Where Did Spring Go?

After two days of record highs in the 80s, spring has seemingly disappeared already. The past two days have been much cooler, and cloudy skies and occasional rain showers have really made it feel dreary (and have made me extremely tired). This is actually what early spring is supposed to be like, we were just spoiled (as usual) by a brief period of late-spring-like weather.

Major severe weather outbreak in the Plains last night. Several reports of tornadoes in Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. At least four fatalities so far. The only good thing is that most of these storms affected rural areas, so damage and casualties will be considerably less than if more populated areas had been hit. Meanwhile a blizzard has been raging in Wyoming. All of this is due to a strong spring storm system (say that 10 times fast...) that is slowly headed our way.

Rain and thunderstorms will become increasingly likely beginning tonight, with the best chances likely occurring Friday night and Saturday. Depending on how this whole thing plays out, there is at least a small chance for severe thunderstorms on Saturday. The Storm Prediction Center doesn't have the area in any kind of an outlook yet, but this morning's forecast discussion from the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities contained this little tidbit: "UPPER LEVEL SYNOPTIC SCALE SIGNALS (just fancy words for things going on up high in the atmosphere)ALL THERE THOUGH FOR A SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER EVENT SOMEWHERE ACROSS IA/SOUTHERN MN/WI AND
NORTHERN IL BY SAT EVENING." Surface conditions, however, may not be nearly as favorable, depending on how this whole situation evolves. More on that later.