Weather Warnings Replaced by Sunscreen & Air Quality Alerts!

We all know that it is July and it gets hot. But do not think for one moment that you can let your guard down. Heat this time of year sneaks up on you and since we have not had consecutive 90 degree days in our viewing area since last September it can take a toll on you in a hurry. Whenever the heat index reaches 94 or above watch out! Remember when our weather team forecasts a high of 90 it is a shade temperature located about 6 feet off the ground. If you factor in the humidity and sunshine you add at least another 20 degrees. If you are running or playing tennis you want to add 25 or more degrees. So be careful. You see some tips above to keep you sun smart! We have the highest temperatures and UV Index of the year. The UV index is a fancy term for the ultraviolet index or the sun's rays that are harmful to your skin.

High pressure in control will bring heat wave conditions and a UV index near 10 for the next several days. This is in the very high range and you can get a sunburn during the middle of the day in as little as 20 minutes. Have fun in the sun but be careful. Also if you have any respiratory ailments you have to be careful not to be outdoors for long periods of time. There is an Air Quality Alert in effect for Newton, Jasper, and Benton Counties. The general population is not effect but sensitive groups need to exercise caution.

This build-up in pollutants is caused by our high pressure system bringing this heat wave. Remember the higher the temperatures the more smog nature produces as it literally "cooks up" the pollutants in the atmosphere creating the unhealthy type of ozone. There are some steps above you can take to help reduce the smog.

The big news is what a flip-flop in the pattern! Speaking of big you can see this fabulous fungus spotted in Brookston. Marsha Moore was walking her dog and spotted this Behemoth. It was a sure sign of what we have been through. Do you realize it has rained 32 of the last 57 days. That is about 5 out of every 7 days. This week we are expecting the mushrooms to dry up with only slight chances of rain and our driest week of the year! Join me tonight on the news and we will talk more about this new pattern!

We will also have a cicada update here on the blog this week! Hint: It may help to keep you cool!

The Dogs Hit the Pool & Our Heat Wave Builds In!

Hey Mike this is not a storm picture but a great picture of my sister's Chihuahua Willie having a great time in the pool. We thought we would enjoy this warm weather by hanging out by the pool and we could not keep the dog's out LOL :) In this picture you will see a little bit of my sister's hand holding him just to be safe!!! Always remember the pool safety rules...

Justin New AKA Justin in Lafayette.

We have come a long way on this blog. We have shown storm after storm here but Justin sent in just the perfect picture to sum up our new weather pattern taking hold this week. Do you realize last week alone during our "year of the storm" seven people were killed by lightning including one person here in the Midwest. Enough is enough. Now we still need to use common sense this week with the hot weather since we are not used to it. Willie looks like a great swimmer but this is a good reminder to keep your pets cool by making sure their water bowls are filled to the top and they have a cool shaded spot to rest in. Last summer unfortunately I did hear of a very sad story here in Lafayette of a dog that dehydrated and later died because he had no water. It can happen easier than you think. You also want to make sure to never take your dogs or pets on errands. Even with the windows rolled down your car's inside temperature will exceed 100 degrees and your dog can have irreversible damage in some cases in less than 10 minutes. We have already had horror stories come in this year from California of pets being left in cars and not making it out alive. Please remember your pets.

This week will be our hottest week since the first week of September. That was also the last time we had an official heat wave here in Lafayette. A heat wave is defined here in the Midwest as having 3 or more days of 90 degrees or above. So far this year we have had none, with only 1 day of 90 degrees way back on June 8th. It looks like we will at least triple and maybe quadruple our 90 degree days this week with a heat wave looking more likely since I am forecasting 3 consecutive 90 degree days this week as you see below.

