Strong tornado risk returns to Kentucky and surrounding areas

Locations still reeling from Friday’s tornado outbreak are under threat again today. It’s the next in a string of severe weather days across the U.S. and the last major one in this sequence.

Weather Watch

More storms. After more than 3,000 storm reports over the past six days, a final round of potentially significant severe weather will focus from northern Mississippi and Alabama in the south to Kentucky in the north on Tuesday. Memphis, Birmingham, Chattanooga and Nashville are in the highest risk zone. A lesser threat shifts to the East Coast Wednesday.

Cool and wet Northeast. A lengthy cool snap with plentiful rain chances is getting underway in the Northeast quadrant of the country. The cause? Another slow-moving dip in the jet stream blocked from moving anywhere quickly. It looks like there could be another next week.

Lightning links

Watch: huge hailstorm hits southern France.

Look: Tornado ‘Ropes Out’ Near A Rainbow.

Pattern shift

Memorial Day Weekend is often the opening salvo of summertime weather in the eastern U.S. Not this year.

After a week of intense daily severe weather, thanks to a dip in the jet stream out west, the next two weeks may mainly feature the opposite. That would mean high pressure west and a dip in the jet stream east.

It wouldn’t be a bad pattern for snow lovers in New England in winter. In this case, it just leads us to many days of cool weather and periodic rainfall chances.

Across the western U.S., it will tend warmer than typical. A number of records for warm lows and hot highs are at risk across California in coming days, including around Los Angeles where it is forecast to reach the mid-90s away from the shore.

The Climate Prediction Center favors cooler than normal weather through the next two weeks to be centered on the Great Lakes to Midwest but covering much of the east.

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

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