May Observations and Discussion

[Hawkeye]

18z HRRR

This model has really dried out far northeast Illinois today.

[james1976]

Down to 48 with light rain. Couple days ago the forecast was dry with low 60s. We need the moisture though so thats good.

[Hawkeye]

This afternoon the HRRR has gradually sagged south.  CR has gone from over 2" to a bit over 1".

[Sparky]

A tiny cell that passed overhead around 30 minutes ago produced brief heavy rain and some tiny hail bigger than sleet. Also a few light rumbles of thunder 

[james1976]

Down to 43 now

[Hawkeye]

14 minutes ago, Sparky said:

A tiny cell that passed overhead around 30 minutes ago produced brief heavy rain and some tiny hail bigger than sleet. Also a few light rumbles of thunder 

I also just received some hail/sleet as the main precip began a little while ago.

[Sparky]

So the other models basically caved to the GFS, but still need to see how it all pans out.

[Sparky]

Storms are really firing in southern Nebraska and Ks.

[Hawkeye]

Snow is being reported just west of Mason City.

[james1976]

41 with ice pellets and thunder. Crazy

[Sparky]

Rained around a third of an inch here so far.

[BMT]

Ice pellets and thunder here as well.  Under a pretty good downpour at the moment

[james1976]

37 now! Gonna be snowing if it keeps dropping 

[Hawkeye]

The HRRR is suddenly fading fast for Cedar Rapids.  For several runs earlier in the day it had CR over 2".  The latest run is down to 0.6".  At this point, anything less than 1" would be a disappointment.

[CentralNebWeather]

9 minutes ago, Hawkeye said:

The HRRR is suddenly fading fast for Cedar Rapids.  For several runs earlier in the day it had CR over 2".  The latest run is down to 0.6".  At this point, anything less than 1" would be a disappointment.

I was in a Severe Thunderstorm Watch and got 0.0”. I can’t believe my area was included as all weather models showed all storms would be east and southeast of here. Cold front has dropped the temp to 50 degrees. 

[james1976]

Its been thundering on and off all evening. Been a while since that has happened. 

[bud2380]

Northern Iowa is getting hit hard. 

[Sparky]

I may get screwed. Better rainfall north and nice storms in sw. Iowa. But the northern returns may partially be bright banding and not as heavy as it appears.

[bud2380]

I can’t tell if this band is gonna sink south. Or if models were too far south with the heavy rain bad. Because it looks like the highway 20 corridor is going to get the most rain. 

[Hawkeye]

4 minutes ago, bud2380 said:

I can’t tell if this band is gonna sink south. Or if models were too far south with the heavy rain bad. Because it looks like the highway 20 corridor is going to get the most rain. 

A lot of personal stations in the Waterloo area are around an inch.  I've only received 0.20".

[Clinton]

Severe thunderstorm watch issued until 5am. Going to be a stormy late night.

[Sparky]

Tweet from KDVN.

[bud2380]

0.29” here so far. An inch looked like a slam dunk. Not anymore. Could still happen but it doesn’t seem likely unless that area of rain in western Iowa moves nearly due east

[Hawkeye]

1.11" is my rain total.  I'm satisfied with that.

[Sparky]

It was raining basically all night with very light rain continuing attm. 1.64” so far. Had occasional lightning and thunder for awhile after midnight as well.

[westMJim]

The month of May is now below average at most locations. And in the last 27 days there have been 22 days below average and only 5 day above average. The over night low here was 37 and at this time with cloudy skies it is 41. It has not only been cool it also has been some what dry. Officially at GRR they have reported 1.04" of rain in the last 27 days while here at my house I have only recorded 0.78" of rain fall.

[Clinton]

Heavy rain and strong winds overnight with some small hail. I recorded 1.81 inches. Winds are still gusting to 28 mph and the temp is a chilly 48.

[Tom]

Man, if this was a winter storm, I'd be going nuts missing this system just to my south by only a few miles!  Congrats to all of those who have scored some much needed precip.  @Clinton @KCSmokey @MIKEKC and KC folks, that was quite the powerful squall line that ripped through last night.  I read the warning and it said winds up to 70mph and nickel sized hail.  Was is it a good storm??

[Clinton]

14 minutes ago, Tom said:

Man, if this was a winter storm, I'd be going nuts missing this system just to my south by only a few miles!  Congrats to all of those who have scored some much needed precip.  @Clinton @KCSmokey @MIKEKC and KC folks, that was quite the powerful squall line that ripped through last night.  I read the warning and it said winds up to 70mph and nickel sized hail.  Was is it a good storm??

Yes it was and by far the strongest line so far this year. Lots of limbs down in the area.

[OKwx2k4]

Caught the 3 AM southern MO storm last night near Cassville. Ping-pong ball hail and tree damage. I figure if that little storm had that kind of kick, the ones up north did too.

