Brett's WeatherPlus Blog

4th of July & the Fishing Looks Great!

2008-07-04T10:03:00Z

Happy 4th of July,

Since high gas prices are keeping most of us closer to home this holiday weekend let's focus on a couple of nearby lakes. It looks as if James A. Reed Lake is a good spot this weekend. The Missouri Department of Conservation's weekly fishing report says the largemouth bass & sunfish are good.

Staying close to home in northeast Kansas it looks like, according to the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks, Atchison State Fishing Lake is one of the hot spots.

ATCHISON STATE FISHING LAKE - Last Updated: 7/3/2008

Species	Rating	Size	Baits, Method, & Location
Black Crappie	Fair	Up to 1.0 lbs.	Fish around the brushpiles with jigs and minnows off the ends of piers.
Bluegill	Good	Up to .5 lbs.	Fish those brushpiles with a small jig or meal worm, work those beds with a small spinner, are done spawning.
Channel Catfish	Fair/Good	up to 3 lbs.	Shad side lake wide, fish feeders are in and feeding sinking feed. Feeders are feeding at 7:30, 8, noon, 7 and 7:30 pm. Fish the west end when the water is running in.
Largemouth Bass	Good	Up to 4 lbs.	Spinners worked slow around the piers, a little top water around the brushpiles in the mornings or evenings.
General Comments
Water is turning a pretty green! New Electrofishing pictures , check out the fish by clicking on Atchison State Fishing Lake . We electrofished a couple weeks ago, even saw a few smallmouth bass! Stocked the potential State Record smallmouth bass along with 3,300 other fish today, check out the picture! Stocked 1,000 channel catfish a couple of weeks ago, some keepers. Click on the fish species and it will take you to the Fishing Forecast Data.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY LAKE - Last Updated: 7/3/2008

Species	Rating	Size	Baits, Method, & Location
Black Crappie	Fair	Up to 12 inches	Fishing jigs for fish suspending over breaks in 15 to 20 ft. of water.
Bluegill	Fair	Up to 8 inches	Small baits such as mealworms, jigs, and sinking flys or nymphs around rocks and laydown trees.
Channel Catfish	Good	Up to 4 lb.	Cutbait and prepared baits over shallow flats and points in the morning and evening.
Largemouth Bass	Fair/Good	Up to 3 lb.	Spinnerbaits and plastics along shoreline vegetation and crankbaits or plastics over points.
Wiper	Fair	Up to 19 inches	Casting small spoons or floating crankbaits into surfacing schools.
Walleye	Fair	Up to 2 lb.	Jig and worm combo over mainlake points.
General Comments
Effective January 1, 2007, a Wyandotte County fishing permit is required. For more information on permit requirements and availability contact Unified Governement of Wyandotte County Kansas City, KS Parks and Recreation at (913)-596-7077. Attention: Wipers were stocked during June 2006. An 18 inch minimum length limit and 2/day creel limit is in effect for wipers. Be sure to check the toothpatches located on the fishs' "tongue" to distinguish wipers from white bass. For more information relative to wiper identification consult page 17 of the 2006 KDWP Kansas Fishing Regulations Summary or log on to http://kdwp.state.ks.us/news/fishing/fish_id_gallery and click on the "Fish I.D. Poster-Temperate Bass Family" link.

Have a Happy & Safe 4th of July,

Brett

California could only get worse

2008-07-01T14:05:00Z

Good morning,

Wildfires continue to spread over northern California and now as we can see from this satellite image below more are igniting over southern California.

This picture was taken from NASA's aqua satellite as it passed over southern California on Monday. The areas outlined in red are where the sensors detected actively burning fires. You can see the smoke spreading north up the coast. The two fires seen in this image are among the largest of all the fires burning within the state. The Indians Fire is said to be 81-thousand acres, while the Basin complex fire is nearly 40-thousand acres and burning mostly out of control.

