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Why so much doom and gloom weather these days?

Posted at 10:08 AM, May 05, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-05 11:10:25-04

In the middle of April we received plenty of dry weather accompanied by sunshine. The reason: an omega block. The past few weeks we have been dealing with hovering clouds and persistent rain. The reason: an omega block.

Here's a refresher course. An omega block is when an area of low pressure sets up in the East, another low pressure sets up in the West and there is a ridge of high pressure in the middle. The ridge of high pressure causes the Jet Stream, which is the highway that storms move along and it's located 30,000 feet above the ground, to bulge northward. The end result is a Jet Stream pattern that looks like the Greek letter omega (Ω).

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The word block is added to omega because the weather pattern will slow down for a while due to the north to south alignment being so extreme. This alignment actually jams the normal and steady west to east flow which is known more as a zonal flow.

You might ask: how could there be an omega block with sunshine and an omega block with rain? The answer: The geographic location is different. In April, the omega block was set up with the high over the Mid-Atlantic, hence sunshine.  This week the omega block is set up with the low over us, hence clouds and rain.

Look on the bright side, (pun intended) we needed the rain to get rid of the high levels of pollen....mission accomplished!  Plus, we needed the rain and still do to cut down on the deficit.  Before the rain, we were 3.50 inches below normal since March 1. Thursday, May 5, we are 2.96 below normal. Luckily, more rain is on the way for Friday and Saturday morning.

Not only will we begin to dry out by Mother's Day weekend but we will also warm up to more seasonal levels High temperatures will be in the low 70s.

April showers bring May flowers but May showers also bring May flowers! 

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