After the cold front passes through, northwesterly winds are on the increase with speeds approaching and potentially exceeding 40 mph this afternoon. A large portion of the state is under a wind advisory for this reason, as winds won't subside below advisory criteria until later tonight. As for high...
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Severe Weather: June 27
9:30 PM Update: Thunderstorms have moved out of the state this evening, just a few trying to hold onto the state border near Dubuque. A few tornado warnings went out this evening, with only one report of a possible funnel cloud in Pottawattamie county. Otherwise large hail and very impressive winds...
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Severe Weather: June 26
4:30 PM Update: Warm frontal boundary looks to be situated from northern South Dakota near Aberdeen, SD extending southeastward through Pipestone, MN to Mason City, IA. To the east of that point, the front is barely recognizable given a heavy cloud shield in place over much of Iowa. As of 4 PM, only...
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
June 25 Severe Weather Threat
A weak frontal boundary is expected to drift southeastward this afternoon, and be roughly situated across central Minnesota into eastern South Dakota. This boundary, combined with other subtle boundaries from convection last night will provide several potential areas for development of thunderstorms...
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Multiple Severe Weather Days
The forecast has been fairly quiet as of late across the state, with little in the way of widespread severe weather. Thunderstorms and showers have managed to work their way across the state, with the occasional marginal hailstone and strong gust. This looks to change in the upcoming days, with the...
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Sports Photography
This past week has been fairly busy on the photography end, as I've recently begun a new part-time job working for a local newspaper, Lakes Pride. Four straight nights of traveling around to the local softball and baseball fields, gathering pictures to be used in the paper. Besides being used for...
Friday, June 20, 2008
A Few Thunderstorms
The warm day yesterday had several clusters of thunderstorms during the afternoon and into the overnight hours. A severe thunderstorm watch was issued during the early afternoon for much of western Iowa. Although one tornado warning was issued in south-central Iowa during the mid-afternoon hours,...
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Featured in ISU News
An Iowa State Press Release today features your very own Iowa Chaser, Jayson Prentice. The article discusses Iowa State's Meteorology departments' involvement with the TWISTEX project, and includes quotes and information provided by several students that have been chasing with Tim Samaras and project...
Isolated Thunderstorms... Warm Weather
Although the chance remains for isolated thunderstorms, nothing widespread or significantly severe is expected, thus the highlight for the week continues to be the warm and calm weather. Highs today can be expected to reach the upper 70s to lower 80s across the state, with lows tonight falling into...
Monday, June 16, 2008
A Quiet Week?
The upper levels are finally beginning to calm down, as a ridge begins to build over the Rockies and the high plains. This ridge in the upper levels will leave most of the plains in a fairly quiet period, with only occasional nighttime MCS thunderstorms expected. Areas of the high plains may see more...
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Fathers Day Forecast
Strong storms moved through portions of Iowa during the overnight hours, dropping large hail, damaging winds, and even a report of a tornado. These storms have since moved out of the state, however, another line of storms is ongoing across portions of southeast Iowa with the threat of large hail and...
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Severe Weather - June 14
3:45 PM Update: Several thunderstorms have fired across the eastern half of Iowa, with several of them currently being severe warned. These thunderstorms are capable of large hail up to golf ball in diameter, and occasional wind gusts nearing 60 mph. These are also in areas that are already in extreme...
Friday, June 13, 2008
Traveling Home
On the road this morning out of Wichita, KS in-route to the soggy state of Iowa. I'm sure it has been covered extensively by all of the local and national media, so I don't feel the need to go through all of the areas that have been getting hit hard or all the details on who/where is evacuated. Several...
Thursday, June 12, 2008
June 12 Storm Chase
10:15 PM Update: It sounds like we'll finally be calling it a night, currently just about to turn northwest towards Wichita. Enjoyed the show just to the east of Wichita, beautiful striated storm that I believe I captured with some lightning illumination. Some other nice lightning strikes throughout...
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
June 11 Storm Chase
12:45 AM Update: A very long day today, chased storms throughout southeast Nebraska. The entire line of storms were tornado warned, from southwest Minnesota to north-central Kansas. Ends up to be a very sad day today with a scout camp north of Little Sioux, IA that is all over the news. Also it...
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
June 10 Storm Chase (Travel Day)
6:45 PM Update: Well after 'wasting' some time in Yankton, SD; it has been determined that today just isn't going to happen due to abysmal moisture return. The day is now a positioning day for tomorrow's potential outbreak of severe weather across portions of Nebraska and Iowa. Now in-route to Sioux...
Monday, June 9, 2008
Stormy Forecast & TWISTEX Operations
A lot of local meteorologists have been busy the past couple of weeks, with severe weather coming into the state in the form of large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes. To add to the severe weather, all of the rain associated with the rounds of thunderstorms have created significant flooding concerns...
Sunday, June 8, 2008
June 7 Chase Account
My chase partner for the day was my actual partner (girlfriend), Alyssa. Although she had been on two other chases with me, the second being this past Thursday, both of them have been busts. We are both happy to say that the third was not the same, as we combined to be on a total of 5 tornado warned...
Friday, June 6, 2008
A Collection of 2008 Storm Chasing Images
Beings I've finally been getting some of my images online from the chasing that I've done over the past month, I thought I'd share. To view the complete collection of images, check out my 2008 Storm...
More Weekend Storms
Well if two straight days of thunderstorms isn't enough for portions of the state, there will only be a one day break before another round of severe storms hits Iowa. Last night saw another round of severe weather, mainly over the southern half of the state, and the most significant once again occurring...
Thursday, June 5, 2008
June 5 Severe Threat & Chase
The 8 AM SPC severe weather outlook has upgraded a large portion of the plains to a high risk, with the upgrade coming on the heals of increased damaging wind potential. The setup is very unique for this time of year, as the features in the mid and upper-levels are more like an early spring severe...
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
June 4 Severe Weather
11:22 PM Update: The tornadic threat for Iowa is not completely over, however, the storm that has been a prolific tornado producer for several hours has finally looked to lose its' power. Although still severe warnings exist across the state, no tornado warnings exist at the moment. A few isolated...
Chase Forecast: June 5
With the potential for a significant severe weather outbreak increasingly likely over parts of Iowa, specifically western Iowa, I will be on my way to the storms throughout the afternoon tomorrow. Latest SPC discussion indicates that there are some questions still to the evolution of the forecast,...
Severe Weather Outbreak
The state of Iowa is looking at three straight days of potentially significant severe weather. Today, or more likely, tonight will see a large complex of storms move into southwestern Iowa with the potential for both large hail and significant damaging winds. Storms today should fire across central...
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Thunderstorms & More Thunderstorms
As you can tell by the title, those thunderstorms are not going to stop. During the overnight hours, a fairly weak wave of energy moved across the plains states allowing for thunderstorm development. As the storms continued to move across the state of Iowa, a bowing line of thunderstorms became evident...
Monday, June 2, 2008
June 2 Severe Weather
Showers and a few embedded thunderstorms are currently working into western Iowa this morning in response to overnight convection in Nebraska. Other storms, some severe, are also moving southeastward from Nebraska into parts of northern Kansas at this time as well. Behind both of these clusters of...
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Severe Weather Threat
Another storm system moving into the plains will put the state under another risk of severe weather tomorrow, June 2. As mid-level winds become westerly in nature, indicating more zonal flow; low-level winds will be backed to the southeast and even east during the afternoon hours. This shift in winds...