Rain would most definitely help the situation but as you can see from this morning's GFS rainfall forecast for the rest of this week, all of California is rain free. That's why you will hear on the news that it could take months to get all the fires under control.

The GFS, however paints a very wet scenario here Wednesday night & Thursday. Just look at the bullseye in the middle of the map, That's KC and that's about two inches of rain. I don't know if that will happen yet, there is a chance for the heaviest rains to be isolated and for some of us to miss out on a good rain.

Have a great day,

Brett

Look at these Big Fish!!!

2008-06-27T12:54:00Z

How's that for a Big fish, Its a 70 pound flathead catfish caught in the Wakarusa River. The photo is courtesy of the Kansas Department of Wildlife & parks. Or this one, Jake Allman caught this one May 28th, on the Platte River. Allman is a Fisheries Management Biologist with the Department of Conservation, he was sampling catfish when he caught this blue catfish that was 57 inches long and weighed a whopping 91.4 pounds.

Happy Friday, The weekend is upon us, time to pick up the poll and wet a line. It may be tough fishing, especially over northern Missouri where almost 10 inches of rain fell in some places this week alone. High water can be dangerous, so take it easy and use common sense if you are fishing rivers or streams that are running high. One place it seems where the waters are too high is Smithville. Smithville Lake may offer up some of the best fishing this weekend, here's the report from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Smithville: 73 degrees, normal, dingy; largemouth bass fair using Brush Hawgs, crankbaits and other plastic lures along weedbeds; walleye fair off shallow water points on the main lake using shallow crankbaits and nightcrawlers; white bass good using spoons and Rattle Traps off of humps; catfish good on nightcrawlers; crappie fishing is slow, but better on the north end of the lake; Smithville Lake Spillway: all species good.

Jake Allman says Smithville Lake is only two and a half feet high, and rarely gets over 4 feet high so it will be a good place to fish this weekend.

On the Kansas side, some waterways west and southwest of Kansas City may be muddy. Nearly two inches of rain fell overnight into Friday and more is on the way for Friday night.

Here's what the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks has to say about this weekend's fishing prospects. It is a direct link to its site. http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/news/fishing/fishing_forecast

Good Luck & Happy Fishing,

Brett

The Weather--A California Adventure

2008-06-26T14:14:00Z

Greetings bloggers, Its been a couple weeks since I've put anything together on this blog. We took a family vacation to California, no not Wally-world, and we didn't drive the family truck-ster. We flew, bought our airline tickets at the begnning of the year before all the fare increases and add-ons for 2nd pieces of luggage. (They charge you to check carseats) We saw some snow on our way out there, here's the view from 35-thousand feet as we flew over the Rockies in southern Colorado.

The snow is probably around 10 or 11-thousand feet elevation. Once we got to California, we landed in L-A. The temperature was 88 degrees. Our cousins, Bill & Susie Buchko picked us up at L-A-X and we went to their house in Riverside. It is inland and southern California last week was dominated by a huge & hot ridge of high pressure. The temperature at their house all week, 105 to 110 degrees. Even nearby Anaheim and Disneyland were in the upper 90s. There was hardly a cloud a sky which means we hit the sun tan lotion hard, I mean look at my kids they have skin that burns with minimum exposure.

I think Aaron is doing his best Pirates of the Carribean impression. If you don't like the heat in SoCal, head to the beach. We went to Oceanside, where it was 77 with a light wind, about as perfect weather as you can get.

Perfect for a little surfing, We think Seth will one day move to Cali as he seems to fit in.

Its the first time I've been to California, for me I was amazed at the different climates, say over 50 miles. From 105 inland to 77 at the shore. The hot, dry weather is not helping folks out there this week as they are dealing with numerous wildfires. Hopefully, they can get some rain minus the lightning, which often sparks new wildfires.

Have a great day. I'll have the fishing forecast in the blog entry tomorrow. Brett

Fishing Forecast for the weekend of June 14th & 15th

2008-06-13T13:19:00Z

Happy Father's Day weekend everyone,

Weatherwise it should be a great weekend to take Dad fishing. We've had a lot of rain around here the first half of this month. Rivers, streams & Lakes continue to run high but this weekend as you look at the map below, it looks like a chance to dry out.

