Summer 2012 WX Discussion

A pretty interesting side-bar on the effects of drought on everyday weather. I've noticed temps in Paducah, Ky over the last week or so have been running consistently higher than much of the rest of Kentucky. Eastern and parts of south central Kentucky have been getting some generous rains of late, and are easing out of drought status. Western Kentucky remains stuck in extreme to exceptional drought. Take a look at their 3 p.m. temps, and you can easily observe the effects of parched soil on temps and dewpoints.

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES
PADUCAH SUNNY 96 51 21 E7 29.97F HX

While most of the rest of Kentucky's observation sites are in the lower 80's (LOZ and JKL) to low 90's and dewpoints in the 60's and lower 70's, poor Paducah is a good 8-10 degrees warmer(96F), and the air is much drier with a dewpoint of 51F. Just an example of how extreme drought creates its own perpetual weather pattern that is very hard to change.

UPDATE @ 4--Paducah's temp now stands at 98F, and the dewpoint has dropped to 49F. Pretty amazing considering they are in the same air mass as the rest of the state, but the dry soil and vegetation modifies the air mass, creating a world unto itself.

The stormtrack this weekend is certainly an interesting one in terms of SVR wx and this will be a pretty strong cold front for this time of year.

Yes its august but the jet stream is making an early arrival damn't

Toot wrote:The stormtrack this weekend is certainly an interesting one in terms of SVR wx and this will be a pretty strong cold front for this time of year.

Yes its august but the jet stream is making an early arrival damn't

good point toot, that storm track starting to get more interesting... me likey.

Day 2

I have the highest chance for severe further south than the SPC



A strong storm system and its cold front will sweep across the eastern US the next couple of days. Two very different airmasses will clash with each other causing widespread severe weather. The main threats with this system will be damaging winds and large hail with an isolated tornado possible in the Northeast/Ohio Valley.

A early fall like airmass will take hold from the TN valley northward after the front has passed. This setup is rather unusual for this time of year..but after what feels like a long and hot summer it will be a very welcome change.




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Middle TN getting thumped this morning.

10:24am

The storms are expanding nicely as they move eastward. Some are showing up to 1 inch hail. Hoping to see some action here by mid afternoon.

11:50am

Multiple warned storms as this cluster moves toward the Plateau and points east. We are sunny here, so if anything these storms could strengthen as they move toward us and our increasing instability.

GRLevel3 briefly showed some rotation on the cell near Cookville.

Another thing to note—any areas that had the 3-5 inches of rain last weekend could have some flooding issues with this batch of storms. It looks like some heavy rain for several hours (at least) as this cluster moves eastward.

Storms building along the mountains and merging with the main cluster as it moves into the valley. Going to be some heavy rain totals with this.

Frogs should be on alert near Townsend as well as Hot Springs. Looks like a good strangling is in order.

2:08pm

Yep, I'd say a good 1-3 inches of widespread rain is in order for East Tennessee as this moves through. Some areas could easily see more where the heaviest downpours occur. A duck drowner is upon us!

It's showtime on UT campus.



The fundering has begun.

Pretty intense lightning bolts striking around southern Jefferson County area with the storms coming off of the mountains ahead of the main line. One hit the ground just a few clicks outside my window.

Lord have mercy - wish this front was coming in the winter

Great storm here right now. Rain coming down in sideways sheets and some very strong winds. Occasional cracks of thunder but no hail. Really glad I folded down my camper last night otherwise my awning would have been blown to Anderson County by now.

Edit: Ok yeah, I bet some wind damage results from this. It's really gusting hard out there.

Knoxville/Knox County seems to have taken the brunt of this cluster of storms. The rest of the rain area seems to be just a general soaking, but nothing too impressive at the moment.

We had one VERY close lightning strike and ear splitting thunder crack. Knocked out the phones on campus.

Well the front has arrived in Dyersburg and as I expected it is as dry as a popcorn fart. Just felt the first little breeze out of the NW. Gonna enjoy the cooler air but man we need rain BAD.

Over and inch of rain today with more to come Friday. Some storms on Friday may be strong to severe. Hope not.

windstorm wrote:Over and inch of rain today with more to come Friday. Some storms on Friday may be strong to severe. Hope not.

I was hoping for some good rain here too, and thought we would get it; however, we got split here in Morristown. I ended up with about a third of an inch, but nearby to the east and the west got a lot more. The flood advisory that MRX issued earlier was laughable, as it didn't verify at all here I could see where it might have in Newport, Jefferson City, and Knoxville, but it was a bust here. We didn't even have any really heavy rain, just a steady light to moderate rain for 2 and a half hours. Oh well, on to tomorrow. Maybe we will get a little better results here then. I also hope NW TN can catch some action too! That is probably the driest area in the state currently.

Yes.. that is 40's in the Appalachian mountains this coming sunday and no its not officially fall yet

I didn't watch the news so I don't know how widespread or severe the damage was but it was apparent when I was driving home yesterday. Two traffic lights were out, one at a major intersection, small streams were over flowing and starting to take over part of Northshore Drive, limbs were down, and a tree fell in my neighborhood crushing a fence. That cluster of storms packed a punch here.

Pretty blustery day in parts of Michigan--temps only in the 50's and 60's with rain falling. Would certainly feel like fall with weather like that...