May 2023 Observations and Discussion

[Stormy]

9 hours ago, Stormy said:

Just now I storm blew up right nearby and there's constant lightning.  It will pour pretty soon I think 

This storm was kind of lame as far as rainfall. It kinda of narrowly split over me with hail cores just north and south. Only 0.20" here with a few hail stones to at least 1/2" diameter. My brother 6 miles southeast got quite a bit of 1" hail. Heavy rain is possible tonight. 

[Tom]

2 minutes ago, Stormy said:

This storm was kind of lame as far as rainfall. It kinda of narrowly split over me with hail cores just north and south. Only 0.20" here with a few hail stones to at least 1/2" diameter. My brother 6 miles southeast got quite a bit of 1" hail. Heavy rain is possible tonight. 

HRRR is yet again showing a bowing MCS rolling through IA...I think you guys will be getting some nighttime boomers!

[Stormy]

56 minutes ago, Clinton said:

Reed Timmer intercepted the wedge tornado near Linneus, Missouri.

 

When I saw the big hook on radar I figured that would have be producing a tornado, but I didn't check Twitter etc for more info! 

[chescowxman]

Today starts out sunny but with clouds on the increase we could see some showers by late this evening. Warmer today with our first day over 70 degrees since back on April 22nd.

We slip back below normal temps for mid-week but then warm well into the 70's by next weekend.

Records for today: High 93 (1930) / Low 28 (1974) / Rain 2.74" (1908)

[CentralNebWeather]

South of Minden Nebraska. This is crazy. 

 

[Andie]

They’re saying I got .50” rain last night.  Certainly felt like more.  

Round2 more rain today   Some severe storm expected   Currently 78  High of 86  

 

 

 

[james1976]

Cruising through northern Indiana on our way back to Iowa. Actually feels like summer for once. 70s, humid and breezy.

[westMJim]

Was out doing some more yard work. The sun is now out and for the first time this year I can say it is warm and somewhat humid out. The current temperature here in MBY is 78 and I have a DP of 66

[Stacsh]

1 hour ago, westMJim said:

Was out doing some more yard work. The sun is now out and for the first time this year I can say it is warm and somewhat humid out. The current temperature here in MBY is 78 and I have a DP of 66

It’s pretty sticky.  I’m turning the AC on 

[Hawkeye]

Models today have been trending south with tonight's big MCS.  It would be nice to get an inch out of it.

[Clinton]

MDs for southern Iowa.

   Mesoscale Discussion 0710
   NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
   0210 PM CDT Sun May 07 2023

   Areas affected...far east-central Nebraska into central/southern
   Iowa

   Concerning...Severe potential...Watch likely 

   Valid 071910Z - 072115Z

   Probability of Watch Issuance...80 percent

   SUMMARY...Isolated large hail may accompany an intense cell tracking
   east across central Iowa over the next couple of hours. Additional,
   more widespread storms are expected later this afternoon/evening. A
   watch will likely be needed at some point later this afternoon, but
   timing remains uncertain.

   DISCUSSION...An isolated, severe thunderstorm has been tracking
   eastward along a surface boundary with the stronger instability
   gradient over central IA. Marginally severe hail has been reported
   with this storm recently over Carroll County. This cell may continue
   to periodically produce large hail and gusty winds as it shifts
   eastward along the surface boundary.

   Additional thunderstorm development is expected later this afternoon
   or early evening as a surface low over southeast NE lifts northeast
   toward the MO River over the next few hours. Various surface fronts
   and outflow boundaries exist across the area, providing potential
   points of focus for thunderstorm development. Strong heating and
   dewpoints in the low/mid 60s beneath steep midlevel lapse rates is
   resulting in moderate destabilization from east-central NE into
   southern IA. While some capping is still evident near the MO River
   into southwest IA as depicted by billow clouds on visible satellite,
   erosion of the cap is more evident further east toward southeast IA
   where deepening cumulus is noted. Additional heating and increasing
   ascent later today will support rapid thunderstorm development.
   However, timing remains a bit uncertain. Hi-res CAMs suggest later
   development closer to 00z, however observational trends suggest
   early convective initiation may be possible. 

   Backed low-level flow and increasing 850 mb southwesterly flow with
   time will support enlarged, favorably curved low-level hodographs. A
   few tornadoes, in addition to large hail and damaging gusts will be
   possible. A watch will lik

[Hawkeye]

Golfball hail is falling from the strong cells in Iowa.

[Cfweather]

1 hour ago, Hawkeye said:

Golfball hail is falling from the strong cells in Iowa.

