Here are some of the weather stats for the month of June. These were taken here at our house in Kenosha, right across the street from Lake Michigan.

• Highest Temp: 88.8
• Lowest Temp: 50.9
• Average High Temp: 74.82
• Average Low Temp: 59.03
• Number of days with measurable rain: 14
• Total rainfall: 5.53 inches
• 4 times the Storm Prediction Center had us under a Slight Risk for severe storms
• 2 times we had a moderate risk
• We had 1 Severe Thunderstorm Watch
• 2 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings
• 1 Tornado Watch
• SE Racine County, 1.5 miles north of us,  had 2 Tornado Warnings
• 1 Tornado, rated at EF1, in SE Racine County that caused damage as close as 4.5 miles from us

While the rain was spaced out through the month, all of the severe weather happened from the 18th on.
All in all it was a pretty busy month here in SE Wisconsin. It was also one of the rainiest Junes on record for the whole state with many areas breaking into their top ten.

The last couple days have been awesome with high temps in the high 60′s, low 70′s and very low humidity. All that changes this weekend as the warm, humid weather returns along with the chance of thunderstorms.

I love my iPod Touch. I think it’s the best computer gadget I’ve ever owned. I’m not sure how many of you have an iPod, iPhone or an iPad, but for those who do, I thought I’d put together a list of my favorite apps. Since the list is long, I’ve decided to break it up into a couple posts.

I’m starting off with weather apps. I have four weather apps that I use on a daily basis, plus I have two more that aren’t weather apps, but I’ll put them in here since they are often lumped in with weather stuff. These aren’t in any particular order, it’s just how they are on my iPod.

• WeatherBug Elite: One of things I like most about this app is that you can select weather site locations within your area. For instance, for Kenosha I have the option of 4 weather sites in and near the city. So you are able to choose the one closest to you. I also really like the map on Weatherbug. The radar is very nice and lets you zoom in to street level. With the newest update we now have more map choices for satellites and observations. The 5 day forecast comes directly from the NWS, there’s also an hourly forecast. You also get a video forecast and webcams. For $.99 you can’t beat it.

• RadarScope: This app is for the more serious weather watcher. It allows you to view NEXRAD  Level3 radar data directly from the Doppler radars across the country. This is real Level 3 data that includes 20 different radar products. Just what you need to see when the big storms are on the way. The only issue I have with this app is the lack of support for watches and warnings, but they say the app will soon have those features. Other than that, this is an awesome app.

• iDamage: I just bought this app two weeks ago and I love it. It shows storm reports as they are reported to the NWS. These include wind, hail, tornado and damage reports. It includes a Google map that points to the area where the event happened. It also has push notifications that you can set for areas you are concerned with. I have all of Wisconsin set, so whenever a report comes in from Wisconsin, the app lets me know. This app came in very handy when the squaw line came through last week. I knew that our greatest chance of severe weather was wind because all of the reports on the storm had been wind related. This app is also how I knew a tornado had touched down in Racine on Sunday.

• Hurricane: Just as the name implies, this app is for hurricanes. It gives you all the information you could want about the latest hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific basins. It includes tracking maps, forecast maps, satellite views, bulletins, watches and warnings and much more. It also has a history of past hurricanes that goes back 1851! This is a powerful app. Since hurricane season is just getting going, I’m still learning the app, but from what I can see, it’s awesome. A must have if you watch hurricanes.

These next two apps aren’t weather apps, but they still fit into the category.

• QuakeWatch: This app monitors earthquake reports from across the globe. It mainly gets the reports from the USGS, but it also gets reports from other agencies across the world. It gives you magnitude, location, time, and much more. It also includes maps that show where the quakes happen. There is a page for tsunami reports that links up directly to the NOAA Tsunami Warning Center. You can choose the magnitude of the quakes you want to see, there is also a feature that shows you the quakes that are closest to your present location. You can also choose an area to monitor, I watch the Eastern Sierra of course. This is another great app that only cost $.99.

• Darkness: This app tells you when the sunset, sunrise, moonset and moonrise will be for any date, anywhere in the world. It also let’s you know what phase the moon is currently in and will be in at a later date. On top of all that it gives you the azimuth of the sun and moon for the given times. This comes in very handy for the photographer who’s looking to shoot at these times. I use the app to get an idea of sunset times when we’re traveling out of state.

