Dave Holder

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After our <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.weathernationtv.com/news/severe-storms-return-to-the-midwest">latest upper-level storm system</a> clears the area, conditions should be much quieter across the country as cooler and more stable air arrives behind the sweeping cold front. However, we're already looking ahead to next week. Long-range models continue to hint at further systems dropping in across the West Coast through the latter half of next week. <img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot 2026-04-03 172547-1775259084048.png">As upper-level energy begins to move into the Southwest, winds just above the surface will respond by shifting out of the south across the Plains. This will increase moisture and heat as air moves off the Gulf, most likely leading to growing instability each afternoon. With strong upper-level energy combining with instability, severe thunderstorms are looking like a good bet by the end of the week! <img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot 2026-04-03 172558-1775259312245.png">Long-range models are also depicting widespread precipitation throughout next week, with higher elevation snow also looking likely. <img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot 2026-04-03 172623-1775259360814.png">The Climate Prediction Center's 6-10 Day Outlook also agrees with this scenario. Here, confidence is high for above-average precipitation across the Southwest, with a particular emphasis on Texas's Rio Grande country.

Further Active Weather By Late Next Week

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Rob grew up in South Florida, where daily afternoon storms and hurricanes piqued his interest in meteorology early on. That interest was fostered by his teachers and his father, who one time brought him onto the roof of their home to watch a funnel cloud move through the Everglades several miles away. Years of filmmaking and tv production in high school gradually pushed him toward broadcast meteorology at Florida State University, where he joined and eventually led the student run daily weather show. After graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Meteorology, he began his career at KESQ in Palm Springs, California before heading to KFSN in Fresno and WLOS in Asheville, North Carolina. He has covered a diverse array of extreme weather events, including haboobs and flash flooding in the desert, extreme snow in the Sierra, hurricanes, and Appalachian ice storms. He also enjoys telling stories and reporting about weather issues.

Connect with Rob on <a href="https://twitter.com/WxRobBradley">Twitter</a>

Rob Bradley

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<div class="twitter-tweet" style="display: flex; justify-content: center" data-twitt-post-id="2039523955070153134" src="https://x.com/WeatherNation/status/2039523955070153134"></div>Severe storms started to fire up Friday afternoon across areas of the South. Severe alerts were issued for the risk of all modes of severe weather. Those storms spit out some large hail quickly after they developed. Here are some of the hail reports from Friday's severe storms.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/pic6-1775251677983.png"><h1>Friday - Saturday</h1>A strong low moving off the Rockies brings a wide severe weather threat on Friday, with an elevated risk around northern Missouri and southern Iowa. Numerous bowing segments, creating hurricane force winds, will be possible.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/1-1775243783744.png">A few strong tornadoes will be possible once again, especially between Kansas City and Des Moines.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/1-1775243854617.png">As the front push eastward, more severe storms will be possible across the Northeast and down along the Gulf Coast. Main threats will be damaging winds and isolated tornadoes.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/1-1775243955210.png">The afternoon and evening hours should be prime time for severe storms on Friday and Saturday, while some strong storms may linger late Friday, possibly past midnight.<video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/New Baron Video 3-1775244032103.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video>Heavy rain could lead to flooding, with 1-3 inches possible, while in heavier downpours totals could surpass 5-6 inches. Isolated to scattered flash flooding is possible.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/1-1775244073070.png"><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot 2026-04-03 064609-1775220398966.png">Tune into WeatherNation for the latest on these storms.

Patrick Crawford

Numerous Tornadoes Expected in the Midwest, Severe Threat Continues

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Meteorologist Jesse Kelley is excited to join the talented staff at Weather Nation. Jesse spent most of his childhood in Birmingham, Alabama. The state of Alabama is prone to seeing various types of weather from severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and winter weather. For college, Jesse attended the University of South Alabama where he received his degree in Broadcast Meteorology along with minors in Math and Geography. From Alabama, Jesse started his broadcast television working three years at KAVU-TV in Victoria. Recently, he finished a stint in Shreveport, LA. Jesse and his wife are looking forward to making the Rocky Mountains and Colorado home. If you would like to follow me, you can follow me on Twitter @JesseKelleywx and on Facebook at Meteorologist Jesse Kelley.

