | Filed under Rain | Comments Off

Smith to appear in “Tornado Rampage”

Aug. 8, 20088:00 a.m.

For all the exposure he’s getting these days, I sure hope WeatherData CEO Mike Smith has sunblock lotion with a high SPF.

Only a couple of weeks after appearing in an episode of The History Channel’s “Shockwave” series, Smith will be featured in a show called “Tornado Rampage” on The Discovery Channel. The program will air at 8 p.m. CDT Monday. He’s also working on a book about his life as a meteorologist.

With five months left in the year, 2008 is on pace to obliterate the record for most tornadoes in one year. Through Aug. 2, 1,803 tornadoes had been reported in the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. The record for one year is 1,817 in 2004.

The numbers for this year are preliminary, and will almost certainly drop as meteorologists review reports and storm tracks. Several reports may simply be different angles of the same tornado.

Nevertheless, with “Second Season” still to come this fall in Tornado Alley, a new record for tornadoes in one year seems certain. To put this year’s number in perspective, the annual average for the past 10 years is 1,254.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Tornadoes | Comments Off