(This is from a post in the local blog I write for the Rapid City Journal)
It will be great weather for pro-active construction companiesto gain some ground before the weather pattern becomes more active later in the week. Having forecast weather for the construction of major highway projects and for the construction of some of the nation’s tallest buildings, I know all too well how difficult it can be to learn the fine art using the weather to an advantage when it comes to construction management. It is not easy to break the habit of allowing weather to rule a job site.
More than 20 years ago, the Federal Highway Administration hired the forecast company for whom I was the lead forecaster to forecast the start and stop times of rain and snow to within 45 minutes — for the first 24 to 36 hours of a forecast. That requirement was nearly unheard of at a time when we had very few computer models with which to work.
Precision weather forecasts are used for projects that are high risk with a potential to lose huge amounts of money, perhaps a million dollars in a day if the forecast is even slightly off. Talk about pressure: sealing off concrete pours literally just minutes before rain starts — and starting pours just after rain ends, or scheduling the most out of a 5 hour break in the weather that is forecast 3 days from now.
When we forecast rain for these elite clients, it means there is a 100% chance. “A 20% chance” does not have a place in precision, site-specific weather forecasting. When a new roof is going on a large public library, a light shower is a disaster.
Most people don’t know that there is this whole other realm of weather forecasting because there is a relatively small number of businesses and individuals who want to use the weather to their financial advantage.
It is going to be a rough afternoon on the Plains as severe thunderstorms rumble to life between noon and 3pm from eastern Colorado and western Kansas to the Texas Panhandle.
The weather pattern is getting ready to change a little, pushing the cold air out of the Northeast, the warmth out of the Rockies and usher in some much needed rain to the Great Plains.
Energy churning through the jet stream will help to produce widespread showers and thunderstorms, some capable of producing large amounts of rain.
The largest hailstones ranged from 2.5 to 4 inches in diameter, breaking car windows and injuring three people in Texas.
temperatures will a mixed bag with warmer than normal readings across the Southeast and Northwest. Temperatures will be cooler than normal across the Northeast and along a narrow strip from southern Minnesota to New Mexico.
The tornadoes in and around the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex made headlines yesterday, but there were many other severe thunderstorms yesterday.
15 inches of snow will fall by late Friday above 5000 feet across Idaho and Montana.
beating up the southern Plains with large hail and damaging winds again today. The storms fired off early this morning with the first severe thunderstorm watch issued by 9am CDT.
The weather map this afternoon has the frontal system strung out from West Virginia to Missouri, south to Oklahoma and central Texas.
temperatures have been cold enough, to produce heavy snow from south and west of Denver to east of Albuquerque. As much as 2 feet of snow may fall on the high elevations of the mountains of New Mexico.
Heavy rainfall is likely through tomorrow evening from Kansas to east Texas and eastward to Kentucky and West Virgina.
over most of the country. Readings will be slightly below normal across the northeast and the West Coast.
The national weather will focus on two areas of severe weather today, one over the Ohio Valley and one over the southern Plains.
coupled with low humidity, will create red flag and extreme fire conditions across the central U.S. today, tomorrow and Sunday.
A cold front sweeping mid-Mississippi Valley and southwest Great Lakes will be one of the potential “triggers” for severe thunderstorms today.
