Was reading something interesting about the effects of tree loss like what happened due to the recent derecho.  It can alter microclimates so that neighborhoods that used to have a wind buffer will now become more windy, and they will also become a little warmer because of less shade.  Perhaps that stuff is somewhat obvious, but the tree loss can even impact local habitats as well.  Not really anything that can be done in the short term, but a replanting effort is an opportunity to bring in different species and change things over the long haul.  I saw that Cedar Rapids launched a massive replanting project after the 2020 derecho, and I wonder if that kind of thing will happen in some of the harder hit areas around here.  

4 minutes ago, Andie said:

We’ll see 105/106* Mon, Tues, Wed.  
I really dislike La Nina’s.  It’s truly unbearable. 

Despite its growing strength, this Nino really has yet to assert itself in a dominant way in the mid-latitudes.  There have been glimpses of that but nothing that has persisted.  

4 hours ago, Tom said:

Happy Monday team!  Lotta stuff going in the weather world, none more so important, than the abundant moisture being advertised by the models over the Great Plains (where the farmers need it most).   @Bryan1117you got the magnet and the hot hand of late my friend!  It looks like the patter will keep on, comin' on!

I'm going to drop a post in the Niño thread for what is looking like congruent agreement amongst the global models for a wild and active start to the new LRC.

 

 

The next few days look pretty exciting here in Eastern Nebraska... with a pretty good shot at severe thunderstorms and heavy rain over the next 24-36 hours. Looks like we could have two rounds of storms tonight... one during the evening hours that could pack a punch (especially for those northwest of here) and then another one during the early morning hours. Another early morning wake up call for all of us in Omaha looks possible.  

We'll see what happens on Tuesday afternoon, however if the morning activity clears in time - we could have a nasty setup for severe storms again. 

If it gets stronger, we’re going to be toast, not to mention the crops.  

6 minutes ago, Andie said:

If it gets stronger, we’re going to be toast, not to mention the crops.  

Feels like the death ridge that has plagued our area for the last 2-3 years has retrograded further to the south this summer and unfortunately has only intensified. I am really hoping that there's some relief coming in the next few weeks for you all - but these kind of patterns can be really stubborn and hard to break. 

Indeed.   
Im reading unofficial temps reaching 110*-111*.  Stunning.  
I was just out in it and it’s unrelenting. No breeze, just an oven.  
I keep thinking of the homeless, the animals, those that must work in this. 
Humidity is down at 26%. It helps but …

We’re just all praying for a break. 
100* sounds cool at the moment. 
Praying this High moves on. 

We have 103* with pressure at 30.02. Looks grim  

3 hours ago, Andie said:

Indeed.   
Im reading unofficial temps reaching 110*-111*.  Stunning.  
I was just out in it and it’s unrelenting. No breeze, just an oven.  
I keep thinking of the homeless, the animals, those that must work in this. 
Humidity is down at 26%. It helps but …

We’re just all praying for a break. 
100* sounds cool at the moment. 
Praying this High moves on. 

We have 103* with pressure at 30.02. Looks grim  

That map looks like the warm anomalies back in late FEB & MAR that blew past the early season Heat Records.

 

It’s rough on everyone, animals, and crops. when it’s extended.  We can manage a few days, but when that High just parks itself, it’s taxing.  Everything suffers.  I’ve been concerned for people that work outdoors and animals/livestock…just brutal.

104* today, worse on the highways, all that concrete and steel. Other sites say 106*. (Like that matters)?

Over 100* the next 11 days. 
Oklahoma City took the crown today at 107*

 

On 8/10/2026 at 11:38 PM, Hoosier said:

HRRR is quite ominous for Chicago metro tomorrow.  Main threat will be damaging winds, but there may be a localized tornado threat as well especially since it looks like a boundary may be in the vicinity.  

Made this post 1 week ago, not realizing that we were hours away from what would become the most impactful severe thunderstorm event of my life.  It looked like it had the potential to be significant, but you never really know how significant.  

This event has touched everybody around here in some way.  Whether it's property damage, the power being out, businesses shut down, schools not able to start on time, or long gas lines.  You go through life not really paying attention to the weather sometimes (especially if you're not one of us weather freaks, lol), but there are moments where mother nature steps it up and makes it so that you can't ignore.  

Noticeable progress is being made in the recovery, but it will still take a lot more time.  Even now, I still see some streets here and there that are blocked off by trees or powerlines that haven't been tended to yet.  They are saying that it could take another week for power to be fully restored in some of the towns around here.

