Outstanding Late August Weather

A magnificent day here in SLB. Temperatures peaked in the upper 70s with light winds and a picture perfect blue sky. Just outstanding weather. Days like these I wish I could bottle up and sell. Severe weather chances are around nil right now for the quad-state region with high pressure dominating the weather pattern over us. Enjoy!

I'll start to load up a 2.5 day forecast for SLB, but this is prelim stages for the layout. I can already see I will make it a bit wider.

A Storm Lake Sunset

Last evening /28 Aug/ was a spectacular sunset even though there were not a lot of different colors. While I missed the best of the show when the sky turned a golden yellow before 8PM as I was working, it was worth it.

As I left work, I just figured it wouldn't be worth my time as it was getting dark and I didn't have a tripod plus it was still raining. As I started heading west towards home, I realized I still might have enough time to get to the east side of the lake. So I spun a u-turn in a parking lot and headed back east. I found a nice spot to pull in and hopped out. I shot for about 15 minutes in light rain until the best of the show was over...and I was drenched. :) Enjoy Storm Lake's Post-Thunderstorm Sunset!

Storm Lake at its finest.

Thunderstorm tops (right center) are silhouetted and outlined by the setting sun on Storm Lake.

Ducks (near center of the image) swim across the mixture of colors on Storm Lake.

Summer Sunset on Storm Lake.

I couldn't figure out what this boater was doing out, but I think it might have been the shift change for the dredge workers. As I left my spot, the light on the dredge came on. Anyone, an outstanding picture.

Outstanding!

The golden sky and the red horizon (Cyclone colors?) with windmills (center) provided an outstanding show.

Trust.

Knowing who to trust is everything in this business.

Tallying up August's rain so far...

Some of those CoCoRaHS gauges aren't large enough at 4" for a 24 hour period. The totals here at KRJA /the house/:
August 22: 1.58"
Total since August 20: 4.41"
Total for August: 12.92"
August 24 hour Max Rainfall: August 3/7:54"

Current road closures due to flooding include:

• US Hwy 20 bridge over the Cedar Creek in Calhoun County
• Iowa 7 west of Alta, IA in Buena Vista County
• Lower section of Ledges State Park south of Boone

0405Z/11:05PM

Turn Around, Don't Drown

Turn Around, Don't Drown MP3

More heavy rain last night along the Hwy 3, Hwy 9 and I-90 corridors in Iowa and Minnesota have caused another barrage of Flash Flood Warnings across the quad-state area.(IA/MN/NE/SD). Rainfall at the house /KRJA/ on August 21 was 1.83". Through 11:15AM today, August 22, 1.10" has fallen. In addition, a wind gust of 39MPH was observed and some nice CG lightning.

Already this morning, more rain is falling between Hwy 3 and Hwy 30 (roughly) in Iowa (Current Radar), which is a littler further South than last evening's rain path. Nevertheless, more rain on already saturated ground will continue to add to the problems of flooding.

KCCI/ABC5 reports that in Fort Dodge officials are reinforcing levees. The EM for Webster County, IA reported a levee breach on the Des Moines River at the hydroelectric dam around 6:30AM this morning. Last evening, Cherokee, IA reported water/sewage backing up into basements and street flooding.

Here are the projected rainfall totals from NWS Sioux Falls. From NWS HPC, predicted rainfall totals for Day 1 (August 22), Day 2 (August 23), and Day 3 (August 24).

Remember, never try to cross a roadway that has water over as you can not tell the depth of the water, the speed of the water, or if the road is still there. Turn Around, Don't Drown.

1625Z/11:25AM

August 21: Weather Discussion

Another round of thunderstorms, some that may be severe, are progged to make their way across the tri-state area. Currently, 75/70 (temp/dewpoint) in SLB so is already steamy outside. The issue today, again, will be the 700mb temperatures that are very warm across NE. At this hour, if storms tried to go up they would have better luck in western Iowa or South Dakota than eastern NE. Nonetheless, forecast models are showing that storms will try to fire across eastern NE/western IA later this afternoon, and then overnight will cross Iowa between IA 3 and IA 2, roughly. Flash Flood Watch is definitely advisable with onset of more rainfall likely in areas that have already had too much rain and/or are under Flood Warnings. Precipitable water isn't too impressive yet, but will have to monitor as the day progresses.

