…Showers and thunderstorms will spread from the central U.S. today into
much of the eastern U.S. Friday night into Saturday…
…Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms persist over the central to
southern High Plains through the next couple of days with fire weather
threat over the southern Rockies…
…Much below average temperatures spreading across California into the
western Great Basin but much above average temperatures stretch through
the Rockies and from the Southern Plains into the East…
An active Spring weather pattern is setting up for large portions of the
U.S. heading into the weekend. First of all, a low pressure system is
forecast to form along a front over the Midwest and then through the Great
Lakes today before moving through the Northeast on Saturday. Scattered
showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop across a wide area ahead
of a cold front over the central U.S. and affect much of the Plains into
the Upper Mississippi Valley today, before spreading east into the Great
Lakes, Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Friday night into Saturday.
The rains that push into the East Friday night into Saturday may bring
some relief to the ongoing wild fires over New Jersey, along with some
relief to the ongoing moderate to severe drought conditions from the
Mid-Atlantic into southern New England. By Saturday afternoon into
Sunday, drier air from the high pressure system will extend from the Great
Lakes and into the Mid-Atlantic under gusty westerly winds but upstate New
York into interior New England could find rain changing to wet snow early
on Sunday morning due to proximity of the low pressure system bringing in
colder air from Canada.
Over the central to southern High Plains, the potential of strong
to severe thunderstorms will persist for the next couple days as
upper-level energies ejecting out of the Rockies interact with a front
dropping south into the central Plains where large hail is expected to be
the greatest threat, and lesser chances of tornadoes and high winds. This
region of the country has been very active over the past week with another
round of showers and thunderstorms likely to develop late Friday afternoon
into Friday night and Saturday. This will bring the threat of additional
heavy rains, isolated flooding and severe weather from far northeast New
Mexico, across the Texas/Oklahoma Panhandle, eastward through central to
eastern Oklahoma and eastern Kansas.
While large portions of the Southern to Central Plains will be active
with showers and thunderstorms over the next few days, dry conditions will
persist just to the south and west of this from southeast Arizona across
much of New Mexico. These dry conditions, combined with gusty winds and
low relative humidities will continue to support an elevated fire weather
threat over the next few days. A fire weather threat will also continue
across portions of the Florida Peninsula and Mid-Atlantic from the same
combination of dry conditions and low relative humidities.
A strong mid to upper-level low is expected to form today off the Pacific
Northwest/Northern California coasts, dropping southeastward into Central
California on Saturday. This strong mid to upper level low will have the
potential to produce some late season rains across much of California,
except for the southeast portion of the state. In addition, some much
below average temperatures are likely to spread across California
beginning today and continuing into the weekend with snow expected along
the Sierra Nevada. High temperatures are expected to be 10 to 15 degrees
below average today across much of California, with these below average
temperatures increasing to 15 to 25 degrees below average on Saturday,
while also spreading eastward into the western Great Basin. These much
below average maximum afternoon temperatures may also produce a few record
low high temperatures for Southern California on Saturday. In contrast to
these much below average temperatures, much above average temperatures on
tap through all of the Rockies today and Saturday, from the Southern
Plains into Middle to Lower Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and East
today, and along the East coast to the Gulf coast on Saturday.
Eventually, cooler weather will push south and eastward across the Central
to Southern Plains today and Saturday, the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley on
Saturday and across the Mid-Atlantic into New England by Sunday in the
wake of a cold front forecast to push southeastward across these areas.
Kong/Oravec
Graphics available at
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php
