Here Comes the Weekend & Tornado Season has Begun in the Plains

Our Friday forecast is a beauty. We'll have plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the 60s with a few spots in the low 70s. As nice a start it is to the weekend, it just won't last. We get into an easterly flow on Saturday and that will bring cooler readings to the area. Water temperatures offshore are only on the low 40s. On Sunday, it gets even worse as we'll have showers around and temps will probably stay in the 50s.

After that we've got some big changes with highs in the 70s to start the week and only in the 50s to finish (maybe only in the 40s, kind of crazy for the first weekend in April). I imagine that we'll see snow in our western mountains next weekend. By the way, I called my frond Lori at WISP ski resort and this is their last weekend open...too bad, wait 'till next year.

Those big changes are an indication of just how volatile our weather can be this time of year. If you've been paying attention to the news this week, you've seen the devastation from tornadoes across the central part of the U.S. A few of my colleagues have asked if this is early for this sort of weather. The short answer is, NO.

I worked in Oklahoma City from 1994-1997 and we defined "storm season" from March 15th - June 15th. The atmosphere is transitioning from winter to summer and we often get some very intense storms. The "Jet Stream" is across the country and that is very important in the development of these big storms and in the development of severe weather.

Without strong winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere, the likelihood of damaging thunderstorms isn't that high. That's not to say that you can't have a tornado without strong winds aloft, I'm just saying that it is a very important ingredient in the formation of a super cell thunderstorm.