National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Severe Thunderstorms and Heavy Rain in the Southern U.S.; Snow in the Northern Rockies and Northern Plains

A storm system will shift from eastern Texas into the lower Mississippi Valley today with additional threats of severe thunderstorms and heavy to excessive rainfall which may bring flooding. In the northern U.S., a storm will bring heavy snow and gusty winds over parts of the northern Rockies, northern Plains, and Upper Midwest today into Wednesday. Read More >

 

 

Have you ever seen a severe thunderstorm warning, tornado warning, or flash flood warning scrolling across your television screen and wonder how it got there? Well it starts here at the National Weather Service, where during inclement weather we are constantly monitoring the radar and other data sources to find any features which may indicate a threat to the safety of the community or a threat to their property. During severe weather, getting a prompt warning to you is our top priority. To expedite the process, we use a piece of software called WarnGen to graphically create a warning polygon for the area we expect to be affected, and select the text that best describes the hazard. The whole process from noticing a severe thunderstorm to the sounding of the alert on the weather radio will typically take less than 90 seconds!

 

Day 3: Analyzing Weather Data

Day 2: Weather Observations

Day 1: Introduction