1607Z/11:07PM

Rainfall Totals for August 20

1.00" even at KRJA (the house) through 11:30PM, and that will likely be the final tally for the day. A gust of 25 MPH was observed at 9:54PM as thunderstorms moved into the area and dropped another 0.19" this evening on top of the 0.81" earlier in the day. I haven't check the other gauge to see if they correlate well, but I have more confidence that the heavier rainfall earlier this month was accurate. Anyway, a few small branches down in the yard, but nothing serious out of this evenings storms in SLB.

0426Z/11:26PM

August 19, 2007 Photos

Just east of SLB around 5PM as TCU build.
















On the shores of Storm Lake looking to the ESE as thunderstorms roar through central Iowa after 7:30PM.














Sunset on Little Storm Lake around 8PM.












Thunderstorms begin to develop on the quasi-stationary front North of SLB. This is the view over Little Storm Lake to the Northwest shortly after 8PM.













Sunset on Little Storm Lake after 8PM with thunderstorms to the Northwest.











The clouds were lit pink to the SE of SLB after sunset. A fisherman on Storm Lake took center stage for this photo.

Rainfall through 1PM in SLB

Line of storms fell apart as it made it ways SE into central Iowa, although the northern portions of the storms have sustained somewhat and show signs of some bowing. At the house, 0.81" with 0.69" in 15 minutes. A gust of 34mph was recorded as well. This correlates well with the other rain gauge in the yard, but not great with SLB airport, which recorded only a few hundreths. I am becoming fairly certain that a trouble ticket needs to be filed with the SLB AWOS on their tipping bucket.

It could be an interesting afternoon if things pan out as SPC is somewhat outlining. In addition, blog updates may be a bit more spotty after 6PM with scheduled maintenance to this site.

1816Z/1:16PM

Deja Vu: Weather Discussion August 20

This morning, a MCS (mesoscale convective system = line of strong/severe storms) is moving off to the East and South. Being that this is the first day of ISU classes, it reminds me of the September 8, 2005 ISU Tornado. That day an MCS pushed South out of MN and moved rapidly Southeast and got into the Ames area around 12:30PM. I remember I left for class about an hour early so I wouldn't be caught in the rain as I headed to differential equations. Needless to say, I should have skipped class. The tornado wasn't a "classic", but was on the front of the leading edge of storms as it ran into Ames. It was pouring outside and some small branches were blowing past the window on 2nd floor of Carver Hall. I remember one girl came into class late literally soaked and even her calculator had water inside of it (that was in her bag!). Maybe we had a test...that's maybe why I didn't skip.

Anyway, back to the main point. MCS has moved through Buena Vista county and has dropped quite a bit of rain. I'm currently not at home so not sure on exact amount. This should make it down to Ames by around noon-12:30 (ironic?). Strong winds and heavy rain will be this MCS' forte.

For the rest of the day, anticipate another round of thunderstorms this afternoon to develop in this steamy airmass. Currently, the SPC has a slight risk out for the western 60% of the state of Iowa, eastern NE, SE SD, and SW MN. Northwest Iowa is under the gun, or at least SPC's bullseyes for 5% tornado risk, and more so on hail and wind at 30% risk. We'll have to watch this as it transpires this afternoon.

An update may be in order if I don't end up having to work this afternoon.

1602Z/11:02PM

Tornado Watch 615

Tornado Watch 615 was uneventful. I need not post further as to my knowledge no warnings of any sort were issued. Warm front swept through SLB this morning so the boundary was in place. Moisture rebound was incredible as a morning of 57 got jacked up after the front with through to 75! Evidently there was some sort of cap in place to prevent convection from going up and producing severe warned cells. Busy day here so didn't have time to look further. Enjoy what appears to be a cooler Sunday in the low 80s, but clouds and thunderstorms are the reason temperatures will be down.

0524Z/12:24AM

Changes to Blog/Photos

2 more posts are below this one...yes, I'm making up for lost time.

A few changes (not the ones I've previously listed) around this site and photos...