Missed out on the strong/ severe storms last night and this morning here, as those rolled through just to the west and south of the Omaha area. Can't win them all... I have picked up only 0.25" of rain from this morning's round so far, and it looks like this morning's activity will push this afternoon's severe storm threat to the south. Still way up on moisture for the month of August, so no complaints here at all. 

8 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Made this post 1 week ago, not realizing that we were hours away from what would become the most impactful severe thunderstorm event of my life.  It looked like it had the potential to be significant, but you never really know how significant.  

This event has touched everybody around here in some way.  Whether it's property damage, the power being out, businesses shut down, schools not able to start on time, or long gas lines.  You go through life not really paying attention to the weather sometimes (especially if you're not one of us weather freaks, lol), but there are moments where mother nature steps it up and makes it so that you can't ignore.  

Noticeable progress is being made in the recovery, but it will still take a lot more time.  Even now, I still see some streets here and there that are blocked off by trees or powerlines that haven't been tended to yet.  They are saying that it could take another week for power to be fully restored in some of the towns around here.

After going through the massive windstorm that hit the Omaha area two years ago (July 2024), I totally understand how you feel after the derecho event that struck your neighborhood. 

As weather enthusiasts/ freaks, we always want to see/ experience severe storms or anomalous weather events, etc, however sometimes these events impact us directly and can cause long-term issues. When nearly 100 MPH winds hit our neighborhood in 2024, I was in awe of what was happening however I quickly realized that the storm was going to cause a ton of damage and knock out power to hundreds of thousands of people (including myself). The heavy loss of trees in our neighborhood is still noticeable to this day and there are so many visuals from this storm and after that I will never forget.  

Glad progress is being made in the recovery/ cleanup efforts, however it sounds like it will take several months to recover. Definitely thinking of you all during these efforts. 

I have a chance for storms tonight and I could use a nice rain.  Some severe weather is possible. 

It felt great this morning as the temp dipped to 67.  Hopefully fall comes early thus year.

Most spots dry out a bit today with sun returning we could see a couple showers toward evening especially across southeast parts of the area. A bit less humidity today and especially tomorrow before the chances of showers increase again by Thursday afternoon into the night. The weekend looks to continue shower chances as we continue to erode any drought concerns across the area.

1 hour ago, Clinton said:

I have a chance for storms tonight and I could use a nice rain.  Some severe weather is possible. 

It felt great this morning as the temp dipped to 67.  Hopefully fall comes early thus year.

You know, I feel that it is a strong possibility, especially seeing how much troughing is developing to close out AUG and open up SEP.  The blocky pattern is certainly aiding in these digging troughs over the GL's and East, not to mention, the Good Ol' Omega Block that was a part of the LRC pattern way back months ago last year.  

 

We had some surprise storms here yesterday and had an inch of rain at my house. The first rain in a month. Looks very hot and dry for the foreseeable future now. 

I just got off the phone with my sister who has a cabin on Lake Delton, WI as an approaching TOR warned cell is about to hit her area....the sirens were going off!!!

Quote

Tornado Warning
WIC021-111-182230-
/O.NEW.KMKX.TO.W.0081.260818T2148Z-260818T2230Z/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
Tornado Warning
National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI
448 PM CDT Tue Aug 18 2026

The National Weather Service in Milwaukee/Sullivan has issued a

* Tornado Warning for...
  Western Columbia County in south central Wisconsin...
  Northeastern Sauk County in south central Wisconsin...

* Until 530 PM CDT.

* At 447 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado
  was located near Reedsburg, moving east at 45 mph.

  HAZARD...Tornado.

 

I got a half inch of rain last night.  I was hoping for more but the heavier rains for just north of me.

8 days after the storm and approximately half of my town still doesn't have power.  The level of impatience is definitely rising and people are questioning what the deal is.  There will be time to evaluate what went wrong and what could've been done differently.  One thing imo is that despite seeing a bunch of tree removal services around the area, I'm not sure it's enough for a job of this magnitude.  Gotta clear the trees/limbs away before repairs can be done to the poles and lines.  

LNK about to get rocked... @SE Nebraska wx

We had to be out in traffic today.  
The heat on the roads is off the charts.  
officially, it’s 104 at 2:15. Will climb abit more. 
My car was reporting 106.  
The Low of 82 feels like a cold front. 
We’ll be over 100 for at least another 12 days. 
 

