Spring Weather Can Be Extreme

It seems like the weather has been so active over the last few weeks, and at times extreme.

From Fairbanks, Alaska -- where highs in the 70s posted 4 days in a row, including a new all-time April record high of 76 degrees on the 30th of April.

That type of weather is more like the third week of July.

Fairbanks typically averages 47 days each year with a high above 70 degrees, and only 7 days with the mercury cracking the 80-degree mark.

This week things are back to more seasonal levels with highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s.

In the mid-south it has been very wet, mostly due to the recent pattern of the polar and sub-tropical jet streams, along with a nearly stationary cold front.

The result was 4 to as much as 8 inches of rain falling from Arkansas to Alabama over the weekend.

CoCoRaHS observer Suzanne from Lewisburg, Tennessee sent this picture to me over email. It really tells the story of just how wet and dismal the weekend was for the mid-south.

The heavy rain nearly drowned her tomato plant starts!



Several tornadoes were reported over the weekend as severe weather developed from Texas to North Carolina.

I am sure many saw the damage around the Dallas/Ft. Worth area on your local and national news as severe storms rolled though.

Tornadoes caused some injuries in Miller County, Arkansas on Saturday along with a lot of damage to trees, power lines and even some homes.

There was a death in Mississippi that was storm related.

I even saw a tornado warning for a brief time on Sunday just north of Boise, Idaho. I never saw any confirmed touchdowns, but there were a few hail reports in Idaho yesterday.

This week the storm track will shift to the northern tier of states as the weather pattern becomes more zonal, or moving basically from west to east.

A storm is currently hammering the Pacific Northwest and will move into the upper mid west over the next few days.

And in the southern tier of states it will heat up this week. Some 100s will show up on the maps both in Texas and the deserts of the southwest.

The most recent blog poll closed on Friday and there were 64 votes. 53% of participants don't typically notice air pressure changes with regards to body and health.

The rest sometimes and often do notice changes when the air pressure shifts, mostly with past injuries and headaches.

Here are the actual results...

Does your body notice air pressure changes?

Yes, I get headaches -- 14%

Yes, a past injury hurts -- 20%

Yes, both the above -- 6%

Yes, other symptom -- 6%

No, I don't notice any symptoms -- 53%

Recall back on Good Friday there was an outbreak of severe weather in the southeast states. See picture of storm reports below.



The local National Weather Service offices are starting to publish final reports on these tornadoes.

Here is a report of the tornadoes that struck middle Tennessee.

Here is a report of the twisters that hit Georgia.

Here is a report out of central Alabama.

There may be others from a few other NWS offices.