It was a wet week for much of the country as summer gave way to autumn. Here is the Morecast team’s top 5 weather events from the past week!
#5: Flooding Rain Begins in West Texas
A stalling front met up with deep Gulf moisture Saturday in West Texas. A Mexican Standoff is currently underway along Texas’ Big Bend where over 6″ of rain has fallen in near stagnant showers and storms. This heavy rain is expected to continue through Midweek and some communities will potentially see over a foot of rain!
#4: Wild Weather in the Upper Midwest
#Wisconsin #Madison #hail #thunderstorms pic.twitter.com/rri3NvjpQH
— Rob Michalak (@michalak_rob) September 19, 2016
Multiple days of severe activity plagued the Upper Midwest early this week. Tornadoes were reported in Iowa on Wednesday accompanying very heavy rainfall that led to intense river flooding. This flooding prompted Minneapolis to dispatch snow plows to push water off flooded highways! Two days before, large hail rolled through Madison, WI as the video above shows.
#3: Hurricane Paine Drops Rain in the Southwest
Hurricane Paine weakened to a post-tropical depression before it made its way onshore in Baja California. As Paine moved inland, it pulled deep moisture from the Pacific into the deserts of the Southwest. 2″-3″ of rain fell along the San Jacinto Mountains in Southern California. This moisture then plumed north into Arizona and Utah where severe activity, including tornadoes, sparked near Salt Lake City and close to 10″ fell in the Wasatch Mountains.
#2: Electricity Filled the Air for College Football
LSU game is in a lightning delay. pic.twitter.com/Anr9a2NTKr
— Curtis (@Curtos07) September 10, 2016
Over the past three Saturdays, multiple big-ticket college football stadiums were cleared due to intense lightning activity. These games include: Houston – Lamar, Ohio State – Tulsa, LSU – Jacksonville State, Oklahoma-Ohio State, Oklahoma State – Pittsburgh, and Oklahoma State – Baylor. These delays caused added anxiety to fans as the Oklahoma State vs. Pittsburgh matchup remained tied in the 4th quarter until the storm passed. Additionally, many of the students at these games did not take shelter opening the doors to discussions on stadium safety in the coming months and years.
#1: Fall Finally Begins!
September 22 marked the beginning of astronomical autumn. Warm weather persisted across most of the country during the opening days of fall, but signs of change have been seen! Cooler weather has settled in the Northeast where high temps topped off in the 60s Saturday (seen in the map above), as well as the mountains of the Front range. Temperatures here dropped below freezing with snow falling as low as 8500′. Summer has refused to let go in the south however, where temperature records were broken late week. Additionally, Santa Ana winds in Southern California are pushing temps toward the triple digits in metro Los Angeles. Relief from the heat will come eventually as sunlight fades with the sun traveling south for the winter.
Honorable Mention: Morecast Gets a New Logo!
As you’ve probably notice Morecast has updated with a clean new look! While this change wasn’t felt like the heat and severe weather, it is still a big change for the weather community.
These are our top 5 events from the past week! How do they stack up with what you felt was most influential? Be sure to let us know on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Also if you see extraordinary weather in your town, be sure to snap a picture and upload it to the community section of the Morecast app!