June 28, 2010: June is almost over and Independence Day is around the corner. The following photographs will have you thinking about the holiday weekend.

June 29, 2010: The following photograph shows the glowing clouds during the sunrise. You can see the moon in the second picture.

June 30, 2010:

The partial lunar eclipse on June 26, 2010 was the first lunar eclipse of the year. There will only be two this year; the next eclipse will be a total eclipse on December 21, 2010. This eclipse was viewed best from the West Coast, so we didn't have the best view in Kansas, but we were still able to catch the beginning. Here are a few photographs I took of the eclipse, along with a few viewer submitted photographs if you missed it!

The following photographs were taken by Karen Zargan Kryschtal in Manhattan, Kansas. The first photograph was taken between 5:20 and 5:25 a.m., the following were taken at 5:40 a.m., 5:50 a.m. and 5:55 a.m. respectively.

The next two photographs were taken by Brenda Culbertson in Jackson County. The first picture is from the beginning of of the eclipse, the second picture is from the middle.

Mark Chan shared a great timelapse of the eclipse. You can view that video here.

You can certainly tell it's summer with all of the hot and humid weather we've had! The following photograph is my story on trying to stay cool. That's right, kiddie pools are not just for kids! The story of how this pool ended up on my deck is very long, we'll just say, it was not easy and was the only option after a lot of headaches. I have to give my parents credit for everything they built for me when I was a kid. Who thought it could be so hard to put things together for kids!

I love how there are always flowers in Downtown Topeka, it adds a lot of color to the street. The following pictures were taken on June 24, 2010.

The following photograph was taken during the morning on June 25, 2010.

If you are an early riser and a science geek, look to the sky early Saturday morning. Even if you aren't an early riser, you may want to set your alarm clocks. Saturday, June 26, 2010 will be the first of two lunar eclipses for 2010. This weekends eclipse will be a partial eclipse, and according to the Old Farmer's Almanac, "only visible from western and central North America.... only a penumbral eclipse will be visible from most of the East Coast." If you miss Saturday's partial lunar eclipse, a total eclipse will occur on December 21, 2010.

This lunar eclipse is being referred to as a big lunar eclipse. NASA explains, "although the eclipse is only partial, it will be magnified in size and charm by the "Moon Illusion"--a result of the eclipse occurring close to the horizon from viewing sites in the USA." It simple terms, the moon is going to appear huge.

If you an interested in waking up and viewing the lunar eclipse, the event will last approximately three hours. From NASA, "the eclipse begins at 3:17 am PDT (10:17 UT) when the Moon enters the sunset-colored shadow of Earth. By 4:38 am PDT (11:38 UT), the moment of greatest eclipse, 54% of the Moon's diameter will be covered." Here in Kansas, the eclipse will begin at 5:17 a.m. with the greatest eclipse at 6:38 a.m.

I plan to wake up and attempt to photograph the lunar eclipse (something I have never done before). Below are a couple of links to lunar eclipse photography tips (for all of the beginners like me!)

Wake up early tomorrow, grab you camera and send my your best shot. Email me (ameenen@ljworld.com) any photographs you would like to share and I will include them in this blog!

"How to photograph a lunar eclipse" by Fred Espenak

"Photographing lunar eclipse" from weatherscapes.com

June 7-11, 2010:

The following collage contains several photographs from June 7-11, 2010. I took the photograph of the dandelion because it is the largest dandelion I have ever seen! It was the size of a tennis ball. The scenic picture on the right was taken on a trip home to Topeka from Wichita. The top cloud photograph is from an approaching thunderstorm; the bottom photograph is a storm moving away.

June 12-14, 2010:

We have had several storms that produced heavy rainfall and a lot of lightning. The following collage contains pictures I took of the storms before the heavy rainfall arrived. The photographs on the left are of storm damage in Topeka. I think its amazing how the lightning lights up the sky at night in the other pictures. (Not the best lightning shots, it's hard to get a good shot without a tripod.)

June 15-17, 2010:

We have had a lot of shelf clouds lately, which is what the photograph on top is.

June 18-19, 2010:

The following collage includes a few panoramic photographs. The top photograph shows storms in the distance.