You may notice I've been doing some "interior decorating" to this blog, especially on the right hand side. I've made some badges, added an about me, some other blogs, and official government weather sites. I plan to do some more sprucing up, but for now it is sufficient.

Lastly, at the beginning of this year, I started using Picasa from Google to make my photo albums. However, that is changing, which is good and bad. The new program is much more sophisticated from a photographic, digital editing (ie color balance, sharpening, etc), and web...basically all around outstanding. While it is not free, it is worth the money...every penny. Adobe Lightroom is a superior program that has blown me away. While it will take some time to move everything over to Lightroom, it will be worth it. The capabilities, not just web, are incredible and powerful. It was built without any thought of any current Adobe products, thus it was built from the ground up. There are things you can do in Lightroom more effectively than in Photoshop. Sometimes, Photoshop doesn't even have the capacity too. While it does run a bit slow on my 4.5 year old Powerbook, I have not given it a whirl on the PC. Yes, one buy for both platforms...that was nice!

In addition, I'll be shrinking some of my old photo albums for file space conservation, although they can always be brought back online at request. I think I'll keep a few of the photos from the soon to be gone albums up as a "Best of..." Collection.

Weather Discussion...Present, Past, Future

The potential for storms in MN today was actually higher than I thought it would be as SPC issued a moderate risk. It wasn't unwarranted, just a stout 700mb cap in place to hold down convection in SW MN where the tornado potential was a maximum. That's the difficult with trying to get storms to go with the summer ridge in place as temperatures aloft tend to be too warm (>13C at 700mb) to allow for convection to develop. So far, only wind and hail reports have been reported. Currently, some storms are passing through the Twin Cities with Dakota, Goodhue, and Pierce just being put under a t'storm warning until 12:30AM. Hennepin Co (Minnapolis) is currently under a t'storm warning, which expired as I typed. Thank you iembot (11:41PM)

Step back a day before going forward...Yesterday featured a strong wind event that pushed out of southern Nebraska into SW and South Central Iowa. The state fair was effected, but it could have been worse if the storms had tracked a little further north. Nonetheless, an impressive shelf cloud formed and many pictures were taken.

Tomorrow brings another chance for some severe weather across the tri-state area. This has been the trend as little waves of energy are riding over the top of stubborn moving high pressure that is located across the South. While they've been dealing with sizzling temperatures, we've enjoyed chances at thunderstorms and rainfall across the North. This continues tomorrow strong winds being favored over small hail. There will be a chance of an isolated tornado on the front of the line of storms that does form tomorrow.

0447Z/11:47PM

A Cool Summer Evening

A nice summer evening as storms passed by to SLB's South. A nice satellite image from this afternoon around 3PM as SLB was on the edge of cirrus and soon went under cloud cover. This evening featured a wonderful sunset. With all the lawns in the neighborhood having greened up and recently cut, it was great to be outside for a bit. No precipitation in SLB today, just a pleasant August day.

Past Weeks Events

So a semi-busy past week. Monday and Tuesday featured a trip down to Ames and Des Moines. You may remember that I made a similar trip back in June and that was a very successful trip. However, the opposite could be said for this trip. Wednesday was an off day, well, I had to work uptown for a bit in the afternoon. Thursday I went up flying across Northwest and North Central Iowa to help take swimming pool pictures for a contractor. Friday was an off day.

Monday I arrived in Des Moines to intern/make another round of tapings. Shortly before 4:30 though, the weather computers were not being routed properly to the control room so the radar and skycams were just black images in the show. After some frantic moments, things were resolved by a restart. After the 5 and 6 show, Brad and I headed out for some supper before I ran through some tapings. There were storms beginning to form in western Iowa, but nothing that was to be too concerned with. However, as we were eating supper I noticed an anvil through the low stratus off to our West. When we got back to the station shortly after 7, there was a nice cell entering Cass Co. There were some severe thunderstorm warnings, but Brad felt like it was okay to go ahead with tapings.

