**************
Gary at 11:39 am it is starting to sprinkle and is lightning in bonner springs is there any chance of severe weather today and will it still get hot later today we wanted to play some volleyball.

Jeremy,

This is a nice cluster of thunderstorms coming in. Bonner Springs will be in it for a while then it should be dry later this afternoon. I don't see much of a threat for severe weather.

Gary

***************
Gary,

Thank you so much for your blog. We were at the pool this morning and the dark clouds started to roll into Shawnee. It is so nice to be able to come home and pull up your blog to see what is going on. Have a great Memorial Day!!

Shelley

Shelley,

I am glad that this helped today. We had a strange day and it was fun watching it develop.

Gary

************
Gary,
Just after 1:00 pm here in Gardner, and a few minutes ago, we received pea-sized hail. Looks like the storm is starting to dissipate now though. Also, I'm guessing probably around an inch of rain already in this heavy, heavy downpour. Honestly, I was pretty surprised to see this much rain, given the low chance of precipitation predicted last night.
Terry

Terry,

We saw the chance of thunderstorms for the next couple of days, so in that respect this wasn't a surprise. When we are forecasting thunderstorms, more than any other kind of weather, "nowcasting" is the way to do it. Thunderstorms began forming this morning west of Topeka. At first, most forecasters will think that they won't make it here, but they did! And we tracked them in this afternoon.

Gary

**********
Gary,
I'm not sure how much rain we have here in the Shoal Creek area of KC (just outside of Liberty). However, we did have pea-sized hail and some stones that were bigger for about 5-10 minutes around one o'clock. It has been raining fairly hard for around 30 minutes. We've also had some real nice lightning bolts out of the sky.

Matt,

You were lucky and got one of the developing thunderstorms. These types of thunderstorms are at their most intense when they first start releasing the rain.

Gary

********
Wow, it rained really hard here! (Near Gladstone) Even had a few seconds of pea-sized hail. My tomatoes and flowers are extremely pleased to get something besides chlorinated, hose water. I hope the rain just keeps coming.
Thanks for keeping us all posted Gary! Happy Memorial Day!

Tim,

Have a great evening. Hopefully we get more rain tomorrow.

Gary

**********
Gary,

We had some rain in Overland Park! I do not have a rain gauge, but I can tell you it rained hard for about 15 minutes or so. You can tell how dry it is, becasue everything is drying out fast. There was some thunder, but no hail, or anything like that. Now, it is cloudy and cooler (feels good.)

The question is, if the sun comes out, will that allow more storms to develop? If so, will these storms become severe? SPC has us under a "Slight Risk." So, I see we at least have a chance. Then again, slight means slim so I will not hold my breath.

Anyway, I thought you would like that report! Bring on more Thunderstorms tonight!

Brian - Overland Park

Brian,

No threat of severe out of this. We will have to watch for some marginally severe thunderstorms Tuesday.

Gary

********
Hi Gary in Bonner Springs today we had .40 of rain and the rain has stopped for right now I hope we get more we could really use it when do you expect the next round to move in.

Jeremy,

I am expecting then next round early Tuesday.

Gary

**********
.15 with thunder and lightning in Marshall

Darin,

Thanks for the report. Let us know how much you get by Wednesday.

Gary

***********
Alas, this corner of Lawrence (23rd & Kasold) was in that horseshoe looking dry slot.

I only received .11", but at least the lawn was mowed before the drizzlies began.

Bob

Bob,

That is frustrating. Over 1.8 inches of rain in one part of Lawrence and the ones who enjoy it the most get almost nothing. It isn't fair. The same thing happened to me at my house today.

Gary

**********
Gary

The ridge will be making another comeback as we can not seem to shake this weather pattern. Some of the 850 temps will be running 20-25C in the central plains. The above normal temperatures for every month this year is still intact. We obviously need every drop of rain before the sun bakes the ground again.

Devin

Devin,

Not really. The pattern is a bit different as we move into another phase of the cycle. But, we do have to keep an eye out for the first real summertime ridge which hasn't developed yet.

Gary

***********
My camping trip was awesome, but hot. Now that I am home, bring on the thunderstorms!!! I am ready for one.

Keri,

It must have been hot out there.

