Lauren Bostwick grew up in the small town of Aledo, Texas. Her interests have always involved sports, science, and of course, the weather! After interning at KBTX in College Station, she graduated from Texas A&amp;M University with a B.S. in Meteorology. During her time at Texas A&amp;M she became efficient in many areas of meteorology such as analyzing the radar, detecting severe weather, and forecasting for different regions. Straight out of college, Lauren started her career as a Weekend Meteorologist and Multimedia Journalist at CBS7 in Odessa, Texas. Due to the large coverage area, she was responsible for forecasting for many types of terrain stretching from the Big Bend National Park to southeastern New Mexico. She has experienced reporting on a variety of severe weather events, such as tornadoes, disastrous flooding events, and the devastating February 2021 winter storm. Lauren is thrilled to be a part of the WeatherNation team. Say howdy to Lauren on <a href="https://twitter.com/LBostwickWX">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LBostwickWX">Facebook</a>!

Lauren Bostwick

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<p>After a stormy Friday and Saturday that produced big hail in the Plains, more heavy rain and storms are in the forecast through this weekend. This rainfall is desperately needed - there is significant drought through eastern Nebraska, northern North Dakota and Iowa that has been worsening this summer under hot and dry conditions.</p><h2>Severe Outlook</h2><p>This also comes with a severe weather threat with all severe weather hazards possible: damaging winds, quarter-size (or larger) hail, and isolated tornadoes. Due to the large nature of the system, much of the Plains are highlighted with the severe storm risk overnight, from Minnesota through Texas. All severe weather hazards are possible, including the risk for egg-size hail, damaging winds and tornadoes. Please think ahead and make arrangements to be safe from severe weather.</p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/2-1695523932188.jpg"></p><p>In addition to the severe storm threats, gusty winds not associated with thunderstorms will be present through the weekend. Also, a flooding potential will be expected into the upcoming week due to the rainfall on top of the drought stricken grounds. </p><p> </p><video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/2-1695524929885.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video><p></p><p>The Fall feel will be short-lived however, as temperatures are expected to climb this upcoming final week of September!</p>

More Storms & Rain for the High Plains

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Kara has always been passionate about weather and knew from an early age that she wanted to become a meteorologist. Living in different regions of the country and experiencing weather events ranging from ice storms to tornadoes drove her to pursue a bachelor's degree in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. Throughout college, storm chasing became a regular event for Kara, where she saw first-hand the power of the atmosphere. Kara graduated cum laude from OU and decided to further her meteorology education with a Master's degree from Mississippi State University. The deadly April 27, 2011 tornado outbreak struck while Kara was studying at MSU; her first “Dixie Alley” tornado event and an up close glimpse into the destruction of the storms she so closely studied. Her broadcast career began in Elvis’ birthplace, Tupelo, Mississippi, where she earned her Certified Broadcast Meteorologist seal from the American Meteorological Society. Kara's career has included coverage of all types of severe weather including tornado events, flooding and tropical systems across multiple southern states. Recently she helped cover the 2020 Easter Sunday deadly tornado outbreak in southeast Mississippi. In her free time, you can find Kara outdoors exploring new areas with her mini poodle,Truffles. Kara is also an avid runner and frequently races in 5Ks, 10Ks and half marathons. Say hi to Kara on <a href="https://twitter.com/wxkara">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/karajameswx">Facebook</a>!

