Yesterday felt more like late April than mid October. A potent Pacific storm had pulled out of the Rockies and, by late afternoon, was centered in southwestern Nebraska. Its associated cold front stretched from northern Minnesota to northern New Mexico and, ahead of the front, warm, moist air streamed northward from the Gulf, pushing highs into the 70s as far north as Chicago and Detroit.
As the front nudged eastward, bands of thunderstorms developed across the Southern Plains, moving northeastward and spawning at least 17 tornados in Oklahoma and Missouri. Further east, the southerly flow was bringing much needed rain to the lower Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.
By this morning, the central low pressure was in northwestern Iowa and continued to creep to the northeast. The squall lines have shifted east of the Mississippi River and beneficial rains were moving into Alabama and Tennessee. Since the center of the storm is well north of Missouri, our "backside" winds are from the west, sparing us from the cold, raw conditions that typically move in behind these fronts. Near 60 at dawn, our mild weather will continue, with a forecast high of 77.
