Today Through the Fourth Friday (22 to 28 days) Weather Outlook for the U.S. and a Six-Day Forecast for the World: posted May 12, 2024
This article focuses on what we are paying attention to in the next 48 to 72 hours. The article also includes weather maps for longer-term U.S. outlooks and a six-day World weather outlook which can be very useful for travelers.
First the NWS Short Range Forecast. The afternoon NWS text update can be found here but it is unlikely to have changed very much. The images in this article automatically update.
Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
Sun May 12 2024
Valid 12Z Sun May 12 2024 – 12Z Tue May 14 2024…Heavy rain and severe thunderstorm chances extend from the southern
Plains to the lower Mississippi Valley and Southeast over the next few
days……Well above average temperatures expected throughout the West and
north-central United States…Active weather is in the forecast for the southern U.S. over the next few
days as a low pressure system sweeps across the South into the Southeast.
A potent upper low will move over the Plains today, and low pressure will
deepen in the lee of the Rockies. The stalled frontal boundary across West
Texas and New Mexico will lift northeast as a warm front, and warm, moist
Gulf air will surge into the central/southern Plains and lower Mississippi
Valley. Widespread showers and thunderstorms are expected, and conditions
will be favorable for scattered strong to severe storms from eastern Texas
through central Louisiana. The Storm Prediction Center has issued a Slight
Risk of Severe Thunderstorms (level 2/5) for this area. Potential storm
hazards include large hail, damaging winds, and a couple tornadoes. In
addition to severe storm hazards, heavy rain falling on top of saturated
soils will likely lead to flash flooding. There is a Slight Risk of
Excessive Rainfall (level 2/4) in effect from eastern Texas into the lower
Mississippi Valley with an embedded Moderate Risk (level 3/4) area for
particularly sensitive areas in east Texas and western Louisiana. The low
pressure system will push eastwards this week, and the threat of severe
thunderstorms and heavy rainfall/flash flooding will shift across the
northern Gulf Coast to the Southeast.To the north, a front moving south across the Upper Midwest and Great
Lakes region will produce showers and thunderstorms today and Monday, and
precipitation will push into the Northeast Tuesday. Precipitation chances
will also expand across the Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday ahead of the southern
low pressure system. In the northern Rockies and northern Plains, a
separate frontal system will be moving south across the region Monday into
Tuesday, and low elevation showers and storms and high elevation snow are
expected. Elsewhere, mostly dry weather is expected through Tuesday for
the West Coast and Southwest.Summer-like temperatures will continue today across much of the West and
north-central U.S. with well-above average highs in the 70s and 80s, and
potentially the lower 90s for some. Below average temperatures are
forecast today for the rest of the central U.S. and much of the East
Coast. Temperatures will remain above average in the West through Tuesday,
but will begin to return to near normal Monday and Tuesday for the central
and eastern United States.