We are one week away from our WANE TV Weather Radio Programming week, click here for the complete schedule to include other events in the South Bend area.

Here is the complete schedule and locations for our events in Northeastern Indiana and Northwestern Ohio:

Each event will run from 4PM to 7PM:

•             Monday, May 13th:  Fort Wayne Walgreens, 6202 W Jefferson Blvd, Fort Wayne, IN

•             Tuesday, May 14th: Huntington Walgreens, 1804 N Jefferson St, Huntington, IN

•             Wednesday, May 15th: Angola Walgreens, 2012 N Wayne St, Angola, IN

•             Thursday, May 16th: Van Wert Ohio at Rulers Foods: 1120 S Shannon St  Van Wert, OH

•             Friday, May 17th: Kroger in Fort Wayne, 601 E Dupont Rd, Fort Wayne, IN

So, what should you do if you don’t have a weather radio yet, but want one?  Just show up at any one of the events and weather radios will be available for purchase.

Are you running the One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon Saturday?  If so, good luck!   I have no idea what kind of temperatures you like for running a half marathon, but I would have to guess that the majority of runners don’t want sunshine and 80s.   I have run 18 marathons and several dozen half marathons and this forecast would be great for me since I am a “hot baby.”  (I hate running in the heat.  Give me 45 degrees and light rain and I will run a PR.)  Probably the biggest impact will be the winds which may gust up to 25 mph at some point during the race.   Will it rain?   There is a 30% at the start and during the race, but the higher rain chances for Indy really come in during the late afternoon, well after the marathon is over.

Again and good luck, I hope you have a fun time.

If you were out and about Thursday evening, did you happen to see the sunset?  Did you happen to see the column of light to the left of the setting sun?  If you did, you saw a “sun dog,” which is also called a perhelia, meaning “beside the sun.”

What causes this you ask?   As the sun light passes through the ice crystals of the high level clouds on horizon, the sun light is refracted or bent.  This causes a prism effect of several colors.  I took this picture just near the intersection of  Till and Huguenard in northwestern Allen County.  (Looks like it was a good night to have the top off of the Jeep.)

Thursday evening snow cover in Mason City Iowa, courtesy KIMT-TV.

Here’s the deal folks:  There is some rain in the forecast this weekend, but no complaining is allowed.  Why?   Because it could be worse!  We could be dealing with snow in May.  This was the case across parts of Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota this morning.   Above is the tower camera at KIMT-TV in Mason City Iowa, which is a sister station to WANE TV.  (Can you see that white stuff?   It’s snow!)  Actually, this is where I got my start in broadcast meteorology and where I saw my first tornado.

Thursday morning snow, courtesy the NWS of Des Moines Iowa.

So, how much snow did they have this morning?   Notice the area highlighted in red in the map above?   That area had 8 to 10 inches of snow, but as you can see from the tower camera image, most of the snow has melted off the roads.

Want to see more of the May Day Snow?   Click here.

Again, look for a few hit and miss rain showers for us this weekend, but no complaining folks, it could always be worse.

Now that it is May and April is in the books, here is a look at the April climate summary.  Yes, April 2013 was cold and wet with an average temperature of 48.2° and 7.10″ of rain, making 2013 the 41st coldest April ever since 1913 and the 3rd wettest April ever.

After a cold and wet April, today was the warmest day of the year with a high temperature of 82°.  So will the heat continue?   Actually, the answer may be yes.  Here is 3 month outlook from the Climate Prediction Center which has us with a higher chance of above average temperatures for the next 3 months.

Do you need your weather radio programmed, or maybe you just need to pick up a weather radio for this spring and summer?  The Live Doppler 15 Fury Storm Team is coming to your town to help you program your NOAA weather radio during the 3rd of week of May.  Last year we made it out to Fort Wayne, Columbia City and Decatur, but this year we are expanding.  Not only will we be in Fort Wayne twice, but look for us in Huntington on Tuesday the 14th, Angola on Wednesday the 15th and in Van Wert on Thursday the 16th.  (See the complete schedule above.)

Each event will only run from 4PM to 7PM, and even if you don’t need your weather radio programmed, feel free to come out and meet members of the weather team.   If you do need your weather radio programmed, remember to bring batteries for your radio so we can program it for you.  We hope to see you there!

Total tornadoes this year compared to average.

So far, the severe storm season across the lower 48 has been very slow, which is a good thing.  The map above is from the Storm Prediction Center, plotting our total tornadoes for 2013 compared to a 30 year average.

The reason for the below average tornado season so far is due to the cold and dry air that has been dominating the Southern Plains over the last 2 months.   Does this mean here in Indiana that we can expect a quiet severe storm season?  Honestly, I don’t think so.  Our severe storm season goes from May to July with the peak of hail in May, tornadoes in June and damaging winds in July.   So, it is a little early to draw a conclusion between the anemic start to the severe storm season and what we can expect over the next several months.

Maybe I should take my own advice and burn one of those comp days I have been saving.  Not only is it going to be warm and dry Tuesday, the TinCaps have game during the day, not the evening.

If you are heading to the game, plan on warm, breezy and dry conditions with temperatures climbing into the mid 70s by the 9th inning.  If you plan on spending the rest of the day outside, get ready for high temperatures to max out right at 80° at about 5PM.

Picture of full “pink” moon courtesy Garry Harshbarger.

This came in this afternoon and I really wanted to share with everyone.  This is the full moon from Thursday night from WANE viewer Garry Harshbarger.   He was able to capture the moon, a low cumulus cloud and the wind turbines.   Thanks for using Report!t Gary!

Above is the newest edition to our weather tools for the area: A HD “Eye in the Sky” in Bluffton, courtesy of the Wells County EMA.   This camera is mounted on the Bluffton Police communication tower, 180 feet up, giving us a perfect view of incoming storms.

Do you want to see the most recent image of this camera?   Click here to see it.  Just click “more cameras.”

I would like to thank the Wells County Emergency Manager for his investment in this powerful weather tool.   Again, radar can tell us a lot about a storm and it’s intensity, but when it comes to locating storm rotation and tornadoes, eyes on the storm is the next best thing.

So Bluffton, next time a storm is bearing down on your city, you can monitor the camera with the link above, or see it live during any severe weather coverage on NewsChannel 15.