9/16 - 2:40pm - Rainy Start to the Week in West Tennessee

As promised, a few light showers are moving across West Tennessee and they will become more numerous and heavier this afternoon. Not everyone will see rain but those that do can expect some gentle rains with not much accumulation and possibly a clap of thunder. Tomorrow is a different story though as a larger, more potent upper-level disturbance moves through and generates heavier rains and possibly some thunderstorms. This will be a day when most folks see rain with some areas, especially closer to the Mississippi border, seeing over an inch of rainfall accumulation. Tuesday morning will feature some showers but the cold front at the surface that will be moving through with the upper-level disturbance should be moving east of the area throughout the day. The rain and clouds will be on their way out with the front, so expect the second half of your Tuesday to be much nicer than the first. Cooler temperatures behind the front mean highs in the mid 70's and lows possibly into the 40's by Wednesday morning. That's some fall-like weather right there! Check out my full forecast from last night's 10pm show on WBBJ below.



If you watched the video you probably saw some changes from previous ones that I've posted. WBBJ debuted an all-new HD weather graphics system that has full 3D rendering capabilities. It's very slick, easy to use, and most of all, fun! The 3D zooms to Jackson's tonight and tomorrow forecast I built from scratch between shows yesterday and it was pretty amazing what the machine could do with so little time.

This is also my 2nd anniversary with WBBJ. A lot has changed since I started working there in September 2010 but one thing that hasn't changed is how much I enjoy doing shows there! Can't wait to keep going back there on select weekends during this school year.

1/10 - 5pm - Winter Storm Wrap-Up

After a few hours of sleet and snow, Starkville, MS finally switched over to all snow just after 8pm last night and around three inches of accumulation occurred. It was less than many expected because of the slow switch-over from sleet/freezing rain to snow, but nevertheless it was a significant storm. Areas near Corinth and Tupelo, MS received the most snow of anyone in the state, with ten inches in some places. Back in Starkville, temperatures have now warmed up to 34 in town, so the roads and sidewalks have melted. With the roads still wet and temperatures going below freezing tonight, there's a pretty good chance that ice could develop out there. Regardless of where you are across North Mississippi, West Tennessee, and Alabama, be very careful when traveling overnight and tomorrow morning.

Check out this video I put together that chronicles the storm at Mississippi State University from beginning to end:

8/14 - 6:30pm - Leaving for Mississippi State Tomorrow!

I'm off to Mississippi State University tomorrow to begin a new semester. This will be a particularly exciting semester because I'm enrolled in my first-ever meteorology class, and it's sure to be a fun one! As I said before, I'll be posting updates on MSU weather while I'm down there and throw in some Louisville reports if anything extreme happens. It's a challenging 8-hour drive to get to Mississippi State from Louisville, but it's well worth it when you consider how top-notch their meteorology and broadcasting programs are.

A broken line of severe storms again affected Kentuckiana, causing some power outages and torrential rain. Reports of a possible tornado touchdown are coming in from Jefferson County, Indiana, but overall most places saw very heavy rain and straight-line winds.

Here's a video I shot on Thursday of a very severe storm that passed through Louisville. The 60mph+ winds (which made it look like a tropical storm or hurricane was occurring) took off some siding on my house and reorganized our patio furniture into quite a mess. You can view the HD video below:

7/7 - 10:30am - WAVE-TV Storm Chasing Video / Heat Continues

WAVE 3 News aired a segment last night about Kevin Harned's storm chasing trip with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours. The piece used some of my and another tour driver's tornado video to tell the story of our once-in-a-lifetime tornado intercept near Campo, Colorado on May 31st. View the news segment below:

This video is available in 720p or 1080p high definition

The heat continues here in Louisville, but a break from it is on the way. We could get very close to 100 degrees in the city today, with a repeat of that performance tomorrow. Dew points won't be extremely high, so heat index values will stay near or at 100. An approaching cold front will give us a good chance for rain on Friday, the first appreciable shot at rain in well over a week. After the passage of that front on Saturday, we'll see temperatures drop to around 90 for highs next week.

6/24 - 8:30am - Storm Chasing Documentary, 1000th Post!

