How the atmosphere works for those curious about weather and the world

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Thinking About Severe Weather

A strong velocity max (aka upper level disturbance) embedded in the jet stream with wind speeds approaching NASCAR velocity, 200 mph, is powering a strong surface low towards the Great Lakes.


North of the storm Winter Storm Watches and Warnings have been issued along with a large area under Blizzard Warning (in white) over parts of South and North Dakota.

Along the cold front from Oklahoma to Nebraska Tornado Watches have been issued.  This is a typical late winter storm and severe weather is likely from the plains to the East Coast as the storm advances over the next several days.

The video has more on forecasting severe storms with this and similar systems.

video

1 comment:

  1. Steve: How accurate are the radars these days? I noticed on the Fox19 Weather Tracker app. that at around 1350hrs today that it showed a shower over Hamilton, but as I looked out the window the sun was shining and there were only scattered clouds. As I zoomed into my street on the radar it showed I was right in the middle of this shower. Just wondering what the error rate is and what would cause the radar to track a shower that didn't look like usual ground clutter echos?

    Thanks,
    Mike

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