Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Severe Weather Returns Tomorrow

Get ready for another round of severe weather in Southern New England. Exactly one week ago, most of us were drying out after a round of strong storms touched off funnel clouds and even a microburst, but that may pale in comparison to the severity of the storms expected for tomorrow.

Currently, portions of the Upper Midwest are experiencing some severe weather that has resulted in some tornado warnings. Some of that energy will break off and reach us by the early morning hours, causing isolated thunderstorms and downpours. That is only the beginning.

A warm front looks to be setting up right over our heads tomorrow, moving in from the south. This warm front positioning, combined with a fast approaching cold front from the west, daytime heating and ideal upper level conditions will create some towering thunderstorms. And trust me, these storms will be strong, with damaging straight line winds, large hail, torrential rain and even the chance of some tornados.

Now, it all will come down to exactly where the warm front will decide to settle, as this will provide the breeding ground for converging air masses. Current forecast trends put the front somewhere over Connecticut and extreme south east Massachusetts. This is likely to be the area where the strongest storms will develop. But this forecast trend is something that will need to be monitored quite closely all day tomorrow. Ironically enough, the better the chance of any early morning storms, the less likely the chance of severe weather later on. Any early storms will actually prevent the warm front from moving further North.

The timeline puts some storms starting to develop near the the CT/NY border around 12-3PM. From there, more storms should begin to pop up and eventually a squall line should form right along the cold front. Rotating storms are likely, which means tornadic activity is likely. Central and Eastern portions of RI and MA, including Boston should be under the gun anywhere from 4-8PM.

I must reiterate, these storms will be STRONG. Most folks in this region are not used to such strong storms. If you have experienced a strong storm in the Midwest or South before, you have an idea of what to expect tomorrow.

I will be doing my best to update on the severe weather potential all day tomorrow from work! But I would caution all people to keep an eye to the sky and to the news for any information