Day 185: Southern Plains Natural Fireworks
Mother Nature has been providing the fireworks across a large portion of the southern plains today as several clusters of thunderstorms have traversed the area. The most intense convection is currently located across eastern Colorado in association with a potent upper-level shortwave trough (annotated by the purple height contours). Also, across far northern Mexico, the remnants of Hurricane Alex continue to stream moisture northeastward in advance of the trough. Showers and thunderstorms will continue to be possible across most of the central United States for the next few days.
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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