After a few particularly miserable weeks, if some models are to be believed (and important people are believing them) we might actually be able to come up for air next week. There isn’t a well put together system to be found in the near future, and beyond what, say, the NAM has to offer, it kind of gets into silly territory anyways. The SPC just has marginal risks the next three days, and after that, not a thing. There will be some sultry air mass type of storms in the southern US, and certainly there could be a strong one in there somewhere, but not the widespread chaos of the last several weeks. Hooray!

This is definitely more of a warning about the temperature than the water. It’s usually pretty chilly in the waterways of the Pacific Northwest.
Yesterday’s storms were, in one way, well behaved

These are the storm reports from yesterday, featuring a whopping 762 reports stretching from their origin in southern Missouri and following a wave through Tennessee into downstate North Carolina. You really couldn’t have asked for a more organized storm system. Usually, you see a few disparate tracks of short lived storm, but this one set up in Missouri and just kept on trucking. The other reports aren’t even in conjunction with the main batch. It’s not just the tornado outbreaks that are strong thunderstorms.
Also, I know we are overdue for a couple of verifications, but our last two forecasts were in Muncie and Goldsboro. Nice work by this complex to avoid our towns. It was a lot closer to Muncie the day before, when tornadoes started in the Kalamazoo area and stretched south along the Ohio-Indiana border
The various complexities of NWS life
I take two days of forecast data and regurgitate here, but there is obviously a lot that goes into being a National Weather Service Meteorologist. Or maybe it isn’t so obvious. Take a look at the exhaustive briefing from the Lincoln office of the NWS.
April was toasty in North Dakota
Not something you always associate with North Dakota, but the NWS in Grand Forks noted that many sites in the eastern part of the state were 3-4 degrees warmer than normal for the month.
Is this thing broken?

I feel like I’ve seen this banana in the middle of the country on the SPC severe weather extended outlook for a month straight now. Is the extended outlook broken? Who do we call to get this fixed? I think some people in Omaha, Wichita and Oklahoma City would like the number.
We’re almost there

These are the spring thaw dates from the Boise WFO, one of the high elevation spots that is more prone to extended frost and freeze seasons, and even out there, we are approaching the end of their typical season. It’s almost summer!
Heat roasting the Philippines
Heat index temperatures around metro Manila this week have been in the triple digits, and aren’t expected to drop in the near future. The thick, tropical air mass is expected to remain in place north of the ITCZ and south of the more active trade pattern, which is soaking south China but little else. Looking at the long range model outlook, there isn’t really a change in pattern either.
It will likely take a tropical wave moving through to kick up some seabreezes and move air around, though we are in the dry season for the Asian tropics. It’s never really cool in the Philippines, though, so bear that in mind when thinking about what kind of unbearable heat would lead to it being newsworthy.
Freeze decision page
One thing that I have seen many people bring up this year is the spring freeze warnings. They come up after things start thawing out, but it’s not a straight line. Frost and freeze advisories are out for those early planters, or folks with sensitive plants that have started budding on their own. The Quad Cities WFO has a whole page for residents looking for more information on the subject, and forecasts of the same.
Quiet is on it’s way
It has been a terrible weekend for a large chunk of the country. There were tornadoes most notably in Omaha, Lincoln and Des Moines on Friday, and on Saturday, the storms battered Oklahoma most notably. but also produced tornadoes from northwest Missouri to north Texas. Unfortunately, the tornadoes in Oklahoma led to one fatality, but throughout the storms, there was damage and lives upturned throughout the Plains.
Today features another enhanced risk of severe weather around the ArkLaTex. The next several days will still have a bit of a threat for severe weather, but it isn’t nearly on par with what we were concerned with through the weekend. Instead of a tornado outbreak, we’ll just see more of the garden variety thunderstorms. Strong, sure, but not historic.