National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Heavy Rain is Likely Across the Mid-Atlantic States Today Along With Potentially Damaging Wind Gusts; Critical Fire Weather in the Great Basin

Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms are expected today across the Mid-Atlantic and forecast to contain heavy to excessive rainfall. Numerous instances of flash flooding are possible in southern Virginia and north-central North Carolina. Severe thunderstorms are also possible across the northern Great Plains today. Elevated to Critical Fire Weather located across the Intermountain West. Read More >

According to the American Meteorological Society Glossary of Meteorology, a heat burst is a "localized, sudden increase in surface temperature associated with a thunderstorm, shower, or mesoscale convective system, often accompanied by extreme drying."

Indeed, several Mesonet weather stations just northwest of Mobridge, SD (including the Mahto SDSU and McLaughlin+Trail City RWIS stations) recorded sudden increases in temperature and decreases in humidity, along with spikes in wind gusts from 10 pm Friday to 1 am Saturday morning. Notably, the Mahto station rose ~15 degrees in 20 minutes peaking at 96 degrees at 11 pm, and gusted to 62 mph just before at 10:55 pm. Showers falling into the right environment led to this fairly rare phenomenon. See the slides below for more details.