What's with the weather?
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Tuesday, May 8 and Wednesday, May 9
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Tuesday, May 1st and Wednesday, May 2nd
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Tuesday, April 24 and Wednesday, April 25
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Thursday, April 19 and Friday, April 20

A rather large low- pressure system moves across the Central Plains and into the Midwest Thursday into Friday afternoon with the potential to produce some severe thunderstorms in the intersection between Iowa, Kansas and Missouri and extending down into Northwestern Oklahoma. The main danger with these storms is possible damaging winds and hail, however tornadoes are not of much concern right now due to lack of instability, storm-relative helicity and low level moisture. We will likely see the dry line over the Southern Plains meet and be overrun by the progressing cold front moving along the Central Plains during Thursday evening. The cold front will continue to surge northeast and extends southeastward to eastern Texas producing a long line of showers and thunderstorms along it throughout Friday. The following graphic depicts the composite reflectivity expected Friday afternoon showing you just how far this line of storms extends.
Finally, Champaign-Urbana is nearing 80 degrees yet again! Thursdays early morning low only dips down to 50 °F, while the high is expected to get up 78°F in the afternoon. Clouds will be increased during the morning hours, but will begin clearing in the early afternoon leaving the remainder of the day mostly sunny. It will also be a bit breezier with SSW winds ranging from 9-21 mph. As a cold front cuts across Illinois Friday morning, rain showers will follow behind it. Thus, showers are likely in the early morning hours with rain chances continuing into the afternoon hours. As cold air sets in behind the front Friday afternoon, we will only reach a high of 58°F on Friday with a low dipping down to 40°F by Friday evening. Cloud cover will be mostly cloudy to overcast throughout the day into the evening.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Tuesday, April 17 and Wednesday, April 18
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Thursday, April 12 and Friday, April 13
There will be a slight warm up in store for Champaign-Urbana on Thursday with a high of 62°F, but temperatures will get frigid in the morning with a low of 30°F. The NWS has issued a Freeze Warning from 1am to 8am to warn those that need to protect any sensitive vegetation or plants from the crop-killing temperatures. Thursday will be the last dry day without any rain in the forecast up until next Tuesday! As a high- pressure system continues to sit over the Midwest we’re going to see mostly sunny skies Thursday with a calm S wind at 3-7 mph. For Friday the rainy days start. There will be a slight chance of rain and even some possible thunderstorms up until Friday night. Chances of showers and thunderstorms are lower during the day, but will increase as we head into Friday evening. Temperature wise, we’ll have a high of 64°F with a morning low of 40°F. Cloud cover will remain mostly cloudy throughout the day with a SE wind at 7-19 mph.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Thursday, April 5 and Friday, April 6
Tuesday proved to be a very active severe weather day in Texas with 18 reported tornadoes primarily in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In addition to the tornadoes we saw damaging wind reports as well as hail as large as baseballs! Check out this link to a video of a tractor- trailer being picked up by one of the Dallas, TX tornadoes! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN5Izcf-z9k
The threat of tornadoes has diminished in Texas tonight, but there are still thunderstorms plaguing the south and east Thursday. The following video will show you the radar loops that show the Low Pressure system moving through beginning at roughly 7am CDT to 7pm CDT along with the heavy precipitation possible with these storms. The next image shows the 24 accumulation of rain after the storms move through Thursday. Lastly, the Storm Prediction Center also outlines the areas of thunderstorms that have a slight risk of becoming severe. The storms that come Thursday do not have the same severity as yesterday’s storms in Texas, however if these storms continue to move through these regions as repetitively as they have been these areas could begin to deal with the chances of flooding.