Every Forecast Should Have A Focus...

Back when I was on-air forecasting, my motto was "What do I want my viewers to remember?" I wanted every program to have a focus whether it be "Heat Wave Coming!, Heavy Rains Possible or Major Weekend Cool Down"   I would then show graphics to support my "headlines".  Using satellite views, radar, upper winds forecast etc. I wanted my viewers to understand the WHYS & not just the WHAT of the forecast. Sadly, that is rarely the case anymore as broadcast Television has been consultant driven LOCAL, LOCAL, LOCAL. Here's my way...

The top satellite view has the current upper lows, one over the NE with the upper trough back over the West.  But look how that changes as we head into the weekend.  After the satellite picture, the 4 upper air graphics are valid from this morning, Friday morning, Saturday morning and then Sunday.  The western trough shifts over the Great Lakes and has a NW flow over us.  That will bring down a significant cold front late Friday making the weekend almost chilly.

Go watch your local TV weathercaster and see if they have a focus, or do they just take the easy way out and begins with currents followed by highs & lows...YAWN!  During the past month, I've watched weather in Oklahoma City to Mobile to here and they ALL look the same.  Thank goodness we have the internet so we don't need to watch TV for the weather anymore.

 I've drawn the return flow of Gulf moisture (green arrows) around the surface high, along with the WNW upper flow.  There is a weak feature causing clouds and showers over us and Texas, but we have such dry air (dew points in 40s) over us that the rain is evaporation before it reaches the ground.

This feature should be east of us for tomorrow so expect more sunshine & warmer temps.  Now go watch your local weathercaster.  Stay tuned!