For some reason, I did not bring my A game for that evenings tapings. There were so many "false starts" it was frustrating. Basically, all those false starts made me forget about other important reminders of things I should have been doing in the show. After a while, I had started getting things to flow better. However, my supposed 60 minute tape only had 40 minutes on its reel. It was definitely labeled as a 60 minute tape, but comparing it to another tape that was 60 minutes, it was easily seen that my tape was shorter. Of course, what I thought was one of my best shows (wasn't flawless by any means, but best 1 min) was not recorded. So, I did a few more tapings, but didn't feel like the last 2 takes were much better than the one that didn't get recorded. I'll never know that for sure though.

After I got done taping, Brad and I watched as a storm strengthened in Cass Co. Both Brad and I had thought earlier that this cell had the potential to produce a tornado based on the structure of the storm, southern most cell, and velocity data. I never knew this, but there is a "severe weather light" that is turned on in the building when it is thought that a cut-in may be needed. So you're never truly done interning! He turned it on and told me to call Master (Control) if a warning came out so the "bug" could be put up as he went to throw in contacts. Sure, enough...Cass Co became severe thunderstorm warned so I told Master. Then a little later, it was upgraded to tornado and Brad went on air. That was the excitement for the evening at the studio.

The trip home (back to Ames, I call it home since Ames was my home when I usually interned) is always interesting...either relaxing or reflectory [sic]. However, with storms moving in from the West it was enjoyable to enjoy the lightning show. Blue Lightning and myself were at home on the I35 this evening. Passed some chasers (?) on I35 North as they were watching the lightning show. It was definitely an awesome show when I got to the top of a hill about 4 miles south of Hwy 30/I35 interchange as there was some spectacular CC (cloud to cloud) lightning immediately followed by a great CG (cloud to ground) lightning. Outstanding!

So after interning for the evening, I returned to Ames and met up with Kang and his wife who once again had opened up their home for my overnight stay. Thanks Kang! This was one of the few positives of the trip. He and I talked for about 2 hours and just enjoyed seeing each other again before turning in for the evening.

Tuesday I was hoping for a better day, but things had not looked promising from the night before. I originally had planned on making this trip a week earlier, but communication and other activities on the other end led me to push the trip back a week. The reason I wanted to do it a week earlier is that my parking pass was still good :), campus would be in session and I might have a chance of getting my "new" tape out with some applications.

Another reasons was that the university is essentially shut down for the 2 weeks before school begins. Almost literally. Kang told me that graduate students and professors typically take their vacation during this time. In addition, most computer labs are closed. This was a big problem. The lab I needed to get into to edit my tape was, of course, closed. Actually, I decided I would stop by since I was in Ames. As I walked on the outside of Hamilton Hall, I could see lights on in the lab. My hopes were raised. There were people in the room. That was good. However, as I began to sit down, some undergrad computer lab monitor said it was closed. Needless to say, I didn't like what he had to say. And I had a 4' poster tube I could have smacked him with...just kidding. So, all hope for putting a tape together was gone.

I then decided I'd head to Agronomy to hang my poster. As I went upstairs to where the senior posters were located, mine was absent. That was strange. So, I wandered down the hall thinking it may have been moved, but it is gone. That did not make me happy at all. Later in the day, I talked to the secretary and she said she had taken it down because it didn't fit in. That wasn't the exact wording, but it was to that effect. Needless to say, that did not make me happy either. Basically, at this point I decided I would not hang my poster down there as much as I had planned on it.

Another positive on this day was that for some reason I had a $5 print balance. I had some meteorology papers I had been wanting to print off so I did that. I got all but 2 printed off on that 5 bucks (I think I have about 50 cents left in the account). That made me pleased.

I also ran into Liz and Jon Hobbs during the day, and it was good to chat with them and catch up a bit. Even say Dave Flory working! ;) Also, stopped by and saw co-authors Jimmy and Adam and chatted with them for a bit as I dropped off a DVD. Adam seems to be doing well as he is preparing for his PhD exam and getting ready to start running some of his model data for his PhD project. Jimmy is currently looking for a position and has interviews lined up towards the end of this month.

I also stopped by and chatted some more with Kang in his office Tuesday afternoon. As much as I didn't enjoy physics, I always enjoy walking and being in that building now. Especially on the top floor!

The trip home on Tuesday was good. I stopped and picked up some mints at Starbucks (my dad is addicted to them) and got some DQ for the road. While there were no severe storms up North (some down in southern IA as I left Ames the severe thunderstorm watch was issued), I did run into some darker skies...for some reason if felt like a storm chase. I guess since it has been such a dull season, dark clouds get me excited.