Heat & humidity should take a break Saturday morning, clouds today may have some of the bigger fish coming up from the deeper waters. I think the fish will be biting tomorrow morning. By late Saturday, heat & humidity start to make a return. Here's a look at the Missouri Department of Conservation's Fishing report for KC area waterways.

ames A. Reed Area: 79 degrees, high, dingy; largemouth bass, bluegill and redear sunfish good; channel catfish fair; all other species slow. (Report made on 6/11/2008)

Montrose: 72 degrees, high, muddy; catfish good; all other species slow; light fishing pressure. (Report made on 6/12/2008)

Schell-Osage (Atkinson Lake): 74 degrees, high, muddy; catfish and crappie good; all other species fair. (Report made on 6/11/2008)

Schell-Osage (Schell Lake): 74 degrees, high, muddy; catfish and crappie good; all other species fair. (Report made on 6/11/2008)

Smithville: 69 degrees, high, dingy; white bass good using Pepper spoons, jigs and minnows along main lake humps along the dam and Trimble Dam; catfish fair using shad sides and nightcrawlers in back of coves; walleye fair using minnows, leeches and nightcrawlers on the bottom around flats; largemouth bass fair using spinnerbaits and jigs off secondary points; crappie fair using minnows and jigs in the back of coves or around the riprap; Smithville Lake Spillway: all species good. (Report made on 6/12/2008)

Truman: 76 degrees, high, muddy; catfish fair on live baits; crappie fair on jigs and minnows; all other species slow. (Report made on 6/11/2008)

Truman Tailwaters: 72 degrees, dingy; crappie fair on jigs and minnows; catfish fair on live baits; all other species slow. (Report made on 6/11/2008)

RIVERS

Missouri River: high, muddy; all species slow. (Report made on 6/11/2008)

On the Kansas side of things, here are the reports I have been able to gather. I found this on the website. www.kansasangler.com This report is Shawnee Mission Park Lake in Lenexa.

6/6/2008

Species	Rating	Size	Baits, Method, & Location
Bluegill	Good	Up to 8 inches	Small baits such as mealworms, jigs, or sinking flys and nymphs around structure.
Channel Catfish	Fair/Good	Up to 10 lbs.	Worms off the bottom at the upper ends of the lake and coves.
Crappie	Slow	Up to 13 inches	A few have been caught on jigs off the courtesy dock.
Wiper	Fair	Up to 9 lbs.	Crankbaits or minnows along the dam or off mainlake points.
Largemouth Bass	Slow	Up to 4 lbs.	Swimbaits, plastics, or spinnerbaits around laydown trees and brushpiles.
General Comments
Shawnee Mission Park Lake is a 121 acre impoundment located in Shawnee, KS. Shawnee Mission Park Pond, an approximately 1 acre impoundment is located within the same park. In addition to a state fishing licence, a Johnson County fishing permit is required. Johnson County fishing permits are available through Johnson County Parks and Recreation District and other select vendors.

Ok. Have a great weekend, good luck & Happy Father's Day.

Brett

Championship Fathering

2008-06-11T12:34:00Z

Good day bloggers,

Despite 3 hours of sleep I am amped up today. Not on caffeine but excitement over being a Dad. How much fun is this? My son Aaron, with Sluggerrr!

The picture was taken last night at last night at the 13th annual National Center For Fathering's Father of the Year Awards. For the sixth year, I was honored and privileged to emcee the event, which has grown leaps & bounds.

There was lots of star-power, Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards, current Chiefs players, former Royals players, KC mayor Mark Funkhouser, well known Kansas Citians such as Carl DiCapo and Crosby Kemper but the real heroes last night were the Dads. Five-thousand kids from metro schools submitted essays explaining why their dads are the best. 12 students are picked, one from each grade level, as winning essayists.

