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Weird Storm Motions
Posted: 07 Jun 2023 05:30 AM, Views: 56
Tags: stormmotion
Those of you that monitor RADAR reflectivity loops every day have likely noticed the weird storm motions this month. Typically storms travel from the southwest toward the northeast, but the past days have seen storms travel west, northwest, south, and about every other direction. The featured chart attempts to illustrate these odd storm motions by plotting a histogram of Des Moines NEXRAD storm motion tracks. The top panel shows the combined May and June climatology and the dominance of storms travelling from the southwest is obvious. The bottom panel shows the histogram for storms this month and it is about the antithesis of climatology. The reason for these weird storm motions is the very blocked up upper level flow pattern that currently has weak westerly moving flow over the state. The hope is that this pattern will break next week and we can start getting into more typical June storm patterns with stronger flow aloft.
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Previous Years' Features
2022: 65+ Dew Points
2019: Interesting Cloud Motion
2017: Spring 70+ Highs
2013: Storm Speed and Motion
2012: Mostly dry since 1 May
2010: Extreme Rainfall Rates
2007: Severe Thursday
2006: Boom! goes the dynamite
2005: As forecasted
2004: Time for Summer
2002: Good Sleeping Weather
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Soil Temperatures

Data from the Iowa State Soil Moisture Network is found on this website and daily soil temperature averages are used to produce the highlighted analysis.