WILD US PATTERN: Flooding Rain, Snow, Record Cold, Heat & Severe, Round 2 Hits Monday…

Written by Mark Vogan on May 9, 2014 in United States of America with 0 Comments

We have a wild, contrasting weather map this evening with snow on the western Plains, severe storms on the eastern Plains, 30s vs 90s. It’s a pattern more suited to early April rather than May.

Here’s the current view out of Chadron, Nebraska with a look more of January 8 rather than May 8. Air temp currently 37.

Courtesy/Credit: WeatherBug

Amazing to think that this was the situation on the eastern side of Nebraska just yesterday…

Source: NWS

Snow and significant accumulation at that today but Lincoln, Neb actually saw their hottest temperature so early in the season yesterday with a high of 98.

Here’s Pine Ridge, South Dakota as of this writing.

Courtesy/Credit: WeatherBug

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Porcupine, SD earlier.

Courtesy/Credit: WeatherBug

Big contrast in temperature across the US right now. Note the 89 in Chicago! Also note the pretty sharp gradient between DC and NYC, that’s because of that SW flow and sun in DC while winds are blowing in off the water in NY where it’s cloudier.

Source: weather.com

Here’s the upper pattern supporting not just the W Plains snow and Midwest heat but SEVERE storms from Texas to Iowa.

Courtesy/Owned by AccuWeather Pro

Closer look at Nebraska, notice that it’s divided by a sharp boundary with max energy splitting the state in two. North winds on one side, south winds on the other.

Courtesy/Owned by AccuWeather Pro

Check out the 850mb temp contrast. You can see why it’s snow, not rain in the west.

Courtesy/Owned by AccuWeather Pro

We’ve seen some nasty storms around the Dallas area in particular this afternoon and likely will continue to see that threat continue through tonight and tomorrow.

Check out this funnel or tornado spotted I-30 just outside Dallas earlier.

Courtesy/Credit: Marie Saavedra

We actually have a MODERATE risk out further north up over Iowa and strong storms are affecting eastern Nebraska up into Iowa and this threat continues well into tonight.

day1otlk_2000

One big contributor to the severe storms firing and causing problems across Texas up to Iowa and even southern Minnesota this afternoon is the sharp dew point difference over Texas with 60s reaching all the way to Minneapolis. Lots of heat and juice for the high unstable atmosphere to work with..

Source: Mesonet

Here’s tomorrow’s risk area.

day2otlk_1730

As for Sunday-Monday, stage still looks set for a significant Rockies (including Denver) snowstorm, record cold while DC, perhaps Philadelphia eye 90 degrees.