Happy Thursday folks!
Weekend Outlook:
Saturday is downright frigid in the Central U.S. and especially the Upper Midwest with northern areas getting a hard freeze. The Upper Midwest in MN, WI, IA and IL will all have the coldest May 14-15 weekend in over 25 years with some record cold likely. It will be very windy making it feel even colder but that might be the saving grace to keep frost from diving deep into the heart of the Corn Belt. Crops that aren't frozen will certainly be stunted a couple weeks and that just pushes more of the crop into the hot/dry July time frame negatively impacting crop yields...A LOT! National temps on Saturday trend the coldest since 2002 (14 years) which is also a big negative for retail and seasonal merchandise sales. The warmest spot in the country is the Rockies and Northwest where it's the warmest middle May weekend in 11 years. The Home Centers have way too much flower inventory, much of which will be damaged this weekend and or thrown in the dumpster with very weak consumer demand - not many folks out looking for flowers with very cold and windy conditions.
Sunday the cold shifts East with freezes in the higher elevations of the Appalachians and interior Northeast. Winds again may save the day in terms of frost but cold nonetheless. Stormier weather returns to the South Central U.S. (Texas) and we'll have to watch for severe weather in light of all this cool weather aloft that can help make thunderstorms particularly severe.
See our facebook fan page for a graphical view of the weekend and freeze potential.
Next Week: Temperatures moderate along the East Coast mid week while very stormy weather and flooding rain potential returns to the TX - AR - MS - LA areas. The North Central U.S. remains on the cold side but a bigger heat-wave possible toward the 21-24 time-frame in the Central U.S. For the nation as a whole the 16-22 May period trends the warmest in 3 years (slightly above average) and the wettest in over 25 years (mainly the South Central and Gulf Coast states).
Have a great weekend! - Capt Kirk out.