There you have it, my favorite weather apps on my iPod Touch. Not only are these apps very useful, they could possibly save your life in certain situations.

I’d like to hear what your favorite weather apps are, please feel free to comment about it.

Today’s post was written by my lovely wife Lynne.

I want to invite all the SierraVisions readers and Facebook friends and family to check out my photo collections that I finally got around to posting on the Flickr account Steven opened for me last year for my birthday.  Its definitely time consuming and I can appreciate all the time he puts in to the work on all his websites.   Some of the photos on my flickr account may look familiar to you from posts Steven has done in the past. Those in my Flickr account are my best and personal favorites, exactly how they were taken with no changes using Photoshop.  At least now I should be able to keep up with posting photos from new events.  I think there are a few more older files I may want to eventually upload that were shot in raw format but I have choose them yet and convert them to jpeg. It will be awhile.

Nothing makes me happier than when I’m out doing some photo shooting.  I started photography as a hobby back in 1995 when my friend Anna from California came to visit me.  At the time I was living in Minnesota, and had a great time showing her around some of my favorite places, and discovering some new ones too.  She showed me how cool telephoto lenses are by standing in one spot, taking shots of the same scenery using different settings.  From that point on, I became fascinated and began looking at the world with a different pair of eyes. At some point I look forward to showing Steven those same areas whenever we get up to Minnesota, and it will be nice to be able to capture photos digitally.  Steven continues to teach me how to use settings on my current digital camera and help me improve my skill.  He also helps keep me up to date with current technology that allows me to share these photos with friends and family on Flickr and Facebook, instead of keeping prints in photo albums on the shelf in the living room.  Two of my closest friends, Donna and Pat, keep me going with scrap booking some of these special moments too, another time consuming project in which I still seem to be too far behind.

It’s truly fun to share favorite areas familiar to me with someone seeing it for the first time, but I also love discovering new places.  It’s exciting when Steven and I compare our photos after an outing, a full day event or even an entire trip.  We can take photos of the same scene, yet the compositions can greatly differ.

I’ve posted quite a few photos, and I know it will take awhile for you to get through them. When you do, feel free to leave a comment, bookmark my page or add me as a contact if you like what you see. For those that see a shot you would like to purchase, please send me or Steven an email. Enjoy!

View Lynne’s Photostream on Flickr

We had quite a surprise yesterday. We’re enjoying a nice Sunday, watching the Brewers game on TV, the sun it out, it’s pleasant outside and there’s no chance of severe weather. All of a sudden, at 1:30 or so, the weather radio goes off and announces a Tornado Warning for south-east Racine County. A spotter had seen a funnel cloud, called it in, and the warning was issued. Though we live in Kenosha County, we’re only a mile and a half from the Racine County line. Needless to say, this got our attention real quick!

The first thing I do is pull the radar up on the computer and sure enough, there’s the storm. Where the heck did that come from? It wasn’t there when I checked the radar an hour ago.

I went outside to check the clouds, they were just beginning to roll into our area,  there were some low hanging scud clouds, but there wasn’t any rotation to them. That’s a good thing. I kept watching for a few minute and then went back upstairs.

Only 10 minutes or so had went by since the warning was issued, but the storm was moving quick and was already over the lake. Lynne and I watched from the living room and thought we saw some rotation in the clouds over the lake. I decided I wanted to get some pictures and was hoping to see a waterspout, so I went across the street to watch the storm move on.

I didn’t see a waterspout, but here are two of the pictures I took. These show the low hanging scud clouds beneath the rain free base, possible remnants of a wall cloud? You can’t see it, but the main rain shaft is to the left. The storm quickly fell apart as it continued over the lake.

All of this happened in about 10-15 minutes! In fact, the whole life cycle of this storm was just over 30 minutes long!

About a half hour later the first report comes in that a tornado did touch down in Racine and there were downed trees and power poles. The area of the tornado was only 4.5 miles north-west of our house. It turns out that the tornado came down six times over a distance of  3 miles. There was some damage, but not to extensive. One of areas it touched down was just behind the Walmart we go to in Racine and the last area where it came down is very close to my barber shop.

Here’s the full report from the NWS: Racine County Tornado 6-27-2010 (Updated at 4pm this afternoon with more info.)