NBC Action Communities

 NorthlandGirl :  

As a pilot you have to understand a couple of things.  One, you can never win against the weather, your only option is to pray to god that your gut instincts are correct.  We train to spot things like downdrafts, updrafts, and windshear. Those three things are the most dominant killers when it comes to flying.  As far as the pilot who is flying this helicopter over O.K.  im sure he's been doing this for many years, and has experienced this kind of weather.  A few of our aircraft here at UCM use NEXRAD radar or storm scopes, they can both aid in determaning where a storm is and how we can safely aviod it.  But again, it comes down to your gut and using your eyes. =0)  Hope that helped.  

-Shawn

I wouldn't mind if it rained tonight, just no thunderstorms. I need to get some sleep tonight after this mornings storms. Hope everyone enjoyed the nice afternoon weather today. I was sitting inside in KCMO all day and we got about 20 minutes of pretty good rain with some thunder early this afternoon. Then it cleared up and turned into a great afternoon. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of your weekends.

Mark

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Mark,

Thanks for stopping by.  Rain chances are highest on Monday into early Tuesday.  Tonight is looking like the storms will be few and far between.  Much different set up than last night.

Hold on.  I'm not colorblind, but is that 7 - 9 inches of rain West of KC?

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I'm probably late on a prior conversation, but I'm with ProPilotUCM/Shawn.  They know what they are doing.  You know how all it takes to get a driver's license is to basically stop at a stop sign and parallel park?  After that, you just go in every 4 years so they can make sure you see?  Pilots have annual tests and physicals and demanding flight checks.  These cats that fly around storms are expericenced.  

Not to mention that what you are seeing is there camera focused in on a storm. They are usually miles away, thus creating a bit of an disconnect on how close they really are to a storm.

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The model is showing rain totals over about 3 days.  If the rain trains over the same locations 4"+ amounts could occur close to or within our viewing area.

Jeremy

Shawn aka PilotPro - thanks a bunch!  That was very helpful, and apparently this pilot has been through this drill many times living in Oklahoma.  I just know that watching it made my palms sweat out of fear!  Yes, it makes for great shots and I'm sure on many levels and in varying professions there are folks who study and learn from these videos.  

Thanks again!

Hey Jeremy!

I'm not convinced those supercells in N OK would even have fired today if not for all the shenanigans from last night. The outflow from said shenanigans sparked that supercell over N OK, as I'm sure you are well aware. Did you notice that it was only moving around 10-15 mph the whole time? Its amazing how the feed kept that cell alive for so many hours, even though it was kind of "lost". However, judging from the increase in dewpoint temps I am feeling even right now here, it's not surprising. Neither is the GFS/NAM's prediction for rain.

I will be curious to anticipate the CAPE values tomorrow should there be any clearing around here... Dewpoint AOA 70 and temp near 90. It would have to be "off-the-hook!" Even if there are no storms with strong CINH, it would still be interesing to see if it goes higher than 4 or 5 K. I guess the atmosphere isn't paying $4/gallon for fuel, LOL!

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TW,

Thanks for stopping by.  The storms this morning seemed to crush and development close by this afternoon and kept us pretty stable.  I never saw the exact speed until you mentioned it but I did notice that those supercells in OK really never moved much this afternoon.  That had to be a chasers dream.  I wonder how many times the chopper had to refuel that was chasing those storms.  I'm guessing that was a pricey flight today. 

Looks like both of our teams are struggling right now!

Jeremy

NorthlandGirl:

its my pleasure.  Im working on my second year here and i still have much to learn myself, i just finished my aviation weather class for the semister with an A.  We learned all about the different types of clouds and the type of turbulance, winds and hazardous weather associated with every type and style of weather.  I've flown through some things that i can only describe as horrifying.  It gives you a whole new respect for weather, and it has also helped me become a better pilot.   We are always training though, which is a good thing lol.  The chopper pilot was probably about 15 miles away from that storm when they were running the feed, and even though that seems like a far distance its really not!!  You can feel the effects of a thunderstorm in the air two or three times that distance.  im sure it was very difficult for that pilot to maintain comfortable flight conditions.  

Wow, that was alot longer than i intended.  Well, again im glad i could assist.  =0)

-Shawn

Actually the helicopter pilot was within 2-3 miles most of the time. Once having to fall back because a wall cloud was forming right overhead. All told I lost almost 3 hours of good yard work time watching the feed from OKC.

