Font Size:

Lets face it, unless you have an infatuation with Old Man Winter, temperatures in the 60s for February doesn't sound all that bad.  However, these types of conditions are often volatile for this time of year.

Reason being, there is often a striking contrast between the air temperature at the surface versus that just a few hundred feet above.  As we near spring, the sub-tropical jet stream amplifies, while the polar jet retreats north.  Thus, the atmosphere is left unbalanced and since weather is the result of the atmosphere attempting to reach a state of equilibrium...  you can bet the two won't coincide without a fight.

As February 4th and 5th of 2008 showed us, severe thunderstorms can occur at anytime, as was the case on Super Tuesday, when the second largest outbreak of tornadoes occurred in the U.S.  Though we aren't expecting such an outbreak in our immediate future, it's important to remember that, as the days grow longer and temperatures begin to warm, weather can change abruptly from one to the next.

Having said that, March is Severe Weather Awareness Month in Kentucky, because it proceeds the spring season, often when storms can be at their worse.  During this time, the National Weather Service will visit locations across the state, training individuals to become Certified SKYWARN Spotters.  Spotters are crucial in relaying severe weather information, because they often see things that even the most sophisticated piece of weather equipment may miss.

With that in mind, it is important for those interested to attend one of these sessions.  Dates, times, and locations can typically be found online at http://www.weather.gov or will be announced within the next month.  In the end, although lives were lost during the Super Tuesday Outbreak of 2008, many were saved, due to advance warnings.

Tune-in for my story on storm chasing and severe weather, coming this March.