Wow... I Really Let Time Slip By.

Hey, folks. I haven't forgotten about the blog! Apparently, this long of a delay in regards to posting a new post is the result of trying to keep on working to save money, trying to live and relocating closer to the TV job I have in Columbia, MO while continuing the job hunt in the broadcasting market.

I know that in my last post, I wanted to talk about the Joplin Tornado that obliterated a good portion of the city back on May 22nd. However, in looking at the past weather events that took place this year, I think it would be best to save that for the end of the year when we can recap all of the crazy weather events that took place around the country this year.

The big thing that happened to me recently was that it was time for me to get out of the St. Louis area and move back to Columbia so I could be closer to work at KOMU. It was daunting at first because I wanted to be sure I had a plan in place before I went back. Thankfully, a second job was lined up so I could keep busy when I'm not at KOMU and I get to go on the air every Saturday at 10 PM now at the NBC station in town. On top of that, I found a good place to stay at a good price. I also found out that coupons really can help you save on groceries especially if you're trying to budget and eat to live. If I can get through the food that I have through next week and hopefully in two weeks, I'll have the food budget all figured out!

The job front... I'm just glad to be back in Columbia so I can finally be closer to and spend more time at KOMU with a second job to keep me busy and allowing me to save money. I also sent out more résumés, DVDs and emails to more TV stations with job openings in their weather department. I applied to TV stations in Joplin, Amarillo, Sioux Falls, the Quad Cities, Huntsville and another TV station in Columbia, MO. I'm just glad that the jobs are still out there and I have to be close to getting a full-time position at a TV station soon. It would make a nice birthday present coming up...

Well, that's a catch-up on how my life is shaping up right now. I guess I can sum it up with lyrics from Alanis Morissette's "Ironic." Life has a funny of helping you out when you think everything's gone wrong. Coming up in the next few days, I really want to focus on Hurricane Irene since EVERYONE is talking about. And with this storm effecting almost 55 million people along the Atlantic Coast and taking good aim at New York City, it deserves to be talked about. Have a good night and good day, everyone!

Your music video for this post is one of my favorite songs: Mr. Roboto by Styx. Enjoy!

Can't Wait for Tuesday... A Tech/Video Game Nerd Post

Good evening, folks. It's nice to get a break from work and jump back on the blog to share what's on my mind. We'll take a break from weather, though, and dig into one of my hobbies I've had since I was a little boy.

Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you that I'm one of millions of video game nerds on the face of this Earth. While my collection above is a part of what I own and pales in comparison to some of the real hardcore video gamers, I've loved video games ever since I've been able to grasp a controller when I was 3. It's also no surprise that a majority of the systems I own are from Nintendo. I don't want to say that I'm a fanboy (and I obviously don't want to get into a fanboy war since most of the systems from Sony, Microsoft, Sega and Nintendo offer good memories for gamers), but Nintendo had me hooked on their games and systems since we owned an SNES back in 1990. By the by, we still have that original SNES and it STILL works! I bring all this up for one big reason why I'm looking forward to this Tuesday...

This week, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, will take place in Los Angeles where the big names in video gaming will share their future products and projects to the world. For gamers, this is our Superbowl, our World Series, our Stanley Cup, our second Christmas and a pilgrimage for those who have access to get inside and foot the expenses of the trip. Any and all of the big publishers in the video game industry that wants everyone in the world and the entire video game press to know about their products and their future projects will divulge everything possible at this event starting tomorrow with the press conferences and ending on Thursday. The three biggest press conferences that gamers will be watching will come from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Microsoft kicks off the press conferences on Monday at 9:30 AM Pacific Standard Time and Sony will have their turn in the spotlight at 5:00 PM Pacific Standard Time. However, with buzz from Nintendo about showcasing a new system to succeed the Wii, all eyes will be on Nintendo on Tuesday.

I haven't really done any predictions or public speculation on video games on a blog or online before, but now seems like a good time to start. What do I expect from Nintendo's press conference on Tuesday?

