@usweatherexpert I offer commentary on weather, climate, storms and other topics of interest. I hope you will follow along and enjoy what I have to offer.

ANOTHER person, a woman, needlessly killed by a train in south Wichita this evening. PLEASE STAY OFF RAILROAD TRACKS.

This was from April 27, 2011. With tornadoes forecast for the Great Plains this week, I thought a reminder was worthwhile. Keep an eye on the weather this week if you live in the Great Plains.

I have never heard of this incident before. I can understand why the astronauts mutinied .

Tornadoes are a near certainty in the Great Plains in the next five days. So, given our mobile society, I would like to provide some tornado safety rules to newcomers and as a reminder to long-time residents.  I recommend you pass this along to your friends and relatives who might find it useful.  If a tornado warning is issued for your area, the basic philosophy is to put get to the lowest level of your building and put as many walls as possible between you and the outdoors. If you do not have a basement, go to a small room in the middle of your home on the lowest level. The best option is a bath due to the plumbing providing reinforcement to the walls. Here is a helpful video.  If your shelter is in an area you rarely use, take the time today to clear out the cobwebs. Put new batteries in your weather radio. Upload the AccuWeather app . Regardless of what app you are using when the warning is issued (e.g., reading the Huffington Post  or playing ...

The "tornado drought" (as some have called) it is approaching record levels in Oklahoma and parts of Kansas. That "drought" will end the early to middle of next week. However, it is too soon to forecast exactly when or where. As I said in the most recent post, it is time to make sure you have fresh batteries in your weather radio, etc. That's it for now. Stay tuned.

Shawn Aeby posted on Twitter a few minutes ago and reminded me that this is the 27th anniversary of the Wichita-Andover Tornado and the other tornadoes in Kansas and northern Oklahoma that day. At about this time (9am or so), I had a pain in the pit of my stomach as I knew it was going to be a terrible day for tornadoes. That feeling of dread persisted until the supercell thunderstorms actually developed. At that point, we were so focused on warning people there wasn't time to think about anything else. If you wish to see my coverage on KSNW-TV, it is below. Unfortunately, this mash-up does not include me explicitly warning the City of Andover. If you wish to see video of the Wichita-Andover tornado, it is here. This is one of the most dramatic tornado videos ever taken. The Great Plains has been more or less tornado-free so far in 2018 but that bit of good fortune looks like it will end the middle of next week. So, it is time to make sure you have fresh batteries for ...

Jeff Piotrowski's video of a cold front passing begins at :19. The front makes contact with the fire and smoke about :35.

For more Amazon reviews, just click here . A great book for Earth Day, for the graduate or for Mother's Day.  5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars Very insightful and fact-filled history of weather technology over the past 50 years. 5.0 out of 5 stars Lively and informative September 25, 2013 Format: Kindle Edition | Verified Purchase If I were to tell you that I just read a history on the growth/improvement of tornado  f orecasting techniques  in the 20th century, you'd probably think it sounded dull.  Well, you'd be wrong. This book is anything but dull. Book Shark TOP 1000 REVIEWER 5.0 out of 5 stars Warning! This Book Will "Blow" You Away June 7, 2011 Format: Hardcover | Verified Purchase "Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather " is a fantastic book.

....up to 7am this morning.

Today is Earth Day, a silly glorification of our planet. So, let's review some of the many predictions made by the United States' environmental movement: Did you know that civilization was going to end in the year 2000? Before civilization ended in 2000, 4,000,000,000 people, including 65,000,000 Americans, were going to perish in "The Great Die-Off." By 1985, everyone would be wearing gas masks. By 2018, NYC's West Side Highway would be perpetually underwater due to sea level rise from global warming.  Anthony Watts has a great summary of these predictions here . While there was a need for Earth Day in 1970, the air is pretty clean these days as is the water. So, most of the environmental groups have served their purpose. The environmental groups (I call them Big Climate because they take in billions, yes, billions each year.) use these scare forecasts to keep the money flowing. That is why every heat wave, cold wave, drought and flood is due to globa...

The Washington Post  reprints a global warming press release. Francis Turner takes it apart, paragraph by paragraph .

While I am off Facebook, I am still on Twitter. Please follow me @usweatherexpert .

PBS ran a two-hour program on global warming yesterday evening. It was full of attractive graphics. That's the best I can say about it. However, if you really want to know the state of climate science as of this posting, Four Questions on Climate Change , is a lot more informative.

Hi everyone, I am back from a vacation. I certainly appreciate all of the well wishes pertaining to my retirement. I am rethinking the format and content of the blog and will announce it when that process is finished. Wheat in Butler County, Kansas, east of Wichita In the meantime, I have some thoughts I wish to pass along: There was a lot of record-setting "weather" while I was away. Record late season snows with cold temperatures, tornadoes, and floods. In just about every case where someone posted a great photo, there were companies asking to use the photos for a credit only. In other words, free. Weather photos are rare and valuable; speaking for myself I would never allow NBC, The Weather Channel or other organizations to use my photo(s) free.  There was a series of strong tornadoes (F-2 and F-3) in North Carolina and Virginia associated with a squall line on April 15. The Storm Prediction Center did a good job forecasting them. The thought occurred to me th...

I originally got onto Facebook for two reasons: my son had gone to Italy and posted photos of his trip and my publisher for  Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather   wanted me on Facebook to help build the book’s “platform.” In the first couple of years I enjoyed it. Family members were sharing photographs and other information, even though I worried a bit about making all of this private information available to Facebook itself and to Facebook “friends.” Still, the benefit of that social interaction seemed to outweigh the negative of privacy concerns. Over the past few years, however, I enjoyed Facebook much, much less. The family and friends’ photos decreased relative to the political discussions. I thought about getting off Facebook more and more. Those thoughts became action Saturday when I learned about news reports pertaining to Facebook making attempts to illegally collect medical information. I posted a notice and left it there for about an ...

I am thrilled to report that my career as a professional meteorologist has ended. I've have a wonderful career full of fun and challenges. I'm going to mostly take a three week vacation from blogging as I am just exhausted. After that, I will announce my plans for the blog.