This forecast has been updated. Please go here for later information.  Thank you for visiting  mikesmithenterprisesblog.com As of 11:55pm, I'm even more concerned about flash flood potential during the night over parts of eastern Nebraska, southern Iowa, northern Missouri and, perhaps, parts of northeast Kansas. In addition to heavy rains occurring in those areas at this time, a squall line is moving southeast out of central Nebraska that will cause even more heavy rain, in addition to damaging winds with a few areas of large hail and even a "tornado or two" where you see the pink tint. This will be my last update of the night.  --- original posting --- In addition to the squall line threat (see posting below), I'm concerned about additional overnight rains adding to the flooding in the Midwest.  Here are 12-hour rainfalls ending at 10pm.  More than two inches have fallen in parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. It is currently raining in some of thos...

Severe Thunderstorm Watch Issued Ahead of Squall Line - 11:40pm Severe thunderstorm watch just now issued including Topeka and Kansas City. It warns of 75 mph winds, 2" hail and "a tornado or two." It is in effect until 7am.  A Powerful Squall Line is Moving Southeast at 11:30pm There has been considerable wind damage in the Omaha area. The squall line in central Nebraska will sweep up the storms ahead of it and charge southeast during the night. Power failures likely. Make sure you have some way of getting storm warnings for your area while sleeping.  This is the last update of the night.  -- first update-- I believe the squall line is going to form and move southeast. Damaging winds are quite likely. Right now (9:24pm), the southernmost circled storm has a tornado warning. Please make sure you can get warnings during the night in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa.  --- original posting --- The pink tint represents severe thunderstorm watches as of 5:30pm. There a...

The launch of GOES-U, a new weather and solar observation satellite, went off without a hitch this afternoon. Congratulations to NOAA, Space-X and the NWS. 

We are now at the 24 hour mark in the outage! Since most meteorologists use the higher resolution Level 2 data, I was not aware of the complete Level 3 outage. There are many non-professional-level applications that use the Level 3 data which means -- for them -- no radar. This is dangerous, especially during peak thunderstorm season!! --- original, still valid, posting --- You may have seen cautionary notes like these on a number of web sites today.  Since about 4:30 yesterday afternoon, the NWS has been operating in seriously degraded mode. This includes serious issues with its flood information -- during the (in some locations) record Midwest flooding that has already taken out one dam and one major bridge. I-29 is closed. There are issues with aviation weather forecasts and other important weather information.  An article that sums up the situation is here .  This has been going on for years and is not getting better. The only solution I can come up with is a National...

The blue background is where the flooding is the worst. At both Kansas City and St. Louis, the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, respectively, are contained by flood control. Below is the forecast rainfall the next 24 hours. 

This is National Lightning Safety Week and I learned something new a couple of days ago and it is this: the "lightning crouch" is no longer recommended if you get caught in the open during lightning. The Lightning Safety Council believes that it is more important to get to shelter rather than staying out in the storm crouching.  Literally 99% of lightning fatalities do not  occur in cars or buildings. That is where you want to go when you see lightning or hear thunder. 

I've added a hilarious clip of Bill Nye, here .  --- original posting --- Consider these headlines: Now, take a look at the latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center. If this forecast is correct, it would make 2024 the slowest start to a hurricane season since 2014! I'll be the very first to say that it could still be an awful hurricane season, slow start or not. But that's not the point. After the implications that it could be a quick start to the hurricane season, excuses are already being made. The forecasts of a bad hurricane season seem to center around the observation of warmer than average water in the hurricane breeding grounds. Some of us tried to point out that there is much more to hurricane formation than just water temperature, but those comments were largely cast aside.  Much of the above was based on Big Climate's fear mongering. As Dr. Ryan Maue pointed out on Twitter this morning, rather than using its own chief meteorologist Ginger Zee (a well...