I'm definitely expecting a lot of new and upcoming titles for Nintendo's newest handheld, the 3DS. The 3DS is the latest in the line of Nintendo's popular portable gaming system that launched early in March of this year. However, despite great first impressions and a good number of units sold since the launch, the numbers have not met Nintendo's high expectations when it was going into the launch period. One story out on the web actually surveyed those who bought and those who are interested in purchasing the 3DS. Those who purchased the system said that they like it, but they wish they had a better selection of games to play. Those who are waiting to buy one say that they want one, but they don't see any games that they actually want yet. Expect Nintendo to divulge a lot of titles coming soon for the 3DS from Nintendo and other third party developers. One game everyone's waiting for that will make another appearance at E3 will be The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.

This is the remake of the original Nintendo 64 game released back in late 1998 and it was a big success for Nintendo with critical acclaim from the gaming press and a financial success with 7.6 million copies sold. For this remake, I at least expect the graphics to be revamped compared to the N64 version and based on the screenshot above, Nintendo has addressed that very well. We'll see what Nintendo has in store for this re-release when it hits stores June 19th this year and when the press will get a chance to play it again this week.

With the popular Nintendo Wii looking like it's in the last months of the life cycle, I think that Nintendo will be the main push of new games for the system with a majority of third parties seemingly jumping off the Wii ship. Personally, I would like to see a Wii version of Star Fox and F-Zero, two popular Nintendo franchises that have yet made their own individual appearances on the system. Throughout the past few E3 conferences, we have heard from the higher heads of Nintendo (Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata and famous video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto) that Pikmin 3 is in development. If they want a new Pikmin game out for this year, they need to show off a video of the game and/or have demos ready to play on the show floor. For now, though, the biggest title I can see Nintendo showing off for the Wii as a certainty is The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The Zelda franchise did make an appearance on the Wii at the system launch back in 2006 after Nintendo decided to sell it alongside the GameCube version of the game. Skyward Sword would be the first Zelda game specifically designed and made for the Wii with 1:1 sword control with the Wii MotionPlus attachment for the Wii Remote to bring a unique gameplay experience that the Zelda franchise hasn't seen before. Look for this to make another appearance at the press conference with new demos ready on the show floor.

However, the biggest story that will come from Nintendo's press conference will be the debut of their next system that has the current moniker of Project Café.

Speculation on a successor to the Wii started as early as 2008 with talks of an HD version of the Wii with a hard drive and Blu-ray built into the system. But, here we are now with the pictures above showing at least what the developer kits (the system that game developers get in order to design their games) look like. Until we hear straight from Nintendo on Tuesday, several stories on the internet about the "leaked" specifications of the system have to be treated with a grain of salt. Some stories have hinted about the system using Blu-ray for the games, 1080p high-resolution and high-definition graphics, a new controller and better processing and memory capabilities than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I think that the system will be more powerful than the 360 and the PS3. It has to be since the Wii has a slight bump in graphics and capability over the GameCube. Since they said the system will be playable at E3, expect some games to be talked about during the show and actual demos ready for the lucky folks at the show to try for the very first time. As for a possible launch lineup involving software, anything is fair game.

Bottom line is this, folks. Nintendo has enjoyed plenty of success with the Nintendo Wii and various iterations of the Nintendo DS. Within the last few years though, in regards to the console side of their business, the hardcore gamers felt like they were left out of the loop in regards to the lack of games that appealed to them through a good part of the Wii's life. On the portable side of the business, the 3DS had a rough start out of the gate with fewer units sold than Nintendo was expecting. Nintendo needs to prove to the gaming community that it's really trying to get them back with a system that can back the talk and the games that will get them excited about what Nintendo has in store. Personally, I am excited to see what the press conference will unveil. Nintendo has surprised me with their previous press conferences and they are the most secretive when it comes to divulging what they'll talk about at the conference ahead of time. All I can say is get ready to be wowed by Nintendo once again.

Some Severe Weather Before "The Rapture?"