This is my 1000th post on the blog, which I started back in January 2007. It's hard to believe that three years have passed already, but I will continue to post here rain or shine!

I just finished putting together my fifteen minute storm chasing documentary for this year, which includes my best video from my four weeks of chasing in the Plains. It's available in high definition, just click on the "HD is off" button to see it in 720p HD format (you will be redirected to the video on Vimeo's website).



This video will be posted on Facebook soon, along with a shorter version (due to a time limit) on YouTube.

6/1 - 7:30am CDT - Incredible Video from Yesterday!

Computer model errors and pure good luck led to an amazing tornado intercept near Campo, Colorado yesterday. Here's some HD video of what we saw yesterday, including a good shot from just 150 yards away from the first tornado:

This video is available in 720p and 1080p high definition.

Email ryan@ryanweather.org for media licensing.

I was able to snap a few pictures as well:

After an incredible intercept yesterday, we're headed to Northern Kansas or Nebraska this morning to chase more storms. The Storm Prediction Center has placed most of Nebraska and Iowa under a Slight Risk for severe weather and a 5% tornado risk today, so we'll see how it goes up there!

5/27 - 9am MDT - Tornado Video/CO Storm/Weather Channel

I was able to upload my tornado video from near Walsh, CO on Tuesday to YouTube in HD. Take a look!



This video aired on The Weather Channel yesterday during my live phone interview on-air with them. This is the second live interview I've done for them in two weeks, which is so exciting! I was actually able to get my family back home to record this interview, so I'll have it uploaded for everyone to see when I get home in just over a week from now.

Here's a video of the storm we chased north of Denver yesterday. Notice the ominous wall cloud that forms very quickly and nearly touches the ground:



There's a risk for severe storms in Montana and North Dakota today, but I'm not sure if we'll actually go up there due to poor road networks and cell coverage. I'll let you know in my next blog post this morning!

5/26 - 12pm MDT - Northeast Colorado

Good afternoon from just south of Eads, Colorado! We're on our way to Northeast Colorado where surface winds are already out of the southeast this morning and winds at 500mb are out of the southwest. This means that we'll have adequate shear this afternoon and storm motion should be very slow, much like yesterday. Dew points will be around 60, which is good for Colorado because of the elevation. A 5% tornado risk has been issued by the SPC for the area as well, so we'll see what we can find this afternoon!

My tornado video from yesterday is posted on the previous post below. I'll have a HD YouTube version of it on here after we get to a hotel tonight.

Remember that you can follow our chase with LIVE streaming video this afternoon at http://stormchasertv.com. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter and Facebook for the latest chase updates!

5/20 - 4:30am CDT - Video from Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak

Here's the video I shot of the tornadoes near Leedey and Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. Both tornadoes did touch down with visible dust swirls on the ground even though their condensation funnels didn't make it all the way.

This video is available in 720p or 1080p high definition

News Media: Interested in airing this footage? Contact me at ryan@ryanweather.org

Here are a few still photos I managed to take as well:

Looks like we may head to Northeast Texas later this morning. Time for some rest!

5/15 - 8am CDT - Videos From West Texas

Here are two videos from yesterday's chase in West Texas. The first contains the supercells we chased near Kermit, TX and the second has the sunset supercell we chased near Brownfield, TX on our way back to Amarillo:

Both videos are available in 720p and 1080p high definition.

5/14 - 8am CDT - Video from Yesterday's Chase in Texas

It took quite a while for storms to get going around Fort Stockton, Texas yesterday, but the handful of cells that finally formed put on a good show. The two strongest cells we saw had some good lowering, but rotation was marginal at best. There was likely some large hail in the cells as well.

This video is available in 720p and 1080p high definition.

We'll see what we can find here in Texas later this afternoon!

5/13 - 11:30am CDT - Central Texas

We're heading south to Central Texas today to get ahead of a stalling cold front down there. Decent instability, good moisture, and deepening shear ahead of the front should kick off some storms that will likely become severe. We'll be on the look out for any isolated tornadoes that may form down here, but I must say that the risk is not as great as previous days this week. The SPC has put part of Central Texas under a Slight risk area, which is up from yesterday.

