Category Archives: Rain

Just another wacky weather day in Kansas

14 hours and 25 minutes ago

So I’m driving to Hutchinson last night to celebrate my mother’s 82nd birthday, squinting my eyes a bit against the glare of the evening sun. And then it starts to rain.

Blue skies to my left. Blue skies to my right. Blue skies in front of me. Blue skies above me…yet it’s raining.

I craned my head over my shoulder and saw some dark clouds to the southwest — and marveled at the wind currents that had to be carrying the rain all the way to where I was.

The rain didn’t last long - just enough to settle a little dust. But I’m sure there were others around western Sedgwick County and eastern Reno County who felt the raindrops, looked up into a sunny sky and wondered what in the world was going on.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Rain | Comments (0)

Localized rain? No kidding

Wednesday4:57 p.m.

Hutchinson and parts of Reno County were hit by a “wonderfully bizarre late summer storm” this morning, in the words of Ray Hemman, the public information officer for Hutchinson Public Schools.

Officially, Hemman said, Hutchinson recorded more than 1.5 inches at the airport, but downtown reported only a few hundredths of an inch.

Rod Zook of KWBW Radio in Hutch said the north side of town got hammered, while the south half of the city barely got wet.

“We just got toad-choked at my house” on the north side, Zook said.

The slow-moving storm prompted the National Weather Service to issue a flood warning this morning for northeastern Reno County. The storms were moving south-southeast, but they fell apart before they reached Wichita. That meant folks in the metro area merely simmered in the muggy sunshine this afternoon.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Rain | Comments (0)

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 (0)

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 (0)

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 (0)

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 (0)

Cool July rains a mid-summer treat

July 31, 200812:04 p.m.

As the light rain draped Wichita Tuesday morning, I found myself reflecting back to summers past on our family farm in central Kansas.

I’m sure it’s a case of selective memory, but rain in July seemed like such a rare treat we’d stop whatever we were working on for a few minutes in the barn or the shed and just watch the drops come down.

It wasn’t just that any moisture in July and August seemed like a bonus for the all-too-often thirsty soil. After days - sometimes weeks - of baking in the summer heat, it was wonderful to bask in the cool, damp air that the showers brought.

Granted, the showers were frequently so brief they wouldn’t bring enough moisture to bring a halt to field work. But as boosts to the spirit during a searing summer, they were hard to beat.

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

Say hello to what’s left of Hurricane Dolly

July 28, 20084:23 p.m.

The remnants of Hurricane Dolly are expected to bring rain to much of the state tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday, meteorologists say.

“We’re not going to see any toad-stranglers out there,” said Chance Hayes, warning coordination meteorologist for the Wichita branch of the National Weather Service.

But rainfall amounts above an inch will not be uncommon - particularly in central Kansas, he said.

Check conditions frequently on Tuesday, and avoid flooded streets and highways.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Rain | Comments (1)

At the halfway point…..

July 1, 20085:18 p.m.

….Wichita’s indisputably soggy.

As of July 1, 27.38 inches of rain has fallen at the official recording site next to Mid-Continent Airport on the southwest edge of the city. That’s 15.55 inches above normal —- or, to put it another way, more than double Wichita’s average for the first half of the year.

A few days of sunshine are providing some welcome drying for farmers wanting to harvest wheat and homeowners wanting to get or keep their basements dry….but it’s making firefighters a bit antsy. As grass and other vegetation dries, it becomes more vulnerable to the sparks of fireworks that are abundant as Independence Day nears.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Rain | Comments (0)

Wichita’s stormy spring isn’t just chatter

June 17, 20089:18 a.m.

When meteorologists talk about the active storm pattern this spring, it’s not just hyperbole. Wichita, for instance, has recorded measurable rain on 13 of the last 21 days spanning the end of May and the first half of June.

As we’ve reported previously, Wichita set an all-time record for rainfall in May. It’s also more than an inch above normal for June and more than 10 inches above normal for the year. The average rainfall total by mid-June for Wichita is 13.66 inches, and 24.03 inches has fallen so far in 2008.

More rain is in the forecast later in the week, so the pattern isn’t ready to ease just yet. Umbrellas and sump pumps around Wichita aren’t going to be getting a break any time soon.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Rain | Comments (0)