Beginning on April 2nd many Midwestern and Southern states began experiencing deadly weather events including non-stop heavy rain, tornadoes, and flooding. As of April 15th, these conditions have not stopped.
The tornadoes and flooding are both due to the days long nonstop rainstorms. Fox Weather Center says it may be that “Ridges of high pressure, currently generally centered over the eastern U.S., have, in essence, trapped storm systems over the heartland, preventing them from moving eastward” (Wulfeck, April 3). Adding on to that an article, USA Today had meteorologist Doyle Rice stating, “A corridor of storms heading into the Plains and strong high pressure in the Southeast bringing up moisture from the Gulf conspired to create conditions to support severe thunderstorms and tornado outbreaks” (Rice, April 10). Differing air pressure is a natural occurrence as one article on the Met Office says, “Areas of high and low pressure are caused by ascending and descending air. As air warms it ascends, leading to low pressure at the surface. As air cools it descends, leading to high pressure at the surface.” (NO CITATION)
This isn’t just a little rain, either. As INSERT WRITER NAME HERE (As, NAME with AP News states) AP News says there have been “18 reported deaths since the storms began on Wednesday [April 2] included 10 in Tennessee” (Kruesi, Cherry, and Izaguirre, April 6). With INSERT WRITER NAME HERE (As, NAME with USA Today states) USA Today also reporting that “Tornadoes have killed over 30 Americans so far this year”(Rice, April 10). Additionally, according to Andrew Wulfeck with Fox Weather Center “more than 600 severe weather alerts were issued from Wednesday [April 2] into Thursday [April 3], the most since 2012” (Wulfeck, April 3).
Fox Weather Center also reported in the same article that “River levels, however, commonly lag behind rainfall totals, meaning that the full extent of the flooding will not be immediately known for days after the rainfall ends” (Wulfeck, April 3). This phenomenon has begun to rear its head as many midwestern and southern states are still experiencing flooding weeks after the initial storms.
On a more local level, meteorologists at AccuWeather warn severe weather events are expected over the upcoming Easter weekend and into the next week. An article on their website went on to say “The right ingredients will come together for repeat chances for severe thunderstorms in the days leading up to and including the Easter holiday. During this time, warm and humid air surging out of the Gulf will clash with a cooler air mass and energy pulsing out of the western states, igniting thunderstorms” (April 13).