Kara James

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<p>Saturday has been a stormy day across Oklahoma and Missouri, with storms producing hail as large as baseballs and softballs! The severe weather threat continues overnight and into Sunday as an upper low and cold front work together to trigger storms. In addition to severe weather threats, heavy rainfall leading to flash flooding is possible especially through eastern Oklahoma. </p><p>There is an <strong>ENHANCED RISK</strong> for damaging winds through SE Kansas and northern Oklahoma overnight. This area has the best environment to produce severe storms, including egg size hail (2" thick), 65 mph wind gusts, and tornadoes.</p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/1-1695521389768.png"></p><p>Showers and storms continue overnight with wind, hail, tornadoes and heavy rain as hazards. Please have ways to get alerts before heading to bed. Into Sunday the front pushes south, along with it the storm threat, moving into north-central Texas with all severe weather hazards possible.</p><video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/1-1695521525987.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video><p></p><p>Much of Texas is highlighted Sunday for severe weather potential, including the Dallas metroplex. Be prepared for multiple rounds of storms with damaging winds, large hail, and a few tornadoes. Heavy rain and flooding are likely too, especially for areas east of I-35 in both Oklahoma and Texas. Severe weather will be possible as far southwest as Midland and San Antonio, while it could stretch all the way into Shreveport and Little Rock.</p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/3-1695521578474.png"></p><p>As the front drops even farther south on Monday, the severe risk will become draped through central and southern Texas roughly between I-20 and I-10. </p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/4-1695521621136.png">These are areas that are under extreme and exceptional drought so rainfall is welcomed here. Rain will be very hit or miss for areas west of I-35, with heavy downpours contributing to the flooding threat in the Arklatex.</p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/9-23 RSC accum-1695522906150.png"></p><p>Be sure to move any valuable property to safety before the storms arrive, because some thunderstorms may bring flooding rain and damaging wind and/or hail. Have multiple ways to get weather warnings and know where to go in the event of severe weather!</p>

Tornado Threat: Missouri to Oklahoma Overnight

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Dave Holder

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<p>Ophelia made landfall around 6:15 a.m. ET on Saturday, near Emerald Isle, North Carolina as a strong tropical storm. Maximum sustained winds reached 70 mph, with a minimum pressure of 981 mb. Even though Ophelia has now weakened into a Post-Tropical Cyclone, it will continue to bring gusty winds, storm surge, high surf, and heavy rain to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast through the rest of this weekend. Power outages have been isolated in some communities, but utility crews have been fast-acting in getting power restored.</p><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/WeatherNation/videos/1001927184348846" data-width="500" src="https://www.facebook.com/WeatherNation/videos/1001927184348846" style="display: flex; justify-content: center"></div><p>The heaviest rain will favor Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey going forward into Sunday. Ophelia will slowly nudge up the I-95 corridor, and continue to weaken as it moves north. Even as a remnant low, it will bring rain and wind impacts Sunday and Monday to the Northeast.</p><video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/ophelia-1695519152047.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video><h2>Flood Threat</h2><p>Heavy rainfall could lead to flooding, especially in areas that are prone to gathering high water. This includes coastal communities along with inland areas. Upwards of 6" of rain already fell since Ophelia's impacts began and an additional 1-3" of rain is possible through the weekend as Ophelia makes its way up the Eastern Seaboard. Heavy rain in the urban corridors of the Northeast could lead to flash flooding, especially in areas of New England that have been soggy over the last few weeks.</p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/Screenshot 2023-09-23 193320-1695519209558.jpg">Coastal flood alerts have been issued through the Mid-Atlantic coast from New Jersey to Virginia for the push of seawater moving on shore due to Ophelia's wind field. This is where we expect freshwater rainfall flooding and the rise of rivers and oceans to create flooding on low-lying areas.</p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/Screenshot 2023-09-23 193423-1695519269604.jpg">In addition to the coastal flood threat, there is a widespread inland flood across the Northeast for the rest of the weekend, as upwards of 3" of rain could fall. Please do not drive through flooded roadways and limit travel.</p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/9-23 RNE WPC-1695523284887.png"></p><h2>Wind</h2><p>Winds will gust in the range of 20-40 mph for coastal communities and 10-20 mph for inland areas. The wind will stir up the ocean and onshore flooding will create issues for barrier islands and east-facing beaches.</p><video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/opheliawind-1695519435859.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video><h2>Surge</h2><p>The worst effects from Ophelia's storm surge should be past us. That being said, we could still see up to 3' of surge all the way up the New Jersey shore.</p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/Screenshot 2023-09-23 193753-1695519479706.jpg"></p><p>Continue to monitor the latest weather hazards, including any alerts, with regard to Ophelia. Be safe venturing out into the conditions this weekend!</p>

Ophelia Makes Landfall in North Carolina, Now Post-Tropical

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<div>Lucy is originally from the Boston area but has spent the last four years forecasting and living in Colorado! She stayed in the northeast for her education, graduating Summa Cum Laude from SUNY Oswego with a B.S. in Meteorology. Just a few days after graduation, she made the cross country move to Colorado Springs, CO to begin her career at KKTV, the CBS affiliate. Lucy has covered historic blizzards, tornadoes, windstorms, the largest wildfires in Colorado state history and dust storms ... they truly "get it all" in Colorado! Lucy is excited to forecast on a national level and continue her passion of explaining the science behind the weather!</div>
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Lucy Bergemann