Five Dads are chosen as Father of the Year finalists and go into the Center's Hall of Fame. This year, the 2008 Father of the Year is Greg Smith, seen here accepting the Dan Quisenberry award, named in honor of the former Royals pitcher who exemplified what being a great father is all about.

Greg, seen above with Coach Herm Edwards & Carey Casey is the father of Kelsey Smith, who you may remember was kidnapped and killed last year. His 7-grade daughter Codie nominated him for the award. Thier family has been through a lot and Greg is very deserving of the award. Carey Casey is the C-E-O of the National Center for Fathering, based here in Kansas City. This year they started a new iniative called Championship Fathering. The goal is to get 40-thousand dads here in the metro to commit to being a "Championship Father". For more information, please visit. www.fathers.com

Have a great day and a very Happy Father's Day.

A Hot, Hot Hospital Hill

2008-06-09T16:06:00Z

Hello Bloggers,

A cloudy, cool Monday is making for a tough day of recovery for many weekend warriors. Almost 5,000 runners laced em up to race the 35th annual Hospital Hill run. Look at this picture below, the starting line was in front of Crown Center.

Can you see me? Neither can I! It was a mass of humanity. On top of that, it was hot! 77 degrees at race time and the dew point was around 70. Remember, when the dew point tops 63 it starts to feel humid. So 70 was very humid and can slow a runner down considerably.

In fact, I read today that for every 5 degrees above 60 degrees a runner should run about 30 seconds slower than his best pace. So for instace if your best pace is 9-minutes a mile, then on a hot, humid day like Saturday you should run 10-minute, 30 seconds a mile. Several runners who ran the 2007 Chicago marathon, which was marred by hot weather, said these conditions were similiar. Good thing this was only a half-marathon, 10k or 5k. And here's the amazing thing, the half-marathon winner ran the race in an hour and six minutes. Incredible! By the way, I finished in two-hours, and twenty minutes. I sweat so much, it can become dangerous to my health so I really have to measure personal goals versus just finishing. I chose just finishing. If you want a challenge sign up next year for Hospital Hill, it will likely be the first Saturday in June. If you want a chance to run Kansas City, your chance is Saturday, October 18th in the Waddell & Reed, Kansas City Marathon. There are also half & 5k options. Here's a link. www.waddellandreedkcmarathon.org/

Good luck, Brett

Gone Fishin'

2008-06-06T11:09:00Z

Hey bloggers, Here's a quick update, the MO Dept of Conservation brought this to my attention, It's Free Fishing Weekend in Missouri. June 7 and 8 anglers may fish in Missouri without a permit. For more information, visit their website at: http://www.mdc.mo.gov/events/freefishdays/index.htm

Whew, a wild week of weather is over and what better weekend to go fishing. It will be a little warm and humid this weekend so sitting under the shade of a tree next to a babbling brook sounds good to me. Please email me your pictures of your lunkers so we can share them here on this blog and on NBC Action News Today. My email address is anthony@nbcactionnews.com. Also if you have tips to share or a secret fishing spot you no longer want to keep secret post it here.

Lots of rain this week have some rivers, streams and Lakes at or near bankful. Be careful with the high water! Most of the water is muddy or at least dingy. Sunny and humid conditions this week have water temperatures on the rise. I read a report this week that said the high water this Spring may help fish populations in area waterways for the next couple of years. Okay so here is the fishing report I found from the Kansas Department of Wildlife for Hillsdale Lake in Miami county.

Walleye	Fair/Good	Up to 9 lbs.	Crankbaits or jig and nightcrawler combo over mainlake points.
Largemouth Bass	Fair/Good	Up to 6.5 lbs.	Suspending jerkbaits, plastic baits, or spinnerbaits around vegetation, laydown trees, and brushpiles.
Channel Catfish	Fair	Up to 9 lbs.	Various baits over shallow points and flats.
Crappie	Fair	Up to 13 inches	Minnows have been best for catching fish suspending over brush and other structure in 15 to 25 ft of water.