Good morning, folks... Maybe for the last time?? By now, I'm sure many of you have heard that a small Christian sect proclaimed as early as a few months ago that the Rapture will come upon us today around 6 PM in each time zone as an earthquake. I have not done a lot of research on this supposed rapture, but from what I have heard and seen, the same people who are saying that we'll see the beginning of the rapture tonight have also said that the world would end... back in 1994. Given the numerous times people have said the world would end throughout human history, the most memorable for me would be the Y2K scare before the year 2000 came, I remember what I was taught in Church and what Matthew 24:36 says. "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." In layman's terms, WE DON'T KNOW WHEN THE WORLD WILL END!

With that out of the way, we have an interesting setup for today across the state of Missouri.

 

Why the slight risk for severe weather across such a broad area?

Here's the surface map for tomorrow evening at 7 PM. A warm front will lift well off to our northeast into Illinois and Indiana with a cold front that will be coming in from the northwest. With warm and moist air coming in from the Gulf of Mexico thanks to the high pressure in the Gulf and the low pressure center in Oklahoma, these ingredients will come together to spark showers and thunderstorms late in the afternoon and into the overnight hours. When can we see storms start to fire up?

Between 5 and 6 PM, look for thunderstorms to start developing in southeastern Kansas, northeastern Oklahoma and western MO around Joplin, Stockton, Nevada and Pittsburg.

Between 6 and 7 PM, the thunderstorms will form into a solid squall line as it skirts just to the north of Springfield around Buffalo and Bolivar. Any travel on U.S. 71 between Joplin and Nevada and on U.S. 65 between Springfield and Sedalia will be a bit rough with these storms capable of large hail and damaging winds.

Around 9 PM, look for the activity to temporarily shift to the Columbia-Jefferson City area with the threat still of large hail and damaging winds. Here, it looks like most of the I-44 corridor may escape the storms unscathed. However...

Additional development is possible south of the main cluster around Columbia and Jefferson City. This model run at 10:30 PM wants to bring thunderstorms close to Lebanon, Waynesville, Fort Leonard Wood, St. Robert and Rolla as the entire complex rolls closer to the St. Louis area.

The St. Louis area will see these thunderstorms roll to the north side of the metro area while the southern storms appear to want to weaken as they continue east along I-44. That's how the severe threat is shaping up for this evening. I'm not expecting any tornadoes, but the big threats will be large hail and damaging winds.

Here's something that I want to do at the end of every blog post. Whenever I tell people the type of music and artists that I like to listen to, they often say that I was born in the wrong time period and that I should have been born in the 50s or the 60s. I say to them that my parents loved the music and wanted to pass them down to us. So, at the end of each post, I'll put up a music video or a song that I really like and I think people should listen to. To start it off, it's one of my favorite songs that got me hooked on The Doobie Brothers. Please enjoy "Listen To the Music." Have a good day, everyone!

The Good Friday Storm

I hate to say a statement like this at this early stage in my meteorology career but I have never seen quite a tornadic storm come across the St. Louis area in my entire life. Good Friday 2011 started off with thunderstorms early around central and eastern Missouri. A few were severe with large hail, but the storms moved out and temperatures were still able to climb into the 80s for afternoon highs despite quite a bit of cloud cover. However, the cloud cover did nothing essentially as a warm front lifted far enough north and southerly winds warmed temperatures up and brought more additional moisture in to add more fuel that thunderstorms can feed on. Sure enough, I was getting ready for the 5 PM Newscast anticipating some severe weather. Meteorologists Michelle Bogowith and Eric Aldrich were also on duty in case any storms got really serious.

3:30 PM rolled in and after I finished taping teases for the upcoming 5 PM newscast, our weather crawl popped up on the air to let us and the viewers know that we just went under a tornado watch until 10 PM.

