Posted July 7, 2023
Stormy start to summer for Corn Belt, South, and East regions
With summer underway in North America, let's check in with Andrew Pritchard, to get the latest on what to expect with severe weather trends.
Nutrien meteorologists are tracking several severe weather threats across the Corn Belt, South, and East regions that could last through much of the summer. Andrew Pritchard, Senior Meteorologist with Nutrien’s Agronomy and Environmental Science team, breaks down what we could see.
“We saw a lot of severe weather in late May and even in April and then in some ways, we’ve seen some things slow down a bit, but we’re transitioning into El Nino,” says Andrew. “We’ve got a lot going on with the different players that typically drive our weather patterns.”
Andrew says we’ve had what’s called a blocked jet stream, where the storms that usually come in from the Pacific Ocean have been blocked, leading to dry conditions across the central plains and parts of the Midwest. The jet stream winds have been focused on parts of the southern high plains - Texas, Colorado, Western Kansas and New Mexico - which has brought those areas record-setting rains.
“The dry weather in the middle of the country has been at the expense of finally getting some rain for some areas that have been waiting for several years for rain,” says Andrew. “But for the rest of June, we see this blocked jet stream starting to break down and open the central U.S. up more during a time that’s very favorable for active weather and severe thunderstorms.”
While Andrew doesn’t have a specific date for when the patterns will shift, he does believe the possibility for severe weather is high for the three regions. Andrew wants to make sure Nutrien employees and customers get a heads up when the weather turns severe.
“We won’t know for sure until we have more confidence in individual storms,” Andrew says. “But we could be talking about severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail and high winds. And repetitive thunderstorms over the same region could turn to flooding.”
What you can do to prepare
Andrew says severe storms that produce hail could lead to crop loss, and tornadoes and high winds could damage infrastructure, but he’s more focused on making sure people remain safe during severe weather events. Andrew has a few tips for you to be prepared for whatever severe weather is in store for your location.
Review your severe weather safety procedures. Make sure everyone - employees, family, etc. - know what to do when severe weather strikes. Be sure you have a shelter area and that everyone knows where it is and how to get there.
Watch the forecast. Whether you get alerts from the National Weather Service, Nutrien or someone else, you should stay in tune with the forecast so you know when storms are likely to happen.
Check your supplies. If you have an emergency kit, make sure your supplies are still good. Replace anything that’s gone bad or expired. If you don’t have a kit with supplies in it, create one. Your kit should include a basic first aid kit, water, non-perishable foods, a flight, and a battery operated radio.
Sign up for emergency weather alerts on your smartphone. Go into settings on your phone and make sure you have emergency alerts enabled. You’ll get alerts directly to your phone based on your location.
Purchase a weather radio. These radios are dedicated to weather forecasts and will sound an alarm if severe weather is nearby.
While you can’t prevent severe weather, Andrew encourages everyone to be prepared for it. “It’s just trying to think ahead of time,” Andrew says. “Think of the things you don’t want to be thinking about when you’re told a tornado is ten minutes away.”
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