On the Missouri side, here is the report from the Missouri Department of Conservation for some fishing spots close to Kansas City.

LAKES

James A. Reed Area: 79 degrees, high, dingy; largemouth bass, bluegill and redear sunfish good; channel catfish fair; all other species slow. (Report made on 6/4/2008)

Montrose: 74 degrees, dingy; catfish good; all other species slow; light fishing pressure. (Report made on 6/5/2008)

Schell-Osage (Atkinson Lake): 73 degrees, high, dingy; catfish and crappie good; all other species fair. (Report made on 6/5/2008)

Schell-Osage (Schell Lake): 75 degrees, high, dingy; catfish and crappie good; all other species fair. (Report made on 6/4/2008)

Smithville: 68 degrees, high, dingy; white bass good using jigs and minnows along face of dam; catfish fair using shad sides and nightcrawlers in back of coves; walleye fair using minnows, leeches and nightcrawlers on the bottom around the flats; largemouth bass slow with some success using minnows in the shallows and riprap; all other species slow; Smithville Lake Spillway: all species good. (Report made on 6/5/2008)

Truman: 72 degrees, high, dingy; catfish good on live baits; crappie fair on jigs and minnows; black bass fair on spinnerbaits and worms; white bass and hybrid bass fair on spoons and jigs. (Report made on 6/5/2008)

Truman Tailwaters: 72 degrees, dingy; releasing 23,500 cfs; crappie fair on jigs and minnows; white bass fair on jigs and Road Runners; catfish fair on live baits. (Report made on 6/5/2008)

RIVERS

Missouri River: high, muddy; all species slow. (Report made on 6/4/2008)

Good Luck this week and weekend, and don't forget to send in those pictures & tips.

Have a great weekend,

Brett

Storm Chasing in a Helicopter!

2008-06-04T12:42:00Z

Hello,

Wow, what a night chasing storms. For the second time this Spring, I chased supercells while riding shotgun in Skytracker. Captain Gregg Bourdan is the pilot and Tom Babb is the videographer. It is a wild ride at times. First let me start this picture of my car. Why? Because notice the specks of mud on the hood.

Where did they come from? Tuesday morning's rain! Often strong low level jet stream winds pick up mud and dust from Kansas or Oklahoma and dump it here in the form of a muddy rain. I told Christa DuBill Tuesday afternoon, that was a sign of possible severe weather. Why? It indicated that winds aloft were strong enough to aid lift in a growing thunderstorm. Just one reason, I flew with skytracker.

We took off around 5pm and checked out a couple t-storms up north but they were having a hard time overcoming the cap, so we headed south to check out a growing cell in Johnson county. Its best to get behind a storm, one, for safety and two for the view. Check out this picture I took about a thousand feet off the ground of a developing wall cloud over Lenexa & Olathe.

We followed that wall cloud as it lowered and rose for nearly two hours. It rotated slightly at first but near Longview Lake the rotation increased and the cloud lowered. But never did it produce a tornado or tornado warning. At one point a gust of wind tossed skytracker around enough to make all of us uneasy. We saw power transformers taking lightning hits and then we got re-routed to Kansas City, Kansas for the big gas tank fire. Forgive me for the blurry picture.

The fire, as you may know by now, was caused by a lightning strike. Strong southerly winds blew flames near an adjacent tank. A heavy thunderstorm raged toward the fire forcing skytracker to land. As we put skytracker into the hangar, I grabbed this shot of the sun setting after an exciting, yet at times, scarry day. Brett

More Hail Storm Pictures

2008-06-03T15:31:00Z

Greetings bloggers,

We will be tracking the possible severe weather on the NBC Action Weather blog today so I thought I would take this chance to apply the name "Brett's WeatherPlus" blog. I set out to make this a supplement to the weather blog, add things or do something extra when there is so much to talk about. We continue to get pictures of Monday's hail storm that hit the west & southwestern sides of the NBC Action WeatherPlus Viewing area. Check out this picture from Dana Dunn in Osawatomie in Miami County.

