Every year is a little different weather-wise but Mother Nature always averages out, National Weather Service meteorologist Leon Washinger believes.
"You just don’t know what Mother Nature’s timing is," he said.
The recent forecasts all read alike with those same key words – "rain" and "severe". Weather writers could just cut and paste one day’s forecast to the next days and the day after that, and few would know the difference.
But?Washinger had good news as well as bad news today. Yes, the warnings for the Walnut and Arkansas rivers were still in effect at noon. There was minor flooding occurring, as it usually does when the rivers rise to flood stage. The good news is the rivers were dropping and the warnings should be lifted later Thursday.
Whether the rivers continue to fall depends on weather stuff like high pressures and low pressures and dry lines and?other influences Washinger talks about easily.
The heat of the day – that’s easier for us regular guys to understand – will be the main factor in determining whether the rains continue to fall on already saturated grounds and swollen rivers.
If the temperature reaches the mid-90s -? there could be trouble in River City. The high temperature would likely generate enough energy for thunderstorms to develop. And some storms could be severe.
Just when you think you can’t cope with another rainy forecast, Washinger throws out a little hope.? The storms should be more scattered -?which is good, Washinger said, because less rain would be concentrated over water basins and the rain would have a lot less impact on the rivers.
It should also make life easier for the farmers who have money tied up in crops they can’t get out of the fields.
"That’s got to be frustrating," he said.
The hail storm several weeks ago also created some bad news for farmers. Getting hit by the large hail, Washington said, is like being stoned to death.
"It killed some cattle in north central Kansas – the hail beat ’em up. They were just stoned to death, basically," he said. "It knocked the bark off trees. Some trees were just stripped of their leaves and if the branches were small enough it took them off, too. It’s like throwing a baseball at somebody."
There is no way of knowing where the rain will fall should the temperature rise and energize thunderstorms. You just don’t know that until the storms do develop.
Washinger’s forecast in a nut shell – it might rain later today.