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<p style="text-align: center"><em>Above - stereoscopic images provides a 3D view of the large, 170-foot (52-meter) boulder that juts from asteroid Bennu’s southern hemisphere and the rocky slopes that surround it (Credit: NASA, OSIRIS-REx Project) </em></p><p>A first for NASA and space science is happening this weekend: the first ever asteroid samples collected in space are coming back to Earth on Sunday, September 24th. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will release a capsule with pieces of the asteroid Bennu over Earth on Sunday morning. The capsule is set to land in Utah and be retrieved by the OSIRIS-REx team. </p><p>The <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex">OSIRIS-REx</a> (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer) project launched in September of 2016, putting a spacecraft on the asteroid Bennu to collect rocks and dust from the surface. The goal of the mission is to "investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth" according to NASA. </p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/OSIRIS-REx_Touchdown_on_Bennu-1695312747690.gif"></p><p style="text-align: center"><em><span style="color: rgb(90, 100, 112)">Captured on Oct. 20, 2020, during the OSIRIS-REx mission’s Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event, this series of images shows the SamCam imager’s field of view as the NASA spacecraft approaches and touches down on asteroid Bennu’s surface. (credit: NASA)</span></em></p><p>The samples collected from Bennu are from October 2020. <span style="color: rgb(58, 58, 58)">According to NASA, the spacecraft collected enough samples in two days to start the journey back to Earth.</span><em> </em><span style="color: rgb(58, 58, 58)">During the departure, "OSIRIS-REx imaged Bennu for 5.9 hours, covering more than a full rotation of the asteroid. It flew within 2.1 miles (3.5 kilometers) of Bennu's surface". Despite moving at 600 mph, the journey back to Earth still took OSIRIS-REx roughly 2.5 years to make!</span></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/bennuola1-1695313273805.gif"></p><p style="text-align: center"><em>This three-dimensional view of asteroid Bennu was created by the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA), contributed by the Canadian Space Agency, on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. (credit: NASA)</em></p><p>The spacecraft's next mission will take it into the orbit of the near-Earth asteroid <span style="color: rgb(58, 58, 58)">Apophis in 2029. Apophis is about 1,200 feet in diameter and is expected to come within 20,000 miles of Earth in 2029. The asteroid is an "S-type", made up of Silica materials and is remnants of our early solar system. </span></p><p>OSIRIS-REx is the third of four missions in NASA's New Frontier program to explore our solar system with medium sized spacecraft. Other missions in the program include: New Horizons (exploring Pluto since 2006), Juno (exploring Jupiter since 2011) and Dragonfly (Saturn's Moon Titan, set to launch in 2026). </p><div data-youtube-video=""><iframe width="640" height="480" allowfullscreen="false" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O8R2hsoIgTc" start="0"></iframe></div><p>Per NASA, the capsule landing starts at 10 a.m. EDT (8 a.m. MDT) and will air on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.nasa.gov/live"><strong><em><u>Watch here</u></em></strong></a>. WeatherNation will bring you updates on the mission throughout the day on Sunday. </p>

Happening this Weekend: Asteroid Samples Come Back to Earth

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<p>Have the leaves started changing where you live? We are now into Meteorological Fall, with the Autumnal Equinox just around the corner. We will continue to notice the changing leaves in the coming weeks.</p><video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/PKG_092920_TRT 1.52_WHEN LEAVES CHANGE_ROB BRADLEY_CM_E092920-1694870877324.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video><p>But why and how do leaves change color? It is due to Chlorophyll in the leaves decaying into the cooler weather of the season. We've still been quite warm so the changeover has been slow for many.</p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/why they change-1694871127699.jpg">In fact, the majority of the country (outside of mountains over 10k feet) hasn't dropped below freezing or close to it yet this fall - we are roughly two weeks behind schedule for the Rockies, Bitterroots, and Cascades which could be contributing to the slow to develop colors. The colder air is arriving though, which should speed up the color changes.</p><div class="twitter-tweet" style="display: flex; justify-content: center" data-twitt-post-id="1704911375175393467" src="https://twitter.com/WeatherNation/status/1704911375175393467"></div><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/first freeze-1694871125678.jpg">Right now much of the fall foliage is seen in the Rockies where cooler air is starting to make an influence. We want to avoid a quick freeze though, as that could cause the leaves to wilt and die before they reach their true potential! Colors should start to explode in the coming days across Colorado when the Aspens turn. In addition, cooler air moving into the Northwest should create further color across the Cascades!</p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/forecast-1695474270804.jpg"></p><p>Have fall foliage photos to share? Tag us on social media @weathernation</p>

