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AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter talks about some of the severe weather we have had already this year and what to expect as spring continues.

Transcript

00:00John Porter, you know, John, before we talk about what's happened and why, I want to take you back

00:06to, I believe it was April 22nd. The long-range team, which you and I both work very close with,

00:13they issued this warning. Take a listen.

00:18For the first couple of weeks in May, even the end of April here, we're going to be talking about

00:23a lot of energy going into the middle of the nation, along with warm, moist air coming out

00:28of the southwest Gulf of Mexico and western Caribbean, you know, all meeting up in the

00:33plains right over Tornado Alley. And I think this is going to be an active period for the next three

00:38weeks coming up for the middle of the nation. We're going to start to see higher pressure on

00:41the east coast, helping to pump that moisture up. And you can see by the gesture we just talked

00:46about coming out of the northeast Pacific, all meeting up right in the middle of the nation,

00:50just a pretty good setup here for tornadic activity and several events leading up to Mother's Day.

00:57You know, one of the advantages that we have here at AccuWeather is we have the people that have

01:02been working here for over 30, 35 years. We also have a lot of younger talent coming in with all

01:08of the latest technology, the old school meteorology. And when you blend it all together,

01:13John, you get that forecast, which quite frankly is spot on, that long-range forecast department

01:21right under your tutelage here. And you have to be pretty proud of that forecast. We wish it

01:26didn't work out, but it did. That's right. We're very proud, once again, of Paul Pastelok and his

01:32entire team who saw, you heard him talk about that, the factors coming together to conspire

01:38to produce a series of tornado outbreaks in the plains. And this is really important because

01:44AccuWeather meteorologists have stressed over the last couple of years, other people have talked

01:48about wild tornado alley has shifted east, but we've actually said no, that the risk area for

01:54tornadoes in the last couple of decades has certainly also expanded to the east. But with

02:00the right ingredients, as proven in this pattern, tornadoes still happen in the plains. Yeah, let's

02:07take a look at the period, John, that had the most tornadoes here. And that was beginning Friday.

02:14And remember, you and I were talking before we left, how many tornadoes were there going to be

02:19in Iowa and Nebraska? And it ended up being dozens of tornadoes, but over 100 tornadoes Friday,

02:25Saturday and Sunday. One of the most significant tornado outbreaks in the last five or six years

02:33across the central part of the country, as you mentioned, from Iowa down to Texas,

02:36one of them was an EF4 tornado. That was the one in Marietta, Oklahoma, along I-35. And tremendous

02:44area covered here with significant tornadoes. Some of these locations had multiple impacts.

02:49Let's take a look then at the last seven days. Arielle has been updating this graphic,

02:54and she has been quite busy. I mean, just from the severe weather reports, and you could see

02:58a couple of days where it's a little less, but when it always lowers, it came right back up.

03:04And look at the numbers. This is exactly what Paul was talking about, a relentless pattern

03:10of severe weather risk with all those factors coming together. And that's what we do here at

03:14AccuWeather, to highlight that risk for you further in advance than any other source,

03:19so you can make the best decisions and stay prepared. And Bernie, this is not changing.

03:23We're going to be dealing with, yet again, another problem of a tornado outbreak here

03:28early next week as well. So all of this means to say, don't let your guard down. I know this

03:33is a tiring weather pattern for people to keep hearing about this in the central part of the

03:37country, but don't let your guard down. Take all warnings seriously and move to safe shelter right

03:41away if you get a warning for your community. John, I want to go back to this really quick,

03:45though. You had mentioned this, and this graphic shows this. The tornado alley hasn't shifted.

03:50It's just gotten bigger, and all you have to do is take a look at this year.

03:54The graphic shows that. Remember, last year, we had all of that activity early in the season across

04:00the Gulf Coast states during the winter. We did not have that, obviously, this year. But here's

04:06where all the action has been, as Paul and his team talked about, the central plains and the

04:11Midwest, even in Ohio. Look at that, 43 tornadoes already this year in Ohio.

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