Videos

With thanks to Jennie P. Carr of Joplin, Missouri, the following is cellphone video hosted on YouTube of the moments leading to the sinking of the Ride the Ducks boat on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, on Thursday, July 19, 2018. The video was shot on a cellphone while aboard the Showboat Branson Belle, and it shows two Duck Boats desperately trying to reach shore. One of them didn’t make it.

The Showboat Branson Belle was moored to shore and was not moving when this event happened.
Despite Severe Thunderstorm Watches and several Severe Thunderstorm Warnings having been issued throughout the afternoon within the Springfield, Missouri County Warning Area, the operators of these boats opted to be on the water when the more-than-70 mile-per-hour straight line winds slammed into Stone and Taney Counties.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and to everyone affected by this horrible tragedy.

Folks, this is why we here at Skywarn do what we do. When warnings are issued, take cover. Yes, it’s inconvenient. Yes, warnings are issued frequently – this is the Midwest! As inconvenient as postponing or canceling something can be when a watch and/or a warning is issued, it can never be more inconvenient than something like this.

The following video illustrates the temperature change observed and recorded in Saint Clair, Missouri during the August 21, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse. Two thermometers were used to simultaneously measure the temperature in direct sunlight and in the shade.The video uses a line graph to plot the change in temperature over time which is listed in UTC.

At our exact location in St. Clair, Missouri, the solar eclipse started at 11:48 a.m. Central (1648 UTC) on Monday, August 21, 2017. Totality started at exactly 1:15:44 p.m. Central (18:15:44 UTC), and it lasted exactly 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

The temperature in direct sunlight seemed to react the fastest to the eclipse dropping more than 10 degrees in 40 minutes between 12:20 and 1 pm Central Time.
Meanwhile, in that same span of time, the temperature in the shade dropped about 2.5 degrees.

While the temperature dropped one degree in one minute after totality started, interestingly, it didn’t bottom out until after totality ended and the sun began returning. In fact, it took more than 15 minutes after totality ended for the temperature to start rising again!

As the eclipse coverage became less and less, the temperature seemed to rise about as fast as it fell.

Here are the final temperature changes that we recorded during the August 21st, 2017 total solar eclipse in Saint Clair, Missouri:

Direct Sunlight: Temperature dropped 19.1 degrees in 1 hour and 16 minutes going from 107.8 degrees down to 88.7 degrees. It later rose 22.2 degrees 1 hour and 7 minutes after totality ended rising from 88.7 degrees to 110.9 degrees.

Shade: The temperature fell 8.3 degrees in 1 hour and 16 minutes going from 95.2 degrees down to 86.9 degrees. It later rebounded by exactly 8.3 degrees in 1 hour and 7 minutes after totality ended rising from 86.9 degrees right back to 95.2 degrees.

Temperature readings were taken by Caleb, KE0FOE and George KJ6TQ. Video editing and production was by George KJ6TQ, and narration was by Caleb, KE0FOE.

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