I have embedded a Google calendar into the blog. It is on a separate page with the link showing in the menu on the left side of the blog. Calendar Link
Everyone keep an eye out Monday night into Tuesday morning, we have the possibility of severe weather. Most likely large hail and wind, but one never knows. Tomorrow looks to be a rough day for Eastern Oklahoma and possibly SE Kansas as well as Western Missouri.
Quick update on yesterdays hail storm that moved just north of the St. Louis area in both Missouri and Illinois. The largest hail reported was 2 inches, that lies just between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball. A report with pictures can be seen at the NWS site, once you click on an image you can scroll through the rest in the series. Some images show hail covering the ground, some even show the ground covered in fog from the cold air produced by the melting hail.. March 3, 2010 Hail Storm report
I will try to make this quick, but I have a few things to update. Friday I was at Gateway Raceway, so again I was being hunted by the storms. We left in time to make it into the North St. Louis area before the storms/tornadoes hit. I was able to keep track the storms with my Ipod Touch using the wifi at the racetrack.
Full storm reports can be seen here: St Louis NWS Significant Weather Events
We have a chance for some hail/wind this evening, then late week could possibly be interesting again. This is my last full week of work until June 7, then I am off the whole week of June 14. I look to get as many chases in as possible.
I will be entering a contract with Severe Studios to broker any storm video we happen to capture. This should happen this week. This can help us gain exposure as well as help with some of the expenses of storm chasing.
The National Weather Service from St. Louis has been busy the last two days examining and reporting on the 3 tornadoes that occurred near the St. Louis area this past week. All 3 were relatively weak, but if they hit your neighborhood you likely have some tree damage and maybe some roof/siding damage.
Below are links to the reports provided by the St. Louis NWS office, many thanks to them for getting these done in a timely manner.
Warren County/Lincoln County tornado
The Overland tornado has a KML file available to view in Google Earth at the bottom of the report.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to post.
I have been watching the models later this week with much anticipation. Locally warm air will return in a big way, dew points are likely to climb into the mid 50′s. We have had the forcing mechanism(cold front) along with plenty of shear to rotate the storms, the moisture seems to have been the limiting factor so far this year.
From what I am seeing, the major area currently looks to be Thursday/Friday in Texas and Oklahoma. I can’t make Thursday, but I am off work Friday, if it looks promising I will attempt my first storm chase of the year. I think I am set, although I have yet to activate my mobile internet….It should only take 10-15 minutes to activate…Stay tuned. :)
Remember, you can view our position, live streaming video and even chat with us while we are out.Live Chase
Well, just when we think we should be getting ready for severe weather, it is at our doorstep.
We are under a slight risk for severe weather into Thursday, the predominant threat in our area will be high winds and hail.
If I can get things setup before going to work we will stream live from our house, I will check it out for quality, as I will have to shoot through a window. It will be a good test, but I am sure my wife will have an issue with the camera and laptop in our bedroom looking southwest! I guess she won’t find out until she gets home from work! (Shhhhh) :)
The live video and chat can be found on our chase summary page
Yes that was thunder you heard overnight. The storms made the most out of some weak instability over the region. This also included reports of hail, most were pea size, or .25 inches, I did see one report of 1 inch hail, or quarter size at Meramec State Park. Although not the ideal time of year for storms, the possibility is there each and every month for severe weather in our area. I keep my weather radio plugged in year round just in case. About the hail size, I though I would post a list of sizes and descriptions from the National Weather Service. This helps relate what you are seeing to the actual size, since most of us tend to exaggerate a bit. :) Oh and I almost forgot, as taught in Storm Spotter training, never describe hail as marble size, think about it for a minute, yes we have all seen way to many sized marbles! :)
Hail Chart, from the NWS.
I also cleaned some code up on the current weather and history pages. It seems my programs were not properly inserting the degree symbol ” ° ” into the pages as they were built. I made them static on all pages now. I am far from an expert, but all I have done has been self taught.