Jim Reed, a Wichita-based storm chaser and weather photographer, will discuss his latest book, “Storm Chaser: A Photographer’s Journey,” tonight at the Ulrich Museum of Art on the Wichita State University campus.
The presentation begins at 6 p.m. and will include a discussion on storm chasing, extreme weather photography, media coverage of severe weather, and this year’s record-setting tornado season.
The program is free. To learn more about the show, call 316-978-3664 or e-mail the museum at ulrich@wichita.edu
Of course, there’s a caveat: if severe weather threatens the area, the show may be postponed so Jim can chase the storms.
CNN has sent a television crew to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman.
Fox News wants to do regular phone interviews with officials at the Wichita branch of the National Weather Service.
The SPC’s warning coordination meteorologist is in Washington, D.C., today to brief congressional staff.
Yes, the outbreak predicted for today has caught the nation’s attention. And for good reason: forecasters are talking about large, long-track tornadoes this afternoon and tonight over a large section of the Great Plains. They’ll likely be traveling at more than 50 miles an hour, too, so people will have less time to react in threatened areas.
We’ve attached the SPC outlook for today with a story on Kansas.com. Stay tuned for updates.
No matter what their plans are for this holiday weekend, Kansans better factor in where they can seek shelter if strong storms or even tornadoes threaten. The Storm Prediction Center anticipates strong thunderstorms to be a threat over a large portion of the Great Plains for the next several days.
Kansas features prominently in the storm target from Thursday through Monday, according to the SPC outlook map. Plenty of moisture is in place for the storms to feed on, forecasters warn, so anything that fires up has the potential to become severe.
Strong storms - including the threat of more tornadoes - are expected again in southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma later today.
The death toll from Saturday’s storms is now up to 23, officials say: 7 in Picher, Okla., 14 in western Missouri just across the border and 2 in Georgia.
The Storm Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has placed the southeast corner of Kansas - along with the eastern half of Oklahoma and portions of Missouri, Texas and Arkansas - in a moderate risk for severe weather.
An area of Kansas essentially east of the Kansas Turnpike is in a slight risk for severe weather.
What’s the earliest day of the year Wichita has ever reached 100? Why, that would be today - May 10 - in 1967.
Which should give you some idea about how wacky the weather can be around here. The latest freeze ever recorded in Wichita isn’t for another three days yet: May 13.
Here’s the Storm Prediction Center’s outlook for today, for those wanting to see a map.
Deciphering the text below the map isn’t easy for those not versed in meteorological terminology, but forecasters say uncertainty about how much moisture and when it arrives, along with the timing of instability in the upper atmosphere make this “a more difficult forecast than usual for such a potent kinematic/dynamic setup.”
Where storms do form, large hail and even tornadoes are a threat, however.
No, that wasn’t your imagination: you really could see your breath this morning as you left for work at sunrise or shortly thereafter.
That’s no surprise, since temperatures dropped into the upper 30s overnight. There’s a chance of frost tonight in southeast Kansas, too.
Sure, May’s knocking on the door already, but these temperatures are not unheard of this time of year in Kansas. The record for latest freeze in Wichita is May 13, 1966, so the window for another freeze isn’t closed just yet.
That’s the Storm Prediction Center’s assessment for today in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Large hail and damaging winds are most likely in southern and central Kansas today, while tornadoes are possible this afternoon and evening on both sides of the Red River in Oklahoma and Texas. See the accompanying map for more details.
If you’re one of those folks who believed that March never quite seemed to warm up, there are now statistics to support your suspicion.
The average temperature in Wichita was 45.5, or .4 of a degree cooler than normal, according to data collected at the National Weather Service’s Wichita office next to Mid-Continent Airport.
That’s the same departure from the mean temperature in March for the contiguous United States, according to figures gathered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The average temperature of 42 put 2008 as the 63rd warmest March since national records began being kept in 1895.
Only Rhode Island, Arizona and New Mexico were warmer than average.
Besides being slightly cooler than normal, March in Wichita was also a bit soggier. A total of 3.08 inches of rain fell last month, .37 above the average.
There were 11 days where the overnight low fell to freezing or below, and six days where at least .01 of an inch of precipitation was recorded.
The highest temperature of the month, 74, came on March 20; the lowest, 11, was recorded on March 8.
After a gray, chilly week, Wichita is expected to drop below freezing early on Sunday morning.
That news won’t warm the hearts of folks who hoped cold weather was banished to the memory banks. But such a cold snap is hardly unusual for Wichita this time of year, forecasters say. After all, the latest spring freeze on the books in Wichita is May 13, in 1966.
In fact, the average date for the last killing frost of the spring is April 9.
“We are past that, but not by much,” said Jerilyn Billings, a meteorology intern for the Wichita branch of the National Weather Service.
