Issued May 31 at 7:25 pm
Good evening! I just wanted to give you all a quick update on some interesting developments this evening. First of all, the Storm Prediction Center has upgraded our area to a marginal risk for a severe storm Sunday afternoon/evening. The main risk is a damaging wind gust. The marginal is the lowest of the five risk categories. Still, this will make Sunday a Meteorologist Mark Weather Aware Day. I’ll update this risk in the Sunday morning update.
The skies appeared milky today due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. Upper level winds transported that smoke into our region earlier today. This smoke should make for a vibrant sunset around 7:51 this evening. Look for a beautiful sunrise in the morning at 5:25 a.m. from this same smoke.
If the rain clears out AND the skies aren’t too smoky, we may be able to see Northern Lights again Sunday night. The sun has been very active here lately and that could send displays of Northern Lights unusually far south in the U.S.
Finally, the winds will shift and the Canadian wildfire smoke will shift away from us at the beginning of the week. However, a huge plume of African dust is coming across the Atlantic and that will likely arrive here by midweek. This will once again give us an opportunity for vibrant sunrises and sunsets.
None of this is incredibly unusual, so don’t go looking for frogs to cover all the land next (the cicadas are bad enough!). LOL Wildfire smoke happens and it can travel far! I just hope Canada’s wildfires aren’t as bad as they were last year.
Winds carry African dust across the ocean from time to time too. We’ve learned a lot more about that in recent years with research using satellites. Believe it or not, each year about 182 tons of African dust is carried across the ocean! The dust is actually a vital nutrient for oceanic life. Another positive aspect of the dust is that it suppresses tropical storm development. With hurricane season starting tomorrow, that causes the dust to be monitored even more closely.
As that dust settles down toward the 9th of the month, some guidance is suggesting we may see tropical development in the Gulf. That’s something to keep an eye on around the middle of June.
Getting the Northern Lights this far south is unusual but not unheard of. In fact, many of you have seen those lights after the big light shows we had last year! Still, I’m not sure we can ever get used to seeing Northern Lights.
I’ll keep an eye on tomorrow’s storms and I’ll have a full update on those in Sunday morning’s forecast update. You all take care and have a nice evening! Oh! Don’t forget to look for that sunset at 7:51…I bet it’ll be a good one!
Local matters, especially when it comes to your weather!
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