Next Chase Trip Coming Up

PSU Meteorology model forecasts centered on May 20th

Aside from some severe weather across the Plains over the past two days, this severe weather season continues to be moving along at a slow pace overall. I’ve taken the downtime to catch up on some research and plan ahead for upcoming trips.

The next major trip is planned for May 22nd-28th, with how it works around my work schedule and road-tripping with another storm enthusiast. As far as the weather pattern is concerned, there is some severe potential in the Plains early next week, with my focus around Monday the 19th and/or Tuesday the 20th. It’s a long way out, but this would be just a bit too soon for me to get out there. However, the models do show a slow-moving trough digging through the West and eventually the Plains next week. Should the setup slow-down or evolve into a multi-day event, we may catch some good action. I’m cautiously optimistic about the general weather pattern across the U.S., as there is the potential for at least some elevated severe threats during the 22nd-28th. This is if we can keep troughiness away from the East and replace it with a ridge.

Aside from that, there could be isolated severe in the Ohio Valley and portions of the East on Thursday of this week (the 15th). The models have been toying with this idea for a few days, but at this point it would appear to be a low-end threat.

Moving into June, my schedule ties me up for the first two weeks, but I am open to a short trip (1-3 days), should there be a major severe outbreak possible during that time-frame. I’m more likely to have a bigger trip during the second half of June, but stay tuned.