I hope you enjoyed our country’s birthday bash! I certainly enjoyed watching all your fireworks I could see from our building’s roof just east of The Plaza.
Today’s blog focuses on Tuesday night’s storms. These storms produced the most widespread damage across Kansas City this year.
Leading up to the 10 p.m. newscast, the storms started weakening as they crossed south into Kansas and Missouri. The setup was proceeding as forecast. That trend didn't last long.
As our newscast ended, I noticed the storms intensity and lightning production increasing. Why? A southerly low level jet stream — a ribbon of fast moving air just above the earth's surface — reinvigorated the line. At this point I knew it was going to be a long night.
Let me take a minute to thank all of you who followed me and helped me cover the damaging storms on social media. I appreciate your time, effort and suggestions.
Please know, just like Tuesday night, any time severe weather threatens us we will stay and cover the event until it is no longer dangerous.
As the line neared peak strength it stretched 225 miles long and produced 1240 lightning strikes past 15 minutes, 303 of those being the more dangerous and powerful positive! That equates to one lightning bolt every 1.3 seconds!
By the time I left the station at 2:45 a.m., these storms created the most damage we sustained from any storm this year. The current storm reports show 1 report of severe hail, 1” in diameter, three miles west of Oskaloosa. That is not surprising. We were expecting this to be a wind-driven event.
I found 29 reports of winds at or exceeding 58 mph, the minimum speed criteria for severe thunderstorms.
Of these 29, almost half the reports were for damage created by the winds. The fastest wind measured 68 mph in downtown Kansas City.
The storm let go of its last blast of wind as it traveled through Independence, Missouri. This tree just missed crushing this car on East Bowen Street.
Amazingly this huge limb fell between these two houses. The tree spared both houses and all the occupants! Lots of branches down throughout the area near Truman and Delaware where a little more than a 1/2 inch of rain fell.
Now let’s talk about the positive side of this storm. Nearly 2/3 of our neighborhoods received much needed rain. The bulk of this fell in Kansas and close to the state border in Missouri. The storms then rolled east and finally weakened as we expected.
We need more rain, especially for our Missouri neighbors. Our next storm arrives Friday. Currently, there appears two opportunities for storms. The first arrives Friday morning as a cluster of thunderstorms that develop in western Kansas Thursday night.
Most likely, these weaken as they move through our neighborhoods and the atmosphere recovers in time for strong to severe storms during late afternoon to early evening. We are under the two lowest threat levels for severe weather.
If they don't weaken, then afternoon to evening thunderstorms will find it harder to develop. This would be the best case scenario for Swifties wanting to Taylor-gate before the show and enjoy a dry show. We will keep an eye on it. Come back for updates.
