Tuesday in Galesburg, Illinois (while I chased tornadoes), I had the pleasure of enjoying an 80 degree temperature for the first time in 5 months. Wednesday, back at my home in Dubuque it snowed much of the day, with a reading at noon of 34 degrees. A stiff NW wind had the wind chill at 22 degrees. That was a serious wake-up call. So much for the summer preview! I'm sorry to say there's a lot more where that came from and the next 6-7 days we will be riding the crazy train. T

March 10th is not the typical time of year to be tooling down the highway in search of a twister. Yet, that is where I found myself Tuesday morning, sailing down Route 61 towards a target somewhere E/SE of the Quad Cities. While the sun was out when I left, the temperature was just 41 degrees when I exited the city limits of Dubuque, (far from tornado weather). Where I was headed, robust readings around 80 were expected with unusual amounts of humidity. That contrast is one o

It's early March and it is unusual to see a significant storm threat this far north. However, that is the situation my counties from the Quad Cities southeast find themselves in. A rather robust set of parameters seems to be in play for severe thunderstorms that could produce all modes of severe weather. That includes the potential of strong tornadoes, EF2 or greater towards late afternoon or evening. Currently, SPC has an enhanced level 3 risk of severe weather in place from

A rather classic severe weather event continues to take shape across the region on Tuesday with all modeling continuing to show the threat for severe weather including the risk for tornadoes, large hail and damaging wind gusts. The HRRR (above) indicates explosive thunderstorm development along the warm front across southeast Iowa and central Illinois in the late afternoon and evening Tuesday. The RRFS above indicates a similar solution and are most likely to receive storms.

JOIN THE ROSTER FOR WX SCHOOL, MODEL ANALYSIS 101 JOIN THE ROSTER FOR WX SCHOOL, MODEL ANALYSIS 101 Record-warm temperatures are in the forecast to start the next week, however a rather significant pattern change looks likely to take over the region at least briefly. Early next week, roughly March 14 through 18, a shot of colder air is likely to take over the Upper Midwest as indicated in the European Ensemble above. Temperature anomalies are projected to be -7 to -13 below n