Another MCS for Sunday Morning? May 31, 2008

Like clock work, it looks like another complex of showers and storms will roll across NW AR and the River Valley for Sunday morning.  The greatest severe threat will be large hail and damaging wind gusts; we just missed most of the severe weather this morning, however, we’re more in line for the strong to [...]

Mesoscale Convective Systems May 31, 2008

Mesoscale Convective Sytems are the top of the food chain when it comes to nocturnal showers and storms.  These complexes typically develop along a frontal boundary overnight.  The low level jet at 5,000 ft aloft speeds up after midnight, and ultimately provides the fuel for the storms.  The trigger for these complexes is usually a shortwave aloft, typically between 700 and 500 [...]

10:00 a.m. Saturday Morning Update May 31, 2008

 

 
A stationary boundary just to our north has become very active this morning.  A complex of showers and storms has developed across southern Missouri and Kansas along the front, and is moving southeastward toward NW AR.  These storms have produced quarter size hail across Kansas along with damaging wind gusts across portions of Oklahoma.
These storms [...]

SATURDAY SEVERE WEATHER… May 30, 2008

We will be under a slight risk of severe weather Saturday. What kind of severe weather could be possible? Here is a look at some of the possible severe weather threats.
HELICITY MAP

This is a look at the Helicity forecast Saturday afternoon. What is helicity? The scientific definition: the transfer of vorticity [...]

Weekend Severe Weather Possible? May 30, 2008

 

Well, yesterday I wrote about the dominant area of high pressure that will grip us early next week; however, we may get some relief this weekend, but that relief could be in the form of showers and storms. 
The last couple of model runs have been consistent with a shortwave trough at 500 mb kicking a frontal boundary right over eastern Oklahoma and [...]

Hurricane Preparedness Week May 29, 2008

The clip above is of Hurricane Charley, which struck the Gulf side of Florida in August of 2004. 

NOAA has dedicated this week to Hurricane Preparedness.  We’re generally speaking, far enough away to dodge most of the wind from a Hurricane, though a CAT 5 storm traveling at 24 kts., could [...]

The Death Ridge Returns…. May 29, 2008

 

 
Meteorologists always tend to nickname weather patterns; we always tend to get scared when the dominant ridge of high pressure returns; we call it the the death ridge.  Under the ridge, sinking air prevails, and that means compressional heating.  The jetstream’s circulation is responsible for the surface high pressure area, and that translates into dry and hot conditions.  This type of [...]

A Great Video For Storm Structure Fans May 28, 2008

I wanted to post a video that is clearly not from this area.  This is a time lapse of a low precipitation (L.P.) supercell storm.  Notice how the base of the storm is void of precipitation.  Although no tornado was produced on this time lapse, you can clearly see the inflow [...]

FRIDAY’S HEAT AND HUMIDITY May 28, 2008

I have some good news and bad news about this Friday. The good news, well, it’s FRIDAY! The bad news, well, it’s going to be hot and humid. Here is a look at the temperature forecast for Friday afternoon. Temperatures will reach the lower 90s for the River Valley and the [...]

3:30 P.M. Storm Update May 27, 2008

The cloud cover continues to limit any thunderstorm development this afternoon.  This is the current visible satellite picture, and the overcast conditions still dominate.  Isolated storms will still be possible if we see sunshine during the late afternoon and evening; however, without the sunshine to help destabilize the atmosphere, we’re looking at a very small [...]