So, what’s going on with the weather these days?

I’ll tell ya everybody, the weather over the northern hemisphere has got me to feeling a little bit jumpy these days. (It’s like that thing with Obama and his White House. Like what’s he really doing when I’m asleep)? That scares me too.

By all accounts, the spring season over the United States has been pretty ‘normal’. By that standard, I mean if ‘normal’ is four to six degrees above what it’s been for the last thirty years. You know, that normal.

Water, via the rainfall we all need, has been in somewhat short supply over my modest adobe here in southwest Missouri and the temperatures have been a lot warmer than they should be. That’s resulted in most of the botanicals (trees, shrubs and gardens) running about a month or two ahead of schedule. Here it is, mid May and yes, the average temperature is running a full five degrees above normal.

Does anyone in the media care about this? No. Perhaps it’s only the folks who watch the weather, both for a living and for a hobby that notice this kind of stuff. Since neither of these groups have very much say in world affairs, I’m gonna guess things will continue as ‘normal’. More pollution, more population and a whole lot more carbon will be dumped into the atmosphere in the next decade. Wonder what that’ll do? See you all then…

Pesky spiders and wind gauges!

For some reason known only to spiders, they like to spin their webs on and around my Davis instruments wind gauge. This usually occurs during the warm days of summer when there are long stretches of time with little or no wind. These little bastards then go to town and sling their webs all over my anemometer thus locking it up. Then, when the wind does blow – nothing happens. That is, until a really good wind comes through and frees it up again. Generally, before that happens, I get a long pole and climb on to the roof to free it myself. I also will spray the whole array with bug killer to make sure that spider spins no more.

The trouble with all this is that; 1) I hate killing the spider and 2) I hate even more climbing on the roof! I wish I knew of an affordable solution in the form of a tower that I could service from the ground!

April 2012: Warm and dry

Click to enlarge

My small heating bill that came towards the end of the month was proof to me that April had been on the warm side of things. According to my figures the area averaged six degree above normal and so, was in line with a trend that has been active over most of the spring.

Thankfully, other than for a bout of nasty weather in the early part of the month, things were relatively quiet. Rainfall was only about an inch and a half versus a historical average of 4.33 inches. Could another drought be on the way?

Because of all the warm weather, plants, weeds and grasses got to a stellar start. By mid month the pollen counts were already rising and I was in allergy Hell. It will be interesting to see what happens in May. I’m going to guess some severe weather, a little rain and more pollen than we’ve seen in a long time!

OK! So Saturday, April the 14th could be a little bit tough! Weather wise!

An outbreak of fierce storms, some of which could spawn large and violent tornadoes, are expected to develop across the nation's midsection on Saturday in a band running from Texas north to Minnesota.
The worst weather is expected to develop in the late afternoon between Oklahoma City and Salina, Kan. (areas to the north of Forsyth Missouri), but other areas also could see severe storms with baseball-sized hail and winds of up to 70 mph, forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said Friday.

The outbreak could be a "high-end, life threatening event," the center said.

It is only the second time in U.S. history that the center has issued a high-risk warning more than 24 hours in advance, said Russ Schneider, director of the center, which is part of the National Weather Service. The first such warning was issued in April 2006 before nearly 100 tornadoes tore across a large swathe of the southeastern U.S.

The latest warning was issued as a strong storm system moves in from the western U.S. with cold air combining with low-level moisture coming up from the Gulf region. The difference in wind direction and speed created by the storm system creates instability in the atmosphere that helps create rotation that can spawn tornadoes, said Scott Curl, a meteorologist at the NWS.

(Having read that, it could be that the month of April will turn out to be more of a lamb as far as severe weather than was once thought). 

And then the rains came! And the tornadoes!

Check out my You Tube Video for the feel of the storm that came through and trashed many businesses along the Hwy 76 strip in Branson Missouri!

One morsel of information I've gleaned from reading source material concerning the last Little Ice Age was just how extreme the weather can become during a period of rapid climate change. In a short amount of time, conditions can go from warm to cold, from wet to dry and then back again without seeming rhyme or reason. What was once thought to occur over decades can occur in just a few short years. Only in a rear view mirror that stretches back centuries can one discern that indeed there was indeed a pattern to it all.

Are we at the very beginning of another great change in the natural order of things? I don't know. I do know that in just the last few years it has seemed to me that something is not quite as it should be. Winters have been milder with the spring coming much sooner than I remember it. Storms that sweep through the Midwest seem to have acquired a harder edge, with tornadoes occurring much more frequently and further to the north. Drought conditions like those seen in Texas have become more common only to be followed by flooding rains the next season. Wild and wacky is how I would describe the state of the weather.

This March has followed the pattern with killer tornadoes spawned in multiple states in the first week only to be followed by record breaking temperatures in the second. Now, as we approach the official start of spring, the rains are coming. A deluge of as much as eight inches is forecast to fall on parts of my state as a slow moving cold front interacts with very moist air fed from the Gulf. Mixed into all this wetness will be the isolated tornado that should keep everyone on their toes. Hold onto your garter belt Mildred, it only gets more interesting from here!

Ah spring! A time of renewal!

According to the weather people, spring begins on March the 1^st , not the 21^st! And, I think that Mother Nature pretty much has agreed with that as she started off the season with much climate turmoil that is so characteristic of her entrance after Old Man Winter has had his say.

This year of 2012 has certainly been unusual with record warmth during January and February and now devastating storms that wrecked havoc over much of the middle and eastern parts of the country on February the 29^th and March the 1^st! It will be most interesting to see what is in store for the north American continent as the year progresses!

Introduction

This blog is intended to be a series of posts that chronicle some weather events in and around the Forsyth Missouri area for the fall and winter period of 2011-12. Please feel free to check it out from time to time! (Ctrl D to bookmark).

“Who da man? Who DA MAN? Old man winter, he be da man!"

And, just maybe, he’s already on his way down to the North American Continent for an extended stay in 2011-12. That seems to be the consensus of some weather experts. While no one can predict exactly what Mother Nature has in store for us, the climatic trend seems to point to interesting times ahead… that is, if you like weather extremes. The following post details my expectations for the coming winter!

Below is information concerning average temperatures and rainfall for the Forsyth Mo. area by month:

(Please click on graphic below to expand)