Life of a Low

Below is a series of 500mb charts going back to the 21st of June. Point your eyes to the central plains and note how a persistent flow out of the north east over sections of western Kansas as well as the panhandle region is matched up with a flow out of the south / southeast out over sections of eastern Arkansas and Louisiana. This general cyclonic, counter-clockwise motion was / is a feature that we’ve been dealing with for just about two weeks. Fastest winds on the maps are up along the US / Canadian border and into Canada. So the spin in the atmosphere over Texas and the western central plains is detached from the jet, in other words, it is “CUT-OFF”.

This is the woe of weather forecasting, the dreaded cut-off Low. The patern breaks down just a little on the 24th of June, just to swing back into full action with another short wave, the very next day.

I’m sure I don’t have to recap the stunning amounts of rain this feature brought to Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas too, but it was a lot and then some!

So, here we are back in present times with a ridge building out west and trough in the east. A boundary to our north (discussed in Drew’s previous blog) looks to push, or absorb, the remaining spin and the whole pattern looks to slide eastward, going back to a trough / ridge / trough configuration. There’s even a hint of another cut-off feature developing by the top of the upcoming work week. All in all, it’s looking like our pattern of somewhat cooler temps and rainy afternoons will be continuing… at least for awhile.

Keep your lawnmower blade sharp! It makes a difference.

Posted by Ted Zarras at 11:00 AM