Weather Producer Mike Dangolovich

While Midwest cities like Chicago and Minneapolis have been enjoying nice weather this past week, with abundant sunshine and warm temperatures, cities in the Plains such as Wichita and Tulsa have been inundated with days of rain, and flooding has ensued in several areas. How can one region experience such great weather, while another region right next door can’t seem to buy a ray of sunshine? Blame it all on blocking!

Don't blame it on the rain when it's really all the block's fault.

Blocking occurs when the normal atmospheric movement of weather seems to stop its usual progression. Typically, most places experience a couple of days of nice weather when high pressure dominates, but as the high move on, unsettled weather may follow for a short time as an area of low pressure, or a frontal system, approaches and moves through. However, when blocking occurs, the weather tends to become a “what you see is what you get” proposition as the same type of weather can last for days. Then, if you live in the region where higher pressure is ‘stuck’, you may be with happy with blocking since you receive day after day of sunshine, but a person living where an area of low pressure doesn’t move will not be happy at all, since days of clouds and rain may occur.

Of course, the reverse can also be true. If you live in an area parched by drought, you may be happier with the days of rain that blocking can provide, whereas ongoing fair weather in a drought only spells more drought. In the end, blocking usually spells trouble for somewhere in the Nation since too much of a good thing is a bad thing. It reminds me of the old saying “Everything in moderation."