Perseid Meteor Shower

The Perseid Meteor shower is in full swing. Sky conditions should be great as they were last night. The moon rises at about a quarter past 11 pm tonight which might interfer slightly with viewing let's say from midnight on.

Meteor showers are the result of the earth passing through bits of debris left in a comet path. The Perseids appear every August as the earth crosses the path of comet Swift-Tuttle.

More information can be found here.


Ted Keller
Senior Meteorologist
KOLR/KSFX-TV
Storm chasing and more at:
Ceaseless Wind

Summer 2009

We have had an interesting summer. It has leaned to the cool and wet side to be sure. Today is the 41st day of below normal readings since June 1st. There have only been 18 ninety-degree days, 10 of those were in June!

July was the 7th coolest on record in Springfield while other locations east of the city ranked much cooler if not coolest.

The rest of this week should stay below normal.

Ted Keller
Senior Meteorologist
KOLR/KSFX-TV
Storm chasing and more at:
Ceaseless Wind

Tropical Depression #2

The Atlantic basin is looking more active now in terms of possible tropical developments.

There are a few distrurbances over and east of the Leeward Islands but a tropical depression did form overnight west of the Cape Verde Islands. This system is about ten days from any potential interaction with the U.S.

Cape Verde storms are very common this time of year as waves come off of the African Coast traveling westward.


Ted Keller
Senior Meteorologist
KOLR/KSFX-TV
Storm chasing and more at:
Ceaseless Wind

6-10 Day Forecast

The period Sunday through Thursday of next week appears to be close to normal for temperature and rainfall in the Ozarks. An upper level low pressure area looks like it will establish itself over the western U.S., spreading cooler-than-normal air in the Great Plains. The Ozarks is on the extreme eastern end of this region. Rainfall will be maximized on the eastern side of the flow around the western low pressure system.

View all Climate Prediction Center extended forecasts.

Ted Keller
Senior Meteorologist
KOLR/KSFX-TV
Storm chasing and more at:
Ceaseless Wind

Storm Update 4:30 pm 8/10/09

The line of storms has fragmented a bit since earlier this afternoon and does not at this time represent a traditional bowing segment of storms with its accompanying widespread wind damage. However, it will still have some severe winds in connection with some of the stronger storms. Of larger concern is the additional rainfall that areas north of Springfield are now receiving and that the metro area will get beginning at about 5:15 and lasting through 6:45. Greene County and some of the surrounding area is presently under a flash flood warning.


Ted Keller
Senior Meteorologist
KOLR/KSFX-TV
Storm chasing and more at:
Ceaseless Wind

Severe Update August 10th 2:35 pm

An active bow echo which has caused wind damage in Kansas will cross into the northern portion of the viewing area this afternoon and early evening. A severe thunderstorm watch was issued for areas north of Springfield as a result of this advancing line. Folks north of a line from Lamar to Salem, MO need to be on the lookout for damaging wind as this line advances at about 40 mph.

This will affect the Truman Lake area starting at 3:30 and the Lake of the Ozarks starting at about 4:30 pm.

You can watch this line advance using interactive radar on Ozarksfirst.com


Ted Keller
Senior Meteorologist
KOLR/KSFX-TV
Storm chasing and more at:
Ceaseless Wind

Hurricanes and El Nino

A developing El Nino pattern has caused forecasters at the Climate Prediction Center and National Hurricane Center to pull back a bit on the number of named storms forecast in the Atlantic basin this season.

El Nino is warming of the equatorial waters of the Pacific to much above normal conditions. It usually starts in the eastern Pacific as the NOAA animation above shows. The warming of the waters helps to generate thunderstorms which in turn transport heat into the upper atmosphere. This strengthens the jet stream over the Atlantic equatorial regions. Strong jet stream winds, or more precisely the shear they produce, tear apart developing tropical systems. It’s ironic that powerful storms like Katrina actually require benign conditions in which to first start developing!

A complete write-up on this topic from NOAA can be found here.



Ted Keller
Senior Meteorologist
KOLR/KSFX-TV
Storm chasing and more at:
Ceaseless Wind