This hail came from the last of the cells to go through that area. Overall there were 115 reports of hail on Monday. Everything from quarter to softball sized hail.

Here's another photo from Matt Harvey, He took this picture at 143rd & Lamar in Overland Park last Friday as thunderstorms were developing near Kansas City and racing east. It is what we thought would happen and why we seemed to "downplay" the severe threat last week.

As for tonight, Our in-house computer model predicts thunderstorms will form over northern Missouri and then move south into Central Missouri. It may be a night where you hear or see me in Skytracker.

Brett

Fishing Forecast, May 29th 2008

2008-05-29T16:49:00Z

Greetings bloggers,

It is time for another fishing forecast. I got a lot of positive response from last week's post and some good tips in the comment section. Let's start off with this week's feature picture.

Ginger & Tom Potter sent in this picture. This is our 8 year old granddaughter, Rachel Turner, she caught her first fish ever in our pond behind our home in Falcon Valley, Lenexa. Catch and release and its bigger then her brother caught earlier in the day.

Ginger & Tom Potter are Rachel's proud grandparents!

Congrats Rachel!

As for this week, let's focus on a couple area lakes, one north one south.

First up tp Smithville Lake where we get this report:

Smithville: 67 degrees, high, dingy; catfish good on nightcrawlers; all other species slow; Smithville Lake Spillway: all species slow. (Report made on 5/28/2008)

Then we head south to Truman in Henry county near Clinton.

Truman: 68 degrees, high, dingy; catfish good on live baits; crappie fair on jigs and minnows; all other species slow. (Report made on 5/29/2008)

Overall it sounds as if the warmer weather is slowing fish down. Go deeper for the lunkers. Got a great tip last week from blogger "sapper", as we continue to deal with dingy water. Try dark or black plastic worms in the stained water for black bass. Thanks Sapper, Good Luck! Watch NBC Action News Today, Friday morning at starting at 5AM for more on the Fishing Forecast!

Brett

The Fishing Forecast

2008-05-23T13:30:00Z

Good morning,

If you guys like it, I will start doing a fishing forecast for the summer months on Thursday or Friday. I welcome your hints as to good fishing holes and tips for the best time to fish. I'll get the first fishing forecast started with a fish story. Here is a picture of my son Aaron at Shawnee Mission Park Lake catching his first fish "ever". He caught this bluegill using worms on Wednesday with his Lightning McQueen fishing rod. Kachow! Kachow!

My 7-year old was so upset his brother caught a fish before him that he broke down into a pile of weeping tears. If you have a great fish story or picture e-mail me at anthony@nbcactionnews.com On to the fishing forecast. Black Bass season opens in most streams south of the Missouri River Saturday May24th. Most of this info is compiled from other websites or e-mails I get. The forecast is comes from our metoerologists here at nbc action news. Feel free to add your post at the end if you've a recommendation.

All arms of Lake of Ozarks are reporting water temperatures around 63 degrees. Its a little cooler at the Bagnell Tailwater. The Lake is high and either or muddy or dingy.

In the Kansas City area, James A. Reed Lake is reporting a water temp of 65. Montrose is around 66 degrees, Schell Lake is at 70 and Atkinson Lake is 69. Smithville is reported at 64.

Runoff from the heavy rains Wednesday night are making the shallow areas dingy or muddy but it may be bringing some of the bigger fish in closer to the shoreline. Its been my experience that the only thing biting in muddy water are the catfish. Over the weekend, it appears the best time to fish based on lunar tables are around 9:30 Saturday morning, 10:30 Sunday morning. Skies will be mostly cloudy and temperatures Saturday will start off in the 60s and rise only into the mid 70s. There is a 30% chance of rain, most likely during the afternoon when this time of the year the fish run deeper to avoid the warming surface water temps.

Have a happy & safe Memorial Day weekend,

Brett

Earthquake Changes China's Landscape, Maybe Forever!

