HOWLING DUST!

So, can dust howl? Probably not, but don’t tell that to anyone who was in the area late on Saturday. Steady 40mph winds with gusts as high as 60 kicked up a lot of dust and particulate matter and scattered it hundreds of miles. The impressive picture above comes to us courtesy of the Springfield, MO NWS. It clearly, no pun intended, highlights what brought in the smoggy and gritty conditions to our area. Imagine dusty conditions like we experienced for days, months and even years on end. That is what some folks during the 1930’s had to endure in parts of the central plains. We recently received a question about the great dust bowl and posted below is quite an informative link that Drew found. It’s unbelievable, especially pictures of the dust clouds! Check it out.

http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_01.html

We’ve got a few nice days ahead and then we’ll be watching a system that will likely bring us some thunderstorms and rain late Wednesday into Thursday morning. The models have been light with the precipitation but jet energy is strong and dewpoints look to climb into the mid and upper 50’s which could certainly support some big thunderstorms. We’ll continue to monitor developments in the days to come. After the midweek system we look to remain quiet and there’s been some serious waffling in the long range forecast as to whether or not we warm up. The 12z run of the GFS today had us under with 9C air at 850mb for next Sunday, but now the 00z for the same time frame has us in a trough with -3C air at 850mb. Silly GFS, tricks are for the Eta! I for one at this point opt for the warmer solution. Time will tell.

Posted by Ted Zarras at 10:46 PM