Monday, February 28, 2011

Severe storm outbreak today.

Severe storms to strike our area today. With a strong cold front approaching from the west combined with the southern flow from the jet stream and warm moist air in place has set the stage for some powerful storms this afternoon.


Today

Windy with strong thunderstorms likely this afternoon. Damaging winds with some storms. High 81F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 90%.

This outbreak is the first of the season and should be a good one. With cold air aloft there is the possibility of hail is likely with hail almost always come high winds. A good rule of thumb for a storm is: take the speed of the storm and times it by two and that is the highest possible winds the storm can produce ahead of the storm. So a storm moving 30mph is capable of producing winds up to 60mph. This danger of high winds is increased today because the southern jet stream is already supplying high winds ahead of the storms causing uplift and rotation. Be on the lookout for tornado watches and warnings this afternoon.

1 comment:

  1. You were right! The weather got pretty crazy for a little bit today. I thought some of the trees were gonna blow over!

    ReplyDelete