[Tom]

While the 00z EPS has delayed the warm up next weekend by a day or so if you live closer to the GL's region, it appears likely that an extended warm spell is certainly on the horizon for the following week.

[bud2380]

Only .72” here. A little disappointing 

[CentralNebWeather]

Temp in the low 40’s and wind chill in the low 30’s making it a very chilly Mother’s Day here in Central Nebraska. 

[mlgamer]

Picked up 3.3" of rain at my house the last couple of days in strong storms with some small hail, but nothing particularly severe.

We did score a tornado watch here for the first time since 2019 (I assume - none in 2020), but the conditions were pretty marginal I thought. Kind of like the MLB player that breaks his 0 for 20 hitless streak by hitting a soft popup that nobody gets to. Still, better than a tornado grand slam for sure...lol

[OttumwaSnomow]

Very nice 1.6" rain here in the Ottumwa  Iowa area. Widespread  1 to 2 inches across the entire area.  Models were exceptional. Started late but was quite the event with brutal east wind. Many have roof leaks owing to the wind. We have 5 gauges on 2 properties. Each was different with the wind I suspect 

[OmahaSnowFan]

1.05” rain at my house

[james1976]

Earliest tropical system ever recorded just off the Mexican coast! And this follows a record setting tropical season of 2020.

Beautiful day here. Mowed the lawn and did some other yard work. Time to put some chicken drumsticks and veggies on the Weber. And have a cold one.

Happy Mother's Day!

[OKwx2k4]

4 hours ago, james1976 said:

Earliest tropical system ever recorded just off the Mexican coast! And this follows a record setting tropical season of 2020.

Beautiful day here. Mowed the lawn and did some other yard work. Time to put some chicken drumsticks and veggies on the Weber. And have a cold one.

Happy Mother's Day!

It's time for the Pacific to roar in 2021. Should make for interesting weather on our side of the globe later on.

[Grizzcoat]

GFS continues to have a  very cool end to the week--- 4pm Friday the 14th- very close to rec min/maxs over IA.

 

[Tom]

Models keep trending cooler for the weekend in and around the MW/GL's region.  It now is looking like there could be a rain event on Saturday sweeping across the corn belt regions of the MW.  

.

The quiet wx pattern this week will help dry out out those who got soaked from the weekend storm.  Next week things get warm and active across the corn belt.  A summer like pattern is in store my friends!  It may be time to bring out the boats and fishing gear.

 

 

 

[westMJim]

The overnight low here was 37 so no frost last night. At Grand Rapids May now has a mean of 52.3 and that is a departure of -3.0. At Muskegon the mean is 50.2 and that is a departure of -3.9. At Holland the mean is 50.7 that is a departure of -3.7. And to the east at Lansing their mean so far this month is 51.7 good for a departure of -2.9. The current temperature here at my house is 42 with mostly cloudy skies.

[james1976]

Frost Advisory just issued for tonight. Wow

[IMoveALot_Weather]

Looks like one more below freezing night here before we warm up for good. 

If tonight were to be the last freeze here, it would be just slightly later than average (May 10 is the average).

[OmahaSnowFan]

Yuck. If you like severe weather, don't look at the GFS. Basically 16 days of nothing where the composite numbers of EHI or supercell composite never get above zero basically north of central Kansas and even that is only a couple of days there.

[Grizzcoat]

I have no idea what "normal" is like- but Tornado Alley has to be WAY behind in Tor watches this year-and Iowa with 95% of state not seeing a simple Severe TS Watch-- must be close to a record.

[OmahaSnowFan]

2 hours ago, Grizzcoat said:

I have no idea what "normal" is like- but Tornado Alley has to be WAY behind in Tor watches this year-and Iowa with 95% of state not seeing a simple Severe TS Watch-- must be close to a record.

Here’s an update through April

 

[Grizzcoat]

Been rather wet down S. --

Since March 01, 2021, ( 71 Days), New Orleans International Airport has received 30.37 inches of rainfall. Normal value is 11.36" in that time frame.

That's absurd.

[Sparky]

11 hours ago, Grizzcoat said:

I have no idea what "normal" is like- but Tornado Alley has to be WAY behind in Tor watches this year-and Iowa with 95% of state not seeing a simple Severe TS Watch-- must be close to a record.

Maybe a record slow start for Iowa as well! 
This was as of the last day of April already for the DMX CWA.

For Iowa as a whole.

 

[MIKEKC]

Well, its been cold in KC for better then a month now. Sure, we have had some warm days in there, but, overall, very cool weather pattern since the middle of April. Hasn't been overly wet, big rains when they have occurred. Scored 1.67 inches of rain Saturday night this past weekend.(we actually needed it, with all the dry NW winds and low humidity, soils were sucked dry) No severe weather in KC, just some good ole thunderstorms. We have not had anything severe really for two years. The last two years have been too cool for severe weather in April and May.

 

 

[james1976]

Had very light frost on my yard this morning. Should rebound quickly with full sun.