We once again dodge the worst of the storms on Memorial Day

Here is a nice Memorial Day poem sent in by Anonymous. Thanks so much! This is what today is really all about.

A Beautiful Memorial Day:Surrounded by a community of headstones, we remember and mourn and celebrate and play, for this day reminds us that to have one, we have had the other.

Thank you for our history written by those strangers fallen in battle to ensure our freedom-filled lives of safty.

Thank you too, for our own ancestors whose efforts still course through our lives in strengths, names and accomplishments we pause to honor.

Now bless our picnics and parties as we join in the parade of those remembering, those remembered, and to those who continue to ensure our freedom and safty.

This poem brings back incredible stories told to me by my grandfathers and tonight during our cookouts make sure to take a moment to think about what the greatest generation accomplished and how their example of leadership will help us in the future. We also thank all those currently serving our country.

It was good to see we got the Memorial Day service in at Memorial Island at Columbian Park along with a ton of sectional baseball games. Yes, I was sweating it out as usual and I am glad it all worked out. Forecasting thunderstorms is very tough at best and I am glad the extra map work seemed to help!

We do have some showers and thunderstorms still in the forecast. The main threats from the thunderstorms will not be tornadoes, but lightning and pockets of heavy rain. Not everybody will see rain, but just in case remember your lightning safety tips. I posted those above. Based on the latest soundings and incoming data at 1 p.m. here on Memorial Day it does look like our severe weather chances will remain low. You can thank light upper-level winds, a lack of wind shear, and a good deal of cloud cover for helping to stabilize our atmosphere.

There will likely be two rounds of rain. One round of light showers by mid to late afternoon and then as a cold front moves through later this evening and overnight we may have a second batch of rain. The heaviest rain should hold off until after 9 p.m. So fire up the grill and be thankful.

We have had our worst stretch of tornadoes in the country since 2004. You can see the unbelieveable tally of tornadoes and severe weather reports below since Thursday. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those that have in some cases lost everything.

These pictures were take from then Purdue meterology student Ross Ellet and his fiance Sara Jones back on Memorial Day in 2004. Ross became a distinguished member of our weather team about two years later. Ross and Sara are now married with twins and Ross is now Chief Meteorologist in Beckley, West Virginia.

They were on U-S 52 near 400 South looking southwest.
This first funnel touchdown---looked thick and dark---and was over farm land--not a populated area.

Then---3 or 4 different funnels formed and dissipated as the wall cloud moved east.
At least one touched down over Dayton.


On the east side of Dayton---at the cemetery you can see many trees were up-rooted---twisted---and some of the older markers were damaged.
There are up-rooted trees and power poles all over that community.

Here is another shot of the Dayton tornado. Folks told me the wind whipped up from one direction at ground level and then they started seeing the clouds scream in the opposite direction. Where these winds collided not one but two tornadoes quickly formed.

One of the defining moments of my career. We were hit with 10 tornadoes in one day! An F3 tornado with wind speeds close to 200 mph hit the Peru area! I will have more on this outbreak tonight on the news. Have a great day and count those blessings!