We'll be streaming LIVE video today when the storms form at http://stormchasertv.com. If you'd like to receive updates on our chase and when we're streaming, follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

Don't forget to check out my HD storm video from yesterday in my last blog post. I'm really liking the video quality coming out of my new camera, so hopefully we'll see some more substantial storms today.

5/13 - 9:30am CDT - Video From Yesterday's KS and OK Storms

We saw a couple good episodes of storm activity yesterday. Linear supercells that formed near Attica, KS couldn't produce a tornado due to linear interference, but they were picturesque nonetheless. A supercell near Cordell, OK later on in the day actually did produce a tornado, but we arrived after it had lifted. VORTEX2 was on the Cordell storm and were quite busy trying to get into position. Here's a video recap of what we saw:

Video is available in 720p or 1080p high definition.

5/11 - 12:15am CDT - Video from Yesterday's Chase

Here's some video I shot of yesterday's chase in North Oklahoma. Hopefully I'll have some better video to upload by the end of today!

This video is available in 720p or 1080p high definition

5/7 - 4:30pm - Leaving for Storm Chasing Tomorrow!

I'm flying out to Amarillo, TX tomorrow morning to begin my month-long Plains storm chasing trip with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours. We'll start chasing on Sunday, but I think the real action could come on Monday when an outbreak of supercell thunderstorms could affect Central Oklahoma and Kansas. I'll be posting updates, pictures, and HD video clips from our chase right here on my blog until June 5th when I come back to Louisville. Don't forget that you can get up-to-the-minute updates from my trip by following me on Twitter or friending me on Facebook.

I made a visit to WAVE-TV today in Louisville to do an on-camera interview for a storm chasing news piece that will air on or around May 21st.

Meteorologist Kevin Harned (who interviewed me today) will be joining us on our chase from May 29th to June 5th. It's going to be great fun to have two guys from Louisville out there looking for tornadoes!


A strong line of thunderstorms will make it's way through the Louisville area tonight, bringing with it the possibility of damaging winds, hail, and maybe even a tornado. Even without the thunderstorms, a Wind Advisory is in effect until 8pm. There's a greater risk of severe weather tonight in Indiana and into Ohio with the possibility of tornadoes up that way (tornado risk probabilities from the SPC are posted to the left). From East Mississippi, to Louisville, and to the Great Plains, severe weather seems to follow me around!

I'll post here tomorrow when I get to Amarillo and I'll also post a few travel updates on Twitter and Facebook if you want to see where I am!

5/6 - 3pm - Only One Day Left!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is my last full day in Louisville before I leave for my storm chasing trip on Saturday morning. I'll be heading out to Amarillo, TX to start my month-long journey throughout the Plains in search of severe weather with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours. Remember, I'll be making daily blog posts with HD storm video, pictures, and chase reports. You can also follow me on Twitter or Facebook to get up-to-the-minute chase updates, meaning you'll be the first to know if we see a tornado!

We may be heading to West Texas on Sunday, our first day, to chase any supercells that form there, but conditions are looking ripe for a good-sized severe weather outbreak in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas on Monday, which will be our second day of chasing. Instability (CAPE) values approaching 3000 J/kg, bulk shear of over 60 kt, and dewpoints near 70 degrees will really get things going late Monday afternoon. My guess right now is that we'll probably position ourselves somewhere in Central Oklahoma in the morning and wait to see where the winds begin to turn from the east. Winds during the morning hours should be from the South and Southeast, but areas that begin to back to the east will have the most potential for tornadoes. We may end up anywhere from Kansas to North Central Texas depending on how conditions evolve. The Storm Prediction Center has already outlined the potential severe weather outbreak in their 4-8 day outlook.

Back home here in Louisville, there's a 15% risk of severe weather tomorrow. We may see some severe storms tomorrow evening as a cold front approaches the region, bringing with it the risk of hail, high wind, and possibly a tornado or two. The bigger risk of severe weather will be to our northeast in Ohio, where instability values, shear, and moisture will be higher. Definitely something to keep an eye on tomorrow, but I think it won't be near as bad around Kentuckiana tomorrow as some of the previous severe weather outbreaks we've seen over the past couple weeks around the Southeast.