Jesse Kelley

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On the northern side of the severe weather chances, winter continues across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes. In the last 24 hours, ice has accreted up to half an inch thick in parts of Wisconsin. Thousands of residents are in the dark because of trees falling on power lines. <img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/1-1775157754825.png">The next low has emerged from the Rockies and now is pushing back into the Midwest. Winter alerts are out including Ice Storm Warnings for Northern Wisconsin and the UP of Michigan. Some areas could see ice totals up to a half inch. The new ice concerns are already over some of the same areas who may still be in the dark from Thursday's event. <img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/1-1775244373054.png">Freezing rain will break out across parts of the Upper Midwest as more warm moist air is brought northward from the Gulf interacting with the colder air. Then, the column of air will progressively get colder from the top to the bottom supporting snow before the system exits Saturday afternoon.<video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/New Baron Video 3-1775244458613.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video>An additional 6-12 inches of snow will be likely across the Dakotas and Minnesota. In addition, significant icing looks to be possible across Michigan. Travel will be tough this weekend so avoid travel if you can!<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/1-1775244515082.png"><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/1-1775244539862.png">

Snow and Ice Threat for Upper Midwest

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LIFTOFF - At 6:35 PM ET on April 1, 2026, NASA launched astronauts on an historic mission to the Moon. This marks the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years, dating back to the Apollo era.<div class="twitter-tweet" style="display: flex; justify-content: center" data-twitt-post-id="2039477801787769177" src="https://x.com/WeatherNation/status/2039477801787769177"></div>NASA’s Space Launch System sent four astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, aboard the Orion spacecraft on a test flight around the Moon and back. This 10-day mission will demonstrate life support systems and help lay the foundation for future deep space exploration.<h2><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/03/Screenshot 2026-03-28 091928-1774711352235.png">What's Next for Artemis II?</h2><ul><li>Day 1: focused on launch and entering Earth orbit.</li><li>Days 2-4: outbound transit toward the Moon.</li><li>Days 5-6: Orion will fly by the Moon, entering its sphere of influence, where the Moon becomes the dominant gravitational force.</li><li>Days 7-10: return trip to Earth, followed by re-entry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, where the U.S. Navy will recover the capsule.</li></ul><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot 2026-04-01 180532-1775088336863.png">After sling shotting around the moon, Orion will head back toward earth near the end of next week. Several burns will reposition the spacecraft before it re-enters Earth's atmosphere next Friday. It is expected to splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego. We will be monitoring the forecast in this area of the Pacific closely for any impacts. Check back for updates!<h2><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot 2026-04-02 073719-1775137047865.png"></h2><h2>What is the Future of the Artemis Program?</h2>In simple terms, Artemis is the first step in a broader effort to send humans to Mars. Before that, NASA aims to return astronauts to the Moon and establish a sustained presence while testing humanity’s ability to live and work beyond Earth’s orbit. Artemis II, specifically, will send astronauts around the Moon and back.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/03/Screenshot 2026-03-28 091131a-1774710738504.jpg">This will be the first mission since 1972 to take humans beyond low Earth orbit, and potentially farther from Earth than any human has traveled before. NASA currently plans a series of Artemis missions, with Artemis IV expected to land astronauts on the Moon.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot 2026-04-01 180027-1775088036041.png">Artemis II marks a major step forward in human space exploration, pushing us farther than we’ve gone in decades, and bringing us one step closer to returning to the Moon… and eventually, reaching Mars.

Artemis II Launch Goes Perfectly, Tracking Orion Around the Moon

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Tracey Anthony

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ABOVE - The month of March has been setting record after record, with nearly 100 locations nationwide breaking all-time March records. Each red dot above denotes a city that has tied or broken its all-time March record.<h1>Heat Continues</h1>Surprisingly only a couple of record highs fell in Alabama and West Virginia on Thursday. Record high potential will continue through the weekend before much cooler air moves in.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/1-1775182809532.png"><video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/New Baron Video 3-1775182933900.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video>Behind the front, temperatures will drop into the 40s and 50s this weekend before slowly creeping up next week.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/1-1775183001975.png">Above-average temperatures will remain in place in the south on Friday, and will be near average to below average after this weekend's system pushes through.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/1-1775183110473.png">

April Brings Cooler Temperatures

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Kevin Schneider

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WHAT TO EXPECT A severe weather threat is taking shape across the southern Plains this week as a stalled boundary, a sharpening dryline, and an upper-level disturbance come together over a record-breaking warm and increasingly humid central airmass.<h2>OUTLOOK</h2>An ENHANCED risk has been issued through the overnight hours. Damaging winds, large hail, and a few tornadoes will be possible.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/fjfjfjss-1775063569605.png"><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/wind s-1775063505900.png"><h2>TIMING</h2>Storms continue to fire along a dryline, producing gusty winds and large hail. These storms will continue to move to the east overnight, so have multiple ways to get alerts. Things will wind down midday Thursday. <video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/FORECASSSTTTTTTT-1775091363575.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video>

Severe Threat Wednesday in the Plains

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Taban Sharifi grew up in Southern California between Los Angeles and San Diego. She is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) with the American Meteorological Society (AMS). She has a B.S. in Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Environmental Sciences with a minor in Environmental Systems and Society from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Go Bruins! While in school, Taban was a meteorology intern with NBC LA. There she helped forecast daily weather for the greater Los Angeles region and created a playbook to deploy weather sensors for NBC owned-and-operated stations across the country. Her first on-air job took her to San Angelo, Texas, where she was a morning meteorologist and co-anchor. Working in West Texas gave her knowledge and experience covering severe storms. From there, she moved to Palm Springs, California. People think forecasting in California is sunshine all the time, but with temperatures in the 120’s, wildfires, damaging winds, floodings, and earthquakes, the forecasting kept her very busy! She also worked there as a general assignment reporter and told community stories. Taban is excited for the challenge and opportunity to forecast nationally with WeatherNation. She also looks forward to exploring all that Colorado has to offer!

