Heavy Rain and a Few Thunderstorms Today in the Northeast

Heavy rains with some embedded thunderstorms occurred today across the Northeast including the NYC metropolitan area as an active cold front pushed through the region.  Severe thunderstorms were limited to parts of Virginia and the Carolinas today.  Marion, SC reported quarter-sized hail.  That was so far the only report received by the NOAA Storm Prediction Center.  In New Jersey today the area of rain was extensive with pockets of heavy rain in the afternoon.  However, the area was fast moving and it quickly tapered off to scattered showers over much of the state in the early evening.  A trough that extends from James Bay, Canada to the Gulf coast will track eastward and off the coast over the next 12 hours bring in a much drier flow from the west with plenty of sunshine across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states for Tuesday and Wednesday.  The next chance for showers will be on Friday here in New York and across the Northeast as a strong shortwave digs into the upper Midwest forming a closed low at 500 mb by Thursday.  This system will generate a surface low north of the Great Lakes that will drag a cold front through the Northeast on Friday.  The weekend looks sunny and dry for almost the entire lower 48 states except showers are likely in the Pacific Northwest.

George Wright is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist for Wright Weather Consulting, LLC. George is also a meteorologist with ABC News and Cablevision News 12. Our website is WrightWeather.com.  Follow George Wright on Twitter.

Active Weather Pattern This Week in the US

The GFS and NAM models are indicating that the weather will be relatively active across the nation during the next week.  A cut-off low is circulating off the coast of southern California this morning with a vigorous long wave trough digging down across the Great Lakes. This trough has brought down chilly air into the upper Midwest and the Northeast this week. The cut-off low will begin to lift and track eastward spreading some snow at the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada's and the southern Rockies with scattered areas of light rain across the southern plains by Friday.  During Friday, the upper-low becomes a more vigorous shortwave trough that generates a surface low over northeastern Nebraska with up to 0.75 inches of 6-hour precipitation across the Great Lakes.  At this time, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States are under the influence of a cool, dry 1030 MB high.  A storm system moving into the Pacific Northwest on Friday will provide much needed rain to that region.  This storm will produce appreciable rainfall through Monday.  The shortwave trough and accompanying surface low over the Midwest lifts northeastward across the Great Lakes on Saturday and Sunday and into the St. Lawrence River Valley by Monday.  This system could produce severe thunderstorms with heavy downpours along it's associated cold front in the Midwest and Ohio Valley on Saturday and Sunday. 

George Wright is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist for Wright Weather Consulting, LLC. George is also a meteorologist with ABC News and Cablevision News 12. Our website is WrightWeather.com.

 

Slow Moving Upper Low Pressure System Generated Amazing Clouds and Showers Across the Northeast this Weekend...

An upper-level low or vortex generated dramatic clouds, scattered showers and thunderstorms across the Northeast including the New York City metropolitan area this weekend.  The dominate cloud types were stratocumulus, cumulus and cumulus humilis, cumulunimbus and nimbostratus. The vortex is formed by cold air and lower pressure in the upper-levels of the atmosphere that generates instability especially during the afternoon in response to solar heating.  These upper lows are most common in the Northeast during the spring and fall.  Doppler radar indicated scattered showers in central and southern New Jersey and even a few isolated thunderstorms during Sunday afternoon (Sept. 30, 2012) in northwest New Jersey, central New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.  Rotating atmospheric disturbances or spokes of vorticity are advected by the jet stream wind around these vortices's leading to enhanced convection that this weekend produced the amazing cloud formations and scattered showers during the morning and afternoon on Saturday and Sunday.  An examination of the 300 mb forecast maps indicated that a relatively strong jet stream or "jet streak" was forecast to track across central and southern NJ during Sunday afternoon that enhanced vertical uplift that produced the showers.  The upper-level low will lift northeastward into New England Sunday night and into the Canadain Maritimes on Monday. 

George Wright is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist for Wright Weather Consulting, LLC. Our website is WrightWeather.com. George is also a meteorologist with ABC News and Cablevision News 12. Follow George Wright on Twitter.