National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Widespread Rain from Texas to the Central Appalachians; Heavy to Excessive Rainfall in Southern California and the Southwest

Scattered thunderstorms and widespread showers are expected from the Texas coast to the central Appalachians today. Heavy to excessive rainfall will continue in southern California into the Desert Southwest through Saturday. Heavy rain will pose a risk of flash flooding, especially across burn scar and urbanized regions. 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