It’s absolutely inhuman out there. The birds have disappeared. Likely down at the lake about 3 miles away. 

12 minutes ago, Andie said:

We had to be out in traffic today.  
The heat on the roads is off the charts.  
officially, it’s 104 at 2:15. Will climb abit more. 
My car was reporting 106.  
The Low of 82 feels like a cold front. 
We’ll be over 100 for at least another 12 days. 
 

It’s absolutely inhuman out there. The birds have disappeared. Likely down at the lake about 3 miles away. 

Not as hot as Phoenix 

40 minutes ago, Tom said:

LNK about to get rocked... @SE Nebraska wx

Is @OmahaSnowFan chasing it?

Very hot day in my area, as warm as 111 in Muskogee but not quite as hot here. Ensembles showing some meager rain chances but overall not too excited anytime soon. I expect well above normal temperatures for at least another 10 days. 

I told my dad his flight path will be north of the storms...I'm sure the views from the plane are pretty epic...

I’ll bet.   I love flying with night storms in the distance. 

1 hour ago, Black Hole said:

Very hot day in my area, as warm as 111 in Muskogee but not quite as hot here. Ensembles showing some meager rain chances but overall not too excited anytime soon. I expect well above normal temperatures for at least another 10 days. 

I feel your pain….literally 

A string of 105* for days ahead. 
Heat index is just horrific. 

21 minutes ago, Andie said:

I feel your pain….literally 

A string of 105* for days ahead. 
Heat index is just horrific. 

This is a fairly stable pattern as the offshore low scoops up the above normal tropical activity and pumps a ridge across the southern Rockies/Southwest USA. We sit just close enough to bake while frequent storm activity passes through the Great Lakes. I suspect this holds for a while. 

Finally, the east side of the valley got hammered last night and I slept through most of it.  The high rez models were going back n forth with the idea that storms from the south and off the mountains to the east would combine outflows over the valley.  Well, low and behold the storms blossomed around 10:00pm!  

A wall of dust engulfed the valley and then the rains washed it down perfectly.  Some spots got well over an inch of rain but Sky Harbor only managed to squeeze out 0.08".  Meanwhile, a block or two to the east they got between .30-.50".  ASU campus recorded 1.02"...my neighborhood got 0.35" which is fine by me.

See below the stations near PHX...

 

 

 

The wall of dust was accompanied by high wind gusts that approached 68 mph at Sky Harbor.  Most of the valley saw 50-60mph wind gusts.  Meanwhile, the Heat is not backing down and now the models are suggesting we roll the 110's into next week and possibly towards the tail end of the month.  Ughh, it certainly feels like the "Dog Days of Summer." 

As I sit here and think about Autumn....yes, cooler thoughts...it'll be here soon enough...I know that nature has a wonderul Autumn and Winter in store for us!  Just gotta get through the rest of this month.  As long as the there are some hits from the Monsoon...I'm all gravy baby.

 

50 minutes ago, Tom said:

The wall of dust was accompanied by high wind gusts that approached 68 mph at Sky Harbor.  Most of the valley saw 50-60mph wind gusts.  Meanwhile, the Heat is not backing down and now the models are suggesting we roll the 110's into next week and possibly towards the tail end of the month.  Ughh, it certainly feels like the "Dog Days of Summer." 

As I sit here and think about Autumn....yes, cooler thoughts...it'll be here soon enough...I know that nature has a wonderul Autumn and Winter in store for us!  Just gotta get through the rest of this month.  As long as the there are some hits from the Monsoon...I'm all gravy baby.

 

I think you'll like the CPC outlook for September.  The moisture train looks to keep going for your area and spills into mine.

We are under a flood watch thru 2am for between 1 to 2 inches of rain and maybe more for some spots that get under a thunderstorm. We will get cooler tomorrow and that will last through the next week with temperatures mainly in the upper 70's to near 80 degrees for high temperatures. We should see nighttime lows back into the 50's by early next week.

1 hour ago, Clinton said:

I think you'll like the CPC outlook for September.  The moisture train looks to keep going for your area and spills into mine.

This map mirrors what the latest JMA weeklies are suggesting!  If I were to still be living in Chicago, this run would be one of the best ways to finish off MET Summer and open up MET Autumn.  Nothing but 70's and some low 80's to close out AUG.    The 0z Euro last night blocks up the trough right over the Lakes and SE Canada.  Man, that's gonna feel a hellova lot like Autumn!!!  Who's ready for that?  #OmegaBlock

  

Week 2...

