Weather

(WICHITA, Kan.) You can blame the weather on the increase of snake sightings in south central Kansas. "It was just an amazing thing, I'd never seen that before," said Jesse Huxman from West Wichita home. He loves how close he can be to nature in his backyard. Until Friday, when nature got a little too close, and comfortable, on his conifers. He quickly ran for his house, and reached for his camera. "The first time I saw them," he said, "it was three of them, kind of braided together from the cone of the tree, all the way down.

Obviously, the year is ending with weather not typical for late December. Is that a problem? Honestly, I don't miss the cold or snow at all, but we often hear from people who do want it to look and feel more like winter. What do you think? Would you rather be scraping ice off your windshield and having to bundle up to go outside? Tell us how you feel. Roger

We've received a lot of nice comments by phone, e-mail etc. about our coverage of last Saturday's tornados and the aftermath. It's very gratifying to know that despite the destruction,  people took the warnings seriously, and there were no critical injuries or deaths. Something to keep in mind the next time we interupt programming for potentially life-saving information. Thank you all for the kind comments. Roger

Riverfest officials have canceled all events at this time. The festival grounds and Century II have been evacuated and any remaining people are advised to take cover. A tornado warning has been extended. KWCH will continue to update you with more details as more information becomes available.

The season opener for Wichita State baseball has been postponed due to inclement weather in the San Marcos area.  The Shockers were supposed to play Louisiana Lafayette Friday night at 6 but that game has now been rescheduled for Saturday at 3 pm. That game will be part of a double-header for Wichita State who will play Santa Clara 30 minutes after the end of their first matchup. Sunday's game against Texas State is set for 3 pm.

Wichita hits a record high for the month of November.  Friday it was 86 degrees.  Many spent the day outside, enjoying time at the Sedgwick County Zoo and washing cars. While you may not be ready for it to turn cold, others like David Eastwood can't wait.  He owns The Slope, a ski shop on east Central.  "Last season's non existent winter people did not need new ski jackets,  they did not need cold weather jackets.  People thought since Wichita didn't have snow, Colorado didn't.

The snow storm may close schools and slow down traffic, but it doesn't stop some small businesses. Workers might not make many sales when it snows, however they do get in some shoveling practice. "Trying to keep the sidewalk clear, it's a losing battle," said Ryan Dirks of All Things BBQ in Delano. The battle is worth the fight, when you own a small business. "They will probably be shoveling the sidewalk every 30 to 45 minutes to keep it clear," said owner Kathy Cary.

Due to heavy rain and lightning in the Manhattan area on Saturday, the second game of the series between Kansas State and No. 5 Baylor was suspended with the Wildcats leading, 10-8, in the top of the sixth. The game will be resumed at 12 p.m., Sunday, while the series finale will be played 30 minutes after the conclusion of the suspended game. With the game tied at 4-4 in the fifth inning, Kansas State scored six runs in the bottom half to take a 10-4 lead. K-State loaded the bases with one out when Dan Klein walked before Jake Brown ripped a two-RBI single to give the Wildcats a 7-4 advantage.

In recent years, the Walnut Valley Festival was plagued by poor weather. One attendee decided to put his meteorlogical skills to use so he can warn the other attendees. Larry Krudwig is a retired meteorologist. He put together a low-power fm radio station to warn fair goers about extreme weather. He broadcasts out of a trailer and the station's reach is just the fair grounds. "Our total interest is confined to right here," he said. "We try to be as specific as possible as to how this is going to impact the fair grounds and the festival area in general.

If your lawn looks more like a jungle right now, you're not alone. Lawn and garden services tell us they are really behind because of the warm spring and rain we've had. While their busy season usually starts in April, many have been on the job since mid-March. They still can't stay ahead of the weather. That causes problems with scheduling, and more. Scott Manners of Lawn Appeal tells us, "We're also concerned with starting to do more landscape jobs. We get some hard freezes and we're going to run into problems putting new nice flowers in for our clients....we'll get a freeze in there and that's not going to help the flowers whatsoever.

