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At about 7:15 there was 2.25-2.5 inch diameter hail in SW Lee's Summit. It lasted for about 5 minuts. It did some minor damage.

STEVE:
Thanks for the report. Hail was our most common storm report today... the largest I saw was 4.5"... softball sized! Amazing!
Jamie

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Breathe. What a day! Wasn't sure I would see this type of set up so early in the season, wow! To see everything come together was pretty interesting..the dry line, the warm front and the convection..and to find that triple point near our area made for some wild weather! I will be researching this day for quite awhile.

Fortunately, looks like a break for awhile..time to take a breath, and prepare for the next storm.

Good work team!

SCOTT:
I am going on a 15 hour day now... thanks for the nice comments! The last line is pushing through now... I will stay until there are no more warnings. Then I get two days off to rest. Poor Gary and Jeff are right back in the saddle tomorrow! ;)
Jamie

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You guys did such a great job reporting on the storms today! Thank you for keeping us all up to date and informed of what was going on. Even by evening when it sounded like you guys were getting pretty tired, you still kept up the coverage. So thank you!

MARLINA:
It has been a long, crazy day! We did get a few negative emails... but the positive ones far outnumber them! :)
Jamie

You guys did an amazing job. The coverage was top notch once again and your new ESP really seems to make a difference.

Its too bad a few people who cant watch their TV shows dont understand the importance of your job to alert the public.

This was the strangest setup in March I have ever seen for this area. The counties in MO were lit up with tornado warnings all day. Great work, time to get some rest!!!

Joe

Joe,

Thank you for the support! We all worked very hard on Sunday. It was a unique day.

Gary

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I have a side curious note...where/how does one get the AMS and NWS seal of approvals?

HI, SCOTT:
To get the seals... you have to meet certain educational requirements. Then for the NWA you have to pass their written test, and pass an on-air evaluation. For the AMS seal, you also have to pass the on-air evaluation... and they have just introduced a new CBM seal that you have to pass a test to get.
You can read more about the seals here:
http://www.nwas.org/seal-proc.html
and
http://www.ametsoc.org/amscert/index.html
Jamie

I cannot believe people are mad that they missed their TV shows. I find that pretty selfish... it's just a show!

You guys did a great job during your severe weather coverage. I understand it doesn't happen every day, but when it does, it's pretty much your responsibility and job to stay on the air. You all must be very tired!

Sara,

Thank you for the support. We are very happy with our ESP radar system. It really picked out the tornadoes well with the BWER (bounded weak echo region) signitures.

Gary

Thanks for the info...

I was just looking to how this outbreak compared to the 2003 outbreak. Yesterday, it seems there were more reports in all the categories [quite comparable actually to 2003], but seems the 2003 outbreak was a bit more widespread [ more states impacted]. Regardless, both were wild, and dont think we will see anything quite like this for the rest of the year..but am sure it will be an active year!

Scott,

The May 4th outbreak and that week in 2003 was fascinating with day after day of severe weather. In March everything moves so fast that it only lasts one day, perhaps two. So, even though Sunday had widespread severe weather the conditions swept past Missouri and weakened yesterday. It still appears we had close to 90 tornadoes across Missouri Sunday. This is more than double the amount in a normal year.

Gary

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Hi!! What a fascinating day yesterday. I live in Linn Co Kansas and we recieved mainly hail, wind and about one and half inches of rain. That is a total of about 3 inches over the last 2-3 weeks, does that eliminate the drought?? Thanks for the coverage of us in Linn....we are often forgotten down here in Pleasanton. Monica

Monica,

We never went into drought conditions here around Kansas City. You are on the northern edge of the more serious drought to our south, but we are taking bites out of it, finally. I think this spring will be wet enough to eliminate most of the dry problems across the region, but let's see what we think around may 15th.

Gary

Hey, Great coverage of the severe weather. I was wondering what took so long for the NWS to issue any warnings for the squall line that went through St. Clair county last night. They issued a tornado warning when the line was just outside of Appleton City and it was moving pretty fast. Thanks

Daniel,

Thank you. That last squall line was electrically active. The last line of thunderstorms often has the most lightning and it went right through Appleton City.

Gary

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LOL... The sirens are going off at the moment in Independence. Guess they figured they needed to do a test. :-)

Just wanted to commend you on your great severe weather coverage on Sunday. It certainly saved lives.

Oh, and congrats on such a wonderfully successful pet telethon! I'm so proud of Kansas City and their dedication to the pets of our city. Any news on the final, final total (incl. the calls that were made after the telethon went off)?

Joy

Joy,

Thank you. They did make a mistake and the final total ended up just over $90,000. The goal was $80,000

Gary