Thursday, March 24, 2011

March 24 Tomorrow's Forecast Discussion

Tomorrow, a low pressure system moving into Oklahoma will create rain, ice and snow. The rain will not be as abundant in the sense of rain, however the snow area will be much more abundant. The ice section will be somewhat an issue and we will have to watch this for more information. There will also be a strong storm system creating rain and snow on the West Coast into the Rockies.
Light snow will occur in the Great Lakes.
Temperatures will be nice and warm in Texas and Florida, with temperature differences along the low pressure area in the Plains. Cool temperatures will exist in the Northern tier of the US.

March 24 Severe Weather Discussion for Tonight

There is a supercell in West Texas due to the warm front and trough following it. Although is it a singular cell, more initialization is possible across this area as the front and trough continues across Texas. Below is a SPC mesoscale discussion on this subject.
It does appear this initialization will be due to the warm front going across Texas, also potentially enhanced by the trough.
Will be monitoring this situation.

Weather Explained: Types of Weather Fronts

About.com
1. Cold Front- A front with a following cold air mass.
2. Warm Front- A front with a following warm air mass.
3. Stationary Front- A front that is literally not moving.
4. Occluded - When a cold front overtakes a warm front. Usually, an air mass dries when an occluded front passes.
5. Trough- An elongated region of low pressure, usually associated with fronts.
6. Squall - A line of severe storms ahead of a cold front.
7. Dry Line- Separates humid air to the east and dry air to the west.
8. Tropical Wave

March 24 Surface Analysis Severe Weather

Low pressure by New Mexico is currently dragging a warm front across the West Texas. This warm front is creating a single cell across West Texas as the warm front passes through. The bigger concern will be as the cold front slowly accompanies the warm air. 
Right behind the warm front is a trough which will likely be the ignition for these storms due to how localized the length of the troughs are. 

Rest of Tonight Forecast- March 24


For the rest of tonight, we can expect a severe weather outbreak to occur in the Texas area. This outbreak is not expected to be significant, hence the fact we did not issue a discussion on it today. The severe weather should be confined to that area in Texas, possibly amounting to a small squall line or bow echo. As stated earlier, this is not expected to be significantly severe.
The temperatures did dip quite a bit across the northern tier of the United States thanks to the low pressure system and following cold front. However, there were nice and warm spots across the south US, which was pretty much the only place you could find into the 80's.
So that's a wrap up of tonight's forecast.

Radiation found in Oregon, Hawaii and Colorado

Radiation was found in Oregon and Colorado, as well as Hawaii.
Monitors in a nationwide network detected traces of radioactive iodine.
They join Washington State and California in states found with Radiation.

Let me stress this to you.
These traces of radiation are 100,000 times less than what you get from natural radiation, such as bricks, the sun and rocks.
Even the natural radiation doesn't cause horrible issues.
The only time to take action is if you live within 20 miles of the actual nuclear plant.