First Day of Fall: Where to Leaf Peep

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<p>Outside of Opehlia, in the next seven days, we will be keeping our eyes on a tropical wave off the coast of Africa. This wave has a high chance of development in the next seven days. It will stay out in open waters but could bring large surf and high winds to the northern Leeward Islands. </p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/fish-1695475481194.jpg"><br>We have about 35% of the Atlantic hurricane season left. The rest of September and October can be busy months, tropically speaking.</p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/9-20 we r here-1695264590131.png"></p>

Atlantic Tropical Outlook

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<p>ROCKIES - It's September in the Rockies and while some of us may be leaf-peeping, a taste of winter is knocking at our door. The National Weather Service has issued its first winter weather advisories for the northern Rockies of Montana and Bitterroots of Idaho. From 6,000 to 6,500 feet about 1-2" of wet snow can be expected. Above 7,500 feet between 2-5" of snow, and at the summits up to 10" are possible. This includes Glacier National Park. In addition to snowfall, winds over the Divide may gust as high as 45 mph which will lower visibility for travelers.</p><p><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/snow-1695329702997.jpg">In addition to the chance of snowfall, much cooler air is expected across the Northwest as this incoming upper-level low swings through. Rain is expected at many lower elevations, and generally unsettled weather can be expected for the next few days. Rainfall may be heavy at times, so excessive rainfall outlooks have been issued through the start of the weekend.</p><video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2023/09/2023-09-22 07-59-48-1695391216763.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video><p>If you live in any of the areas and take a weather picture or video, be sure to tag us on X, Facebook, or Instagram @weathernation and we may feature your video!</p>

More Snow for the Rockies

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Monsoon season is in full swing across the southwestern US. The season usually lasts until late summer/early fall. It is when a low pressure center sets up across the Baja Peninsula allowing a conveyor belt of moisture to begin flowing in the dry, somewhat arid climate that is the desert southwest.

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This is great news as many of these locations are already dealing with extreme drought stricken conditions. Unfortunately, this has also left the area vulnerable for wildfires and several active wildfires have already charred thousands of acres so far this year.

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For example, burn scars left from the Ute Park Fire are currently under a flash flood warning until later today. Flash flooding can develop easily on charred ground as the soil composition repels the water instead of soaking it in leaving the layer underneath to become loose, shift and slide yielding dangerous mudslides and debris flow for low lying areas.

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Flash flood watches are in effect for Western Colfax county for parts of this burn scar area.

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Flash flood warnings are in effect for much of the other burn scar areas across the southwest.  Durango, CO is under a flash flood warning as well where the 416 Fire has been ongoing. The rain is very beneficial in helping to mitigate this fire further as it is not yet completely contained but the side effect will be the risk for mudslides/flooding through the evening as more slow moving showers and storms develop over the area.

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Pay attention to the warnings in your area and remember you can get flash flooding even if it hasn't rained in your location. If you live in a low-lying area around any of these burn scars you should pay close attention over the next several days as more rain is in the forecast.

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Cell service is also very spotty in this part of the country so if you plan to be out hiking or in desolate regions do not rely on your cell phone for flood warnings. This is why a NOAA Weather Radio is a must have.

Stay safe, friends

Meteorologist Merry Matthews

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Flash Flooding Happening Now in the Southwest

More Storms & Rain for the High Plains

After a stormy Friday and Saturday that produ

Tornado Threat: Missouri to Oklahoma Overnight

Saturday has been a stormy day across Oklahom

Ophelia Makes Landfall in North Carolina, Now Post-Tropical

Ophelia made landfall around 6:15 a.m. ET on

Happening this Weekend: Asteroid Samples Come Back to Earth

Above - stereoscopic images provides a 3D vie

First Day of Fall: Where to Leaf Peep

Have the leaves started changing where you li

Atlantic Tropical Outlook

Outside of Opehlia, in the next seven days, w

More Snow for the Rockies

ROCKIES - It's September in the Rockies and w