Do you know what county you are in? You probably know what county you live in. but do you know what county you work in? Let’s say you do know that information: Do you know the name of the county just to you west? Or in any other direction?

Compounding that even further, do you travel? For work or for pleasure. If so, can you find where you are, generally, on a map? GPS is great for getting us places, but for some people, it has made map reading extremely difficult, as for most, it isn’t a muscle that often needs to be flexed.

There is one area that counties and geolocation are important. The NWS still issues watches and warnings based on counties. Radar only shows the largest locations, and even then, the scale isn’t always perfect. Or if you are traveling, say, to the Dallas area, would you realize as you are in Grapevine that you are north of Fort Worth?

This is the current radar from West Texas, simply because it is the only site with severe weather tonight.

The yellow boxes represent severe thunderstorm warnings. Here is the text on one of those warnings:

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1015 PM CDT
FOR SOUTHWESTERN MCCULLOCH...NORTHEASTERN MENARD AND NORTHWESTERN
MASON COUNTIES...

At 922 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Us-
190 Near The Menard-
Mcculloch County Line, or near Calf Creek, moving northeast at 20
mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to
         roofs, siding, and trees.

This severe storm will be near...
  Calf Creek around 930 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include The
Intersection Of Us-190 And Ranch Road 1311 and Us-
190 Near The Menard-Mcculloch County Line.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a
building.

You, I assume, are like me, and wouldn’t know which warning that was for, had I not just clicked on it. It wouldn’t mean much to me if I was in West Texas. In this scenario, let’s say I had heard of Calf Creek, because I was nearby in Eden. Would I know, based on the polygon that the storm was coming for me? Of if I was in Junction, would I know that it wasn’t?

One thing that meteorologists always tell you when there are forecasts for severe weather is to be prepared. Especially when you are away from home, take the time to figure out where you are on the map. If the forecast looks dicey, learn what county you are in, and even what part of the county, if you can. Victoria, for example, is in Carver County, Minnesota, and on the east side, near the border with Hennepin County. To the west, northwest and southwest are McLeod, Wright and Sibley Counties. Even when not eyeballing the radar myself, if I heard on the radio or saw an alert on TV for one of those counties, I should start to pay closer attention.

I’m a map nerd, certainly, and a lot of this comes to me naturally. That said, the weather warning apparatus necessarily makes assumptions about YOUR ability to read a map and know where you are. Take the time to hone those skills.

It’s mid-May, and we are suddenly in he severe weather doldrums, as there are a few spots of slight risk moving from the Rockies into the Lower Mississippi Valley over the next couple of days. It seems like the jump from winter weather to rote showers and thunderstorms was pretty abrupt. In fact, the story of last week was snow in Colorado and Wyoming.

This slower pattern has likely kept traffic down on our favorite weather websites, but if you were there, surely you learned quite a bit about El Nino and pollen. If you haven’t been to visit our friends, you may not have noted the refreshed look of Weatherbug

The new look is definitely informed by their background as a popular app, both on mobile, and as software starting 20 years ago. It’s clean, compartmentalized and easy to distinguish from one piece of information to another. It doesn’t feel as though an app developer tried to build a website, however, which is a very good bit of news. The bug crawling around is fun.

I know we’ve had a couple of font or layout based posts lately, but this is for two reasons. One, it’s quiet out there, but two, the importance of good communication in meteorology can’t be understated. Bad weather often needs immediate action, and that needs to be transmitted clearly. Even if not immediate, threats also need to be clearly addressed, in a manner that is obtainable by people that aren’t necessarily versed in atmospheric science.

Building trust through understanding, legibility and accuracy is important in the quiet times, as well. If we have learned anything in the last several years, it is that science is useless if it can’t be communicated.

We made it through one of the chilliest stretches to start May in a while. There were readings in the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest that suggested that numbers, like morning lows around freezing, or stretches below 50, had not been seen since about 2013. This time of year, that reads more as late winter than late spring.

Finally, though, 10, going on 11 days in, the persistent eastern trough is breaking down, and warm air is flowing back north through the Eastern US. And it will persist, with warm forecasts expected for most.

It has also been a dry start to May. April Showers may be through, but May showers are appreciated, too. The jet structure is going to be lifted along the Canadian border, and will be pocked with short undercutting waves. Bundles of energy to bring some precipitation into the picture as well.

You may note that this is not a uniform color scheme. There remains some below normal precipitation in the west, but the good news is, that this typically dodgy area is actually not in a drought this year. They will withstand some dry weather .

The rain is going to come in places where it is needed. The southeast and northwest remain thirsty, but the Plains are going to warm up, and be satiated for the next couple of weeks.

It’s not been common lately that I’ve been able to get the forecaster of the month post up early in the following month AND it is happening on a quiet weather day. Even more rare is that this month, every outlet had a share of at least one victory… except The Weather Channel. They remain in the lead for the year, but Clime had a very good finish to the month, and it brought them to victory.

I was more skeptical of the chances for rain in Logan earlier this week than most, because it looked like precipitation would be available for the higher terrain, and less so in the dry, urban locales of Utah. Not that I didn’t want it to rain, as this part of the world will take advantage of precipitation when they can. There was about a third of an inch on Monday, while Tuesday saw a few drips, but no actual reports of rain on Sunday. Clime had it’s second very good forecast verification in a row, earning the championship for the day.
Actuals: Monday – .32″ of rain, High 51, Low 32
Tuesday – .01″ of rain reported, not measured. High 54, low 30

Grade: B