ORLANDO, Fla. – The cooler temps and clear skies continue to hold steady in our local weather here in the state of Florida. However, our neighbors to the north and west are preparing for their first bout of scattered strong to severe storms since spring.
We’ve had occasional periods of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes throughout this summer but with such an expansive and encompassing threat highlighted for this weekend, all signs point to fall trying to dominate the nation.
As cold, polar air from up north tries to swing south in rapid fashion like we’re seeing over the Rockies on Thursday morning, we’ve got plenty of leftover summer-style heat still stuck across the south.
The troughs helping tug the cold air south into the U.S. act like magnets as well. The wind flow along the nose of the trough, or the leading edge, tends to switch from westerly to southerly. That helps to draw the warmth further north and put it directly in the path of the incoming cold air.
This temperature discontinuity, switching from warm to cold and cold to warm at such a quick pace is precisely what helps generate the severe weather we witness during the spring and fall seasons.
You’ll commonly hear “tornado season” or “severe weather season” happens two times through a calendar year.
It’s the transitional phase from winter into spring, as warm air tries to sneak back into our country, and from the switch to summer into fall, when the cold air tries to come in from up north headed south, that creates the clashing of airmasses.
Right now, from northeast Texas, through Arkansas, lower Missouri, even reaching into southern Illinois, we have a risk for tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail forecast for Saturday into early Sunday morning.
This is as another cold front comes down out of the Rocky Mountains, rushes east through the plains sparking the severe weather, and then heads our way by Sunday into your upcoming Monday.
We’ll see a slight nudge in the rain department, where some showers and maybe a stray thunderstorm try to fire off during the afternoon. Then it’s right back to dry air and tolerable temperatures.
Chief Meteorologist Candace Campos has more details on what we can expect here in our neighborhood as we trek closer to the weekend HERE.