When I was a kid in the 1960's, the great Pele came to Kansas City (where I grew up) in the first of innumerable attempts to get Americans to adopt soccer. Our family went to see him (which is why this episode of The Simpsons  is so funny to me) at old Municipal Stadium at 22nd and Brooklyn. This was before Kauffman and Arrowhead Stadia were built.  Today's weather should be great. The first KC World Cup game is tomorrow at 8pm CDT. Our next tornado warning shouldn't be until Wednesday, which is an "off" day, so weather will be okay soccer-wise for the first game.  And, for the benefit of everyone beyond a 100 mile radius of downtown, Arrowhead Stadium is in Missouri , not Kansas. If your GPS tells you otherwise, it is incorrect. For the tournament, FIFA says it must be called "Kansas City Stadium." Don't ask me why. For locals: I have been to three restaurants since Thursday and all were less busy than usual. Jack Stack and 3rd St. Social have imp...

All of the teams have arrived and, thanks to Mother Nature's sense of humor, the city has put on a spectacular display of weather for each on their respective first nights: a tornado warning. Really. Four teams setting up their "base camps" here and four tornado warnings.  Eric Graves, KMBC TV Above is a screen shot of the Argentinian's having a traditional bar-b-que at their hotel last night....while lightning flashed and tornado sirens roared.  The National Weather Service's Kansas City office says it has issued more than 80 tornado warnings so far this year -- by far the most in its history.  Perhaps the most appropriate welcome gift for each player would be a .... weather radio?

Shelf clouds = damaging winds. Winds have gusted to 81 mph behind this one as it approaches Kansas City.  And, hours before the line of thunderstorms that brought damaging winds and tornadoes, weather science told FIFA to cancel the Kansas City FanFest for this evening. That way tens of thousands of people were not  exposed to dangerous weather.  Kansas City International Airport clocked a gust of 79 mph and there were several instances of lofted debris as tornadoes moved across the Metro area. Fox 4 KC

Dave Barry Dave Barry writes about being in France for the World Cup in 1998 and what a wonderful experience it was.  We in Kansas are glad that Kansas City is one of the 2026 World Cup cities. From what the media is reporting, there are still plenty of hotel rooms if you would like to visit during the tournament. I did a random check of the airlines and while the prices from a few cities (like Newark) may be a bit inflated, there appear to be plenty of seats. I don't know if it is because of the World Cup but I thought an item from the United web site was a bit odd: "Show price in money. " Can you purchase a ticket using graham crackers or deflated soccer balls? Back to the main subject: If you decide to visit Kansas City you can look forward to a warm welcome. 

The NWS's job -- and only job -- should be to provide outstanding forecasts and  storm warnings for the public-at-large, which pays their salaries.  With the National Weather Service falling apart , the last thing they should be doing is redeploying meteorologists -- when they are already badly shorthanded -- to World Cup cities to provide weather security for the matches.  Kansas City World Cup ticket prices. These are the  least expensive tickets for each match.  Addition: These are prices for the Denver games. The price is for a pair of tickets. You want to tell me to believe the  organizers cannot afford a few thousand dollars for an  expert commercial meteorological service?! The FIFA (World Cup organizers) should take the revenue from just a few of those tickets and pay a commercial weather company -- which after all specialize in this type of assignment -- to do the weather security. This especially true since NWS meteorologists' training in han...