Did you see those cool altocumulus clouds in the background. These were hovering over the southside of Lafayette yesterday morning and they are usually a sign of a building high pressure ridge and warmer weather on the way. So it gave me a little more confidence than usual on forecasting so many 90 degree days despite it being so cool so far this summer. We will see how it will work out. One thing is for sure and that is you need to make sure you remember your heat safety rules. The hot weather affects the youngest and the elderly the most. Speaking of babies I wanted to congratulate my friend and co-worker Seth Conley and his wife on their new baby Ethan James Conley who weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces, and was 20 inches long. Here is the picture of the cute little guy who hopefully will have Daddy's charm and Mommy's looks! Like Kelly Greene our morning meteorologist said she doesn't even look like she gave birth.

Congratulations Seth. Hopefully Ethan is a better fantasy football player than you are. Kelly Greene sure whipped you and a few times and I will never forget beating you in the championship last year with a running back from Cincinnati named Kenny Watson. But what matters most is Seth is a great guy and is an even better Dad. Have a great day and I will be back to tell you more about our building heat ridge and a Hoosier Proverb dealing with locusts. Apparently, they are back and really noisy. In the meantime, check our your blog song of the day.

Hottest & Driest Week of the Year on the Way!

Hello! I hope you had a great weekend. It is so quiet out there today I am getting ready to go on an extended run. Before I head out the door here are some of the big weather stories I am working on for 5,6, and 11 p.m.

1) Our driest week in months and perhaps the entire year is on the way.

2) As we dry out we will also heat up with our first heat wave of the year expected.

3) Today is a huge anniversary in Indiana weather history. Do you know what it is?

I will let you think about number 3. The reason for some of our big changes here in the Midwest. Look no further than Bertha. For every big storm that takes place, nature certainly has a reaction force and in this case a building high pressure over the Midwest that will finally end our stormy madness. This big low pressure off in the Atlantic helps to build these tranquil weather makers to help keep equilibrium in the atmosphere. This will help us finally dry out! It also means we are finally going to have some real summer heat! More details on the way tonight. Have a great day! Now off to run!! Remember the Zoo Run Run at Columbian Park Zoo is this Saturday at 8:30 a.m. I cannot wait to see you out there. It should be a whole lot of fun.

Early Wake-Up Call With Flooding Rain & Damaging Wind Gusts Possible

It is good to check in with you. We had some incredible cumulonimbus clouds and rainbows at 6 a.m. Our weather team is here and ready. They have given way to some localized flooding in Tippecanoe and Montgomery County. They will be moving into Carroll, Clinton, and Howard Counties. The main threats will continue to be lightning and flooding. After 7 a.m. stronger storms from our north and west that have produced warnings in the Chicago area will move our way. The main threats will be flooding, damaging wind gusts, and lightning. Stay safe and I will get on more crawls for television.

Burst of Summer Today But Still No Heat Waves in Sight

We have only had one day of 90 degrees or above here in Lafayette. We should have had 7 times that many by now as you see on the graphic above. Casper, Wyoming has already had 6 days of 90 or above and here we sit at one. Portions of British Columbia, Sasketchewan, and Alberta have had more days reach the big 90. It is embarrassing for all the real summer weather lovers. But today we do have a shot of at least reaching 90 degrees for the first time since June 8th! Remember in July of 2006 we had 10 days of 90 or above and last year we had 3 days eclipse 90. This year it still looks like our downward spiral continues with a persistent trough in the Midwest and the big heat ridge continuing to stay out West and well to our South.

But for one day summer will shine. We have great bearded dragon and ice cream weather! Breana Blackburn sent this great picture of her pet in and Buddy loves the hot weather. Today should be a lizard delight but I think Buddy may complain a little about the relative humidity. He is used to it close to 10% and today it will be closer to 50%. But today you can certainly let the lizards out to play!

The transition into our lizard weather or some good old-fashioned summertime fun did not come without some excitement last night. We are still on the edge of cooler air and a vigorous jet stream to our north. Disturbances in the flow moved along the warm front well up into Wisconsin and then nose-dived our way in the west-northwest flow last night. The storm reports of damage luckily stayed to our North and West as you can see. The blue circles are wind damage, the yellow circles large hail, and the red circles tornadoes. We did have a couple of pea-size hail reports near Rensselaer and near Monticello. The good news is that some areas that have recently missed out on some rainfall got some free lawn-waterings. The areas in green show you who had a quarter to half inch of rain.

