Big warmup....wet weekend storm?

Well I havn't blogged for the past few days as we were in the transition phase between the cooler and warmer air. Today was the last of the "cooler" days with highs in the low 60's. Now we are about to enter a huge warm up. Take a look at the current 500 mb map below:



We are currently in what is called a northwest flow with a trough to our east. This weather pattern generally brings dry weather in the Winter, but during the Spring and Summer, this pattern can bring a wet solution due to the avalibility of moisture. The moisture is not avalible at this moment keeping it dry.

Look at the western United States with the red arrowns I drew in. This is signifying a ridge of high pressure and temperatures are going to warm up. The trough in the east is going to shift a bit further east everyday allowing the ridge to settle in right over us by Thursday and Friday. I think highs for Wednesday will generally be in the 70's with a couple 80 degree readings possible. Then the warmest of the air will come Thursday and Friday with highs in the upper 70's and low 80's across the area. One thing to note is that the lows will be in the upper 50's and low 60's.

Now take a look at the 500 mb forecast for Friday below:



We now have switched to a southwest flow as a trough of low pressure is forming into the west. This is going to create a setup for rain and thunderstorms Saturday night through Tuesday. A series of upper level disturbences will rotate around the main storm system bringing numerous chances of rain and thunderstorms. I am confident there will be some flooding in areas as the potential is there for very heavy rain and possibly severe thunderstorms.

This is still a few days away, so I will talk about the complex weekend system later.

Alex Pickman