March Rainy Madness
Weather Headlines
A very wet pattern is emerging
Strong storms may become a concern by the end of next week
Main threats
Just be careful in any heavier downpours over the coming week. Rain, some of it heavy, will come with a series of disturbances.
By the end of next week, a powerful storm system may bring strong to severe storms to the region. I’m monitoring this closely.
Summary
Look for mostly cloudy skies and rain showers today. It won’t be a total washout, but there will be showers around the region all day. You may even hear a rumble of thunder by this afternoon and evening.
Sunday looks pretty good, at this point. I don’t think we’ll see much sun but the rain should hold off.
Then, A very wet pattern begins to evolve on Monday and that wet pattern will be with us throughout the week.
Almanac
Baldwin’s 7-Day forecast
Wx Hazards Across the Nation
Wintry weather conditions threaten parts of the Midwest, northern plains, and western US today. That threat is highest from the mountains of Washington and Oregon and then over to North Dakota. Showers and thunderstorms will plague the South today.
Records
On this day in 1933 a powerful F-3 tornado touched down four miles west of Nashville and roared a path that took it right through downtown Nashville. The tornado stayed on the ground for 45 miles and finally lifted near Lebanon. The twister killed 15 people.
On April 16, 1998 another F-3 tornado would take nearly the same exact path. Weird, huh?
I should also mention that the March 14, 1933 storm system spawned other powerful tornadoes that day, including a violent F-4 near Jellico Mountain that carved a horrific path of destruction to the Cumberland Gap.
Saturday Snow Day
These are all the different known shapes of snow flakes. Some are kinda weird! I read an account where one Alaska town had snowflakes like the “multi capped columns” fall on the town for about 15 minutes. No one had ever seen flakes shaped in such a way and it concerned them. Snow can be weird! ha
News
Below is data from the weather station on Tennessee Tech’s campus the night of the tornado. While the campus was not hit, the tornado lifted just seconds before it would have passed perilously close-by (if not through part of campus). In the bottom graph, notice how the pressure suddenly drops, and then returns to normal. Folks, that’s what you call a close call!
MASTER Class for Kids
I also need to announce that Roane State is closing it’s campus for the next couple of weeks because of the virus concerns. That means this month’s MASTER class will have to be cancelled. I had a feeling that would happen but was hopeful it wouldn’t.