1st Winter Storm

We had our first official snowfall of the Winter Season yesterday. A couple of inches of snow and then sleet and then more snow fell at our place. More winter weather is expected this weekend with possible rain, drizzle, sleet, hail and whatever else fits into December weather. And to think that I'm selling my skis I bought before I moved out here ...

Now That's Some Rain!

It started in the middle of the night and continued till around noon this morning. 12 hours and several lightning strikes later, we had received around 4" of rain! It just kept coming and coming till I thought we were going to have to look into plans for an ark.

Parched & Dry No More!

Finally! Tomorrow would have marked the one month mark of no rain in Tonganoxie. A few storms have come through during the mini-drought but they have all missed us ... but not this one! We had a doozy hit us in the middle of the night that dropped 1.40" of rain and brought Tyson flying into bed with us. Lightning storms out here will do that to ya. On an even more positive note, the computer was plugged into a surge protector/battery back-up. Whew!

The Tonganoxie Split

You may have seen a lot of weather related stories on the news as of late concerning flooding and excessive rain in the Midwest. Unfortunately, that doesn't include us. We're dry as a bone here ... even when you consider that areas around KC have been getting more rain than we have. Must be that infamous Tonganoxie Split they talk about. Legend has it that the ol' Chief Tonganoxie is buried somewhere 'round these parts and it's his spirit that keeps us safe and dry. Well ... that theory was blown away (no pun intended) when a tornado hit back in 2000. It has cooled down though ... which is nice ... but a little rain would be nice. Just not as much as what our neighbors have been getting.

The Lightning Storm

We have witnessed a fair share of wild and intense storms since we've moved to the Midwest but nothing compared to the intense electrical storm that blasted the area on Wednesday night! We kept a close tab on Doppler radar as a fierce storm cell closed in on the area from the north. It hit us around 11pm with the most wicked display of lightning I had ever seen! Nature's display of power and fury illuminated the night's sky like a strobe light. Rain pelted the house in sheets and dumped over 2" of rain in an hour's time. LIghtning danced all around and the thunder clapped in applause. There were times that the thunder and lightning were instantaneous and we knew the strikes were close. How close? One particular strike split the bark off a tree no more than ten feet from our house! The result? It blew out our television set, our cable modem, our router and our new computer that I just built two weeks ago. Amazing to think that Tyson slept through it all as well.

Steamy ... and Hot!

We were spoiled all summer long ... till now ... with some of the most pleasant temperatures that summer could offer. But now it's hot ... and steamy! With temperatures hovering around the century mark and dew points in the 80's, the heat index (what it really feels like outside) is at 115! Holy smokes that's hot! The dog isn't alone in panting anymore.

Mother Nature's Fireworks

Never have I experienced better summer weather than I have this year ... it's been nothing short of ideal. We've now had 3 ... yes, three ... days where the temperature has reached 90°. On top of that, it seems like we get a good soaking once a week or so to keep things green and beautiful. Then there's the icing on the cake ... the severe weather! The 4th of July was no exception as a wild storm raced in from the north bringing high winds, downpours and lightnings. Tornadoes weren't far off too - the city of Lawrence reported a funnel cloud (see pic) and we witnessed some rotating clouds above our house as well. Mother Nature's own fireworks rivaled that of our neighbors for sure!

Rain ... and Fall-like Temps

I've never seen the month of June end with weather like this ... 3-4 days of drizzling rain which dropped 1.25" of rain at our place. Perfect. Temperatures struggled to make it to 70°. Perfect. Indeed, it felt like fall in the Midwest. While we enjoyed the cooler temps, others in the Midwest weren't as lucky. Some folks received over 15" of rain in the same time period! Take a look at the attached graphic and see how wide spread and diverse the rain distribution was. At least we'll be safe to blow things up next week for the 4th of July! For additional coverage of the heavy rain that drenched Eastern Kansas, click here.

254 Days of no 90°

What a streak! 254 days without a temperature in the Kansas City area above 90°! But that of course ended this week as we had heat and humidity. It was sticky and humid every day with no rain ... but hey, the yard still looks great! Speaking of streaks, despite some reasonable stormy weather this season, Tonganoxie is yet to have a severe thunderstorm or tornado warning. Bummer.

