Mar 5, 2012; 11:30 AM ET
Monday, 11:45 a.m.
By now, you are well aware of the stunning loss of life brought about by the most recent round of severe weather late last week, as a swarm of tornadoes brought death and destruction to far too many places from parts of the Ohio Valley to the Gulf Coast states.
The weather has turned much quieter since, as a blast of cold air has made its way into the East. The coldest air for the Gulf Coast will be arriving tonight as a system bringing a burst of snow across Virginia right now pulls a cold front southeastward and through the Gulf Coast region.
Not only is the air cold, but it is also very dry, and that's the case from west of the Appalachians all the way to the Rockies. With high pressure anchored along the Gulf Coast now, the return flow on the western flank of this high has yet to establish itself, and it will take some time for it to bring the dew points back up.
Unfortunately, now that Pandora's Box has been opened, it won't be long before the next severe weather outbreak shows up. Look at the upper-level forecast for tomorrow afternoon:
That's the first of two pieces that will move into position from midweek on to set the table up for another round of strong to locally severe thunderstorms. As it moves farther southeast, then slowly eastward into the southern Rockies Wednesday and Thursday, it will help summon more and more moisture to the playing field, not just in the lower levels of the atmosphere, but also aloft.
A second feature will move quickly into position later Wednesday and Wednesday night, being pushed along in the fast jet stream flow aloft across the northern tier of states. This latter feature will be enough to ignite some strong thunderstorms late Wednesday or Wednesday night into Thursday from the central Plains into the Ohio Valley and possibly parts of the Great Lakes. The details are still a little sketchy, but that would seem to be the most logical time frame for the next round of severe thunderstorms to break out.
Before we get there, though, all of that record warmth in California yesterday will reappear this afternoon over the eastern Rockies, then quickly spread across the Plains toward the Mississippi Valley tomorrow, then into the Ohio and Tennessee valleys on Wednesday. It will turn milder Wednesday afternoon east of the Appalachians and become very mild on Thursday in advance of the next cold front. That cold front will come through to be sure, and it will be followed by a couple of days of much chillier weather, but probably not much worse than normal in most cases. Then another warmup will ensue from the Plains on east later this weekend into early next week as we draw ever closer to the official start of spring.
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