Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Warmth Continues; Rain Stays West

The string of record breaking warmth ended yesterday when highs fell one degree short of the record high of 78° set back in 1921.  Expect mostly to partly sunny skies the remainder of this afternoon as a mid-level ridge of high pressure builds west across the Great Lakes.  A deep trough out west has forced the jetstream northward across the Midwest, Great Lakes and East Coast.  When looking at the Current National Temperature map you can tell where the dip (trough = cool temps) in the jestream is and where the ridge is.  This will continue to provide unseasonable warmth while showers/storms move across the central and southern Plains.  Severe weather is likely across parts of east Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas later this afternoon while a few storms may develop in Iowa as moisture and a little instability build north. 

This is all due to an upper level low that will eventually become cut-off from the main flow in the jetstream.  Most of the rain/storm activity will stay to our west the next couple of days because the mid-level ridge will act as a blocking mechanism and not allow much activity to move east.  It's not until late Wednesday and even Thursday that the ridge will eventually break down as the low moves northeast.  Rain chances, as well as cloud cover, will increase towards the end of the week and going into the weekend keeping temperatures 'cooler' as highs fall back into the 60s.

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