Rukavina's Extreme Weather and Climate Blog

SATURDAY IS A WEATHER AUTHORITY ALERT DAY A rather strong storm system will take aim on the Local 6 area Saturday and Saturday night. The Storm Prediction Center has issued a MODERATE RISK for an outbreak of severe weather. Several rounds of storms will be possible and as many people are looking to get outdoors for the long holiday weekend, storms may threaten at times.  A first round is expected to moving through during the overnight hours Friday night into early Saturday morning with a low risk for severe. This changes dramatically Saturday afternoon and evening as a complex of storms develops over Missouri during the heat of the afternoon, while the atmosphere becomes highly unstable and ripe for widespread outbreak. This second round should move out by sunset while a third possible complex of storms develops again over Missouri and moves east from around 10pm into the very early morning hours of Sunday.  The weather may change very quickly wherever you are tomorrow so be sur

With an increase in heavy downpours across the Midwest and Southeast over the past 50 years it has become vital that we continue to look for advanced ways to track the threat of flooding events. The main goal is to give people as much advanced notice as possible so that they can prepare for rising water and be allowed time to get out of harms way. In December of 2015, I wrote an article featuring the products shown here and how they may become part of our future for flash flood forecasting. The National Severe Storms Laboratory has been conducting research (FLASH) focused on using simulated water flow to help better predict the likelihood of water rises along rivers and associated tributaries.  Below is an example of one of the products that the NSSL can display and it's archived data from the July 2015 flash flooding in the Paducah area. This particular product shows simulated surface water flow between 30 minutes before and 12 hours after a designated time. At the very start

The dangerous high waters of the Mississippi have returned to threaten properties in the delta of this great river. For one area, the idea of taking on more water has become more and more a reality some are not willing embrace. In January of 2016 a three quarter mile section of the Len Small Levee was breached and then collapsed by flood waters from the Mississippi River. Water inundated farmland and left behind 10-foot sand deposits after it receded. Alexander County officials appealed to the St. Louis District Army Corps of Engineers and were denied the assistance to make the $16 million estimate cost of repair. Just this past month farmers considered a plan to rebuild the levee with their own equipment to take place in June. Time has now run out to repair the collapsed section of levee as the water rises quickly on the Mississippi River after a record amount of rain fell across many of its tributaries to the north.    I spoke to one resident in that area today who says they are