50th Anniversary - Ruskin Heights

It's still tornado season here in the Midwest and we have a good chance of some more severe weather this week ... we'll keep our fingers crossed! Came across an article in a weather blog I visit every day related to the 50th anniversary of the Ruskin Heights tornado that hit the Kansas City area. The F5 tornado was 71 miles long! Whew! Click here to see some wild pictures of the tornado and damage that took place in our neck of the woods 50 years ago on Sunday.

Do We Build An Ark?

The thought of building an arc crossed our minds. While we avoiding the devastating tornadoes in south-central Kansas, we were blasted with over 3 1/2 inches of rain over the weekend. Roads were closed, counties evacuated, and water invaded basements all over the Kansas City metro area. Our sump pump has been running almost non-stop and the ditch on the east side has been full ... but we're safe and sound in the Midwest, but our thoughts and prayers go out to those less fortunate in Greensburgh, KS.

*** Quick Update! ***

Just a quick note to let you know that we are alive and well in Kansas. The deadly storm that destroyed the town of Greensburg, KS is quite a ways away from where we live. No tornadoes here - just a lot of lighting and torrential downpours. We'll update our rain totals and weather later this week ...

Record Breaking Cold for April

Saturday marked the the 1st time I've ever mowed the lawn wearing thermals, a winter hat and gloves. Unseasonably cold ... even record-breaking cold for this time of year. We haven't been above 32° for almost a week. Even are hardy garden plants like peas and lettuce couldn't survive temperatures that sank to 16° over the weekend. The hummingbird feeder looks like a frozen popcycle and the dog is leery about going out. At least it hasn't snowed again ... yet.

Technology & Severe Weather

With severe weather knocking at our door this week, we took advantage of a sale at the Tonganoxie City Office on a Midland weather radio. Equipped with S.A.M.E. technology, the radio will pick up any weather alerts and warnings for our programmed area. In other words, when a weather watch or warning is issued for Leavenworth County, the radio will sound an alarm followed by the warning. It works too ... we got our first weather alert last night with a Flash Flood warning after we had received 1.60" of rain in just a couple of hours. I know that it was 1.60" of rain thanks to our new wireless rain gauge. Technology and severe weather - it's a beautiful combination.

Was That Wind Speed For Real?

There's been a threat of severe weather all week but nothing but a few selected good soakings to mention thus far. A local Tonganoxie home weather station did report a sudden wind gust though at 250 mph. Surely this must have been a fluke ... or that of one really, really powerful nearby sneeze.

Wind Chill Over 40°?

Mid 50's all week with a wind out of the north. I was curious to see what the wind chill was as we spent a lot of time working outside this week but I learned from the National Weather Service that wind chill doesn't exist above 40°! I'll have to remember that. We're expecting rain showers off-and-on all week ... glad we got the grass planted.

Springtime in the Air

Spring is in the air ... at least the birds are in all their variety. We spent most of the day Saturday working in the yard and enjoying their songs and this beautiful time of the year! The trees are still yet to show their leaves but the crocuses came up and are in bloom. Forecasted highs this week put the Kansas area in the upper 70's! Should be some great Springtime weather considering that our average high for this time of year is 52°.

March Roars In Like a Lion!

"Weather" it's the start of the traditional severe weather season or the fact that March is coming in like a lion, I thought this would be a great opportunity to create an online journal of the fascinating weather that we experience in our backyard here in the Heartland (aka "Tornado Alley").

... and what a better way to start it off than with a fascinating evening of storms on Wednesday night! Most of the day was clear and beautiful with springlike weather in the 60's ... but by the time evening rolled around, mountains of clouds started appearing to the south over the cornfields. Over the course of the next few hours, thunderstorm and tornado warnings appeared all over the area. In Ottawa (about forty miles south of us) there were three tornadoes that merged into one! Fascinating! By 9:00 pm there were six counties in the southern area of the television viewing area (all of which had cut into their regular shows) that had tornado warnings. The KC metro area itself reported nickel and quarter size hail. Ouch! As for us ... it was a quiet evening. We'll see what happens overnight.

RED: Tornado Warnings
YELLOW: Thunderstorm Warnings
GREEN: Flood Warnings

Articles from Wednesday's storms:
Massive Storm Spawns Tornadoes: CNN
Storms Bring Twisters, Hail & Flooding: Kansas City Star