Severe Weather on the Way?

Wow, what a sudden surge of heat..... and now the focus is on the threat for severe weather, both tonight and over the next few days. Look for your local weathercasters, or rather their news directors, to capture as much of the weathercasters talking about severe weather as possible. After all, it makes for good television, and (we say skeptically), May is a sweeps month for the Nielsen ratings.

Let's use this blog post to discuss the prospects of severe weather over the next few days.

First Stormy (Severe?) Weather of the Season This Weekend?

Updated the forecast highs for the weekend (in red). In two days, Fox has raised its forecast high for Saturday by a whopping 16 degrees. Most outlets have raised forecast high temps as well, but not to the degree that Fox has. However, interestingly enough, the late Strib update reflects skepticism that temps will get out of the 50s on Saturday, making it the only forecast to reverse the trend.

Forecasters are suggesting a thunderous weekend may be in store this weekend with the season's warmest temperatures to date. We're not sure exactly how to grade and assess such a forecast, but it's worth a discussion. So, discuss away.

An impressive sunset on Monday evening.

Here's a quick weekend temperature forecast (Saturday/Sunday) from your various favorite weather outlets as of Tuesday evening (Thursday evening):

WCCO: 64/62 69/67
KSTP: 64/68 70/72
Fox: 54/57 70/66
KARE: 62/60 66/68
NWS: 58/63 63/65
Strib: 64/67 58/73

Note the largest temperature variance is between Fox and KSTP.