Jeremy,

A little late here with the total, but we got .95" at 79th and Lackman in Lenexa. Those last night were really awesome. Its nice to have just a regular old thunderstorm now and then. :)

How do rain chances look tomorrow afternoon. I have my high school graduation party tomorrow afternoon/evening. I see you say to not cancel plans, but what is your opinion. I know on Wx Plus, Powercast shows some showers around. Does it look like a line of storms or just scattered?

Thanks,
David

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David,

Outside of the front that comes thru in the Monday early Tuesday time frame.  Rain chances are tough to pinpoint.  But I have a 40% chance in for Sunday.  Afternoon looks like the best time frame for some showers and storms to occur.  We still could see something tonight...but probably pretty isolated.

Jeremy

i just saw that on CNN.  Wow, it astonishes me that the helicopter pilot got so close to the tornado.  He said it was actualy trying to suck the aircraft into the funnel.  Im speachless.  Not to mention that what he did was dangerous, but heroic in the sence that he was trying to warn everyone in its path by providing amazing shots of the field of damage.  amazing!

It seems that everytime we get a pretty good T-Storms, our Over the Air Digital Channels seem to go off the air, some of them anyway, 41-1, 41-2, 50-1,50-2,50-3,50-4,etc

Anybody else have this problem? We have an outside roof antenna.

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Sounds like rain fade.

Jeremy

Anybody know how to fix rain fade? I want fix before the change next year or each time it happens I'll have to watch the other stations. :(

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I don't think you can fix rain fade.  We get it on some satellites at the station during heavy rain or snow.

Jeremy

I hope that GFS is right and we get blasted with storms over and over. would be nice dontcha think, they don't have to be severe. one good strong one would be nice though.

Jeremy, Just saw you on TV your a star man! lol j/k GOOD Forecast I loved it!

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I think I choked on a bug during the weather segment:)

Jeremy

Darn, I missed the helicopter footage on TV. It sounds like it was awesome. I wonder if it's on the internet anywhere?

Now you know why I had the sweaty palms ProPilot!!!!  :)

Marlina10, try cnn.com...  http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/weather/2008/05/24/vos.tornado.kwtv

I think most of us were watching earlier from this station kwtv.com - it was unbelievable.  

Well..after Tues, things look to slow down a bit.  I think summer will be taking a hold.

Even as it relates to the surface trending, we are in the very wet/active period, but looks to end about right with the models on Tues.

For about a week or so after Tues, it should drastically slow down.  Looking at the models, the only excitement it can give is mystery model vorts that look to give some MCS/complex changes, but those are very difficult to prog a day out nevermind days out.

I don't see anything large scale that gives much excitement for awhile.  The surface analysis would suggest something from June 2-5th range.  Looking the GFS, it does want to show a trough forming in the SW.  

Maybe that will be worth getting excited about...but we will have to see.

Fairwell jetstream..nice seeing you this Spring.

Random thought - after seeing how many spotters/chasers were in KS the last three days, it makes complete sense that statistics tracking yearly tornadoes is up this year.  

Its not always a linear conclusion when noting spikes in storm activities to changes in the atmosphere...often, it must be considered that more awareness, better communication, and other factors may actually be the cause to more reports - not just Mother Nature herself.

Just some food for thought.

;-)

Looking at some things for Tomorrow and Mondays situation.  Sunday looks mostly clear for us southwestward of KCI and looks wet over the stateline for tomorrow. Hopefully this doesnt happen but were under a slight risk so who knows.

Monday looks like the 30% chance will shift westward to around Lawerence and 15% of severe weather around KC. Moderate Flooding is probabily expected if the NAM or the GFS Models are correct.

If were under the 30% then expect Monday to be a much more Busier day than expected. If not then most people should just worry about the flooding. Just my Thoughts

Here is the Link in which the 30% and 15% are located. Its http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day3otlk.html  move your mouse over the Probability link and it will show it.

Just my Thoughts for those people who wanna know about monday.

nice looking storm around wichita not moving fast it's basically the storm that was in oklahoma during the day producing quarter size hail in southern kansas now.

Yes... was just looking at the live radar. Amazing how slow that storm has been moving all day thru OK to KS.

it's trying to drift along i-35 see if it drifts this way by morning.

Wichita TV just went live... http://data.ksn.com/video/radarstream.html

I like tomorrow's SPC outlook. for those who don't like th worst of it it's to our north but we are still nicely embedded in a nice slight risk I'll take that.

half dollar size hail at wichita

pretty stormy day shaping up for monday spc has us in slight risk but the probability has increased to 30 percent severe from the spc.

Well that is a lot of rain I'd say. For once, NAM isn't the worst case scenario computer!

When does a new blog come out?

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When I find time to write one:)  Always watch our newscasts for the latest weather information!  News starts at 8am!

Jeremy