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I'm hoping--and I may be the only one--that the warm air ridge shown building out west turns out weaker than advertised. I love the winter and winter weather. It makes me miss Alaska. I measured 7" of fresh powder in Warrensburg and a morning low of -3. Thanks for all the hard work you guys have put in keeping us all informed and up to date.

Mike,

It is looking like we will be in a warmer pattern the next 5-10 days as the Arctic air is leaving the USA.

Jeff

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It seems like there is so often a discrepancy between what the TV meteorologists quote as the high or low for the day versus what the website for that station says. This morning, you say it reached -5 at KCI. But the KCI station's webpage shows it going down only to -3. As I say, I've noticed this difference again and again previously. What am I missing here?

Thanks,
Al

AL:
Where are you checking the KCI info? We use the National Weather Service data for the daily highs and lows. They have a station at KCI. This is the "official" data for the area. Here is the website:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/product.php?site=eax&product=CLI&issuedby=mci
Hope that helps you,
Jamie

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Gary
are you going to put your updated winter forcast on the web site and is so who soon for i could not watch your forcast Last night Due to work.

Jerry,

The winter forecast is now on the web, but the video won't be updated until Monday or Tuesday.

Gary

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Hi Jamie,

Thanks for keeping us so well posted on the weather. I'm writing not about the weather though, but rather the feral cats about town that are under stress right now with all the snow and low temperatures we're having.

If you have time, please mention that people who park outdoors might take a second to knock on their car hoods before starting the engine. It could save a snoozing cat's life or limb.

Thanks.

SUSAN:
Thanks for the info!
Jamie

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Hi,

I just wrote a message about 10 minutes ago to Jamie about warning feral cats off a car engine before starting the car. I said people should knock on their hood first. But that's not enough and it's more complicated according to the following blogger at another website, who wrote:

don't just bang on the hood, OPEN the hood of the car before you head out to work in the morning. Car engines are WARM, and a stray cat can and will sit on top of the engine block to warm up. Banging on the hood is not enough. I have several semi feral cats on my farm property, and banging on the hood of the car just wakes them up enough to panic when they hear the engine start, therefore they head DOWN to get out of the car and directly into the fan belt area.

Open the hood before you start the car and run them out in whatever way you can. A garden hose with a fine mist sprayer attachment on the end gives strong encouragement for them to vacate.

Additionally, a cat under the hood of the car can cause SERIOUS damage to the car while it's trapped. I once traded in a car (1992 Geo Tracker) because a feral cat had gotten caught under the hood (the cat didn't make it :(), and he took out ALL the hoses for the AC system before he died. Was a horrible lesson to learn when I found him in there dead, and even worse the following spring when I found out it was going to cost over $1000 to repair the damage to the AC system

If you leave before dawn, carry a flashlight and open the hood!

"Like the rat in a maze who says, 'Watch me choose my own direction'"
__________

Thanks again.
Susan

SUSAN:
I have heard of this before. It is definitely a good idea to do, if you park outside in bitter cold temperatures. Better safe than sorry, right?
Thanks for posting!
Jamie

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OK, thank you, I see where you're getting that. But the URL below is also supposed to be for the KCI station, and it still shows the numbers I referred to:

"http://www.crh.noaa.gov/data/obhistory/KMCI.html"

You can go directly to the screen I'm talking about with that link, but the way you get into it normally is to go into the NWS forecast at the following link:

"http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ifps/MapClick.php?CityName=Kansas+City&state=MO&site=EAX"

then select "More Local Wx," whatever that means, and then select KCI from the stations displayed.

Why does the NWS have two different sets of numbers for their KCI station? Is there more than one station involved here?

AL:
The high/low temps on that page above are only the high/low in the past six hours. It's not the 24-hour temp. The OFFICIAL high/low is on the "daily climate report" product found here:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/product.php?site=eax&product=CLI&issuedby=mci

Jamie