Watermark Books' best-sellers 1. "Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather" by Mike Smith 2. "Romancing Miss Bronte" by Juliet Gael 3. "Pearl of China" by Anchee Min 4. "Red Azalea" by Anchee Min 5. "Innocent" by Scott Turow 6. "Spoken from the Heart" by Laura Bush 7. "The Scent of Rain and Lightning" by Nancy Pickard 8. "Art of Our Time: Selections from the Ulrich Museum of Art" by Patricia McDonnell and Emily Stamey 9. "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" by Helen Simonson 10. "The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels" by Charlotte Bronte, Anne Bronte, and Emily Bronte Warnings continues to get great reviews. If haven't read it, please consider getting a copy. If you have read it and liked it, please tell your friends.

Got back to Wichita after week two of the book tour and was catching up on my newspapers. This story really scares me. Stan Finger writes about the extreme traffic jams as the tornado approached Wichita Monday. People were trying to dash from work to home when the tornado sirens went off and the roads became gridlocked. A car is no place to be during a tornado!  Look at this photo from Associated Press taken just east of Norman, OK Monday. The KFOR TV helicopter presented live video of cars tossed like Hot Wheels toys. As a father, I certainly understand the impulse to want to get home to your children. But, they are better off with you waiting until the storm has passed rather than risking being in the path of the tornado in your car.

In Warnings  I write about the WKY TV (now KFOR TV) weather department and my boss, Jim Williams. KFOR, one week ago, did a story comparing TV weather warnings then and now and included some clips of Jim from those days and interviewed him talking about today's warnings. It is great to see Jim looking well today. The story is here . And, note the liquid chalk dispenser in Jim's right hand is the one that he used to draw the white lines on the map. I believe that is the same map and the same liquid chalk dispenser I used when doing storm warnings from the WKY weather department.

From left, Don Marsh (host), Don Corrigan and yours truly. The "St. Louis on the Air" interview has been posted. Click here if you would like to listen. Thanks to Don Marsh and Mary K Edwards, Don's producer. Don and I worked together at KTVI and he is still the great talent and gentleman he has always been.

The image at left was posted a week ago today, Saturday, May 8. It is a forecast where tornadoes might occur (white line) and of the highest potential for strong tornadoes (hatched).  At right is a map with the red symbols indicating the location of tornadoes. While not perfect, it is a very good forecast -- more than 48 hours before the event. For two full days, meteorologists were warning of the potential for a major tornado outbreak. The goal being to raise awareness so that radio and television could be monitored for warnings if danger approached. The very low death toll (considering the number and intensity of the tornadoes) is testament to the effectiveness of this approach.

"Extra Edition" will air at 6am Saturday and will also be posted on their web site here .