Trained spotter reports of tennis ball and baseball sized also.

will be lots of damage

[Hawkeye]

That storm was bizarre.  I got an hour of strong wind gusts, but only 0.02" of rain.  The part of the driveway protected by the house did not even get wet.

[OttumwaSnomow]

Well for the 3rd time in 48 hrs missed by 10 miles. Oh we got the dust!!!! Blew in from Marshalltown  probably. 

[Hawkeye]

2 minutes ago, OttumwaSnomow said:

Well for the 3rd time in 48 hrs missed by 10 miles. Oh we got the dust!!!! Blew in from Marshalltown  probably. 

You should do well tonight.

[Bryan1117]

26 minutes ago, CentralNebWeather said:

Another Severe Thunderstorm Watch, and another miss.  This time the complex will miss me to the south.  What looked promising an hour ago, wastes a great, unstable atmosphere around here. Hopefully Tuesday-Thursday pans out.  NWS hinting at ridging and getting hot and dry a week from now.

Getting missed to the south and east here too… there is nothing like watching dark storm clouds develop 20 miles to our south and knowing that we probably won’t get squat… again! 

Glad I watered my lawn earlier this evening… as I just knew we would get missed again (it’s too hard to break lousy weather patterns I guess).

[Andie]

2 hours ago, OttumwaSnomow said:

Well for the 3rd time in 48 hrs missed by 10 miles. Oh we got the dust!!!! Blew in from Marshalltown  probably. 

There’s A LOT of that going around !!

Edit:   I thought I’d add that North Texas is looking at a week in the 80’s. 
Monday/Tuesday will see a 50% chance of rain, while Wednesday rough next Sunday will 60% or great %.  

[Clinton]

Looks like there is some hope the storms make it down into my area.  There is a little sag to the south with the line of storms in SE Nebraska.  I may be doing a little wishcasting but both the 3km NAM and the HRRR bring a solid line of storms into my area.

[Hawkeye]

I was afraid the earlier storms would push everything south tonight, but models are all showing the area lighting up and developing into a widespread soaker.

[Bryan1117]

Finally picked up a bit of rainfall with a dying thundershower as it moved into Southwest Omaha (that was severe warned a half hour ago)... maybe picked up 0.10" out of it, however the radar out west shows some hope with more showers and thunderstorms popping up to the east of Grand Island. Fingers crossed we can at least pickup a quarter inch or more of rain tonight as we need it. 

[Stormy]

4 hours ago, OttumwaSnomow said:

Well for the 3rd time in 48 hrs missed by 10 miles. Oh we got the dust!!!! Blew in from Marshalltown  probably. 

Looks like more coming for ya.

I'm not to happy (loving the rain though) about the storm here. As feared, things got battered by hail and wind. Got 0.70" more rain earlier this evening. I even got video of a 6" diameter limb breaking off our tree before the rain hit. Hail was half inch diameter or larger. 

[OttumwaSnomow]

Well.... 3rd night of storms bouncing  all around. Hours of close lightning and thunder, outflows lifting dust into the sky and 89 degrees.  And I have ZERO YEA ZERO. ITS MAY!!! its been since Oct 2021 since i had  a legit very wet month of over 5 inches rain. What  is with  this place!! 11 yrs now?  And to think i saw the nat geo channel  say that iowa turning into a lake constantly  flooding  and world starvation  possible! What a joke! Haven't seen a wet year since 2014! 2010 was extremely  wet. Otherwise  hit miss , strips n stripes. Maybe a few wet weeks per year, Unreal. Maybe 2/10  by am .. maybe?

[Clinton]

Missed again last night, nice line of storms to my south moving south. 

[westMJim]

With dew points in the mid 60’s and with the official H/L of 77/53 yesterday was the 1st day of 2023 that felt like summer. I know there were days in April that reached into the 80’s but with low dew points it felt much cooler. There was officially 0.41” of rain fall, however in MBY I had much less with just 0.15” There was 41% of possible sunshine. The overnight low here in MBY so far is 52. For today the average H/L is 67/46 the record high of 89 was set in 1926 and the record low of 27 was set in 1976. The record rain fall amount of 1.50” fell in 1901.

The 1st week of May in now in the record books and so far the mean at Grand Rapids is 5.1 that is a departure of -2.8. The high so far is 77 and the low so far is 36. There has been 0.77” of rain fall and a trace of snow fall. At Lansing the mean there is 51.9 that is a departure of -2.3  the high there so far is 79 and the low so far is 36. They have had 0.75” of rain fall. At Muskegon the mean there is 53.1 that is a departure of -0.7 the high so far is 75 and the low is also 36. They have reported 0.58” of rain fall and a trace of snow fall.

