National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Areas of Fire Weather and Severe Thunderstorms through the Weekend

Dry, windy conditions will bring elevated to critical fire risks to the northern Plains today, and southern High Plains and the Southwest through the weekend. Severe thunderstorms capable of large to very large hail, wind damage and tornadoes will be possible today and Saturday across parts of the central Plains. Read More >

A very interesting visual satellite picture from the afternoon of February 20th, it shows two mesolows; one moving across southern Lake Michigan and another over southern Lake Huron. These smaller scale features can have an appearance of tropical systems such as Hurricanes or Tropical Storms but that is where the similarities end. They are created by a fairly rare temperature and wind pattern across the Great Lakes, but when they do form during the winter months they can produce a period of very heavy snow.