2008-05-21T13:09:00Z

Good morning,

Pictures are emerging that shows us just how powerful China's earthquake was. Look at the series of pictures below.

Now look again at the top image. I have circled, in red, a mountain of rocks. Now look at the second image! The magnitude 7.9 earthquake that shook China's Sichuan Basin sent the mountain of rocks into the river down below. That created natural dams behind which lakes quickly formed. As of Monday of this week, 21 new lakes had formed throughout the basin.

The third image shows the rocks sinking into the earth and a new lake that may forever be there. Earthquakes have changed the landscape before, just look at the great New Madrid, Missouri earthquake of 1811-1812.

You've probably heard the stories of how the New Madrid Earthquake, with a magnitude similiar to the recent Chinese earthquake, reversed the flow of Misssissippi River for a short time. But the next time you drive through southeast Missouri along I-55 notice the rolling hills between Cape Girardeau and Sikeston. You can blame the earthquake of 1811 for the now beautiful rolling landscape.

Have a great day,

Brett

Sun, Sand & Snow?

2008-05-19T14:02:00Z

Good Monday morning,

I hope you got out and enjoyed the weekend! It felt like summer out there. Especially at Kansas City's 1st annual Sand Sculpting competition at Shawnee Mission Beach Volleyball.

It was a great event to benefit Sunflower house. Teams from all the midwest competed. One team came all the way from Notre Dame University. So plan on being out there next May for the 2nd annual event. I was on the "Sand Crab" team and we took 1st place in the business division. Check out the picture of our award winning "Sand Dollar"

I have to give credit where credit is due. Most of the design and sculpting was done by my wife Sherri, (next to me) and Megan Nehar of Nehar Public Relations, (next to Sherri.) Megan's niece (Jesse Vanderhagen) also did a great job making our sand dollar looked like a sand dollar.

While we were soaking up the sun, check out Sue Dubill, shivering in the snow.

Sue is Christa Dubill's mother-in-law and a great friend to all of us on the morning show. This is a picture of Sue at Yellowstone Park a week ago today. Sue is standing in the middle of a 10-inch snowstorm. It closed the park roads down. So what do you do when the roads are closed and there is a howling blizzard outside. Scroll down.

Looks cozy! Aren't you glad those days are over for us until later this year? I am, this past weekend, got me in the mood for warm summer nights and cool dips in the swimming pool. Which do you prefer a hot summer day at the beach or a snowstorm? Just a comment below and we will post it.

Thanks for reading, have a great day!

Brett

Cool Satellite Images

2008-05-16T11:48:00Z

Good morning,

With the weather looking great for the weekend, I thought I would take a more worldly and universal look at weather. I came across this first item while perusing the internet earlier today. Below is an image from that article. It is a picture of the north pole on the planet Mars. Scientists used the Mars Reconnaisannce Orbiter to probe the pole with radar. The scans reveal the ice cap at the pole may be thicker than first originally thought. It may be as thick as 1.2 miles deep and may cover a land area the size of Pakistan.

You can read a lot more about this at www.space.com Speaking of great images. Check out this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer image from NASA's aqua satellite.

As the MODIS passed over the North Sea, off the coast of Scotland recently, it captured this amazing image of phytoplankton. The "phytoplankton" is the area shaded bright blue & green. Let's go back to science class for a moment. Phytoplankton are organisms that use chlorophyll and other pigments to capture light for photosynthesis. Because these pigments absorb sunlight they change the color of the light reflected from the sea surface back to the satellite. Why look at phytoplankton? The biggest reason may be they are the base of the oceans' food chain. In the North Sea, monkfish and herring feed off plankton. As photosynthesizers, they also play a crucial role in the carbon cycle, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Some oceanographers are concerned rising ocean temperatures will slow phytoplankton growth rates, thus harming marine ecosystems and causing carbon dioxide to accumulate more rapidly in the atmosphere. I hope you enjoyed the science lesson as much I enjoyed finding out more about these topics.

Have a great weekend,

Brett