**EDITED IN BLUE on Monday, May 7th at 10:18 p.m. Eastern time.***


If you view Vintage much, you know I (Kyras: Patricia) drove from So Cal to Wintergreen, Virginia for the Spring Fling this weekend, May 4-6, 2007. I left Acton, California on Sunday, April 29th and plan to be home on Saturday night, May 12th. I was watching the weather channel on TV this morning, and see the severe weather going on now in the middle of the country and frankly, I'm frightened since I'm heading straight for it. Here's my schedule for the next three days:

Sunday, May 6th: Wintergreen, Virginia to Lexington, Kentucky. 394 miles
^ I drove to Louisville, Kentucky instead. 473 miles.

Monday, May 7th: Lexington, Kentucky to Independence (Kansas City), Missouri. 576 miles.
^ I drove from Louisville, Kentucky to Salina, Kansas instead. 706 miles.

Tuesday, May 8th: Independence (Kansas City), Missouri to Peyton, Colorado (My sister's house). 581 miles.
^ I'll be driving from Salina, Kansas to Peyton, Colorado.

I'll be driving Interstate 70 almost the entire way. If you live near Interstate 70 and could possibly be a safe haven for me if I'm scared to death and getting pounded with nature, could you call me on my cell phone and let me know? I have reservations for hotels already at the red named cities, but I'm worried about my Suzuka baby being hailed to death or me just being after over 500 miles of severe weather on Monday and Tuesday.

I have a laptop with me so I should be online each night at my hotels, assuming the connections work at the hotels.

Patricia (661) 209-0596

Thank you.

 

Look at it this way, Patricia: you'll have some excitement to relieve the boredom of all those long, flat miles through the lower midwest. And, because you're headed west, you can see what you're getting into in time to hide from it under an overpass, if needed.

By the time you see this, you'll probably be in Lexington, and, from the national weather maps, it looks like today (Sunday) will be fine. It's tomorrow afternoon and maybe Tuesday morning that could be exciting.

The weather system that's spawned those tornadoes in Kansas is, oddly, sort of parked over the KS-MO region for much longer than you'd normally expect. And because it's a long, front-related N-S line of storms, there's really no way around it.

Go to the weather service web site (nws.noaa.gov) and select the "National Maps" tab above the map there. The map that first appears is a current summary -- a "nowcast" or a short-term (12-hr or so) forecast depending what time of day you see it. Below are links to 12-hour, 24-hour, etc. maps, and each say something like "Valid: 12Z Mon 7May" (or 00Z Tues..., etc) in their lower left corners. "Z" is Greenwich mean time, which is 5 hours ahead of Central Daylight Time. Thus, 00Z is 7PM the previous day (CDT) and 12Z is 7AM. The fronts and rain (green hatched areas) are shown and, believe it or not, pretty accurate. This, at least, will give you some idea of what you're going to encounter.

For the most part, really bad weather in this region is an afternoon/evening (sometimes nighttime) phenomenon, so I imagine Monday afternoon is your most vulnerable time window.

Grit your teeth, hold on, and watch for those overpass hiding places. Good luck, HPH

 

Patricia,

Having been raised in Kansas City I would agree with Dr. Clouds assessment.

Shortly after you leave Kansas City on I-70 (about 60 miles out) you will be able to see far into the distance, unless you're in a rainstorm. The late afternoon/evening is usually the worst threat.

The really nasty weather is usually preceeded by a very calm, still period.
Look for the yellowish tint to the sky. If you see that, it's probably time to look for cover and wait it out.

Enjoy the drive,

Willinathen

 

Nate and/or Doc -

What causes the yellowish tint?

And Patty - take care.

 

Unfortunately I have no idea,

But, every time i've seen it, there is a dead calm, the birds get quiet and, pretty soon, all hell breaks loose.

Willinathen

 

Apparently it (and a greenish one as well) has to do with the way that sunlight is filtered by the particular clouds involved with this sort of nasty weather.

Clouds are just clumps, or blobs or masses or whatever you want to call them, of water drops and/or ice crystals. When the drops get big enough, they fall as rain. Deep clouds, or the very high ones, are clumps of ice crystals. Because convective clouds -- like in thunderstorms -- have lots of upward and downward motions in them, drops can get moved around a lot before they fall out, and if they get repeatedly transported above the freezing level they turn into hailstones.

So it's thought that there's some combination of rain/hail particles in these severe storms that leads to the strange lighting conditions. HPH

 

^^ Ouch, my brain hurts from absorbing all that information.

 

I use these

www.intellicast.com

www.weather.gov

 

We spoke with Patty right before she left Wintergreen, and she was still nervous about her trip through KS. Good luck, Patty!

 

I passed Lexington and got to Louisville, Kentucky, just about 50 miles farther. So tomorrow will be 504 miles instead of 576 miles. I guess the earlier I get on the road the better my travels will be. Makes it worth getting up early if I get less rain. Thanks for the info DrCloud and willinathen.