Gary

****************
Gary: Loved my storm - see below:

Monday May 29, 2006

After a long and very dry, uneventful month that should have been our busiest for thunderstorms, not to mention severe weather, the first half of which had been abnormally cool, with the last week a torrid affair, we were surprised, while lying down for a nap before going to work at the Fleming Park Ranger Station. I really had not expected anything, at least before Tuesday morning, if then, and was to the point of wondering what thunder sounded like, it had been so long a period.

Around 1300 CDT, we heard a health rumble of…could it be?...thunder, and upon looking out the window, I notice overcast skies with a checkerboard appearance of darkish gray offset by lighter cream colored interstices. It didn’t look too threatening, but there was that thunder. However, fifteen minutes later, upon glancing out the window, a deepening blue-gray shroud swallowed the western horizon, looking like a real storm headed our way!

At that time, despite not having my glasses on, which is at my age a great handicap to visual identification at moderate plus distances, I could see rain pelted down, each drop forming a ever-widening circle in the already wet pavement, water modestly coursing downhill along it’s pebbly-dark surface. Wonderful, I thought, just enough to scare the boaters off the lakes and away from the park – no drunks, no fights on pontoon boats, no violators – a quiet night lay in store for Ranger Dispatch!!!

I arose at 1400 CDT and drove into work, mentally figuring what I would do – begin the permit tracking report, the monthly report, along with the regular dispatch duties, but still, a lot less frantic than Saturday and Sunday previous – thank goodness!!! Arriving at the station, I struggled into my yellow rubber raincoat, fighting the shoulder restraint of my vehicle, which had entangled itself in my coat – a loving embrace? I knew not. The Major came out of the station, waving at me to go back to my car – “we’ve sent everyone not on the normal Monday-Tuesday shift home, so go home and give your dogs a bath�. Although I would not get double-time for the holiday, I now had 5 days off, and was grateful for it, hoping I would yet see more storms….maybe…

Earlier in the morning, the NWS said “APPARENT GRAVITY WAVE PUSHING EAST SOUTHEAST ACROSS SOUTHEAST NE AND NORTHEAST KS HAS ACTIVATED ELEVATED CONVECTION WHICH STARTED OUTWITH JUST A FEW CELLS. ACTIVITY HAS EXPANDED CONSIDERABLY…�

The evening discussion appeared to be a bit uncertain with the forecaster showing signs of not wishing to pin-point a forecast, “SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT WHICH EXTENDS
FROM WESTERN IA THROUGH CENTRAL KS. LACKING ANY SIGNIFICANT
SHORTWAVE ENERGY IN THE MID LEVELS TO ERODE THE CAP WILL LIKELY HAVE
TO WAIT TILL LATER THIS EVENING...POSSIBLY AFTER MIDNIGHT...WHEN
NOCTURNAL COOLING SETS IN FOR NEW CONVECTION TO FORM. NO ONE MODEL
FAVORED AS WEAK SHEAR...WEAK FRONT...NO DISCERNIBLE SHORTWAVE WILL
MAKE TIMING DIFFICULT. MESOSCALE FORCES WILL LIKELY DICTATE WHERE
AND WHEN CONVECTION FORMS TONIGHT. BEST ESTIMATE WOULD BE OVER SOUTH CENTRAL/CENTRAL KS PORTION OF FRONT WHERE NOCTURNAL LOW LEVEL JET MAY HAVE MOST IMPACT...WITH ACTIVITY THEN SPREADING NORTHEAST INTO NORTHWEST MO…� So, these folks were doing little better than cutting a goat’s throat and placing it in the door to discern future weather developments, or so it seemed to me.

Still, through 1745, we’d had .84� of rain in the gauge!!! Lovely, and nice to hear thunder - I'd almost forgotten what it sounded like, now 5 days off (thunder or no it will be great!!! After a frantic Memorial Day weekend out here at Fleming Park...

Dog

Storm Dog,

Quite a story! I enjoyed it, but you could have simply stated you enjoyed a nice thunderstorm with 0.84". I am so jealous as I experienced 0.01" of rain today.

It is looking exciting. Remember, this still counts for May!

Gary

******************
Gary - 10-4 !!!

Dog

PS You know I like to write, occasionally!!