Chris's Corner - The Spring Cut-off Season has Arrived

The weather balloon recovery process was completed yesterday. Thanks to the help of a wonderful family, we were able to get over two hours of footage from the balloons journey. We made it to over 89,000 feet and reached temperatures of almost -29 degrees. Sadly, as the flight went a little longer than expected, our camera batteries died before "splash down". I created a short highlight video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSu9dTEjq3A

Thanks for sharing.  I'm sure your kids were thrilled with the recovery and the data you received.   Cold temperatures really impact battery life.  Was that the issue or actually the length of the flight?

That is amazing. Thanks so much for sharing.

Wait a few weeks when it gets hot in TX. WhAt a mess that state is.

Did watch a report out of Denver that those in that state who get natural gas from suppliers other than XCel Energy are getting hit by jumps in their March bills of several thousand percent because they buy natural gas off the same open market that caused the billing hikes in Texas during the February freeze.

Cold front didn't progress as expected and thunderstorms hampered wind generators in west Texas. Grid runs on razor thin margin. Some capacity is offline for seasonal maintenance.

Seems like the chance for flakes to fly on 4/20-21 are on the increase both the GFS and now the GEM show a mix of rain and sloppy wet snow with even a dusting possible. Given the ground is warm, and solar heating 8 weeks from Summer Solstice along with precip falling in the later afternoon into the evening likely will prevent anything from sticking but still probably the latest instance of snow seen in sometime just 2 weeks shy of the all time record in fact May 4th, was it in the 1960s. And just to add more fun the GFS 0Z shows yet another blast of cold air as we close April into May before a fast flip to a late Spring/Summer Pattern. Some pretty unusual weather the next couple weeks for sure. Really keeping the lid on the Severe Weather Season which while bad in the south could of been much worse both there and here had the pattern been reversed. Summer will probably make up for the lack of real serious warmth so far, however I could also see something like 2004 a possibility in May as well.

12z gfs is supportive of a band of hamster sized snowflakes busting through the metro on Tuesday.

Would be very cool to see.

It's almost as exciting as SMJ's 4 1/2 hour freezer video.

Texas cuts it too thin like CA. Shouldn’t get rid of natural gas until the alternative energy system can handle the load.
The only reason why CA isn’t still having rolling blackouts is because they brought a NG plant back online.

Seriously, CA isn’t the model to follow. Especially when old school is clean and reliable.

Crazy that all models are showing a band of snow/mix moving through anywhere between Tuesday morning and Tuesday night. That would be the latest I've ever seen snowflakes. A few years ago we had snow showers on April 16. That's one hell of a front for late April, geez.

I'm up to about 100 morels so far with the limited time I've had to look. Some of the whites are starting to get a little size to them, while others have just emerged. Who knows what this cold snap will do.

Looks like a potential high POP/low QPF scenario with the rainfall tonight into tomorrow...good for the wet yards but bad for morel hunters. This stretch has easily been the worst conditions for them I've seen since 2012. These chaotic springs seem to have become the norm over the past 5+ years. I've noticed a strong trend of high wind and late cold snaps with bouts of unseasonable warmth thrown in.

Snow in April just doesn’t do it for me 

I rather get torched