Shortly after, around 4:00 PM, we started to see a thunderstorm fire up southwest of Sedalia in west central Missouri. Other thunderstorms started to ramp up around the Lake of the Ozarks and they would eventually be issued severe thunderstorm warnings. However, the storm that formed around Sedalia really got going around 4:30 PM when the first tornado warning was issued. Eric and Michelle were miked up while I was driving the radar. The video below picks up a few minutes before the 5 PM news was supposed to begin...

The TiVo stopped at 5:30 PM but we stayed on the air because the storm was showing an impressive structure as it continued into Callaway County and eventually put new tornado warnings up for Osage, Montgomery and Gasconade Counties. The TiVo kicked back into action a few minutes before the 6 PM news began but of course, Mother Nature kept us busy and made sure we didn't have a newscast...

After the TiVo let off at 6:30 PM, we kept going until about 6:57 PM right up until the tornado warning for Montgomery County expired at 7 PM. After the storm left the viewing area, I kept watching it hold together and head right for northern St. Louis County. It was that point I realized that we spent the last 3 hours tracking the beginning of the Good Friday Tornado that would hit St. Louis. I was watching streaming coverage from the local CBS station in St. Louis while watching the storm itself on the radar back at KOMU.  My mouth dropped to the floor when the radar picked this up...

First off, I have never seen that strong of a rotation on radar come into the St. Louis area EVER! What's more amazing is the debris ball that the reflectivity was picking up. There are times where if there's enough debris being drawn into the storm and into the circulation, the radar can pick it up. What's more scary is that this tornado was actually reported by Lambert International Airport and it was doing damage to a heavily populated area.

Here's what was unveiled after the storm passed through St. Louis as seen on KOMU and eventually news sites and TV channels around the world.

Beaverton Drive in Bridgeton, MO. EF-3 Damage.

Concourse C at Lambert International Airport

One photo I found that really stood out to me was taken by KMOV Chief Meteorologist Steve Templeton. He was surveying EF-4 damage in another community in Bridgeton and found a house reduced to rubble. But, have a look at the picture.

Look at how the stairs and some of the inner walls are pretty much left intact. This is why I or any other meteorologist on the air tells you to either to get underground and hide under something sturdy like heavy furniture or under the stairs or to put as many walls between you and the outside as possible.

Having a day off work on the following Monday, I decided that I wanted to see the damage for myself. I grabbed my camera and here's what I found...

If you're interested in seeing the results of the survey results of the tornadoes around St. Louis that night, the National Weather Service has everything compiled into one neat page you can go to by clicking here.

It's amazing that a strong tornado hasn't moved through the St. Louis area since 1967 and caused this much damage. What's truly amazing is that after all the damage and destruction caused by the tornado, not a single life was lost on Good Friday. That is what I call a true Easter miracle...

Whoa! I REALLY Need a New Post!

It's been a little while, hasn't it? I apologize, folks. Life likes to throw plenty of curve balls and keep me on my toes. I've been to Columbia for more work at KOMU for Easter weekend and have been busy applying for numerous positions while still making money at Schnucks. I am finally putting together a post about the big storm that rocked Missouri and St. Louis on Good Friday. I'll just say it was an amazing day in my meteorology career that I'll never forget. I'll have the post up later today.

Severe Weather Outbreak Once Again for Today and Tonight

Today's one of those days where you need to pay attention to the weather. There's a moderate risk for severe weather stretching from Arkansas through Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. Around that, a slight risk covers an even broader area across the central United States.

All of the counties in red are under a tornado watch until 9 PM tonight. I looked at the probabilities table with this watch and it has a high risk for tornadoes with any storms that pop up this afternoon. It's not a guarantee that everyone will see tornadoes but the upper level dynamics and ingredients at the surface are making the environment for supercells that have the capability for producing tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds.

The bottom line is that if you live in any of the counties highlighted or in the moderate risk area today, be sure that you have a way to get the latest weather information whether you're at home or on the road. The storms will fire up anytime now and they will be fast movers. Have a safety plan in place and ready to go when your county or town comes under a tornado or severe thunderstorm warning. Stay safe, folks!