- Apr 13, 2019

IN BETWEEN STORMS...

So just how windy was it Thursday? So windy this little girl went for an unexpected ride. Check out the video. Dorothy and Toto have nothing on her!

The windy weather has been going on for some time around the Midwest. Here are the peak wind gusts over the past week in Cedar Rapids. The 7 day average comes out to 38 mph. The highest gust in my area was 64 mph in Oelwein, Iowa.

Look how the winds drifted the snow that fell in western Nebraska. Isn't nature beautiful.

The next storm Sunday looks as though it will stay largely southeast of my area. That's a good thing since it looks wet and even snowy on the NW fringe. After inconsistencies Thursday, models are now in good agreement on where snow will fall. Here's what the EURO shows. It shifted east the past 24 hours and actually was out performed by the GFS...a rare victory for that model.

The GFS has this for snow on Sunday.

The 3k NAM

Here's what the GFS has for total precipitation (rain and snow water equivalent).

Another system behind this one is due into the Midwest on Wednesday. It too looks to be a significant precipitation producer only further north than its predecessor. The GFS shows this for additional precipitation Wednesday and Thursday.

Over the next 15 days the GFS generates this for total precipitation.

The additional rain on saturated soils and already high rivers raises the prospect of additional flooding issues. The Mississippi looks especially vulnerable.

There are some signs that later this month and into May the pattern may evolve into a configuration less conducive to heavy precipitation events over the western half of the Midwest. This is the 46 day precipitation anomaly from the EURO weeklies. Much of Iowa and Minnesota, where soils are extremely soggy, are actually shown with below normal rainfall. 2-3 weeks of that would actually be beneficial.