Airfare Price ALERT 7/15

AIRFARE PRICE ALERT: Delta Airlines has some pretty good deals right now. If you fly from St. Louis, Missouri (STL) to Tampa, Florida (TPA) in September and October you can go for as little as $138 round trip including taxes.

I don't know how long the deal is good for and I don't know if the price is good for other times of the year, i.e. if you look at November or December. I imagine the prices are higher then as you get out of hurricane season and in to the winter season.

I am thinking about taking up the deal and flying down to Tampa for the Indianapolis Colts vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL Monday Night football game.

If you know me, you know I LOVE to travel. Not just travel, but find good (and cheap) deals for travel. To me, half the enjoyment of a trip is the planning and purchasing process.

Heat Returns 7/15

We have had a little break from the oppressive heat over the last couple days. It is still hot out, just not as bad as it was. Plus, we've had a little break from the humidity.

Forecast models are advertising hot air building back east of the Rocky Mountains and central Plains. An area of high pressure will establish itself in the upper levels of the atmosphere. This upper-level high is going to allow for temperatures to likely climb higher than the models are indicating at this time.

Over time, this upper-level high, a.k.a. Hot Dome, will move to the east over Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana.

Here is a look at the European Forecast Agency's computer forecast model's projection for 7pm CT Wednesday, July 20.

(Click the image to see a larger version.)

What you are looking at is the atmosphere at 500mb (approximately 18,000 feet). This is the level that I am looking at for the upper-level high. You can see it centered over St. Louis. It is the area inside of the 594 line.

With high pressure, air sinks. As it sinks it compresses. When a gas, in this case air, compresses it heats. This is what usually causes extremely high temperatures in the summer. Since the high will be right over the Midwest, temperatures will likely be high.

Here is a look at forecast temperatures by the European model for the same time frame.

(Click the image to see a larger version.)

The image is showing the temperature in Celsius at 850mb or approximately 5,000 feet up in the atmosphere.

Most likely the computer models do not have a good grasp of the higher temperatures just yet. I suspect we'll see the models trending warmer for next week over the weekend.

Highs will likely top out in the upper 90°'s to maybe 100° by mid-week. The timing of the heat obviously depends on how quickly the upper-level high moves in to the Midwest. Regardless, have your air conditioners, water bottles, pools, slip-n-slides and fans ready to go for next week!

Continued Hot

At 11am CT, heat indices have hit 100° or higher for southern Illinois, western Kentucky and parts of southeast Missouri.


A frontal boundary has stalled out just north of St. Louis. There could be some storm development from the St. Louis area down through southern Illinois later today. I think storms could fire around 4pm CT. A few strong to severe storms will be possible. Main threat: damaging wind (from collapsing storms) and heavy rain due to their slow movement.


- Posted from my iPhone

Its Sweating Time

It is going to be a story you hear talked about on the national news for a couple of days. It is getting hot outside! Temperatures across the Midwest this afternoon are climbing to the middle 90's to 100° while the heat index climbs above the century mark.

High temperatures of the day:

• St. Louis: 100°
• Cape Girardeau*: 98°
• Marion, IL*: 97°
• Paducah*: 97°
• Louisville*: 96°
• Indianapolis*: 95°
• Columbus, IN*: 95°

*Temperatures are indicating hourly observation high temperatures. Official highs for the day will come in later this evening.

Along with the high temperatures, dew points have climbed in to middle 70's (even 80° around Louisville). This is creating heat indices (the feel like temperature) in the 110°-115° range across much of the Midwest. Remember that the dew point is a specific measure of the moisture in the air. Dew point is much more accurate at depicting how humid it is compared to the relative humidity. I know, it sounds weird but its true.

A cold front will slowly move south across the Midwest Tuesday. It should allow for some slightly cooler, less humid air to move in to central Indiana and the St. Louis metro area. However, places like southeast Missouri, western Kentucky and places further south may see a slight increase in temperatures tomorrow as the air is compressed along the front. Typically, air just along and ahead of the front will get warmer than forecast models indicate.

Instant Watch & Warning Information

I am in the process of setting up a system so you can receive severe weather watches and warnings. You can access the watches and warnings via Twitter of Facebook. Most importantly, the service will be FREE of charge.

Not all counties will be available. Initially, I am going to start with a smaller number of higher populated counties from southeast Missouri, southern Illinois and western Kentucky. I am also going to include a couple counties from the St. Louis area and central Indiana.

Counties Included:

• Illinois: Jackson, Saline, Williamson
• Indiana: Bartholomew, Brown, Hamilton, Marion
• Kentucky: Calloway, Graves, McCracken
• Missouri: Butler, Cape Girardeau, Scott, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Perry, Scott, Ripley, St. Charles, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis, St. Louis (city)

If there are counties that you would like for me to include, please leave a comment and suggest the county/state.

To get alerts via Facebook. In order to get the watches and warnings you need to like my "John Dissauer" fan page. The alerts will then show up in your Facebook Newsfeed as soon as they are sent out.

To get alerts via Twitter. Follow @johnwxalert to have the watches and warnings instantly sent over Twitter.

Severe Thunderstorm Watch #588

The Storm Prediction Center has issued Severe Thunderstorm Watch #588 for eastern Missouri and south central Illinois. The watch is in effect until 8:00pm CT Sunday.


A few of the communities included in the watch include: Missouri: Chesterfield, Columbua, Farmington, O'Fallon, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve; Illinois: Belleville, Centralia, Du Quoin, Edwardsville, Effingham, Flora and Mt. Vernon.

Thunderstorms are beginning to flare up in the watch area along a weak front. Heating of the day is allowing the atmosphere to become unstable. Combine the instability and a lifting mechanism (the front) and you can get several strong thunderstorms.

The main severe weather threat will be hail. The storms will also be capable of producing heavy downpours. A few of the thunderstorms could produce some strong winds as storms collapse.

The thunderstorms are expected to move east at 25-30 mph.

Remember that you can check out the radar and the latest warnings by using the tabs at the top of my page.

Severe Thunderstorm Watch #549

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for parts of southeast/east Missouri and southern Illinois.


Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect until 8pm CT Saturday.

Storms are expected to move east at approximately 40mph. Large hail and damaging winds are the main threat.

Remember that you can look at the radar (along with watches and warnings) anytime by clicking on the "Radar" tab at the top of the page.

- Posted from my iPhone

Saying Goodbye

It is over. I am no longer a meteorologist at KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Today was my final day on-air. My last newscast was Heartland News at Noon. I know some of you may not have been able to watch so here is a little bit of the ending of the show.

Thank you Lauren Keith for not making it too sad.


My former weekend co-workers also gave me a surprise Sunday night on the air. I didn't expect them to put a little piece together of many of my newsroom co-workers. The people in the video (in order): Christy Hendricks (Internet Content Director, Kathy Sweeney (News Anchor), Jeff Cunningham (News Anchor), Mike Smythe (General Manager) and Crystal Britt (Weekend News Anchor).



Again, thank you to everyone for watching over the years. I hope this doesn't mean you will stop checking out my blog and keeping up with the weather.