Our First 80 Degree Day As Meteorological Spring Nears

During the past 5 years, our first 80 degree day happened either in January or February.  We appear to be right on schedule as MSY reached 80 at 3 PM.  It didn't feel that warm since it was so windy and more humid.  After such an incredible weekend of clear skies, some clouds returned, especially to our north & west.

As warm air surges northward, it brings the potential for severe weather outbreaks and SPC has highlighted such an area for tomorrow into Wednesday.  Note, it is far to our north.  Why?

The upper trough remains along the West Coast with one swirl diving into Washington and another off of California.  It's the northern trough that will trigger the storms up over the Ohio Valley while the California low lags behind.  Nicondra showed the upper air forecast on her 4 PM program. The top graphic has the Washington disturbance racing across the Great Lakes bringing them back to the reality of Winter.

But the southern low lags back over the 4 corners on Thursday, lifting to our north on Friday.  Friday looks like the day with highest rain chances.  Since the upper winds remain WSW, the cold front will stall along the northern Gulf making for an unsettled/cloudy/wet pattern into the weekend.

There's still lots of Arctic cold in Canada and it's heading to the Great Lakes & Northeast.

With northern Montana near zero while south Kansas is 89, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see why there is the potential for severe storms.

While we reached 80 today, Dallas topped 90 in February!  Add in higher dew points surging northward and all the ingredients are coming together for an active Tuesday afternoon & evening.  Since the upper energy will be far to our north, we'll avoid strong storms this week.  But the upper pattern next week may bring us some strong storms, but that's NEXT week.  Finally, look at how our exceptional drought back in December has vanished in just 3 months.  The bottom view is the most recent.

And for "It never rains in California", many locations will have the wettest February EVER with Los Angeles getting nearly 15".  

This past weekend really spoiled us!  Stay tuned!