Day 22: The Rains Head East
The large, powerful storm that has been affecting the west coast for the past few days is beginning to move east into the central plains. This storm system has tapped into enough warm air in the lower portion of the atmosphere that most of the precipitation is falling in the form of rain (green). In fact, outside of the higher elevations in the west, you have to go up to the US – Canadian border to find any mixed (orange) precipitation or snow (blue). This storm system will slowly move east over the next few days and, in its wake, colder air will begin to filter south across the central United States. Don’t worry, the colder air won’t be nearly as cold as it was earlier this month! (At least initially…)
About Patrick
Patrick Marsh is a Ph.D. student at the University of Oklahoma's School of Meteorology. He earned a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and Physics (cum laude) from the University of Arkansas in 2005 and a Masters of Science in Meteorology in 2007. In addition to working on his doctorate, Patrick serves as the National Severe Storms Laboratory Liaison to the Hazardous Weather Testbed where his research interests lie in working with operational forecasters, data mining, data visualization, and all things high-impact weather. For more about Patrick's work, check out his complete CV!
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