---- This post is for Kansas voters ---- I personally dislike politics and, unless it is climate change or a political issue related to science, I generally keep it out of the blog. I am making an exception that pertains to the judicial issue on the Kansas August 4 ballot. It is vital to the future of our state.  Vote YES on electing judges. The current system is a scam  that is rigged to keep the Kansas Supreme Court (KSC) liberal regardless of the wishes of Kansas voters.  Here's how the scam works: Under the current Kansas Constitution, the extremely liberal bar association nominates three people when an opening occurs on the KSC. The governor, regardless of whether they are Republican or Democrat must  choose from those three and only those three. So, even if the voters overwhelmingly put a Republican in office, he or she must choose from the three liberal nominees! When there is a Republican governor, the justices often delay retirements, etc., to prevent a Repu...

S  = tropical storm.   D  = tropical depression. Amber is the radius of tropical storm force winds (40 mph or stronger).  The Hurricane Center is moved its forecast for Bertha back into southern Texas. I'm concerned about heavy rain potential if it stalls in that area.  Otherwise, this is a disorganized tropical storm with 50 mph winds. It is forecast to weaken from this point, onward. 

NOAA You may have noticed several recent articles in which "science" supposedly attributed specific floods and wildfires (which were mostly started by arsonists) to climate change.  Single event attribution is meteorological voodoo . Nothing more.  If it was necessary to have climate change "boost" major storms the following could not have occurred. "Worst" was determined by the intensity of the event.  1871. Worst wildfire in the history of the United States. 1925. The worst tornado in the United States (and probably the world) in recorded history. 1927. The worst flood in the history of the United States.  1935. The worst hurricane in the history of the United States.  1930's. The worst drought and heatwave in the history of the United States.  Climate science says human-affected global warming began about 1958. All of these terrible events occurred without global warming's help.   Clarification:  1958 is intended to show the era it began, not ...

This is the latest update pertaining to Tropical Storm Bertha. It has peak winds of 60 mph (amber area) mostly south of its center (the X ). The forecast path has been shifted a bit to the north. Hurricane development is not  expected. 

We have two geographically large threats today. Tornado Risk The brown area has a significant risk of a tornado. Damaging Wind Risk The purple area has a high  risk of thunderstorm-generated wind gusts of 60 mph or stronger. The red area has an enhanced risk. The yellow area has a significant risk.  Power outages are quite likely. Please prepare accordingly. 

--- 3:25pm Post --- Note that in addition to tornadoes, tennis ball-sized hail and wind gusts to 75 mph are forecast to occur.  ------ The yellow area has an enhanced  tornado risk. In Iowa, the yellow area includes Waterloo and Charles City and nearly includes Dubuque and Mason City. The brown area has a significant tornado risk which, in Iowa, includes Ames, Marshalltown and Clear Lake. In Minnesota, the brown area includes Rochester.  The hatching means that any tornado that occurs in that area could be strong.  I will update occasionally on Twitter/X   @usweatherexpert  .