Wildfire Smoke and Severe Thunderstorms in the East; Monsoon Thunderstorms in the Southwest

Wildfire smoke continues to impact air quality from the Great Lakes region into New England and the Mid-Atlantic today with widespread Air Quality Alerts in effect. Severe thunderstorms are expected across portions of the Ohio Valley and Lower Great Lakes into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, this afternoon into the evening. Monsoonal thunderstorms may bring areas of flooding to the Southwest. Read More >

A narrow, but intense snowband developed over eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota from mid-morning through early evening on 18 March 2014. The graphic below shows the extent of the snow band around 1pm CDT. At this time, the most intense portion of the band was only about 20-30 miles wide, but was producing snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour! As a result, a very tight snowfall gradient was observed across the area. For example, Watertown, SD only picked 0.1" of snow while Clear Lake, SD picked up a whopping 10.5"! A graphical snowfall map and a few tabular snowfall listings are also provided below.

Clear Lake, SD - 10.5"
5 SE Revillo, SD - 7.0"
Estelline, SD - 6.0"
Correll, MN - 6.0"
Wheaton, MN - 2.8"
Artichoke Lake, MN - 2.0"
Milbank, SD - 0.5"
Watertown, SD - 0.1"

Image 1: KABR Reflecitivity at 1pm CDT:

Image 2: Storm Total Snowfall Graphic:

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Wildfire Smoke and Severe Thunderstorms in the East; Monsoon Thunderstorms in the Southwest

Banded Snowfall Event on 18 March 2014