Daily thunderstorm threat in the Plains states

A relative lull in the often-relentless weather craziness persists. Folks in the central United States might not consider it much of a lull given the daily rain and thunderstorm threats dotting that region.

Weather Watch

Days of rain/storms. A dip in the jet stream near the West Coast will only very slowly move east through the weekend. The Plains is at the heart of the action the next several days, and it’s needed in parts of Kansas in particular. With time, the jet stream dip should eject east of the Rockies, perhaps causing a bigger severe weather event by late weekend or early next week.

Warm eastern U.S. The current look that favors warmer than normal weather in the eastern two-thirds of the country goes on for a while. Records don’t seem super numerous yet, but they’ll be tested daily in the eastern and northern Gulf Coast region over the next week, with highs in the upper 80s and lower 90s a good bet. We might be looking at more of a shift toward high pressure out west in about two weeks.

Lightning links

Earth Day then and now: How a single day sparked decades of change.

It’s the world’s northernmost airport. And its runway is melting.

Supercell storm caused 300-miles of damage Saturday, from southeast Ohio to northeastern Maryland.

Finally, some good news

Word broke Monday that the death sentence for NOAA’s regional climate centers had been commuted.

All four of the six regional climate centers that were taken offline recently have since returned to service.

At the top of the pages reads something like: “The Southeast Regional Climate Center products and services have been restored as our NOAA contract has been renewed. We very much appreciate the support we received from our many users.”

It is believed the centers will be funded for at least another year beyond the recent deadlines, although any “inconvenient” climate data is still potentially at risk under the Trump administration.

While we remain in the midst of a democratic backslide, there are plenty of signs that our flawed system is still working in some regards. Collective voices matter, or at the very least they cannot be easily ignored. It might be incremental but there is a tone change among elected officials on both sides. As there should be. Keep at it.

About

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

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