Big heat meets zones of storminess

It’s turning more active again, something you know is usually around the corner in May. We’re cooking up various areas of weather interest, starting with scorching midsummer heat in the western half of the U.S.

Weather Watch

Big heat. The flip has been switched to summer in North America. It hit 100 on Sunday in Emerson, Canada, which is the earliest 100 degree reading on record for that country. Death Valley’s 112 was the highest so far this year in the Lower 48. Houston will set some daily records and could snag its earliest 100 this week.

Lots of rain. Heavy weekend rain in the South and Southeast is shifting northward along the East Coast today. Widespread 1.5-to-3-inch additional totals are forecast from around the Georgia/South Carolina border to the Mason Dixon region. It’s powered by a slow-moving upper-low in the South that is piping tropical moisture northward.

Return of severe weather. It’s been a quiet May so far for severe weather, which is fairly unusual for peak tornado season. We should see that change up this week. Thursday is looking particularly spicy from here, with a focus on Illinois, Indiana and surrounding areas.

Lightning links

Full flower moon rises Monday evening.

Historical weather data is not political.

Charleston crushes 126-year-old rainfall record.

Las Vegas weather-predicting tortoise makes latest-ever emergence from winter slumber.

Monday morning weather map

Atmospheric rivers: not just for the West Coast.

They’re actually a rather common global phenomenon, pumping moisture out of the tropics to somewhere north (or south, in the southern hemisphere). The one now targeting the East Coast is quite potent.

Precipitable water values, a measure of total water content available, will run 100 to 200+ percent normal over a large area from the tropics to the Mid-Atlantic, then westward into the Great Lakes through Tuesday. Wrapping around a slow-moving gyre at the upper levels, the deep moisture will offer potential for zones of hefty rainfall.

By Wednesday, the bulk of the highest moisture moves into the Northeast and southern Canada.

About

Weekday morning newsletter by a journalist/forecaster. Connecting weather and climate change dots while occasionally stirring the pot.

Find this interesting? Forward it on and tell a friend!