KWCH-TV viewers across Kansas were glued to Storm Team 12 coverage of the severe weather that brought tornadoes to the Great Plains Sunday. Click here for Storm Shots But just as the storms were bearing down on Wichita, some digital cable viewers saw the coverage interrupted by an EAS, the federally mandated Emergency Alert System. KWCH 12 viewer Roger Epperly Jr. emailed us to say "My cable box switched over to the EAS (Emergency Alert System)

A weak, slow moving, cold front will drop into our area Wednesday and stall-out across northern Kansas.  In addition, an upper level storm system is moving northeast through Oklahoma, which will help to spark widely scattered storms.  Central and eastern parts of our state will likely see storms develop after 3 or 4 p.m. with some isolated large hail and wind gusts to 60 mph. Storms will weaken or move out by midnight. Afternoon highs Wednesday will be in the 80s statewide. A few, more isolated storms, may move through western and northern Kansas Thursday but the activity will be very spotty.

It probably leads to more complaints than anything else we do....weather coverage interupting shows. After dealing with the issue and listening to complaints for decades...here is the conclusion I've come to. There are really two very different groups of viewers watching at any one time. One group has the television on because they want to see the sitcom, drama, sports broadcast, game show or whaever is on. Unless there is a tornado approaching their specific area, they don't want weather interuptions.

When will it end?  We're halfway through spring, and yet another freeze warning.  It's almost as if we're frozen in time--back to February when 32 degree temperatures were normal. Some are calling it the spring that never was, and that is causing some real problems for people.  Whether it's gardening, outdoor sports, or garage sales, normal spring activities are being disrupted. Still, Laurie Reber is going ahead with her garage sale.  She is just keeping everything inside the garage, turning on a heater and keeping the doors closed.

May Day 2013 is feeling a lot more like a snow day. "If we had snow it'd be a good time to go sledding, it's cold enough, but don't have the snow to go with it," says farmer Spencer Ring. The Delano Farmer's Market kicked off Wednesday night, without many customers. "I see people wondering wether or not they want to get out of their vehicles," says Cameron Hendricks with Holmes-Made Salsa. "You just deal with it, it's Kansas. I got a sunburn yesterday painting my garage and today I'm freezing," said customer Barbara Kramer.

Many are hoping for the warmer weather that spring should bring, but the sunshine also can bring  allergies and pests. Allergist Van Strickland says that this season may end up with more pollen because of the longer growing seasons. "One in five people are allergic to pollens, and the pollens are going to be higher," Strickland said. He also says that some of his patients are having problems deciding when to take their allergy medicine. Wichita may also see an increase in pests.

The worst thing about the Big 12 Golf tournament at Prairie Dunes is the weather. Without fail, when the conference brings the best of the best to Hutch, the weather, for lack of a better term, sucks for them. Such is the issue this week as they return to the toughest track in Kansas since 2011. Actually the tournament made a regular stop from 1997-2002 then alternated years. Texas leads after a shortened day one thanks to darkness and of course the storms that rolled through.

The Storm Team 12 weather center is a silent contrast to the noisy newsroom a few yards away. Inside of one of the television studios at the station, bright monitors line the walls, tracking cloud and precipitation patterns that drift across Kansas. Day or night you can find Merril Teller, Ross Janssen, Mark Larson, Rodney Price or Dean Jones quietly studying maps and analyzing data.  Click here for weather and behind the scenes photos But when the station first went on the air in 1953, like most TV stations, Channel 12 didn't have a meteorologist.

Icy roads lead to a deadly crash in north central Kansas. The Kansas Highway Patrol says 19-year-old Henry McWilliams was driving on U.S. Highway 81 in Ottawa County around 5:20 this morning. McWilliams was about five miles south of Minneapolis when he lost control on an icy bridge. McWilliams' pick-up went into a ditch and rolled. McWilliams died at the scene. He was from Rockwell, Texas. Investigators say he was not wearing a seat belt.