Severe weather often develops this time of year

Here in the south we have a second severe weather season in the fall. Some years we have more severe weather in October and November than we do during spring.

This time of year, there’s still plenty of warm, moist air sitting over the Gulf. All it takes is a good strong wind to blow the moisture inland where it often collides with strong cold fronts dropping in from Canada. The result is often widespread severe weather.

We saw an example of that last week. A strong storm dumped over three feet of snow in the Rockies. When the front edge of that cold air pushed into the middle of the country it produced heavy rain and severe weather from Texas to Minnesota, from the High Plains to the East Coast. 

It felt like summer with high heat and humidity before the front arrived. Afterward, the sky cleared out and temperatures fell twenty degrees. That change from one season to the next over just a few hours causes much of our severe weather.

The jet stream has shifted north, taking us out of the storm track for a few days. We have lots of sunshine and mild temperatures in our forecast...until the jet stream wiggles again and sends another storm our way.

Comments

[Jon]

In Madison Wisc., where I am from, it snowed 19 inches last night. Repeated unnecessary discussion of how cold it is here, drives my agoraphobic patients crazy. Please add a postitive side to it.

Would you consider mentioning how clean the air is currently.

Dr. Jon

RESPONSE from TIM HELLER: Sure! I'd love to write about how clean our air is, but it's not. Pollution is a problem in Houston.