Wednesday was a bit of work in the afternoon as was Thursday afternoon. It was definitely a warm day to fly (Thursday), but it was great to be up in the sky. I'll have to post some pictures in the near future. It was neat to see the temperature inversion in the sky as well.

Friday was an off day, which I enjoyed. I did get my first rejection letter from a tv station in Oregon. Usually you think I would be upset by a rejection letter, but quite the opposite. I had already figured I didn't get the job since it had a been a few weeks. Typically, you don't get anything from the station so this was a nice step...if you can call it that.

Tornado Watch, Tornado Warning, Chasers, Rain Encore

Tornado Watch 564 is in effect until 11PM...Severe Thunderstorm Watch 562 remains in effect until 11PM...

A Tornado Warning was issued at 7:15PM this evening for NE Cherokee/NW Buena Vista (does not include Storm Lake /SLB/). I had considered hopping in the car and giving chase, but radar didn't look impressive and the time to get up North would have put me after the event. So I sat out and cyber chased. There has been nothing official from the NWS, but SevereStudios.com reported a rotating wall cloud (that was in the warning text) and a few "small funnels" near Cleghorn, IA.

I went outside around 8:15PM and nothing too exciting. I was in between cells and some striations in the clouds (no photos), but soon after saw the first two CG (cloud to ground) lightning strikes and quickly retreated back to safety. There were about a half dozen chasers in the area this evening, including Mr. Flory and Liz for those Iowa Staters. They didn't even stop in for free internet! Anyway, a few chasers came through Storm Lake...basically less than an 1/8 of a mile from my house. I didn't spot any mobile mesonets though. I'll post some screenshots later.

The rain has begun and here begins the weather discussion. Tornado threat seems over given that the storms are committing "squall line suicide." The tornadic storms were further west than I initially thought they would be, but the lower/mid levels were very unstable and the warm front sunk South instead of what I thought would propagate eastward. While I was incorrect, it did bring some excitement to my evening...although I'm still tired from last night/this morning.

Anyway, as mentioned, tornado threat is over unless some new cells can pop up. The current line of storms goes back into Nebraska towards Lincoln/Broken Bow (LNK/BBW) up to Sioux City (SUX) to Storm Lake (SLB) to North of Fort Dodge (FOD). Another area of scattered storms is from a Mason City (MCW) to Minneapolis (MPX) line to the east. The main threat from storms from the LNK to FOD line will heavy rain. The MCW to MPX line to the east will be garden variety thunderstorms with perhaps some small hail. There just isn't much instability to work with since that area was under clouds most of the afternoon. Nonetheless, all beneficial rainfall.

The heavy rain threat appears to already be setting up as the storms have/are trained/training over the same areas. They appear to be slow drifting off to the East as they sink South. Precipitable water values are above 2" in the area where it is currently reaching with the LLJ primed out of the SW to pump up plenty 'o' moisture.

Some statistics on rainfall today at KRJA (my house)
Rainfall from 9-10PM: 2.08"
Rainfall with this storm (7PM-present): 2.37"
Rainfall with this mornings storm (2AM-10AM): 3.79"
Total rainfall for past 24 hours (12AM-12AM): 6.16"
The sump pump is dry still...incredible.

10:04PM/0304Z

Svr T'Storm Watch 562

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 562 has been issued for much of Iowa...West Central, SW, South Central, Central and portions of SE, NW, and North Central Iowa until 11PM...

No warnings are currently in effect, but satellite shows that tower cumulus (TCU) have developed along cold front in NE NE and the warm front in NW IA that extends down towards the Des Moines metro. The watch is primarily between these fronts...ahead of the cold front and to the edge of the warm front.










CAPE values are around 3000J/kg across the watch with LIs approaching -7 in NE NE. LCLs are low over North Central and NE IA, which may allow for an isolated tornado given 0-1km shear is above 200m2/s2 across much of central/North Central Iowa with a 400+m2/s2 max near Fort Dodge (FOD). Currently, there is a tight gradient of CAPE with some inhibition along the warm front. If storms can fire and remain isolated, wouldn't be surprised to see a report or two. Biggest thing going against this is the cloud shield over the eastern half of the state and lack of instability.

