By now, we have all seen the photo of the man mowing the lawn with a tornado behind him. Just take a quick look at the news every week and you will come across many other stories of people who did not seem situationally aware of the severe weather that was happening around them. 

We have all experienced a gust front, or outflow boundary, before. It is a process associated with thunderstorms and can cause winds strong enough to cause damage. While tied to thunderstorms, the gust front gets to you before the storm does.

As summer approaches, so does the peak of lightning injuries and fatalities. More lightning fatalities happen in the months of June, July, and August that any other time of the year.

Have you heard of the dry line before? If you live in the Texas Panhandle or Oklahoma, this is nothing new to you. Every spring, the dry line is talked about on severe weather days. So, what is it exactly and how does it relate to thunderstorm development?

The WDT Annual Client Appreciation Storm Chase took place this year with clients and a few employees. This is an event we've repeated for years and is an opportunity for WDT staff to show clients some of the incredibly volatile weather we experience here in the Central U.S. Here's how Storm Chase 2017 went down:

One of the new features in RadarScope Tier 2 is the addition of hail size and shear contours. If you are wondering what size of hail may be falling, you can now get a more precise idea. And while we can't detect a tornado, we can definitely show you if that storm is rotating.

Everyone has heard the saying: "April showers bring May flowers." What if those showers are torrential downpours with hail and high winds? Yeah, flowers don't really like that and such is the life of plants when Oklahoma severe weather strikes.

It's not unusual that artists enjoy painting the landscape and that includes the weather. It's time for the National Weather Center's 3rd Biennale showcasing a combination of weather and art. Being located just across the street, we got a sneak peek.  

Spotter Network reporting has been integrated into RadarScope to help storm spotters and storm chasers have another avenue to report severe weather to the National Weather Service (NWS). Combining the power of high resolution radar available in RadarScope, along with the ability for a spotter to report exactly what they're seeing while in the field, is a natural fit. 

The severe weather threat will continue across the Plains and into the Mid-Mississippi Valley this weekend and into next week.  Areas from the central Gulf coast and northward into the Lower and Mid-Mississippi Valley will likely see severe thunderstorms with damaging winds, large hail, and a few tornadoes on Saturday as a cold front pushes through the region.  Ahead of this front, plentiful moisture will be drawn northward from the Gulf Mexico, providing the fuel for this thunderstorm activity.  While storms are expected to be mostly linear in nature, a few discrete supercells may form during the afternoon hours and these will have the capability to produce a few tornadoes.  Into the evening on Saturday the main threat will be strong and damaging winds.