[OttumwaSnomow]

Guess I should be thankful .40 overnight, but look close clearly least amount  in southern  Iowa.  Miss by cell after cell after cell 3 straight  nights. Maybe  enough to germinate  all my corn, soybeans  many acres of grass seed, etc.

[chescowxman]

Today should be a nice day with low humidity and temps in the low to mid 70's. A chance of a couple showers tomorrow and much cooler with temps staying in the 50's with a NE wind off the still chilly ocean waters. We start to warm up again by the end of the week with temps in the upper 70's by Friday.

Records for today: High 91 (2000) / Low 30 (1974) / Rain 2.90" (1992)

[chescowxman]

Of note this has been the 8th chilliest 1st week of May (51.2) in Chester County History with the top 7 being

1917	47.0
1974	47.7
1978	48.5
1925	49.1
1908	49.4
2005	50.3
1975	51.1

[Blizzard777]

Hello all

Currently out in Pigeon Forge Tn and ready for my road-trip back to Seattle (home).  Enjoyed a little activity yesterday evening  as the storms pushed south over this area.  Pic attached….it produced 30mph winds, small hail and lots O rain. 
Any suggestion on my rout home for the best bang for my buck…your thought??? I’m departing Tuesday.  

[Tom]

8 hours ago, OttumwaSnomow said:

Well.... 3rd night of storms bouncing  all around. Hours of close lightning and thunder, outflows lifting dust into the sky and 89 degrees.  And I have ZERO YEA ZERO. ITS MAY!!! its been since Oct 2021 since i had  a legit very wet month of over 5 inches rain. What  is with  this place!! 11 yrs now?  And to think i saw the nat geo channel  say that iowa turning into a lake constantly  flooding  and world starvation  possible! What a joke! Haven't seen a wet year since 2014! 2010 was extremely  wet. Otherwise  hit miss , strips n stripes. Maybe a few wet weeks per year, Unreal. Maybe 2/10  by am .. maybe?

You didn't get any from the MCS last night?

http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/current/mcview.phtml?prod=comprad&java=script&mode=archive&frames=50&interval=10&year=2023&month=5&day=7&hour=23&minute=5

[Tom]

1 hour ago, OttumwaSnomow said:

Guess I should be thankful .40 overnight, but look close clearly least amount  in southern  Iowa.  Miss by cell after cell after cell 3 straight  nights. Maybe  enough to germinate  all my corn, soybeans  many acres of grass seed, etc.

Whoops, I just saw this post...well, glad to see you got something which is better than nuttin'!  You'll have more chances late week into the weekend my friend.

[Tom]

19 minutes ago, Blizzard777 said:

Hello all

Currently out in Pigeon Forge Tn and ready for my road-trip back to Seattle (home).  Enjoyed a little activity yesterday evening  as the storms pushed south over this area.  Pic attached….it produced 30mph winds, small hail and lots O rain. 
Any suggestion on my rout home for the best bang for my buck…your thought??? I’m departing Tuesday.  

Your in a beautiful part of E TN...did you check out Gatlinburg?  Nashville is quite a place nowadays from what I've heard from friends and family.  It can get a bit pricy though.  The Lake of the Ozark's in C MO is a nice region to see or Branson, MO is also a highly recommended family vacation spot in S MO. The rolling hills and lakes and lush forests are beautiful scenery from what I remember.  @Clintoncan chime in on this or @OKwx2k4who lives in the Ozark region of E OK.

[Hawkeye]

I received a solid 1.17" of rain overnight.  The heavier rain with the warm advection wing of the MCS was in and out pretty quickly, so it was mostly just several hours of light to moderate rain with an occasional loud crack of thunder.

[westMJim]

1 hour ago, Blizzard777 said:

Currently out in Pigeon Forge Tn and ready for my road-trip back to Seattle (home).

Depending on what you want to do and how much time you have. But some good side trips would be Branson, MO. Corn Palace in  Mitchell SD. The Bad Lands, Mount Rushmore, Dead Wood. Devils Tower. That is a far west that I have driven but just some ideas. Have fun on your road trip.

[Iceresistance]

@Andie could have 4-5 inches of rain in just 7 days!

[Blizzard777]

I’ve been on the road for almost a month and taking it all in!  Love Gatlinburg as I’m right near there in a cabin.  Also had a visitor just a bit ago….baby bear.  Momma bear was nearby but this one was interested in me while I was enjoying coffee on the deck.  
Let me rephrase my question though on the above post.  Looking for the most active weather bullseye on my rout home. 

