Date: 10/12/2013

Number: 1

Late flow - day 18. They're gone! I had errands and didn't get to the lab until 11:25 but as soon as I stepped out of the car I could tell that the monarchs that had been greeting me each morning at the front of the building were gone. I checked the garden and all the flowers in the front of the building and all the trees in which I had seen monarchs over the last two weeks, and there were none - not one. They're gone!

There were good numbers of monarch throughout the day yesterday, although there was some drop off at the end of the day. Still, there were monarchs here at the end of the day and there should have been monarchs on the flowers shortly after the butterflies became active this morning but I wasn't here to see if that was the case.

The skies were clear this morning with early temperatures in the high forties. But, it warmed rapidly and the winds shifted overnight with the passing of a front. Currently, the winds are at 7-8 mph from the N/NW shifting to the NE to the south of Kansas City and Topeka. These are perfect conditions - the monarchs can catch thermals and ride the winds to the SW. While the wind speed at ground level, as shown on the wind map (http://hint.fm/wind/), is only 7-8 mph at this time, the wind speed is stronger at higher altitudes and if the monarchs can reach elevations of 800 feet or more, they may be able to advance a considerable distance today. The pattern that I've just described - the rapid (i.e. within an hour) disappearance of a lingering monarch population following a front the the NW - is quite common at these mid- continent latitudes. No monarchs have passed by my window during the writing of this communication - they're gone.

I expect to see a few more monarchs but "flow" has ended. This has been - without a doubt - the latest migration we've seen. Given the late arrival of monarchs at the northern breeding grounds I expected a late migration but I didn't envision one that would be this late. You folks in OK and north TX could see a pulse of monarchs late today.

BTW any monarchs currently (1PM CDT) on the move north of Kansas City are being displaced to the SE and if north of Omaha to the E/SE.

Courtesy of Monarch Watch

Lawrence, KS

Latitude: 39 Longitude: -95.2

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