The upper level ridge that has been parked over the Central Plains for the past week has produced northwest flow aloft over the eastern Midwest. Clusters of storms forming on the periphery of the ridge in the upper Midwest have repeatedly rounded the ridge and plunged southeast through Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and on. These often produced torrential and copious amounts of rain, a number of cases that resulted in our Big Rain Bullseye feature on the CoCoRaHS Facebook page.
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| 500 millibar height map (about 19-20,000 feet) for the morning of August 1, 2026 |
The upper level ridge has been nearly stationary across the southern half of the country for at least a week, with its center wandering from the inter mountain region to the Central Plains. You can see the approximate mean location of the high in the CoCoRaHS precipitation maps for the last week.
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| The daily CoCoRaHS precipitation maps for August 8-13, 2026 |
Air under the upper ridge is subsiding (sinking), which results in higher temperatures on the surface. Note the high temperatures reported over this period in the Central and Southern Plains.The sinking air also suppresses any formation of clouds, and of course showers and thunderstorms.
Even with upper air charts and other information, it's amazing how much can be deduced from just the daily precipitation patterns. Your daily observations do matter!
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