Beau Dodson's WeatherTalk Blog

May 19, 2018: Warm and muggy. Thunderstorm chances.

Daily WeatherTalk schedule

Click schedule for a larger view.  Keep in mind, during active weather this schedule will change.  There will be additional updates outside of what has been posted here.

 

 

 


We offer interactive local city live radars and regional radars.   If a radar does not update then try another one.  If a radar does not appear to be refreshing then hit Ctrl F5.  You may also try restarting your browser.

 

 

 

Storms over the coming days could be intense.  A few storms could reach severe levels.  Many areas will remain dry.

Monitor radars if you have concerns.

 

May 19, 2018
Saturday F
orecast Details
Forecast
:  Partly sunny.  Quite warm.  Scattered intense thunderstorms.  Many areas will remain dry.
Temperatures:  MO ~ 85 to 90      IL ~ 85 to 90       KY ~ 85 to 90       TN ~  85 to 90
What is the chance of precipitation?  MO ~ 50%      IL ~  40%       KY ~ 40%          TN ~ 40%
Coverage of precipitation:  Scattered
Winds:  West and southwest at 6 to 10 mph with gusts to 12
What impacts are anticipated from the weather?  Scattered wet roadways.  Lightning.  Strong winds near storms.  Nickel size hail in the most intense storms.  Isolated flash flood risk.
My confidence in the forecast verifying: High
Is severe weather expected? Isolated reports of hail or strong winds are always possible with summer type thunderstorms.
The NWS defines severe weather as 58 mph wind or great, 1″ hail or larger, and/or tornadoes
Should I cancel my outdoor plans?  No, but monitor radars
UV Index: 8 – very high
Sunrise: 5:43 AM

 

Saturday Night Forecast Details:
Forecast:  Partly cloudy.  Mild. Scattered thunderstorms.  More numerous before midnight.  Many areas will remain dry.
Temperatures:  MO ~ 65 to 70       IL ~ 65 to 70       KY ~ 65 to 70        TN ~ 65 to 70
What is the chance of precipitation?  MO ~ 30%      IL ~  30%       KY ~  30%          TN ~ 30%
Coverage of precipitation: Scattered
Winds:  South and southwest at 4 to 8 mph
What impacts are anticipated from the weather?  Scattered wet roadways.  Lightning.  Strong winds near storms.  Nickel size hail in the most intense storms.  Isolated flash flood risk.
My confidence in the forecast verifying: High
Is severe weather expected?  Isolated reports of hail or strong winds are always possible with summer type thunderstorms.
The NWS defines severe weather as 58 mph wind or great, 1″ hail or larger, and/or tornadoes
Should I cancel my outdoor plans? No, but monitor radars
Sunset: 8:00 PM
Moonrise: 9:49 AM Waxing Crescent
Moonset: 12:01 AM

 

May 20, 2018
Sunday F
orecast Details
Forecast
:  Quite a bit of sun.  Warm. Some cumulus clouds.  Scattered showers and thunderstorms.  Some storms could be severe.
Temperatures:  MO ~ 85 to 92      IL ~ 85 to 90      KY ~ 86 to 92       TN ~  86 to 92
What is the chance of precipitation?  MO ~ 50%      IL ~  60%       KY ~ 50%          TN ~ 40%
Coverage of precipitation: Scattered to perhaps numerous
Winds:  South and southwest at 5 to 10 mph
What impacts are anticipated from the weather?  Scattered wet roadways.  Lightning.  Strong winds near storms. Quarter size hail in the most intense storms.  Isolated flash flood risk.
My confidence in the forecast verifying: High
Is severe weather expected? Severe storms are possible.
The NWS defines severe weather as 58 mph wind or great, 1″ hail or larger, and/or tornadoes
Should I cancel my outdoor plans?  No, but check radars
UV Index: 9 – very high
Sunrise: 5:42 AM

 

Sunday Night Forecast Details:
Forecast:  Increasing clouds.  Scattered thunderstorms possible.
Temperatures:  MO ~ 65 to 70       IL ~ 65 to 70       KY ~ 65 to 70        TN ~ 65 to 70
What is the chance of precipitation?  MO ~ 40%      IL ~  40%       KY ~  40%          TN ~ 40%
Coverage of precipitation: Scattered
Winds:  South and southwest at 5 to 10 mph
What impacts are anticipated from the weather? Scattered wet roadways.  Lightning.  Strong winds near storms.  Nickel size hail in the most intense storms.  Isolated flash flood risk.
My confidence in the forecast verifying: Medium
Is severe weather expected? Isolated reports of hail or strong winds are always possible with summer type thunderstorms.
The NWS defines severe weather as 58 mph wind or great, 1″ hail or larger, and/or tornadoes
Should I cancel my outdoor plans?  No, but monitor radars.
Sunset: 8:00 PM
Moonrise: 10:56 AM Waxing Crescent
Moonset: 12:27 AM

