Updraft: May 12, 2008 Archive

Chill blunts storms

Posted at 7:43 AM on May 12, 2008 by Craig Edwards (1 Comments)

Paul Huttner and I keep trying to find the silver lining in the extended cool streak this spring. Light snow in northeast Minnesota, temperatures in the 20s and winds to 30 mph on Sunday transitioned into sunshine and an acceptable mid to late afternoon.

So far this month temperatures are running nearly ten degrees below normal along the Minnesota/Canadian border, and about three degrees below normal in central Minnesota. International Falls dipped to 26 degrees on Sunday morning, only two degrees shy of the record of 24 set in 1996.

This cold vortex anchored in the proximity of Hudson Bay is likely to continue the cool trend for the foreseeable future. Below normal temperatures could extend into the next two weeks.

Eight to fourteen day outlook

Severe weather has been the story to our south. The southern boundary of cold air has set up the focus for thunderstorms from Kansas to the Carolinas. There have been about two dozen killer tornadoes so far this season in the United States. The Web site of the Storm Prediction Center is listing a preliminary total of more than nine hundred tornadoes through May 11th.

Preliminary National tornado statistics

Based on rotation indicated on the Doppler Radar, the National Weather Service was able to give about thirteen minute lead time on the destructive tornado along the Oklahoma and Missouri border on Saturday afternoon. The radar signature, as I viewed it in progress, was a classic super cell, with the tornado formation on the southwest tail of the storm.

Showers in northwest Minnesota today expand and move southeast tonight and Tuesday.

Graphical forecast
CE

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