A tornado watch has been issued until Midnight tonight for Monona, Burt, Harrison, and Shelby counties in the KTIV viewing area.

A cold front has pushed its way east of Sioux City and thanks to that most of our severe storms should be in eastern Siouxland or even farther to the east.  We did have one nice sized thunderstorm form over northeastern Nebraska and move just south of Sioux City.  You can see how the rest of the “slight risk” area for severe weather tonight is farther east:

While the strongest of storms will take place tonight, there’s still going to be a chance of some thundershowers Friday as well on the back side of this cold front.  The weekend does look to be drier though.

Don’t forget to follow these storms on your computer on Storm Track 4 Interactive at http://www.ktiv.com/Global/category.asp?C=162528

Ron Demers

Posted under Weather Blog

The timing of this cold front has gone back and forth a bit, it finally appears that it will move through too quick for most of us to see severe thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. Like so many things in life like finding a job, finding a home, meeting the right person, cold fronts and their timing is no different. This one happens to move through just a bit too fast and we won’t be warm enough or humid enough for sufficient instability to develop to fuel rambunctious storms, though there may be some garden variety thunderstorms this evening and tonight especially. Here’s the cold front:

The SPC outlook has shifted east as well….

We’ll watch the eastern and southern portions of the area for some stronger storms, and have any watches and warnings for you if indeed severe weather develops.

David Winslow

Posted under Weather Blog

As Ron mentioned in the last post we are still down over an inch as far as rain is concerned for April in Sioux City. A quickly moving Pacific storm could change that as a round of t-storms could form on Thursday. This is a tricky forecast for a couple of reasons…let me dive into it.

One thing that’s tricky is the timing of the cold front. Our computer models are differing in their timing. The later the front comes, the better chances are that we’ll have some severe storms as we’ll have time to heat up and moisture levels will have sufficient time to increase too. This model shows the front moving through early in the afternoon, which would mean Central Iowa would have the better severe weather chance:

1 PM surface plot of wind, pressure, temperature

7 PM surface plot of wind, pressure, temperature

This is why the SPC has Eastern Siouxland in the slight risk area:

Another issue could be a mid level “capping inversion”, basically a warm layer of air aloft that surpressed thunderstorm and updraft development as any rising air might find itself cooler than this layer of air aloft, so the upward motion could be surpressed. Otherwise the ingredients are there…strong upper level jet winds, a little directional shear as well. Unfortunately our computer models are also having a tough time with our rain outlook this weekend as some keep the slowed down storm staying to our north ( a drier scenario for us) and the other models showing it far enough south that we could be stuck in some rain this weekend. I am rooting for the drier weekend scenario but the truth is we won’t know for a few days. Stay tuned and with some luck we’ll work out these model differnces.

Dave Winslow

Posted under Weather Blog

It can ruin picnics, baseball games, and other plans we all love to make, but rain is needed sometimes and the rain that we just got in Siouxland isn’t coming at a bad time.  Our rainfall deficits were getting up there a bit.  In fact, even after these last rains, we are still over an inch below average for the month of April here in Sioux City.  And despite the wicked winter, we’re also .64 below average for moisture since January 1st.

As you can see by the graphic below we got a little more rain at KTIV on the north side of town.

In fact, over the past four days, we’ve seen almost an inch here on the north side of town.  Most of it coming on Friday and Monday.

Tuesday and Wednesday will provide us with more sun and warmth.  But chances of thunderstorms will be back with us by Thursday afternoon.  We’ll want to keep an eye on those and there’s a chance of some of them being strong or severe.

Ron Demers

Posted under Weather Blog

Here’s the latest on our severe weather potential heading into our Friday night.  As of 3:30 there’s a Tornado Watch in effect across central Nebraska until 8 pm.  This does not include any KTIV viewing counties:

3:30 pm Watches and Warnings

There’s a little clearing taking place down to the south.  In fact, southern Siouxland was even getting in on a little sunshine.  It is the area that ‘s clearing out (circled in white) where the atmosphere is going to destabilize and have a chance of developing some thunderstorms.