 

May 21, 2018
Monday F
orecast Details
Forecast
:  Partly cloudy.  A few thunderstorms again possible.  Summer typer pattern with spotty storms.
Temperatures:  MO ~ 85 to 88      IL ~ 85 to 86       KY ~ 85 to 88       TN ~  85 to 88
What is the chance of precipitation?  MO ~ 30%      IL ~  30%       KY ~ 30%          TN ~ 30%
Coverage of precipitation:  Scattered
Winds:  Variable winds at 5 to 10 mph
What impacts are anticipated from the weather?  Scattered wet roadways.  Lightning.  Strong winds near storms.  Nickel size hail in the most intense storms.  Isolated flash flood risk.
My confidence in the forecast verifying: Medium
Is severe weather expected?  Isolated reports of hail or strong winds are always possible with summer type thunderstorms.
The NWS defines severe weather as 58 mph wind or great, 1″ hail or larger, and/or tornadoes
Should I cancel my outdoor plans?  No, but monitor radars.
UV Index: 7 – high
Sunrise: 5:41 AM

 

Monday Night Forecast Details:
Forecast:  Mostly cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms.
Temperatures:  MO ~ 64 to 68       IL ~ 64 to 68       KY ~ 64 to 68        TN ~ 64 to 68
What is the chance of precipitation?  MO ~ 30%      IL ~  30%       KY ~  30%          TN ~ 30%
Coverage of precipitation: Widely scattered
Winds:  South and southwest at 5 to 10 mph
What impacts are anticipated from the weather? Wet roadways.  Lightning.
My confidence in the forecast verifying: Medium
Is severe weather expected?  Isolated reports of hail or strong winds are always possible with summer type thunderstorms.
The NWS defines severe weather as 58 mph wind or great, 1″ hail or larger, and/or tornadoes
Should I cancel my outdoor plans?  No, but check radars
Sunset: 8:01 PM
Moonrise: 12:03 PM Waxing Crescent
Moonset: 1:14 AM

 

May 22, 2018
Tuesday F
orecast Details
Forecast
:  Partly cloudy.  A few thunderstorms possible.  Summer type pattern.
Temperatures:  MO ~ 83 to 86      IL ~ 83 to 86       KY ~ 83 to 86       TN ~  83 to 86
What is the chance of precipitation?  MO ~ 30%      IL ~  30%       KY ~ 30%          TN ~ 30%
Coverage of precipitation:  Scattered
Winds:  South and southwest at 5 to 10 mph
What impacts are anticipated from the weather?  Wet roads and lightning.
My confidence in the forecast verifying: Medium
Is severe weather expected?  Unlikely, but isolated reports of hail or strong winds are always possible with summer type thunderstorms.
The NWS defines severe weather as 58 mph wind or great, 1″ hail or larger, and/or tornadoes
Should I cancel my outdoor plans?  No, but monitor radars.
UV Index: 8 – Very high
Sunrise: 5:41 AM

 

Tuesday Night Forecast Details:
Forecast:  Partly cloudy. A widely scattered thunderstorm is possible.
Temperatures:  MO ~ 64 to 68       IL ~ 64 to 68       KY ~ 64 to 68        TN ~ 64 to 68
What is the chance of precipitation?  MO ~ 20%      IL ~  20%       KY ~  20%          TN ~ 20%
Coverage of precipitation: Widely scattered
Winds:  South wind at 5 to 10 mph
What impacts are anticipated from the weather? Wet roadways.  Lightning.
My confidence in the forecast verifying: Medium
Is severe weather expected?  Unlikely, but isolated reports of hail or strong winds are always possible with summer type thunderstorms.
The NWS defines severe weather as 58 mph wind or great, 1″ hail or larger, and/or tornadoes
Should I cancel my outdoor plans?  No, but check radars
Sunset: 8:03 PM
Moonrise: 1:09 PM First Quarter
Moonset: 1:56 AM

 

RAIN TOTALS

There is no point in me posting the model rainfall forecast maps.  The models don’t handle scattered thunderstorms all that great.It is important to remember, late spring and summer thunderstorms can drop a lot of rain in a short amount of time.  Rain rates can occasionally exceed 1.5 to 2″ per hour.  This can cause brief periods of flash flooding or ponding of water.

It is next to impossible to forecast which county will receive more rain than a neighboring county.  Typical, for our region.  Your neighbor can pick up a heavy thunderstorm and you end up with just a few drops.

Generally, rainfall totals of 0.25″ to 0.50″ are anticipated from now through Sunday night.  Other areas, under slow moving thunderstorms, could easily pick up an inch or two+ of rain.  Again, typical summer pattern.

