September 3rd Hailstorm

A good cold front came down Wednesday night promising cool fall weather and a lot of hail.

I started watching the storms form near Salina and move to the south. By the time it hit McPherson it was going to be a not nice storm.

We were seeing prominent mamatus clouds from meaning the atmosphere was turbulent.

and the storm was coming our way.

there was an interesting feature with some SLCs.

other than that, a lot of gray.

I followed a lowering north of the city.

then the hail came. Lots of hail.

Then a nasty round 2 but that was all rain.

Some light damage around the house.

But a tree did fall in the neighborhood. Maybe struck by lightning.

We'll see what second season brings.

Storms April 22, 2025

I always start the storm season with . . . It's been a slow year. 

Went out noticing a few severe warned supercells nearby. Wasn't ready to see this monster outside of town. Awesome structure, missed us, and didn't produce much other than hail. 

There seemed to be some odd rotation on the north end of the storm and I didn't take many screenshots of radar.

Katie Parks was a little closer to the storm and took this from her back yard.

This was taken by Ruminator Sam at the Maize Baseball fields.

We will see what the rest of the season brings. Looks like rain this week and we need it.  I miss clouds.

Severe Weather 06/26/2018

Summer had set on Wichita or at least we seemed to be in for a long, hot, dry days.  Little patches of rain happened occasionally, but not enough to knock off the severe drought that had lingered.

There had been some storms in the morning that provided a couple of quick thunderstorm warnings, but nothing too strong.  Most of the storms dissipated just before hitting Wichita to reform after and produce stronger storms. I had gone out in the morning just to try to shoot more photography.

Storms looked to be focused mainly on the Kansas/Missouri border and I thought the less than spectacular morning storms may be the end of it.  The five o'clock News mentioned that there was a stationary front just to our west that may form storms in the next few hours.  By six, a number of storms formed NE of Wichita and slowly moved to the SE.  Within 30 minutes from that, the storms had become tornado warned.  

After the initial warnings and not seeing tornadoes I moved to near Rose Hill but unfortunately went though Andover which really slowed me down after they had some initial wind damage.

Ah Baseball and a Large Storm to the NE

It was a beautiful night for Wingnuts baseball in Wichita.  Cool 80's for late June, a crisp occasional wind, and big storms that blew to the north and east of us, then the dreaded rain delay.  Odd thing was this was the second time that I got soaked shoes in that day. Special shout out to Gunner.  Hope you are feeling better.

Blame Ming!

Lots of lightning to the east as that storm, which caused a tornado in Salina and damage in Butler Co. kept pulsing.

Pretty Clouds While a Monster Hit Up North

I watched a storm grow up in Great Bend, ignored it and thought maybe the storms south of Wichita would possibly spawn something.

Nope.

Many towers went up, went warned, then quickly fell apart.

Storms near El Dorado (Non-Severe) 07/29/2013

There's thunder outside to the east as we finish off one of the cooler and wetter July's in memory.  Enough rain has fallen in the area (6-12 inches depending where you are), with flooding in some places this evening.  Earlier today there was a slight threat of severe weather and I went running up toward the El Dorado area that had some weak, broad rotation.  Watched a very brief wall cloud develop and fall apart quickly.  There were funnels spotted near Medicine Lodge but nothing touched the ground.

Starry Night with a Near Full Moon.

Dim satellite to the left of center.

The satellite would flare in the sun or moonlight.

Simple Summer Storms

A nice cold front has been hanging to the north spawning summer thunderstorms.  I went out attempting to get some daytime lightning shots but simply ended up with cloudscapes.  Everything remained below severe levels and we ended up with a nice gentle rain.

Bugs, Macrophotography, and Possible End of the Drought?

Morning Macrophotography.  Took the puppy for a walk and noticed ants on the Trumpet Vines, also they were covered in Ladybugs.

One of those, "Daddy, what is that?" Bugs

 Then in the evening noticed a huge anvil overhead.  Had to rush out and get the combine at dusk with a storm in the background, required in a Kansas Photographer Portfolio.

The storms stayed to the west of Wichita and dissipated.

 I could only see a couple brief flashes of lightning, but heard distant thunder.

Wheat's ready

Thunderbird?