Here is a re-cap of Wednesday from my perspective:

It was a long day in the weather world. Storms rolled into Douglas county in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday morning that were pushing some of the severe limits. Although we didn’t have a warning on those storms, we certainly dealt with strong wind and heavy rain. The initial rain brought about 0.25 inches of rain in one quick serving and was over about as quickly as it began. Monitoring these storms began for me at about 2:00 AM and didn’t end until a little after 5 AM after it left the region.

Although I never had to go on-air for the severe weather threat, it still brought me to the studio just in case, and to make sure things were in order. The fact that I was up early and monitoring storms actually gave me a head start on what the latest models were indicating for the afternoon. Once the threat was over, it was off to bed at 6 AM. Then it was up with the kids at 7:15 AM and on with a normal day knowing that the threat of severe weather exists for the afternoon and evening.

Between shifts will often bring coordination time between other meteorologists on the team, which is what the mid-morning is for. Planning and discussion is a big part of making sure that coverage was ready for the afternoon.

Into work before 2 PM and wait for storms to fire. We sent out Greg Postel and a photographer out to intercept the initial severe storms out ahead of the front in the surging warm sector. We also spent time chatting with the News Director and reporters for angles (many of which were pretty well in order before I made it in).

The evening brought several storms into the region during and after the 6 PM news. In the studio was Greg (back from his brief storm chase at this point) and our intern Zach. Several storms caused numerous warnings for wind and hail threats. The real storms were still well to our west and south, although these storms had plenty of potential for tornado threat with most of the tornado warnings along the cold front that was stalled to the west.

Periodic storms kept the team on air through the evening. A quick lull brought a minor Rudy’s Pizza break, but planning for the 10 PM news had to be done during this nice break in the weather. Flooding, of course, was becoming a concern with the heavy rain that had already saturated the ground and more on the way. We planned our team approach to weather coverage and watched the storms surge out away from the cold front into the moist air in the warm sector (or over us in other words).

Heavy rain started to move into Douglas county with severe t-storm warnings being issued by the NWS out of Topeka and Pleasant Hill for Douglas County, Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties covering our entire viewing area. We typically follow storms and go on air as needed for all of our customers as needed. Estimated gusts of 70 mph and hail warranted a solid 30 minutes on air until the last of the storm was through Piper, our farthest community to the east.

It is now 1:30 AM and I am watching torrential rain and with a slim potential of severe threat from the studio. Everything that is on radar now are garden variety storms, although we do anticipate some flooding concerns. It is now nearing 2 AM… about time to sign off for the evening and let the next shift come in. No severe threat for us once that cold front is through. Have a safe one… and stay tuned! We’ll be here when the storms roll through!