The ongoing drought situation in Iowa and elsewhere continues to be of concern as significant rains from thunderstorms has been illusive. One proxy for this dearth of thunderstorms is today's featured calendar showing daily maximum Storm Prediction Center (SPC) convective outlook category for Iowa since 1 December. While this period encompasses the coldest portion of the year during which one does not necessarily expect thunderstorms, the lack of even the modest "General Thunderstroms" (TSTM) outlooks is noticeable and particularly as we head into March, which is start of thunderstorm season. The near term forecast does not look to improve this trend any with significant storm systems staying off to our south. As an addendum, this chart shows the remarkably isolated and anomalous events of 15 December (serial derecho) and 5 March (EF4 Tornado). So by some metrics, this winter has seen way above average severe weather, but not necessarily lots of rounds of thunderstorms, which also bring needed rainfall.

Voting:
Good = 9
Bad = 1

Tags:   spc