Biggest concern in SLB is more flash flooding, although not high given that it was a dry July and the close to 4" rain has soaked into the ground. Precipitable water (the amount of water in a vertical column of atmosphere if it were condensed) is above 2" across the area that had flash flood warnings last evening (SUX, CHE/Cherokee/,SLB). The low level jet (winds about 1500ft off the ground) are out of the SW and at 20kts. This will need more watching as the evening progresses.

5:20PM/2220Z

Weather/Other Notes

Weather...
Appears another round of showers and thunderstorms will cross the state again today. Last night/early this morning featured a line of training/back building showers/thunderstorms from Sioux City to Storm Lake (SUX to SLB) along Hwy 20. This prompted the NWS in Sioux Falls to issue a Flash Flood Warning for Plymouth, Cherokee, and Buena Vista, including Storm Lake. There's nothing quite like waking up to the sound of your NOAA weather radio going off at 5:04AM! Unfortunately, I only got around 4 hours of sleep, so I'm not running full throttle today.

Anyway, at the time of issuance of warning, we had less than 0.5", but that quickly changed. By 5:30AM we had 0.75" and by 7AM 3.35". By the time it was finished, 3.79"! It's interesting to me that the airport only recorded just over 1.5"...that's the difference between 3 miles! All the rain created a pond in the construction site behind our house and some general street flooding, but nothing all that bad. The good thing is 3.79" of rain can clean your car nicely.

So the rest of today holds warmer than anticipated weather. The warm front has made it through Storm Lake, and it is steamy. The dewpoint last evening was around 60, but has risen up into the lower to mid 70s. Temperature is hovering around 90. It's fairly nasty outside.

As mentioned in the opening, more showers/storms are on the way. The biggest issue will be heavy rain and maybe some small hail. Tornadoes are highlighted by the Storm Prediction Center, but that shouldn't be a major threat, except perhaps to Storm Lake's east. SPC does mention possibility of a watch forthcoming in the near future by around 4PM/21Z.

3:08PM/2008Z
-------------
A few other notes....

Park City, UT pictures are posted.

The video from TWISTEX is on my computer. I think for now I'll just post the "best" parts. It will likely be two 10 minute clips. That will come likely late next week, as plans are to go to Des Moines for a couple of days next week, then I have to fly perhaps one or two days next week and the lawn may need to be mowed with all this rain!

For those who use "Sorge's Site", it is/has been moved to the meteorology servers. The old address, which will work until my account is removed from ISU, was http://www.public.iastate.edu/~ajsorge
The new address is
http://www.meteor.iastate.edu/~ajsorge/sorge/

"Sorge's Site" needs revamping, and is a high priority on the webpage list, but overall priorities don't place webpages too high on my list so we'll see when I get to it.

Still alive...

It's been a long time since I last posted. Progress has been made on the list, but computer problems on both sides of the platform (Mac/PC) personally and business-wise has slowed me down. No, I don't have a job, in case you wondered.

So, ISU Graduation pictures have been posted.

Updated TWISTEX captions for more detail, time and corrections.

May 21, 2007

May 22, 2007

May 23, 2007 | 2 | 3

May 24, 2007

I have finished the Park City, UT pictures, but I don't have them currently uploaded (I thought I did, but I can't find them). I'll post those tomorrow or over the weekend. In addition, I'll finalize my writing on TWISTEX and research. Another reason for not posting in a while is that I've been working on TWISTEX video and hopefully will figure out how to post it to YouTube and share it with you all.

Weather related we have been fairly dry, although my house (more or less literally) was blessed with an airmass thunderstorm about a week ago that dropped an inch of rain. 3 miles South at the airport then had around 5 hundreths! Nevertheless, most of Iowa is still below normal for rainfall this summer even though year long trends show above normal precipitation. It appears that chances of showers and thunderstorms will be coming through perhaps tomorrow evening as a warm front lifts northward. This may give another shot on Saturday afternoon before the heat wave high returns for an unwelcomed encore, but perhaps the last encore. 

I anticipate these posts become more regularly, at least more so than once every 1.5 weeks.