Severe Thunderstorms, High Winds, and Snow expected over an eventful Redskins playoff weekend
Hold onto your hat's....Literally
For those of you who have been enjoying this mid-spring weather, you're going to be in for quite a shock tomorrow afternoon. Temperatures this week have constantly remained 10 degrees or more above average under partly cloudy skies, but all good things must end, right?
A massive storm system has begun developing in the Ohio River Valley in a "strongly diffluent upper level flow," which is just weather-speak for a rate at which wind flow spreads apart (left or right) of an axis oriented to the normal flow direction; this promotes strong cyclogenesis/low pressure formation and intensification.
Tonight, showers and thunderstorms will gradually increase in coverage as the low and associated cold front approach from the west. Indication are that the atmosphere will remain conducive for nocturnal thunderstorms even after much of the daytime heating has been lost. You often here that "thunderstorms cannot sustain themselves after dark because instability and temperatures have decreased." This is normally the case, but there are exceptions. Case in point, this latest system carries with it such powerful dynamics that strong to severe thunderstorms will likely develop and persist through the overnight hours.
The coldfront associated with this system will race through the region during the morning hours tomorrow, and surface temperatures will fall through the day. By afternoon, the low will have moved east of the region and winds will have begun increasing out of the northwest. Some model data indicates wind gusts in excess of 40-50 mph Saturday night and Sunday.
So here's an overview of impacts this system will have on the region:
- Develop Thunderstorms (Some Severe)
- Reduce temperatures by a good 30 degrees (by Sunday AM)
- Wind Gusts to 40-50 mph
- Significant Upslope Snowshowers on the Western side of the Appalachians
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