Time To Shut It Down...

With the weather so nice & quiet, it's hard to come up with daily posts when nothing is happening.  One thing that did jump out with today's clear skies was the opportunity to view Lake Pontchartrain to see what effect the opening of the Spillway has had.

It's certainly not pretty as the muddy Mississippi's footprint extends through the Lake into Lake Borgne towards Mississippi Sound.  To me, despite the fact the falls coming down the River from the north are very slow, the Corps needs to start slowly closing more bays in an effort to minimize the algae bloom potential coming next month as our weather warms.  It's very apparent how the water clarity is so different between the west side versus the east side of the River.  Also note the muddy waters around lower Plaquemine Parish.  

We continue to enjoy the good feel air from a surface high pressure centered over northern Alabama.  You can clearly see the return flow off the Gulf with dew points rising into the 60s along the Texas coast.  That moisture will stream northward into the central plains on Tuesday where SPC indicates some strong/severe storm could develop.

So far SPC is not keeping that severe potential over us on Wednesday, but that could change.  A strong (120 knots) jet stream over the Pacific NW will carve out a vigorous upper low tomorrow and we'll need to monitor that disturbance as it brings our next cold front on Wednesday.  That front will sweep away the humidity and bring back the good feel air for later in the week.

 The daily higher sun angle is working its magic ( except over the NE) as most of the nation is Spring-like.  We have been enjoying some terrific weather with warm highs and comfy cool nights.  Models are showing a heat wave coming here for the first week in May so we need to appreciate what we have because we know what['s coming...SUMMER!   Stay home, stay healthy & stay tuned!