Bigger Than Usual Severe Weather Outbreak Colorado To Mid-Atlantic In The Works

The National Weather Service in Cheyenne, Wyoming shared on Twitter
this photo by Cody Calhoun of a tornado and lightning strike
near Burns, Wyoming on Sunday. Severe weather will
head east through the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states
through Tuesday. 

We here in Vermont had a gorgeous day Sunday, with temperatures in the 70s to low 80s, plenty of sunshine and low humidity.

Let's just say the weather in Vermont was a bit better than in, say, Otis, Colorado, which had at least one tornado and hail the size of grapefruit. Yikes! There were at least 10 reports of tornadoes Sunday, mostly in Colorado.

The severe weather in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas Sunday was the beginnings of a larger than usual severe weather and tornado outbreak that will eventually extend eastward through the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states through Tuesday.

You can pretty much always find areas of strong and severe thunderstorms in the summer, but it's usually not as widespread as those spring outbreaks. But this one will pack a big punch, at least by August standards.

There's a strong heat wave going on now in the Gulf States and mid-Mississippi Valley. A weak storm, though one that's stronger than usual for the dog days of August is on the northern edge of this hot spell. The system is heading east from Iowa, and will go through Illinois and Ohio before ending up somewhere around Pennslyvania or Maryland by Tuesday.

This combination, which includes winds changing speed and direction with height, great instability and such will keep the severe weather going along and to the south of this storm's path. Today, the focus for severe weather will center on Iowa, Illinois and Indiana.

If anything, Tuesday looks more interesting as ingredients might be coming together for a bigger outbreak of bad weather, focusing on New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.

For the second year in a row, this area has already been battered by an unusual number of severe storms and tornadoes. For instance, New Jersey has had eight tornadoes so far this year. They normally average two per year.

This upcoming storm will certainly continue the Mid-Atlantic severe weather trend. I'm pretty sure we'll get at least a couple reports of tornadoes out of the Mid-Atlantic states Tuesday, along with wind damage, hail and flash flooding.

This dangerous weather outbreak will miss us here in Vermont, so be glad for that. A weak cold front, one ingredient that will contribute to the severe weather well south of us, will come through here today and tonight.

While the cold front is passing through Vermont, it won't have much oomph. There will be scattered showers and thunderstorms ahead of and with this thing this afternoon and evening. One or two storms might be briefly, locally strong, but don't count on much in the way of fireworks.

The storm causing the havoc in the Mid-Atlantic will throw some rain through the southern half of Vermont Tuesday, but again, nothing dramatic.