[Tom]

17 minutes ago, Blizzard777 said:

I’ve been on the road for almost a month and taking it all in!  Love Gatlinburg as I’m right near there in a cabin.  Also had a visitor just a bit ago….baby bear.  Momma bear was nearby but this one was interested in me while I was enjoying coffee on the deck.  
Let me rephrase my question though on the above post.  Looking for the most active weather bullseye on my rout home. 

E TX/E OK is bullseye  this Wednesday and then all of TX this weekend, unless you can spend some time in the central Plains over KS/NE during middle and end of week.

[Blizzard777]

37 minutes ago, Tom said:

E TX/E OK is bullseye  this Wednesday and then all of TX this weekend, unless you can spend some time in the central Plains over KS/NE during middle and end of week.

Thanks Tom 

Appreciate it 

[hawkstwelve]

It appears it's either one extreme or the other...

 

[gabel23]

On 5/6/2023 at 10:34 PM, Stormy said:

I planted on April 12 which was to early even for hardier things. Normally don't plant garden till late April or May so I blame myself. It was just way to chilly for things to rapidly germinate. Once soiI temps are warmer things pop up much sooner. Even with rain later things probably wouldn't have done much better, as cold as it was with frosts. Another thing that was bad was soon after I planted we had a cold rain which is bad for seeds, or at least farmers don't want that happening! A warm rain would've been great. Your seeds may not come through if they haven't yet. I was even dumb enough to plant some beans, and much (not all) of it came up, surprisingly. 

My onions and radishes I planted about a month ago are looking great! My lettuce I planted on the same day seems like it doesn't want to come up. I planted my potatoes last thursday and the last thing I have are tomatoes and peppers. I want to get those in next week! 

[hawkstwelve]

Got up to 85 degrees today. Pretty perfect spring day with clear skies and light wind.

[Andie]

8 hours ago, Iceresistance said:

@Andie could have 4-5 inches of rain in just 7 days!

Oh now, you’re just building me up for that big let down!

Although we do get some mighty “power washers” here, the rain will be welcomed.  
I’ll keep my eyes peeled and hope we can get our share.  We missed the last front. 
 

[Clinton]

12 hours ago, Tom said:

Your in a beautiful part of E TN...did you check out Gatlinburg?  Nashville is quite a place nowadays from what I've heard from friends and family.  It can get a bit pricy though.  The Lake of the Ozark's in C MO is a nice region to see or Branson, MO is also a highly recommended family vacation spot in S MO. The rolling hills and lakes and lush forests are beautiful scenery from what I remember.  @Clintoncan chime in on this or @OKwx2k4who lives in the Ozark region of E OK.

Table Rock Lake near Branson is absolutely beautiful, one of my favorite spots to visit.  Lake of the Ozarks is very nice as is Lake Eufula and Grand Lake in Oklahoma.

[Clinton]

Only a touch over a half inch in mby the last 30 days.

[Stormy]

I keep forgetting to post my rainfall. The last round of storms from that MCS rolled in around 1:00 a.m. Lots of lightning and thunder at first with brief heavy rain. Light to moderate rain continued till ending near dawn. Got another about 0.90", or about 1.60" with last evening. Basically around or a bit over 2" total since the first rain Friday evening.

[westMJim]

Good morning! Yesterday’s official H/L at Grand Rapids was 61/51. There was 0.10” of rain fall and no sunshine. Here in MBY the overnight low so far is 43 and that is the current reading with clear skies. I recorded 0.11” of rain fall.

For today the average H/L is now 67/51 the record high of 88 was set in 1896 and 1930 the record low of 23 was set in 1947. The record snow fall for the day and the month of May of 5.5” was set in 1923. At Lansing the record snow fall amount of 11.5” fell. It was warm before this snow fall so there were leaves on the trees that year. The record rain fall at Grand Rapids for today is 4.10” in 1956.

The next 6 days look mostly warm with highs in the 70’s to around 80 before dropping down to the 60’s on Sunday. The dew points will be low so it will feel cooler than the temperature would indicate.

[chescowxman]

A little cooler with clouds and maybe a light shower especially over southern Chester County today. Sun returns tomorrow through Friday and we warm from near 70 degrees tomorrow to near 80 on Friday. Some showers are possible over the weekend and temps near normal near 70 degrees.

Records for today: High 93 (1896) / Low 25 (1947) / Rain 1.34" (1923)

[Andie]

71. Muggy …82% humidity. 
High today of 88 

Rain expected tomorrow.
For now it’s a bit like breathing under water.  

[CentralNebWeather]

Here comes another chance. Hope it pans out. 

 

[Tom]

40 minutes ago, CentralNebWeather said:

Here comes another chance. Hope it pans out. 

 

Looking good for you bud!