3:30 pm Satellite and Radar

You can see on the radar view above how an area of rain that was upon us this morning moved to the north giving us a quarter inch of rain in Sioux City.  The best chance of severe storms later this evening will be in southern Siouxland.  Here’s the latest severe weather outlook from the Storm Prediction Center:

We’ll be keeping an eye on the weather situation and be with you all night tonight on KTIV News Channel 4.

Chief Meteorologist Ron Demers

Posted under Weather Blog

Confidence has been higher than usual and it’s growing regarding our potential for Friday storms and beneficial spring rain. In fact, it appears that tonight well after dark our first wave of thundershowers will be arriving. We’re now 1.23″ below average for rain this month in Sioux City, so it’s hard to complain too much about April showers and storms especially when most of us won’t see severe weather. The reason for this is that the warm front responsible for much of the severe weather in the Plains will probably not make it up here. Here is the Future Track at 2 pm tomorrow:

With the most unstable air along and south of the front, it’s primarily going to be Southern Nebraska and Iowa that will be under the gun for potentially some bigger rotating storms with large hail, wind, and isolated tornadoes. If that warm front moves about 50 miles further north our potential for more robust storms will increase dramatically though, so it’s something to monitor. Here is the SPC outlook for Friday:

We are on the very fringe of the slight risk area, meaning there is at least some potentially for a strong storm or two with probably just large hail and heavy downpours. Rainfall totals will exceed an inch in some spots.

HPC precip forecast:

Dave Winslow

Posted under Weather Blog

I guess I have been too busy running around the garden and digging up new ground to post anything, that and the fact that the weather has been phenomenal has kept me away from my computer and blogging. No complaints about the staying away from the computer though, after the winter we endured outside in the beautiful sunshine is where ya want to be, right?

Let’s see…a ton has happened since my last post? I’ve planted strawberries, some raspberry seedlings (thanks Mike Zwier for the donation), several fruit trees (a dwarf Ranger peach, North Star cherry, Jonathon apple), broccoli and brussel sprout seedlings, lettuce, rhubarb, a couple tomato and pepper seedlings, potato sets, onion sets, and some flower seeds. I think that’s all, but I may be forgetting some. The key this time of the year is planting things that are hardy to the cool nights. Some climate facts for this time of year:

Avg. hi 64

Avg. low 39

Pepper and tomatoe seedlings hanging out in the protected cold frame, just waiting for planting in May:

Although we have been experiencing unusually mild weather (7 degrees above average is significant), the nights have been a little cool for the tomato and pepper seedlings. My grandpa challenged me to see who could have the first tomato, so I said what the heck and threw in some tomato and pepper seedlings and put a milk carton on top of them to create a warmer microclimate. This should protect them from frost too if that happens.

The rhubarb I planted a few weeks ago doesn’t look so hot, possibly because I planted it when it was 86°, dry, and windy.

Cool weather crops like lettuce, broccoli, potatoes, and onions are in and thriving:

Potato furrows

Squash, cucumber, watermelon, and cantaloupe seedslings:

The only wish I have is some rain as we’ve seen just .6″ of rain this month (down 1.1″ for the month) and the air has been exceptionally dry and comfortable. The saving grace is the fact that the wind hasn’t blown on our recent stretch of near desert like conditions. Today I will be weeding around the stawberries and planting some carrots. Anyone have good luck with carrots around here? I haven’t done well with carrots but will give it a shot anyway. Seems like some cutworm eats into this root vegetable part way through the season. One thing new I am trying this year is blueberries. I have a Chippewa and Earlyblue (I think?) that are supposed to cross pollinate each other.

Strawberry and Raspberry:

Blueberry bushes:

 They already have some little flower blossoms that I am very optimistic will turn into blueberries this summer. I had to mix sulfur pellets, peat moss, and some compost together to achieve and acidic soil. Apparently they need a pH of 4.5-5.5. I didn’t test it out but I am hopeful that I’m close. Sometimes it’s more fun to just experiment and learn the old fashioned way…or maybe I’m just too lazy or stubborn to actually test the pH. I’ll let you know how that turns out. The peach and Jonathan apple tree and cherry tree seem to be doing just fine. The biggest challenge with them was getting them from the nursery to my house! It’s tough when you drive a small car…so I pruned them down a bit, and had them stick out the window. I got some funny looks but I am used to that, try driving a scooter to work in a suit.

