KOAM TV 7 Joplin and PittsburgTuesday morning May 24th

Tuesday morning May 24th

Good Tuesday morning everyone.  First off I want to say that I am completely sick over the damage that I have seen.  I have seen many tornado paths and many tornadoes in my 32 years.  But I have never seen anything like this.  This just takes your heart and shoves it deep in your stomach when you see this.  I have had many questions over the past 36 hours.  How did this happen?  Why are the tornadoes so bad this year?  Why did so many people die?  Lets start with how this happened.  I hate to say it, but this is just a classic tornado set up.  We had a dryline out west of us and storms blew.  They were able to break through the cap and go to severe limits very quickly.  The ingredients were right to see a big tornado.  We have seen many big tornadoes over the past 11 years.  Parson in 2000, May 4th outbreak with Franklin, Carl Junction and Pierce City.  2008 the Picher and Newton County tornado.  Now the May, 22nd 2011 Joplin tornado.  Here is the problem with this tornado.  It hit a very high populated area.  I did all I could.  I was on-air wall to wall and I know the other stations were as well.  It is just so sad looking at the damage and hearing the stories.  This spring we have had above average tornadoes across the US.  But that is typical in a La Nina spring.  They have just hit some big populated areas. 

As sad as it is we have to move on.  I know with 25% of Joplin hit and 15% of the Joplin metro down, we will rebuild.  This city is very strong and will rebuild.  I am going on no sleep, but that is just what happens when these types of things occur. I am heading out to walk the damage path here shortly.  I have seen some of it, but I just feel like if I predict it, watch it roll through, I have to walk that path.  I think I owe that to you guys so I can learn as much from this as possible.  But for now we have to put this behind us, at least on this blog for now and look ahead.  What is moving in.  Lets take a look.

We have a high risk for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms just west of the viewing area.  Most of our SE KS and NE Ok counties have a moderate risk.  This should be another active day.  Here is a look at the surface map this evening.

We will have a dryline that sets up from Wichita to Oklahoma City.  This will be the area to see big time severe storms exploding later today.  However, I do expect to see scattered thunderstorms later this morning and early afternoon.  Here is a look at the latest interactive radar.

http://www.koamtv.com/category/191239/sky-watch-interactive-radar

Now if we get some scattered storms this afternoon, it will be a question of how long will they stick around?  We need a few hours to get this atmosphere unstable.  Right now my thoughts are a few scattered thunderstorms late morning and early afternoon.  Then partly sunny and windy with highs into the 80s.  Thunderstorms blow west of us that produce some tornadoes.  Our western counties will have the risk of tornadoes.  However, as the storms push farther east, I expect mainly a wind and hail event as they go into a squall line.  This is something I will watch very closely and keep you  updated on today.  For now, have a great Tuesday.

Here is a look at your latest 7-day forecast.

I will update the long range forecast later today as things calm down just a bit for me.

Doug

May (29th-June 4th):

I want to start with the holiday weekend.  We will have chances for thunderstorms on Saturday the 28th.  That is something we will have to watch as we have a severe threat.  The rest of the holiday weekend looks pretty good.  Our next big system I am hoping to have it hold off until late Memorial Day or Tuesday.  Thunderstorm chances late Monday through Wednesday with this next storm systems.  We will also see warm temperatures here at the beginning of the week.  A little cooler the second half of the week.  We will see thunderstorm chances from Friday through the weekend with temperatures turning cooler.

Severe threat:  High threat(mainly on Tuesday).  Moderate threat(Friday and Saturday). 

June (5th-11th):

Cool start to the week with a chances for showers on Sunday.  Temperatures warming up for the middle of the week.  Our next system will affect us from Tuesday through Thursday with thunderstorms.  Chances move in again over the weekend. 

Severe threat:  Low(Tuesday-Thursday, and Saturday).

June (12th-18th):

Thunderstorms chances over the weekend and early in the week.  Temperatures warming up for the middle of the week ahead of our next system from Thursday-Saturday.

Severe threat:  Low(Sunday and Monday).  Moderate(Thursday-Saturday).