Before we get to the details of today and beyond, a quick note about yesterday. Only reason I know this is because it was close to where I grew up and I follow the weather (and Meteorologists there) closely… a thunderstorm turned severe and whacked suburban Syracuse yesterday afternoon at rush hour. A microburst (what it appeared to be) blew through the SW suburbs of the ‘Cuse, hitting Marcellus particularly hard. Large trees down. Unclear as to any injuries or fatalities, although Dave Allen from WSYR called the storms this morning “deadly”, I’ve yet to see reports confirming this as of this writing at 9 AM 7/14. This just goes to show you folks, when I mention SEVERE WEATHER. Anything from a SLIGHT RISK, it’s for a REASON. Not everyone will see this type of storm, but some will. Those that do, it’s a major interruption. If not worse. Straight line winds are just as strong as twisting tornadic winds. I cannot make this point enough. 75 MPH+ winds are… 75+ MPH winds… will knock things down and will hurt people. Simple truth. End of story.
To today’s “SLIGHT” severe weather risk across the Dakota’s and Minnesota, this will form on the boundary between the “heat dome” (with 100+ heat getting into SW South Dakota) and 60s and 70s across the Great Lakes. It’s in this “battle zone” storms form this afternoon and tonight. Models are blowing this up into an MCS so after tonight, beyond the twin cities, in Wisconsin, Chicago area, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and even into Pennsylvania, HEADS UP! Keep an eye to the sky for quickly changing conditions. It’s the same scenario that happened outside the ‘Cuse yesterday. Heads up.
Other than that, the heat ridge is building across the Great Plains. 105-110 F heat peaks across Nebraska today, Kansas tomorrow, across all states in the Plains this weekend with 105F temperatures on Sunday expected to reach northern Montana and even blow past customs into the Canadian Prairies. It’s that time of year to be on the lookout for excessive heat. The heat builds east of the Mississippi this weekend as well, so it goes above normal but not into record territory across the eastern US. Heads up. It’s mid July. It’s above normal but within the realm of “normal”. And as for Texas… Medium well to Well done. Just fry the steak on the sidewalk and it will cook just fine!
