Good Sunday to one and all. We are putting the wraps on a much colder than normal final weekend of March across the Commonwealth. This colder than normal setup looks to continue for the next few weeks but will feature one spring blip in the week ahead. This spring blip will include the threat for severe storms across the region.
Before we get into all that, let’s talk about the cold weather we have out there today.
Lows are in the 20s to start things out and only recover to the 40s for most of the state. For reference, 60s are common for high temps.
Monday is another well below normal day with 20s in the morning with temps ranging from the upper 40s north and east to the low 60s west. This is ahead of a milder surge of air that slowly moves from the southwest on Tuesday.
Look at those Tuesday high temps to illustrate what a struggle we are dealing with…
A touch of light rain and mix may be noted for some in the north and east Monday night and Tuesday.
The warm air wins the fight for Wednesday with highs surging deep into the 70s on a strong southwest wind…
This is ahead of a potent storm system rolling out of the plains and Mississippi Valley into the western Great Lakes Wednesday into Thursday…
That’s being pushed by a negatively tilted trough and that opens the door for a fairly wide area for severe weather Wednesday into Wednesday night. This is the area I’m highlighting at the moment…
All modes of severe weather will be possible with this type of setup, especially from western Kentucky and points south. We will continue to fine tune the Greatest Risk area over the next few days.
The forecast models are showing the damaging wind risk deep into the Ohio Valley with this setup. Check out the GFS maximum wind gust forecast…
That’s followed by much colder air as the pattern reverts right back to where we are right now with a trough in the eastern half of the country. The GFS Ensembles have this look for the first 10 days of April…
Sustained spring is still a ways away, folks. Don’t be surprised if some April flakes show up before we can get spring to finally take control. Team Spring ain’t happy. I’ve said that a lot in recent years, huh?
Enjoy the day and take care.
Thanks Chris, Twenty Five Degrees recorded here in Maple. Native Plants have stayed Dormant so Far. The Cool nights here Lately have Maintained the Blossoms on the early Daffodils, but they might not escape the Hard Freeze we Had this Morning ?
This Past Week Featured more Wind than Precipitation And It Looks like this Pattern will Repeat in the coming Week ahead ?
This Month of March in Maple has Only yielded about Two inches of Precipitation. Dry and Windy only contributes to Wild Fires.
Numerous intense rain squalls, mixed with soft hail and even snow, moved through NE Illinois and NW Indiana late Friday afternoon and evening producing damaging winds, with gusts in excess of 60 MPH in some areas. Here is a complete summary from the Chicago NWS, including photos of some awesome – and ominous – cloud formations.
https://weather.gov/lot/2022Mar25
Good Lord Mike that was Quite A Weather Event. I hope You And Your Neighbors didn’t sustain Much Wind Damage ? The Southwest Wind is Blowing More this March than I’ve Seen in Years here in Maple.
Enjoyed the Interesting Cloud Formations. Cumulonimbus Right ? Every since I was Five Years Old I’ve Studied Clouds. Especially, before A Major Snowstorm.
We had hail for about five minutes, and strong wind gusts. Lots of small broken branches from trees, but no major damage.
The temperature at 10,000 feet in the atmosphere was near 0 degrees that afternoon, with surface warming which led to the dramatic cloud formations.
I doubt we see flakes anymore.
That’s A Good Question Jeff. I remember Last April We had received Two inches of Snow in April with A Hard Freeze. La Nina is A B*I*T*C*H !!!