The Fall pattern is getting cranked up, finally. The first major "cyclone" to impact the central U.S. was lifting rapidly out of Kansas this Wednesday afternoon. Blizzard conditions were observed for a time across northeast Colorado, far northwest Kansas and into Nebraska. The visible satellite image was impressive this morning showing the typical comma shaped pattern associated with deepening mid latitude systems. (click for a larger version).
In the "warm" sector ahead of the storm there had been a few reports of tornadoes, a couple of hail reports and a lot of wind damage reports from thunderstorm gusts. This type of system will likely repeat again this winter and then again in the spring and early summer. I should get an idea of a general time frame for this to happen in two to three weeks, so stay tuned.
The jet stream (strongest winds aloft) will continue strengthening and storm systems will begin to amplify more readily across the U.S.. Currently I'm watching a Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) out over the Pacific. I've talked about the MJO numerous times in this blog. There is currently an awesome response from this MJO as it continues tracking very slowly east/east southeast.
Energy is being transported poleward (mirrored in both hemispheres) and it will eventually allow the Pacific jetstream to expand eastward into the western part of the country. This should serve to help systems amplify across the west which will then impact the plains.
First up will be a potential precipitation maker late Monday into perhaps Wednesday. There have been a few computer forecast models that have had this depicted to varying strengths. If this does develop, then there will likely be another behind it toward the following weekend. I'll try and update about these two systems and their developments sometime this weekend.
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