Some of the newer model data is showing more widespread heavy amounts of rain for all of us with an average of .50" to 1" of rain this weekend with locally higher amounts possible.
Now the big question is when because I know we all have those big plans. It still looks like Saturday will be the day and the Storm Prediction Center has already outlined us in a severe weather risk with possible watches and weather warnings. Tune in tonight to find out when these storms will hit and what they will bring. We will also talk about some relief from today's heat and humidity. I will see you soon and have a great day! Today instead of a weather blog song I have a funny video of a little guy that is shocked I am calling for NO RAIN ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON OR EVENING.



Now I am not guaranteeing this. I am too smart for that. But I do like our chances of a dry Friday afternoon and evening. This is actually a little like how I looked after going through the dozens of models and none of them showing rain over this afternoon. We have had rain on something crazy like 11 of the last 12 Fridays. Technically it already has rained on our Friday today since we had some rumbles of thunder just after midnight last night. This makes our streak now up to 12 out of the last 13 Fridays with rain! The good part is this has brought all of us weather bloggers closer together like a family just the way I like it! Today you will be able to blog away but get out and enjoy a real TGIF in its fullest. It will live up to its name.

Tonight is also a huge night at the Tippecanoe Ampitheater. You can go see the High School Musical at 8 p.m. It is also playing Saturday at 8 p.m. and once again next Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. All my girls are going tonight and having a "girls night out". It will be an outstanding show and is a must-see for everybody of all ages. The High School Musical is starring TV-18's very own producer Lisa Stanforth as Sharpay. She has already gotten rave reviews and if you met her in person the funny part is she is the total opposite and one of the nicest people you would ever meet. Things also get interesting thanks to Weather Team 18's Steve Scherer as the basketball coach. This man not only can track tornadoes but can act up a storm! It is certainly one of many fun things you can do this weekend in Lafayette!

3 H's Replaced by the 3 C's in the Year of the Storms

Usually we talk about the 3 H's this time of year which means it will be hazy, hot, and humid. The sky is usually murky and visibility is reduced. But on Wednesday evening you could see we were talking about the 3 C's since it was mainly clear, crisp, and cool! Justin New sent in a nice sunset picture with wispy pink cirrus clouds and no signs of the usual haze and thunderheads. Today it will still feel more like Spring than summer with only a slight chance of a pop up storm late in the day for Newton and Jasper Counties. This is a welcome break from the thunderstorms that have pounded our area over the last few weeks.

In fact this stormy pattern has been with us throughout the year. Check out our yearly precipitation surplus which comes out close to an astonishing 10 inches above average. We should have only had 19 inches of rain, snow, and sleet when it is all melted down. But we have already had just under 29 inches of precipitation. We only average just over 36 inches for the entire year and we are almost there and it is only July! The number of 10 inches above average does not do this stat justice. You could fill a neighborhood full of not kiddy pools but hundreds of olympic size pools, because we are running a surreal 3.5 billion gallons of water above average in Lafayette. No wonder the Wabash was above flood stage for not days but weeks for much of the winter and early Spring. Now it all makes since. All that water has to go somewhere. How did I arrive at this number. First I found out that Lafayette is 20 square miles. Since I know that one inch of rain over one acre is equal to 27,154 gallons I did the math and came up with our billion gallon plus surplus.

The unsually strong jet stream that has been suppressed much farther south than normal continues and it is delivering cold fronts once every 4 days. In the past we have seen Julys with not one cold front. July of 1936 had 10 consecutive days of 100 degrees or above and that was without air conditioning. In all 14 days produced 100 degree weather. We certainly do not have to worry about this. All the sultry weather is out West and that sprawling heat dome you see above continues to dislodge some cooler air from northern Canada that reaches us as cold fronts. This is keeping us in the same pattern of heating up, bracing for storms, and then cooling down.

