(No Ratings Yet)Today we saw mostly cloudy skies with scattered showers as a cold front moved through. Luckily we didn’t see widespread severe weather. Tuesday’s temperatures will be 10 to 15 degrees below normal. (more…)
(No Ratings Yet)After the severe weather we saw this past week, including golf ball size hail and funnel clouds, the weekend has been quiet. Filled with sunshine and warm temperatures climbing into the lower 90s. But the coming week’s forecast isn’t looking so bright. (more…)
(No Ratings Yet)As most of you have probably noticed, we’re not seeing the July were used to around here each summer. Now most people aren’t complaining much about it as it can get a little uncomfortable during those dog days of summer. So far all three of the Tri-Cities have only reached 90 degrees or better three times this month. Our average high is about 88 degrees, but to get that average, you usually need to have the warmer temperatures to balance the days of cooler temperatures. It’s not unusually to have a string of hundred degree heat too. That hasn’t happened yet. In fact the closest we have come is during the month of June. Grand Island hit 98, Hastings hit 97, and Kearney hit 95 all on the 23rd. It looks like we could compete for the warmest temperatures of the year on Friday as we’ll reach the mid to upper 90’s. But I have noticed that even our forecasted highs have often been too high this summer. Forecast models have tended to be on the high side. Even with the warmer air, we expect another cooldown by the weekend and it is expected to last into the middle on next week. Again, not too many complaints, just wondering what happened to all that global warming.
(No Ratings Yet)The Space Shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station will be passing in orbit over the Central Plains this week…and weather permitting…should provide a pretty good show in the late evening sky. For those wanting to take a peek…here is a schedule of occurrence times and the directions and elevations above the horizon for viewing…(calculations centered on Hastings, Nebraska.)
Day Beginning Time/Azimuth/Elevation - Mid Point Time/Azimuth/Elevation - Ending Time/Azimuth/Elevation
Tuesday 11:04:42 PM / NW / 10 Degrees 11:07:20 PM / NNW / 67 Degrees 11:07:20 PM / NNW / 67 Degrees
Thursday 10:18:44 PM / NW / 10 Degrees 10:21:41 PM / NE / 84 Degrees 10:22:47 PM / ESE / 34 Degrees
Saturday 9:32:34 PM / NW / 10 Degrees 9:35:30 PM / NNE / 88 Degrees 9:38:16 PM / SE / 11 Degrees
Times and Elevations may vary by a couple of degrees and as much as 30 seconds based on your location…e.g. Ord…Plainville…York…Gothenburg etc.
For more information, go to this link and find you city.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html
Since the space shuttle is being retired after next year, it’s one of your last chances to see it in space. I also believe there is a space walk set for tonight about the time it passes over. Maybe you’ll actually see an astronaut flying through the sky. Enjoy the view.
(No Ratings Yet) For the last couple of weeks our weather has been driven in part by a dome of hot air that has taken up residence in Texas and throughout the Southern Plains. Yesterday Witchita, Ks hit 107 for the high. Medicine Lodge, one better at 108. In Dallas, it has been above 100 for 11 of the last 14 days.
I was speaking with a friend of mine who lives in the Dallas area who told me the kids can’t even go swimming because the water has gotten too warm. I saw one report indicating that half the corn crop in Texas is already gone. Ridiculous.
A heat wave like this tends to turn into a vicious cycle that won’t go away. In other words, heat breads heat. When a heat wave developes typically the rain stays away. The ground drys over time so there is no moisture to evaporate into the atmosphere which absorbs some to the effects of solar radiation. More energy is then directed toward heating the earth which in turn, heats the surrounding air, and on and on it goes.
So despite the complaints I’ve been hearing about how humid it has been around here lately, I’ll take a little soup over Texas toast any day.
(No Ratings Yet)This is my first post in quite a while on our News 5 blog. I’ve put quite a bit of focus on putting forecasts on twitter instead. Which I invite any of you to follow if you wish to. Anyway, this week is an exciting week for me and my career as a meteorologist. As some of you know, I came from the NBC affiliate in Sioux Falls, South Dakota where I worked on our early morning show. It was something I really missed doing when I moved back to Nebraska. After a year at KHAS, I am now back in the position that is really my favorite as a television meteorologist. I enjoy sharing my personality a little more in the morning with our viewers as well as my co-anchors on the show. It’s also easier to be a little more creative with my forecast. Not to mention having most of my weekends off to spends with family. Of course we will miss Greg Tatro in the mornings as he has moved on to further his career in meteorology. And I am happy to welcome our newest member of the SkyWatch 5 team…Brittany Rainey. She’s one to keep an eye on as I think she will do really well as my replacement on weekends. She will do a good job in continuing to boost our ratings on the weekend shows.
As for weather, things are looking awfully nice this afternoon will less humidity in the air. Thunderstorms return to our forecast for Thursday. Right now the weekend is looking dry and pleasant. Enjoy it. We don’t get weather like this too often in the middle of July.
(No Ratings Yet) The storm threat tonight has translated farther south and east, along and south of a Genoa to Beaver City line. Not expecting any storms for the Tri-Cities and only a slight chance for those towns close to the Kansas/Nebraska border.
Hebron and Fairbury stands to see the best posibilities. Very unstable air mass over southeast Nebraska combined with a cold front pushing through could ignite a strong storm before the night is out. So far the cap is holding as has been the case all day.
Tomorrow in the wake of that front a gorgeous day with sunshine and, for a change, low humidities so its going to be comfortable with highs in the low to mid 80s.
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5) You might have noticed a new face during the Sunday edition of News5. We’d like to introduce to you and welcome the newest member to our SkyWatch5 weather team, Brittany Rainey. She will be working the weekend weathercasts, and you’ll see her in your community during the week as she will be reporting as well.
Brittany is from Florida but is coming to News5 after working in Missoula, Montana, where its usually colder. Needless to say she’s enjoying our heat and humidity….feels more like home.
Brittany is a great addition to our staff. Say hi to her if you see her.
(No Ratings Yet) An upper level ridge in the Southern Plains continues to keep Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas in the dutch oven and is driving the weather throughout the Midwest. The storm track is to our north in the Dakotas, and Nebraska is sandwiched in between.
A layer of warm air aloft has kept a lid on thunderstorm developement despite a relatively unstable enviroment and that is going to stay that way tonight through Saturday night. If anything should pop up it could be very isolated, but under it some heavy rain could occur.
On Sunday, a more potent impulse will ride up and over the top of that ridge perhaps strong enough to break the cap and provide more widespread thunderstorm coverage. We’ll see how that plays out. Again most areas will stay dry…or as dry as one can be with some much humidity in place. Have fun.
(No Ratings Yet) Sad to say we are losing a collegue that we’ve enjoyed working with in the weather department over the last four years. Greg Tatro, our morning meteorologist on News5 Today ,is moving on to other things and we want to take some time to wish him the very best. Greg is an excellant forecaster… and storm chaser. When storms producing tornadoes rolled into Kearney last year they were producing heavy rain obscuring the tornado that moved into the western part of town. Greg was on the air with me, confirming with real time visual descriptions of transformer flashes indicating that indeed Kearney was being hit. The folks of Kearney couldn’t have any faster warning information.
Job well down, Greg. We wish you the best.