4/29 - 12am CDT - Final Exams/Derby/Storm Chasing

It's been a long week of packing and final exams at Mississippi State University. I finished my chemistry, world geography, and calculus II final exams this week and I'll be taking my English composition II exam just before I leave for Louisville this evening. My car is just about packed (yes, all of my stuff really does "fit" in my Honda Fit) and I have just a few more hours here on campus before I depart this evening.

I'll be returning home just before the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Right now I think we may have some weather trouble on Saturday as a pair of low pressure systems to the west try to turn north as they near the Mississippi River. Heavy rain will be a major issue for Derby according to the latest computer models. There's even a risk for some severe weather around the region at that time, but I think heavy rain will be the bigger story around the Ohio Valley. If you think the infield at Churchill Downs is crazy during good weather, get ready for a muddy mess in the heavy rain. I'm a bit concerned that there may be ongoing thunderstorms near the 6 o'clock hour, which might mean a postponement of the Derby. We'll see how the weather situation develops!

You've probably noticed that I switched out the banner of the blog to prepare for my upcoming storm chasing trip. I just can't believe that I'm only 9 days away from a month's worth of storm chasing in the Plains with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours. I'll be bringing you 1080p HD video, pictures, chase reports and more on this blog and through my Twitter and Facebook accounts daily during the chase. I'm looking forward to meeting all our new and returning guests this year on our tours. Meteorologist Kevin Harned of WAVE 3 TV in Louisville, who has been a tour guide and severe weather expert with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours for years, will be joining us during my last week of chasing starting May 29th. It'll be great to have another Louisvillian out there with us, and I'm sure Kevin will be broadcasting his own storm chasing updates on WAVE 3 throughout the week.

All the storm chasing action on my blog starts May 8th!

2/12 - 4:30pm - Snow in Mississippi Today

It snowed quite a bit around Starkville today, but none of it really stuck to the ground because temperatures were just too warm. Locations to our south that received more precipitation were able to cool down enough for accumulating snow due to evaporative cooling. If the precipitation had taken a more northerly track last night and this morning, we might have had some accumulation. For a few hours this morning and afternoon we did have some moderate snow falling, which made for some photographic views around Mississippi State University's campus. Check out my video compilation from this morning below:



Be sure watch this video in HD by clicking switching to 720p or 1080p (for newer computers with fast connections).

10/9 - 10:30pm - Severe Weather Video, Reports

The round of severe weather that came through much of the Southeast U.S. gave Mississippi State quite a show today. Not only did we see heavy rain and high wind, but also some nice storm structure and low, fast moving clouds. Here's a video of what it looked like outside my residence hall:



Click the HD button to see this video in 720p high definition.

Casey County, Kentucky took the brunt of the severe weather today as an EF-2 tornado touched down and caused quite a bit of damage across the area. The two-minute long tornado got up to 1/8 mile wide and traveled a mile and a half. An EF-0 tornado was also confirmed today in Breckinridge County, Kentucky. Click the links below for more information from the National Weather Service in Louisville.
[NWS Confirms EF-2 Tornado In Western Casey County, Kentucky]
[NWS Confirms EF-0 Tornado in eastern Breckinridge County]

Most of the damage today around the South was caused by straight line winds, which even caused a fatality in Washington County, Mississippi. Here are today's severe weather reports from the SPC:


Tomorrow's football game at MSU against Houston looks pretty rainy at this time, but luckily it will clear out later in the afternoon. Keep those rain coats handy!

9/9 - 9:30pm - Cool Thunderstorm at MSU

A mean-looking thunderstorm neared campus today as I was (ironically) heading to an American Meteorological Society/National Weather Association meeting this afternoon. I ran back to my room and grabbed my camera because it had quite a nice structure to it. At its peak, the storm put down small hail north of campus and a brief heavy downpour. By the time it actually reached MSU, the storm was all but gone. I was able to take some video of the neat cloud formations and a lightning strike with my residence hall in the foreground:



Be sure to click the "HD" and full-screen buttons to see the storm in 720p high definition.

Although nothing severe is expected, more storms are possible through the weekend here in Mississippi, so I'll be sure to have my camera ready if anything interesting happens.

Hurricane Fred is still spinning around far out in the Atlantic, and it is not expected to pose any threat to land. Other than that, not much weather news around the nation today.