Taban Sharifi

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While much of the country, and in particular the Southwest, baked underneath a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.weathernationtv.com/news/record-heat-rolls-east-this-week">historic heatwave</a> in March, a shift in the jet stream has brought cooler and wetter weather back to the area.<div class="twitter-tweet" style="display: flex; justify-content: center" data-twitt-post-id="2038436047768670271" src="https://x.com/WeatherNation/status/2038436047768670271"></div><h1>Alerts</h1>Winter alerts are in effect across the higher elevations of Utah and Colorado. Some areas are expecting a foot of snowfall, with isolated locations seeing higher totals. Winds will also be gusty across the higher terrain. Winter Weather Advisories were reissued across northern Utah for another round expected on Thursday.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot 2026-04-01 164533-1775083550601.png">The Sierra Nevada Mountains also have winter alerts in place that will continue through most of Thursday morning. Travel delays and slick roadways are likely. Stay safe as this much-needed moisture arrives across the higher terrain.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot 2026-04-01 164841-1775083739866.png"><h1>Forecast Timing</h1>While one system is departing, another area of disturbance will move across Northern California and back into Utah and Colorado. This system will continue to bring impacts through Friday morning.<video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/FORSS-1775091796749.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot 2026-04-01 165239-1775083975535.png">Although not a "drought buster" by any means, these systems will at least help put a dent into the record-low snowpack across the West, along with some relief from the heat!

Jackie Brown

SW Pattern Change: Tracking Rain & Snow

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[<a href="https://blog.nssl.noaa.gov/nsslnews/2018/10/video-advanced-technology-demonstrator/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NOAA</a>] Radar research at the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory has taken another step forward. The Advanced Technology Demonstrator is installed at the National Weather Radar Testbed facility and will become fully operational in 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xso-P0UAE88

The Advanced Technology Demonstrator, or ATD, is the first full-scale, S-band, dual-polarization phased array radar built from the ground up and designed specifically for use as a weather radar.

A <a href="https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/tools/radar/mpar/">phased array radar</a> is able to steer the radar beam electronically left-to-right and up-and-down while the antenna remains stationary. The ATD has a flat, or planar, antenna comprised of 76 panels with 4,864 radiating elements.

<img class="alignnone wp-image-98737 size-full" src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2018/10/mpar-sk2.png" alt="New Advanced Technology Radar Installed at National Severe Storms Laboratory" width="600" height="334" />

[Phased Array radar has a unique antenna that collects the same information as a conventional radar in about one-sixth the time. Users can direct radar beams to scan different targets as needed. Researchers believe phased array could extend warning lead times from 10 minutes to 18-22 minutes.]

In addition, the ATD features <a href="https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/tools/radar/dualpol/">dual polarization technology</a> developed at NSSL and recently added to WSR-88D radars, also known as NEXRAD, throughout the country. The ATD is adding dual polarization technology to phased array technology, combining the benefits of both. The new radar will feature dual-polarization’s ability to show the size and shape of precipitation, and the phased array’s faster updates.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98736" src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2018/10/dualpol5_both.gif" alt="" width="350" height="200" />

[Difference between conventional and polarmetric radar]

The radar will be used for meteorological studies and to help researchers evaluate polarimetric performance of a planar phased array radar.

Edited for <a href="https://media.weathernationtv.com/">WeatherNation</a> by Meteorologist Mace Michaels

New Advanced Technology Radar Installed at National Severe Storms Laboratory

Further Active Weather By Late Next Week

After our latest upper-level storm system cle

Numerous Tornadoes Expected in the Midwest, Severe Threat Continues

Severe storms started to fire up Friday after

Snow and Ice Threat for Upper Midwest

On the northern side of the severe weather ch

Artemis II Launch Goes Perfectly, Tracking Orion Around the Moon

LIFTOFF - At 6:35 PM ET on April 1, 2026, NAS

April Brings Cooler Temperatures

ABOVE - The month of March has been setting r

Severe Threat Wednesday in the Plains

WHAT TO EXPECT A severe weather threat is tak

SW Pattern Change: Tracking Rain & Snow

While much of the country, and in particular