Temp/Precip...

 

Week 3-4...

 

Temp/Precip...

 

Might have to expand the marginal risk into Illinois for tomorrow.

1 hour ago, Hoosier said:

Might have to expand the marginal risk into Illinois for tomorrow.

It shall be done

I don't have the exact number, but Illinois is somewhere over 200 confirmed tornadoes now for the year.  

Indiana is up to 87 now, after IND confirmed a tornado near Muncie yesterday.  One good fall outbreak or multiple smaller events would put 100 in play. 

I read that many of the oak trees that came down from the derecho around here were 150+ years old.  Some may have even been way older than that.  I'm not the biggest tree person, but that's just sad.

Large new power outages now across the area.  Not sure about my house.  I know they sometimes have to turn off some sections to try to restore others, but it's a lot of new outages.  smh

We had a little thunderstorm during the night last night. Still got pretty hot today though. REFS shows pretty good odds of more storm activity tonight. This is the probability of reflectivity of 30+ within some distance of a point. 

Good morning.  We are back from Pittsburg, we had a good time for the most part it would have been better if the Tigers did better as they only won one of the three games but hat is how the ball bounces.  The weather was great in Pittsburg with temperatures in the low 80’s. It did not rain until yesterday and boy was it a heavy rainfall. On the way home there was heavy rain until we got into Ohio. Back here in Michigan we had a truck in front of us throw up a rock and I now have a good size spider chip in my cars windshield.

Now back to the weather. It is partly cloudy here in northwest Grand Rapids and 64 over the time we were gone I had a total of 1.07” of rain in my rain gauge. Today looks to have clouds on the increase with highs around 80 there is a good chance of showers tonight and Saturday with around a 60 to 80% chance. Highs Saturday look to be in the 70’s The rest of the next seven days should see some sun with on and off chances of showers, highs should be mostly in the 70’s and lows should be from the upper 50’s to low 60’s

Detailed Forecast

Today

Increasing clouds, with a high near 80. Light and variable wind becoming south southwest 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.

Tonight

Showers and thunderstorms before 3am, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 3am and 5am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5am. Low around 63. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Saturday

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 4pm. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 77. Light and variable wind becoming northwest 6 to 11 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Saturday Night

Mostly clear, with a low around 57. North northwest wind 5 to 9 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.

Sunday

Sunny, with a high near 76. Northwest wind 6 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.

Sunday Night

Mostly clear, with a low around 52.

Monday

Sunny, with a high near 76.

Monday Night

Mostly clear, with a low around 54.

Tuesday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 79.

Tuesday Night

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62.

Wednesday

A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 80.

Wednesday Night

A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 62.

Thursday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 80.

The Climate Report for August 21^st at Grand Rapids.  The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 79/59 there were 4 CDD’s and there was no rainfall the highest wind gust was 19 MPH out of the NE. there were no significant weather events reported.  For today the average H/L is 81/61 the record high of 97 was in 1916 and 1955 the coolest high of 67 was in 1997 the record low of 44 was in 1956 the warmest low of 73 was in 1916 and 1913. The most rainfall of 2.05” was in 1958. Last year the H/L was 78/60.

Some weather history for August 21^st 1918,  A tornado struck Tyler, MN, killing 36 persons and destroying most of the business section of the town resulting in a million dollars damage. (David Ludlum) 1987, Early morning thunderstorms produced severe weather in eastern Iowa and west central Illinois. Thunderstorms produced wind gusts to 82 mph at Moline IL, and tennis ball size hail at Independence IA. Rock Island IL was drenched with 3.70 inches of rain. Total damage for the seven county area of west central Illinois was estimated at twelve million dollars. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) Here in Michigan 1958, Heavy rains fall for the second day in a row, causing some flooding in the Grand Rapids area where the two day rain total from August 20-21 was over 4 inches.

 

 

 

PHX has issued Extreme Heat Warnings for 43 days so far this summer which includes what is already on the calendar through 8-28.  The record is 48 days back in 2020.  The KEY difference in this years Heat has not necessarily been the High temps, but the overall longevity, along with humidity and overnight low temps.  Surely, temps in the low/mid 110's can be rough on the body but Arizonan's are used to this kinda heat.

We will be close to some record high temps this weekend as the stubborn SW ridge blossoms and is not going anywhere anytime soon.  This is a good pattern for those of you who live east of here!  #RidgeRiders #NWFlow