2009.06.19
Watch the moving storm clusters
Southwest Virginia is in a slight risk zone for severe weather both today and Saturday. It's a matter of watching each sucessive thunderstorm cluster moving southeastward out of the Upper Midwest and Ohio Valley. The next one to watch is diving through West Virginia now, and might come into all or part of Southwest Virginia by early afternoon. Gusty winds will be the main severe weather threat ... and there will be the ever-present threat of unwanted locally heavy rainfall. With temperatures possibly challenging 90 and dew points in the 60s to near 70, there is plenty of instability and moisture available to charge storms today.
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Looks like the first storm cluster is primarily affecting areas north and east of Roanoke.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — June 19, 2009 @ 1:02 pm
Yep. The storms didn;t fire too much like yesterday, I'm guessing because it's still early in the day. One lone cell did get going over toward Pulaski & Dublin, but that looked like the only thing.
Comment by Other John — June 19, 2009 @ 1:11 pm
Yeah, that first cluster fell apart rapidly when it got closer.
Things look pretty quiet right now...
Comment by Brandon R. — June 19, 2009 @ 2:55 pm
The stuff way back in Iowa/Missouri/Illinois may be the next MCS/storm cluster in the series to watch.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — June 19, 2009 @ 4:50 pm
At this point, it looks like it will stay north, but it's rotating around that high so who knows what will happen when it gets further east.
Comment by Other John — June 19, 2009 @ 6:01 pm
Stuff coming out of Ohio/northern WVa/western Pa bears watching too ... it will be diving SE around the high but exactly where is wait and see with each new cluster.
btw ... a few of my Tech storm chasing pals are on a tornado-warned supercell in western Indiana just ahead of the big line ... will be interested to hear about what they've seen today.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — June 19, 2009 @ 8:22 pm
I hope this nasty weather across the country clears up in time for my flight Tuesday.
Comment by Brandon R. — June 19, 2009 @ 8:30 pm
This 'ring of fire' pattern... with hot stagnant high pressure in the south-central US and clusters of storminess revolving around it through the northern Plains, Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and Ohio Valley toward our region, may become locked in for many of the next several days. Some indication cooler air pushes the high back westward for a while next week, getting us out of the storm flow.
This pattern is more conducive for fast-moving storms rather than slow-moving gullywashers, so at least that might be something of a relief ... still, the stronger storms can dump a whole lot of rain in a short time.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — June 19, 2009 @ 9:10 pm