June 20-21, 2010:

I decided to get creative with the photograph of my dog to make the colors blend with the cloud pictures. We have seen a lot of hot weather and my dog hasn't been the biggest fan! I tried to set up a kiddie pool for her to cool off in. She has never been in water, at first she was confused over the dog looking at her from inside the pool, then she decided it was just a large bowl of water! The remainder of the cloud photographs are from yet another approaching thunderstorm taken on the first day of summer.

Ed Bloodsworth, Nate Riggs and I took a trip to Alma, Kansas on June 3, 2010. Here are some photographs I took along the way.

Our first stop was the radar site in Alma, Kansas. This is the radar that covers most of Northeast Kansas. When we arrived at the site, the welcoming was quite unusual.

That's right! Cows welcomed us at the site. The National Weather Service leases a piece of land on a farm for the radar site, so if anything the cows are probably wondering what we are doing there. The following picture shows the cows by the radar, however the top of the radar dome (or radome) is chopped off to keep the bright sun out of the photograph.

A few photographs of the radar...

We thought the cows were pretty neat, so Nate tried to get video of the cows around the radar. They were not camera shy!

We eventually got away from the cows, climbed up the stairs and took a look inside the radome.

After checking out the radar, we stopped in town. Here are few photographs from Downtown Alma.

Before we left, we took a drive on the Native Stone Scenic Byway.

May 31, 2010: Several layers of clouds were visible in this photograph. You can even see a bird sitting on top of a tree.

Here is a closer view of the bird.

June 1, 2010: A few storms in the distance, taken outside the 49 ABC News studio in Topeka, Kansas.

A bird on top of the clearance sign at McDonald's. I guess the bird wanted some fries also!

June 2, 2010: Mare's tails lining the sky during the morning.

June 3, 2010: Ed Bloodsworth, Nate Riggs and I took a trip to Alma, Kansas for the day. These cows were guarding one of the sites we went to visit. I will have another blog coming up with more on this adventure!

June 4, 2010: Another picture of storms in the distance.

June 5, 2010: I thought the clouds looked pretty cool, so I tried to capture the different shapes.

June 6, 2010: Photographs of fruit on a tree.

A lot of people spent time outside, as hot and sunny weather settled into Northeast Kansas. With the summer-like weather, I spent a lot of time taking my dog to West Lake at Gage Park. I wasn't the only one with this idea, in fact a lot of people were spending time fishing by the lake on May 27, 2010.

On May 28, 2010, Maddie (my dog) and I went back to West Lake. This time we saw a few animals out enjoying the hot weather. I will say, it was very difficult to take this picture with my dog. I am shocked I was able to get such a close shot, Maddie really wanted to make friends!

On May 29, 2010, the sunshine and heat continued. I went for a run at Gage Park and took yet another photograph of West Lake. You can see the reflection of the trees in the water.

The following photograph is more of a humorous shot depicting the weather over the past days. May 30, 2010 started off sunny and hot, but ended with showers and storms; some storms produced small hail and damaging winds. I was outside enjoying the weather before the rain arrived. I noticed something wasn't quite right with the sandals I left outside.

You know it's hot when.... your sandals melt/morph after sitting on the deck for a few days!

Showers and storms were expected to move through the area on May 25, 2010, but most of the rain "skipped" over our area. Although most of the rain stayed away, you could see storms in the distance by the evening.

Spotty showers moved through the area during the morning on May 26, 2010. The rain showers made for a nice viewing in the morning, a rainbow in Topeka, Kansas.

If you look closely, you can see a secondary rainbow in this second photograph.

It was another hot and humid day on May 24, 2010, in fact, several locations missed hitting 90 degrees by just one degree. Billard Airport (Topeka), Manhattan and Lawrence all hit a high of 89. Some other high temperatures for Northeast Kansas include 88 at Forbes Field (Topeka), 84 in Concordia and 86 in Emporia.

I love spending time outside in the warm, sunny weather, but there is a point when it is just too hot and humid. What is your limit? I certainly was not thrilled to see my car thermometer reading over 90 degrees after it sat in the sun yesterday.