From Record Snow (2-3rd), Record Cold 2 Days Ago To Hottest May Day On Record!

Written by Mark Vogan on May 15, 2013 in United States of America with 0 Comments

Image source: weather.com

The weather this spring never ceases to amaze! Following an historic early May snowstorm across Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota into Wisconsin, less than 2 weeks later and it’s not only record HOT but several cities in the same areas which got hit by record snow, have never seen it so hot, so early.

The prize this afternoon goes to Sioux City, Iowa where they soared to an astonishing 106 degrees. That beats the previous record of 105 set back in the dustbowl of 1934 as the hottest May day on record. Not only did this city see record snowfall May 2-3rd but TWO Morning’s ago, they bottomed out at 29 degrees which made for their SECOND COLDEST MOTHER’S DAY on record.. How about that.

Omaha, Nebraska officially hit 101 degrees. This makes for the hottest so early, follows record May snow back on the 2-3rd. In Minneapolis, it has never been so hot so early either when they topped out at 98 degrees late this afternoon.

From what I can see according to AccuWeather.com, Embarrass, Minn started out the day with a low of 22 degrees. That’s amazing in itself given that parts of the same state saw highs reach 102 degrees (St James) the same afternoon.

Let’s not forget the impressive chill we saw from New York down to Florida this morning.

Here are some records tied or broken (via weather.com)

Jacksonville, FL 47

Tallahassee, FL 44

Charlotte, NC 41

Raleigh, NC 39

Roanoke, VA 35

Courtesy of Weather Matrix/Jesse Ferrell

Severe Weather Potential Increasing Towards The Weekend

As I posted last night, there appears to be an increasing chance of a Plains and Midwest severe weather outbreaks Saturday and Sunday as a system spins into the Plains this weekend.

This may well have the potential to be the season first true tornado outbreak as conditions are looking far more favourable with a lot more heat involved in the lower levels while over running cold air will set the higher lapse rates which should get the storms firinbg along and ahead of the dry line.

Check out the upper chart for Saturday afternoon.

gfs_namer_120_500_vort_ht

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Here’s Sunday

gfs_namer_150_500_vort_ht

We appear to be looking at the first instance this spring where cold air isn’t the dominant factor, there’s more heat now in the mix and higher dew point air is going to be allowed to get all the way north up into the mid and even upper Mississippi Valley this weekend, helping juice the lower atmosphere ahead of the approaching cold front.

Upper winds blowing in from the NW, a strong WSW jet and SSE surface winds with dew points into the upper 60s and 70s should help fire and spin developing thunderstorms.

Saturday looks to be the day for the Plains from Texas to Kansas while on Sunday, the area from NE Texas up towards Kansas City, St Louis, into Iowa, Illinois even Minnesota and Wisconsin look to be under the gun.

Check out these dew points.

Sat

Courtesy/Owned by AccuWeather Pro

Sun

Courtesy/Owned by AccuWeather Pro

Here’s the CAPE values for both Saturday and Sunday. These values aren’t something we’ve seen all spring.

Sat

Courtesy/Owned by AccuWeather Pro

Sun

Courtesy/Owned by AccuWeather Pro

The QPF is printing big rainfall totals with this weekend situation from Texas, Arkansas all the way up to Minnesota where as much as 4-6 inches of rain may fall in just a few days.

Check this out.

p168i

I had intensions of posting on the tropics and potential early season development along with a discussion on the MJO, however the wild extremes of temperatures threw that idea out the window. Will hopefully revisit this thought tomorrow. Stay tuned and enjoy the rest of your night.

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