Always Looking Up – Opinion

By Payton Counts News-Press NOW meteorologist The holiday season is behind us. However, many people are busy and often on the roads. This makes weather a crucial factor when planning ahead for long car trips to see family or friends. Luckily, this Christmas was a pretty uneventful one in terms of the weather. The forecast

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist Meteorological winter arrived several weeks ago, but the winter solstice marks the “official” or astronomical start of the season. This benchmark in time reminds us of the tilt of Earth’s axis, driving seasonal changes across the globe through its year-long orbit around the sun. Opposite to the summer solstice,

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist Winter snowfall gets mixed reviews from most Americans. Some enjoy a blanket of white while others cringe at the idea of even a chance of snow in the forecast. When snow comes down on Christmas, the novelty factor tends to run a bit higher for many. After all, a

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist The first snowflakes of the season fell over parts of Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas last weekend, amounting to only a trace of accumulation in St. Joseph, where a light dusting of white coated parts of the landscape for just a few short hours. Meanwhile, enough snow came down

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist Thanksgiving 2024 felt more like winter than late fall across the Mid-Missouri River Valley, as polar air kept the temperature in the 30s for most of the holiday. While several degrees below average, this was far from the coldest turkey day in St. Joseph, with a range of temperatures

By Meteorologist Jared Shelton Drier-than-normal conditions have been a common theme for much of fall 2024 throughout the Central Plains and Mid-Missouri River Valley. But a pattern change in recent weeks has changed the narrative, with back-to-back rounds of beneficial rain quenching thirsty soils and even flooding parts of the Show Me state. To recap,

By Meteorologist Jared Shelton As fall 2024 continues rolling forward across the Northern Hemisphere, parts of the United States have already had a taste of winter. While the Mid-Missouri River Valley was mostly sunny and mild last week, heavy snow resulted in low visibility and road closures from far western Kansas through much of Colorado.

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist Severe weather can happen any time of year depending on atmospheric conditions, but spring is classically known for severe weather outbreaks across large swaths of the United States. The elevated risk for tornadoes, damaging winds and hail from March to May is well known from the deep south to

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist Halloween was cool and breezy across the Mid-Missouri River Valley, but much of October was on the toasty side. More than half of the lower 48 states felt periodic waves of fall warmth during the past 31 days, and the Central Plains region was no exception. High temperatures in

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist Fall is in full swing, and soon enough winter will be closing in on the northern hemisphere. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center released its official winter outlook late last week, a forecasting method looking ahead to likely precipitation and temperature trends through December, January and February. A combination of statistical

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist Above-average temperatures held a firm grip on the Central Plains through the first half of October, with many afternoons reaching the 80s and even 90s across Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas. St. Joseph set a daily record high of 96 degrees on Oct. 5, conditions more suited for an

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist The Gulf of Mexico has made national headlines over the past 14 days, as not one but two major hurricanes have made landfall along the Florida coast impacting millions of Americans. First Helene in late September, then Milton in early October, resulting in loss of life and property across

By Payton Counts News-Press NOW meteorologist Weather is a part of our everyday lives, whether you realize it or not. It can affect us in multiple different ways, from what we wear to the food we put on our plate. So what happens when the weather or a natural disaster takes everything you’ve ever known?

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist The Mid-Missouri River Valley is rarely impacted by tropical systems, which can occasionally spread moisture into this part of the country depending on their track inland. Even so, major hurricanes making landfall in the United States often capture national attention for the sheer magnitude of their fury. Hurricane Helene

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist Astronomical fall arrives this weekend with the autumnal equinox on Sunday. Just in time, temperatures are forecast to feel a bit more seasonable by then, after a stretch of hot and muggy September days has lingered across the Central Plains, and much of the United States for the past

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist Modern-day aviation is a striking feat of man-made technological advancement, yet it still exists at the mercy of Mother Nature, as every aircraft is closely bound to the whims of our fluid atmosphere. Inherently, meteorologists play a vital role in keeping pilots and passengers out of harm’s way, from

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist Meteorological fall has arrived with the start of September, a month which often feels like a dulled extension of summer for much of the U.S. — including America’s heartland. Afternoon high temperatures run in the low 80s for much of the month here in St. Joseph, although occasional heat

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist The last week of August can bring a variety of weather to the American Midwest. Heat, humidity and sunshine are common themes from year to year, along with occasional cooler and drier spells as well. Although late August is not typically a hotbed for tornadic thunderstorms for much of

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW Chief Meteorologist When it comes to late-summer heat, August 2024 had been kind to much of the Central Plains, including the mid-Missouri River Valley. Temperature stats for St. Joseph tell the story, which has leaned toward the mild side for the past several weeks, aside from a few exceptions. The

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist After a much needed break from late-summer heat and humidity last week, the mid-Missouri River Valley has defaulted to the norm in recent days. Rather than below-average temperatures and relatively dry air, seasonably hot conditions have returned. In some cases, the summer sizzle has also been accompanied by moisture

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist Late summer is here, and for what can be one of the hottest times of the year, a mid-August cooldown has instead graced much of the Midwest late this week. To recap, Monday was a scorcher across the mid-Missouri River Valley with highs in the upper 90s and triple-digit

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist After a blistering end to July, heat is continuing to make headlines across the heartland with the start of August, perhaps unsurprisingly, as late summer is prime time for slow-motion heat waves to roll across the central United States. This season has certainly delivered thus far, especially over the

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist The air has been heavy, afternoons long and temperatures high across the Mid-Missouri River Valley for what seems like an eternity. It’s official, the “dog days of summer” have arrived with the end of July, but what does this age-old phrase actually mean? According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac,

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist From searing heat and humidity to damaging thunderstorms, this week has offered a sampling of summer’s dark side across the Midwest. Monday was marked by extreme heat indices across the mid-Missouri River Valley, which ran well into the triple digits for over ten consecutive hours. Despite a high temperature

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist July has been a busy month in weather for much of the continental U.S. so far, with several anomalous patterns and events spreading various impacts from the heartland to the Gulf Coast. Flooding was the big story across the mid-Missouri River Valley during the first week of July, after

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist June 2024 was a washout for the Mid-Missouri River Valley, with twice the average monthly rainfall coming down for much of the region, including the St. Joseph area. Early July has offered little relief from the soggy pattern, as rounds of thunderstorm activity dropped several more inches of rain

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist The first month of meteorological summer is quickly coming to a close, and with only a few days remaining in June, local and regional trends in temperature and precipitation are coming into focus. Aside from running hotter than normal across much of the U.S., including the Midwest and Central

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist Meteorological summer may have arrived several weeks ago, but the “official” or astronomical start to the season has just begun — starting with the summer solstice. Opposite to its winter counterpart (winter solstice), the summer solstice is the longest day of the year here in the northern hemisphere, when

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW Chief Meteorologist After a tame start to June in terms of summer heat across the mid-Missouri River valley, the stifle has returned this week. With the first large-scale heat wave of the season building west to east across the country also comes the return of some metrological jargon. Opposite to