Jonathan apple:

Ranger dwarf peach:

Oh, and I can’t forget the odd plant of the day.

What is this Y shaped twig? It’s a fig cutting from my old landlady. She just chopped off part of the plant and I planted it in soil. Cuttings like this will actually produce their own roots if conditions are right. What’s even stranger is that this self propogated cutting is blossoming tiny green figs even with the stress it just endured! It’s like mad science, fascinating stuff! Apparently figs produce a spring and fall crop. It should grow to 6 feet tall and then I will need a bigger pot and annual prunings. And no, fig newtons are not the only things made from figs. You can make preserves, and my mom puts in on wood roasted pizzas. This plant will need to be taken indoors in the winter since it’s only hardy to the 10′s if properly hardened off and dormant.

 That’s the latest for now. Hopefully this Friday through weekend rain will pan out as we have been forecasting. At this point it could easily amount to a few inches in spots.

Dave

Posted under Gardening

How many times have you said “man it’s nice outside….I can’t believe it’s so nice!” Yeah, it’s been an awesome spring and an awesome April. If you’ve been out often lately your tan may be as dark as it usually is in May. Things will change on Thursday, probably late in the day as a Pacific storm marches east and stalls out. We’ll be tracking thunderstorms at first for Thursday night through Saturday, then probably some innocent rain showers lingering into Sunday and Monday. Yep, at this point your weekend looks to be much different than the last few. Is that such a bad thing? Nope, at least not if you’re involved in agriculture or are trying to grow some flowers and veggies or new grass, trees, anything green I guess. We’ve had .6″ of rain so far this month at SUX, so we are .9″ below average for the month. The humidity has been low enough too, so April showers will be welcome for at least a portion of our viewers.

GFS model for Friday at 6:30 pm:

This big storm should exit early next week and it doesn’t look like it will be followed by anything too cold or nasty.

David Winslow

Posted under Weather Blog

According to NASA, we might get a chance to see Discovery during its decent into Kennedy Space Center on Monday morning.  Sioux City is in the direct path of the orbit 222 landing. 

If NASA decides to go ahead with landing during orbit 222, the shuttle will pass over Sioux City at 7:31 AM, on its way to landing in Florida just a short 17 minutes later.  Experts say we could notice a bright orange streak flying through the sky, followed by a sonic boom a minute or so after the shuttle passes over.  If you plan to look for the shuttle it should first appear in the northwest sky at about 7:28 AM and exit in the southeast sky at 7:33.  The shuttle is expected to be decelerating through mach 18, or going about 13,824 mph.  Whoa!!!  Look fast ‘cuz it’ll be gone before you know it!

It’s not a given that we’ll get to see the spectacular sight though.  If NASA elects to skip re-entry on orbit 222 and try for orbit 223 instead, the flight path shifts south to about Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Plus, NASA has said Monday’s forecast for Florida isn’t the most promising, and clouds could delay deorbit and landing.  Not to mention that clouds over Siouxland could also hinder our view even if the landing is a go.

For more information on the landing check out NASA’s shuttle page:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

I won’t get home until pretty late tonight thanks to the 10:00 news, but I sure plan to have my alarm set early enough to check things out!

Mike Zwier

Posted under Weather Blog

The soil temperature in the state of Iowa has climbed to about 57°-60° with our warm and humid stretch of April weather. This is the threshold for planting corn, and it’s only mid April! The reality is we have a pretty decent setup for rapid cooling tonight as a Canadian high sneaks down from the Dakotas. Winds will die off, and with clear skies and low humidity, it is indeed likely that some spots will hit freezing or even slightly colder for a few hours. But this is not unusual, our typical last frost is the very end of April through early May:

I spoke to my grandpa yesterday and he has already put some tomatoes outside! This is Minnesota I’m talking about! So if you’re an early bird with your tender veggie plants, put a bucket over them or a blanket tonight if you’re concerned about frost. It will probably be the worst in low lying areas where cold air likes to drain. Next week it will get more like summer again than spring so gardeners and farmers will be busy in the Midwest.

Dave Winslow

Posted under Gardening, Weather Blog