 

Interactive Radars:
Interactive live weather radar page.  Choose the city nearest your location. If one of the city radars won’t load then try a nearby one.  Click here.

 

Questions?  Broken links?  Other?

You may email me at beaudodson@usawx.com

 

The National Weather Service defines a severe thunderstorm as one that produces quarter size hail or larger, 58 mph winds or greater, and/or a  tornado.

 

Saturday through Monday night: Thunderstorms will be possible.  Some of the storms could produce frequent lightning, high winds, heavy rain, and even hail.

It is possible that a few thunderstorms could reach severe levels.  Damaging wind and hail being the main risk.

Monitor updates.

 

 

Interactive live weather radar page.  Choose the city nearest your location. If one of the cities does not work then try a nearby one.  Click here.

National map of weather watches and warnings. Click here.

Storm Prediction Center.  Click here.

Weather Prediction Center.  Click here.

 

 

Live lightning data: Click here.

 

 

Interactive GOES R satellite.  Track clouds.  Click here.

 

 

Here are the latest local river stage forecast numbers Click Here.

Here are the latest lake stage forecast numbers for Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley Click Here.

 

 

The spring and preliminary summer outlooks have been posted for subscribers.  Scroll down to see the outlook.

Not a subscriber?  Learn more at this link.

 

 

Weather Headlines

  • Warm and muggy weather.
  • Scattered intense thunderstorms over the coming days.
  • Many areas will remain dry.
  • Lightning is a concern.
  • Isolated severe threat.

 

Lightning is concern for outdoor events over the coming days.  If thunderstorms threaten then temporarily move inside until the storm passes.

 

 

You may see shelf clouds over the coming days.  They are normally at the leading edge of thunderstorms.  It does not mean the storm is severe.  Each storm is different.  Some are stronger than others.

Renee Jenkins Shaw took this photograph of a shelf cloud and scud clouds.  This is near Mayfield, Kentucky, as a thunderstorm rolled through.

 

 

 

 

 

Over the coming days, high dew points will make it feel humid and sticky.  Dew point is a measure of moisture in the lower atmosphere.  Dew points in the mid to upper 60’s are sticky.

 

 

 

 

 


A new weather podcast is now available!  Weather Geeks (which you might remember is on The Weather Channel each Sunday)

To learn more visit their website.  Click here.

 

 

WeatherBrains Episode 643

Tonight’s Guest WeatherBrain is a Research Meteorologist at National Severe Storms Laboratory and a visiting Professor of Atmospheric Science at Desert Research Institute and the University of Nevada-Reno. He is the author of the recent AMS Book: Verner Soumi: The Life and Work of the Founder of Satellite Meteorology. He joins us tonight from his daughter’s home in Sacramento. Please welcome Dr. John Lewis to WeatherBrains.

Throughout his career, Dr. Lewis has conducted research that has combined weather analysis with numerical weather prediction. His professional experience has been divided between work in government labs including operational prediction centers and academia. In the past decade, he has led a national research project focused on the weather over the Gulf of Mexico, Project GUFMEX, explored the use of adjoint methods to study model sensitivity, and contributed to the history of science. In 1998, the Environmental Research Laboratories of NOAA assigned Dr. Lewis to Desert Research Institute on a long-term duty assignment. This assignment was made in connection with a 5-year plan to improve weather forecasting in the Western United States. Central to this effort is the use of adjoint models to clarify the relative importance of the various meteorological fields used to initialize deterministic prediction models.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

  • Extremes: 102 at Rio Grande Village, TX, and 23 at Stanley, ID, Crested Butte, CO, & Gothic, CO
  • Non-tropical low off the west coast of Florida
  • Severe weather Tuesday over Mid-Atlantic states
  • Serious drought from AZ to West TX
  • Fairly warm across the continental US
  • Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice
  • and more!

 

 

Previous episodes can be viewed by clicking here.

 

We offer interactive local city live radars and regional radars.   If a radar does not update then try another one.  If a radar does not appear to be refreshing then hit Ctrl F5.  You may also try restarting your browser.

The local city view radars also have clickable warnings.

During the winter months, you can track snow and ice by clicking the winterize button on the local city view interactive radars.

You may email me at beaudodson@usawx.com

 

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Did you know that a portion of your monthly subscription helps support local charity projects?

You can learn more about those projects by visiting the Shadow Angel Foundation website and the Beau Dodson News website.

I encourae subscribers to use the app vs regular text messaging.  We have found text messaging to be delayed during severe weather.  The app typically will receive the messages instantly.  I recommend people have three to four methods of receiving their severe weather information.

Remember, my app and text alerts are hand typed and not computer generated.  You are being given personal attention during significant weather events.

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