7/10 - 11:55pm - A Tale of Two TV Stations

Let's start with weather first, shall we? Today was hot in Louisville, much hotter than anticipated because dry air that made its way into the area allowed temperatures to rise quite a bit. We're talking about a high temperature that was 95 degrees today, which even though is very warm, it was still cooler than what we experienced during last week's massive heat wave. Tomorrow should be a little cooler as moister air moves in again from the south.

Daily rain chances will be ramping up Thursday in Louisville as a trough develops to the west of the Mississippi River. It's already been raining in West Tennessee a bit this week, but more is on the way through the weekend as this trough gets its act together and a warm front moves northward. The rain is still needed in West Tennessee as drought conditions persist throughout the region. This rain will keep temperatures down in both regions, which is good news after all the heat! Between this past morning and Sunday morning there could be over 6 inches of rainfall  in West Tennessee and North Mississippi according to the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC). Flash flooding issues may crop up in some of the heavier thunderstorms.

Now, to the two TV stations. The first TV station in question here is WBBJ-TV in Jackson, TN where I'll be at on Saturday and Sunday night doing weather. It's been nearly three months since I've been on air in West Tennessee so I'm happy to be coming back this weekend and next weekend too for the Saturday night shows! The second TV station in question is WAVE-TV in Louisville. Today I went in to meet with Kevin Harned and the gang at the station and came out a WAVE 3 Weather intern. This has been "in the works" for awhile but today it was made official and I'm extremely excited to be sharing this news! I'll be at WAVE a couple days a week until mid-August. My duties will be mostly web-based with social media, blogs, etc, but I'll also assist with any needed TV-related tasks. I'm so thankful to be able to intern at the station I grew up with and to work with such a great team of meteorologists!

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.

7/6 - 3pm - Storm Chasing Video on WAVE 3 News Tonight!

Tonight at 11pm on WAVE 3 News, meteorologist Kevin Harned will be showing a piece on his storm chasing trip with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours. You'll recall that Kevin and I saw a large, photogenic tornado in Colorado while we were out there, so you won't want to miss tonight's newscast. My video along with some from one of our other drivers on the tour will be shown during the piece. Here's an ad that WAVE has been airing over the past few days for tonight's segment:

The tropics have been hinting at some development for the past couple of days, but no organized storms have come to fruition out of the disturbed weather. One area of concern near the Yucatan Peninsula has a 30% risk for becoming an organized storm, but that's the only one for now.


Temperatures in the Northeast are extremely hot today. High pressure that has settled over the area is allowing things to really heat up. Temperatures near Philadelphia are around 100 degrees right now and numerous heat advisories and excessive heat warnings are in place.

Around here in Louisville it's still very dry! We haven't seen any rain in over a week, but an area of low pressure passing through on Friday will finally provide a good chance for some as the weekend begins. After seeing temperatures in the upper 90's tomorrow and Thursday, the front associated with the low coming through on Friday should take temperatures down to around 90 for the weekend. Stay cool!

6/3 - 11:15am CDT - Heading North to Nebraska!

Today's severe weather setup takes us to North Platte, Nebraska, where we'll set up shop to wait for storms to form late in the afternoon. The SPC has issued a Slight Risk and a 5% tornado risk for Central Nebraska and South Dakota, which encompasses our target area. Instability and shear look pretty good today, so I think we may have a shot at seeing some good storms. The best news I've seen this morning is that the storms will be moving at 15-20 knots, which is perfect for chasing. We'll see how it goes today!

We'll be streaming LIVE video today at http://stormchasertv.com if we intercept some storms. You can also follow along with our chase by visiting my Twitter and Facebook pages.

Here's a great shot of Kevin Harned and me from yesterday that Steve Carey (a guide and driver on our tour) took as we were wrapping up the day and looking at data:

5/28 - 11:45pm MDT - An End to a Great Week!

Not one thunderstorm developed in Wyoming today while we were out there. The cap (warm layer of air above the surface that inhibits storm development) was on too tight today and all the cumulus cloud development we saw was suppressed. Storms didn't even develop in North Dakota as forecast due to capping issues and surface winds becoming westerly earlier than forecast. At least we had a nice tour of Southeast Wyoming!

Storm Chasing Adventure Tours is saying goodbye to the guests on tour 4 tomorrow morning here in Denver and welcoming our new guests for tour 5 tomorrow night. Tour 5 is going to be very big, with 24 people in four SUVs. I won't be the only Kentuckian out here for much longer either. WAVE 3 TV meteorologist and good friend Kevin Harned from Louisville will arrive here tomorrow to begin chasing with us as a driver and forecaster.

It looks like we'll start out chasing on Sunday in either Kansas, Oklahoma, or the Texas Panhandle. A pair of disturbances pushing through the Plains next week should make most of the week pretty active, but there may be a couple down days.

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!

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!

5/20 - 6pm - Showers This Weekend

A few scattered showers will be around for the weekend, but I'm thinking these won't hit most areas around the region. The main rain will get here on Tuesday after a round of showers on Monday. We may have another shot at some scattered storms on Wednesday and Thursday, but I expect next weekend to be fairly dry. Still looking at highs in the 80's until the middle of next week.

Severe weather is hard to come by in the Plains states this week, but the Storm Chasing Adventure Tours team is in action chasing a thunderstorm (not severe) in Nebraska right now. WAVE-TV's Kevin Harned is out there chasing with the group this week. Check out the live video stream (which has been off and on all afternoon) at Storm Chaser TV http://stormchasertv.com, which I finished designing last month.

17 days until storm chasing begins!