Thursday, October 18, 2012

Taking a look into later October and early November!

Going to take a look at what the forecast model are showing for the latter half of October into early November. We'll start off with the GFS Ensemble mean 2 meter surface temps (or what we would feel in terms of warmth of chill) 
This is from Oct 25- Nov 1st. The GFS (US model) ensembles show more warmth (compared to normal this time of year) over much of the eastern US (excluding the upper Mid West) This is due to ridging building over the central US 
With the ridging over Alaska that would imply more Surface Highs which in time will bring much colder temps into the North tier of the US which is what we see in the GFS ensembles (first image) We also take a look at the European model (which does pretty well in the long range) it too is in agreement with the GFS for the most part. 
While I can't show the surface temp departures like the GFS above, we can get an idea of where the warm weather will be by looking at the next image (850 *5000ft* temps) or low level temps from the Euro model
This as well is inline with the GFS that the latter half of October should be mild for many in the east (though the North East and NW Pac will remain cooler than the central southern US) The Canadian model is a bit warmer than both the GFS and EC in this time frame 
With all this in mind I believe we will see some Indian summer like weather on the way with temps in the central and Southern US (more so southern Plains) with temps around 80 and so 90s possible in parts of TX. Looking even further down the road last day or two of October into first few days into Nov we can see on the GFS and CFS (Climate Forecast system weekly) that cooler air may settle in! 


Also the weekly forecast from the CFS is showing cooler air to move in replacing the warmth
This model (CFS) has done pretty well in the longer range and with ridging starting to show up around Alaska later in the time frame its only a matter of time before much colder air moves into the US! 





Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Large storm to take shape over Mid Western/Eastern US

A large and powerful fall storm is forecast to take shape in the upper Mid West and move slowly east. 
We see the beginnings of this over Montana and into the Dakotas (area of clouds) Jet stream analysis shows the powerful Jet entering the Pacific North West. 
This image shows mean sea level pressure with the main low over Saskatchewan Canada. We look at the short term forecast models for how this system may unfold. Here is what the NAM model shows 24hrs from 2pm October 16 
This powerful Jet streak in the Pac NW is forecast to deepen the Low in southern Canada while sending a cold front plowing east. (also the NAM 48hr forecast)
Though this model puts out rain in the South East, there is some large differences with some other models on just how much if any rain affects North Carolina. Here is what the Official forecast from the HPC 






Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Warm for the rest of the week, turning much cooler by early next week!

Last few days have felt warm and a bit humid (almost late August than early October) while the air will dry in the coming days (though warmth will stay around with temps in the low 80s) By this weekend will a large change in temperatures are forecast. Looking at our forecast model (GFS/ US model) 
Mild temps out ahead of the next front that will really knock temps back.

Both models are valid Monday Oct 8th. All thanks to a large trough setting up over eastern North America.
There are still signs from the longer range more reliable European model as well for cooler temps in the east
Beyond this I expect a warmer/mild pattern as we head into later October with Halloween possibly being mild for the South East? we'll see.




Monday, October 1, 2012

Chance of severe storms later (low chance)

Most of NC is locked in a cool wedge air mass today as a weak surface high over the Great Lakes ridges down the eastern side of the Mountains and a storm systems moves in from the west/south west. 
With that comes clouds and rain 
Now watching things around southern portions of NC for later tonight as the warm front moves northward overnight, with this comes the chance for storms as more unstable airs moves in 
though the warm front may not make much progress into North Carolina tonight and may move north by early tomorrow as seen in this HPC forecast image overnight (2am) 
Though the chance is low, any storms that can develop has a good chance of rotation and with the cloud bases close enough an isolated tornado is possible (but again low chance) 





Sunday, September 16, 2012

Heavy rain event on the way for for state (NC)

Large scale rain event is taking shape across the southern half of the country. We see this on the Surface map (9:30pm EDT) 

Looking at water vapor satellite an upper low is seen over TX (outlined in red) and also in red on the top of the image is the northern stream energy that will give a kick to the southern stream over TX.
Taking a look at Monday morning we can see the northern and southern jet stream coming close to what looks like a phasing of the two jet streams. 
This should help develop a surface Low over the Gulf states-
Easterly winds here in central NC will keep transporting moisture off the Atlantic and keep things damp in some areas across the state before the heavier rains move in! 5day rainfall forecast 




Saturday, June 2, 2012

Winter like pattern for eastern US in June?

        Current temps across most of the eastern US are more like fall than early summer. The reason for this is a big upper Low over the North East US seen below on water vapor satellite.
This upper Low being almost stationary for most of next week is being caused by a negative NAO or a large blocking High pressure over Greenland. This will keep most of the eastern US and North East cool with New England staying cool, cloudy and rainy at times. Here for central NC we should be temps head back to around 80 for Sunday and maybe Monday before that upper Low sends another bit of upper level energy down through parts of the Mid West and through the South East mid week seen here on the GFS model.
A frontal boundary should stall and perhaps washout somewhere over the South East next week as seen by the ECMWF model for Wednesday. 
So  while the start of June should be cool and below normal for much of the eastern US, there are some signs of the -NAO breaking down and much warmer/hot weather should flood the eastern US later in June.

Friday, May 11, 2012

StormSquad.net to be at Stormfest in Raleigh.

News has come today that we (StormSquad) will be giving a presentation at StormFest in Raleigh on June 16 2012. More info to come.
-Nic