I've noticed a trend this year. I'm getting burned by saying "sun driven storms" many times this year. I'm also keeping an eye on warnings well into the early morning hours and even have come into work early because storms are still roaring when I get here. It seems that all bets are off when storms will come to an end. It's just not here either. I got a call from my mother last week asking about buying weather radios because they have had severe overnight storms many times.

Is there an overall cause? I'm not sure. I'm haven't done any research or heard of any supporting climate change with this, so let's ignore that. I've learned a lot about lower level jets this summer, which is part of the problem. I always knew they existed, but never realized their power. Basically, a strong low level wind can bring in heat and moisture, the two things needed for storms. This method can actually be more effective than the normal surface heating we see everyday because it has both the heat and moisture. Patrick showed me a few examples of this and it immediately made sense to me.

This phenomena seems to be at a max this year. Maybe its something to do with a five year cycle that I've heard Patrick talk about many times. Either way I'm glad I have at least a small explanation to this so that I know what to watch for. No forecast is more important to me than severe weather. As we're watching for severe weather tonight we're going to watch those low level winds. Hopefully we'll be seeing weak ones for tonight.