It is like the movie Ground Hog Day where the same day is played over and over. We are all wondering when nature will get it right. Well it looks like not anytime soon, so we have to go through the same scenes once again. We have more rain showers and thunderstorms back in the forecast. At this point I would take the blizzard that pops up in the movie. We could see isolated activity on Friday and a better chance of rain on Saturday but it will not be a washout. Join me tonight and I will help pinpoint it for you and make sure to enjoy another fine day today!

Our weather song of the day of course is I've Got You Babe! This was song played over and over in Ground Hog Day when Bill Murray woke up only to live that same day over and over again. Like the movie I really do think we will also have a happy ending and nature will finally get out of this funk but it may take a couple more weeks. I think we could make our own movie with all the strange weather we have had this year.Enjoy the song and have a great day!

Sultry & Soggy to Splendid & Sunsational Today

We made out okay here in Lafayette last night. But nature did make things interesting for us as it always does. We had some thunderstorm tops just over 40,000 feet and a brief severe thunderstorm warning for southern Fountain County. The good news is that I received no storm reports. Teri Trent shows us those impressive towering cumulus clouds that built into thunderheads. The high temperature reached 88 degrees but we had a heat index of 94 which made it a bit stifling. It was the kind of weather that made your shirt stick to your back. This fueled our storms as they had plenty of moisture to work with.

You can see the bumpy clouds showing those high cloud tops on our satellite and radar composite. The big thing that saved us from seeing the worst of the storm was that the main cold front was still well back in Wisconsin during the late afternoon and also a pre-frontal wave came through the area in the afternoon with a few storms north and east of us. As it moved south and east during the eveing it was the main focus for thunderstorms. Some storms turned violent in Indiana with almost a dozen wind damage reports including wind gusts to 64 mph in Dale and 60 mph wind gusts in Marion and Morgan Counties with reports of trees and powerlines down. There was a sighting of a possible brief tornado just across the border in Illinois in Edgar County which is only 39 miles from our viewing area in Fountain County. There were no reports of damage with that possible twister. This was a little too close for comfort.

The biggest impact the storms had on our area was flooding in southwestern Fountain County and in Clinton County in Frankfort. Randy Rogers reported about an inch of rain in 25 minutes. Now that is a gully washer! Even though it seemed like some kind of record, it fell short of the world record for one minute rainfall set in Unionville, Maryland back on April 7, 1956. That is when a mind-numbing 1.23 inches of rain fell in just 1 minute. Here are some other rainfall totals that were reported across the area.

Today nature will bring us a July delight with not only increasing sunshine, but nice and comfortable humidity. Nature is spoiling us rotten once again. You can thank high pressure building in today. But notice it is anything but permanent and it will move east of us by Thursday afternoon as you see above. This means our "don't blink or you will miss it" weather pattern continues. Whenever we get hot it only lasts a day or two before the storms move in and then we cool down again. Then it heats back up, we brace for storms, and then it gets comfortable again. I see this pattern continuing to repeat at least one more time as we head into the weekend with our next chance of thunderstorms on Saturday. So if you don't like the weather wait a few minutes will be our weather words of the day. I will explain more about this unusual pattern we have been in tonight on the news and I will tell you if and when any heat waves could move our way.

Get out and enjoy today and make sure to remember the sunscreen. Don't let those cool breezes fool you! You may not know this but your chances of getting a bad sunburn are exactly the same at 81 degrees as they are at 88 degrees like we saw yesterday. Sunburns are not temperature dependent but sun angle dependent and that July sun angle is plenty strong. The Ultraviolet Index today is in the very high range. This means a hat and sunscreen are recommended with a SPF of at least 30 or above. Make sure to re-apply the sunscreen every couple hours, especially if you are boating or at the pool where bright surfaces can double your exposure to those UV rays. So remember for it to really be a splendid and sunsational day today make sure to wear the suncreen! Enjoy today's weather blog song of the day above and Sheryl Crow reminds us to get our 45 on so we can rock on!