Spring Rumblings

For the second day in a row we are being treated to flashes of lightning and rumblings of thunder on the University of Utah campus.  In both instances, the thunder and lightning are being produced by storms that moved in from the east or southeast.  Here's the latest showing the thunderstorms that are moving across the Wasatch and towards campus at about 2:15 PM today.

The culprit in driving these storms westward is of course the huge split flow that is present over North America along with an embedded upper-level trough that is stretched out like a rubber band from southern California to Colorado and driving easterly flow across northern Utah at 700 mb.

Given all these thunderstorms, now is a good time to remind everyone that when thunder roars, head indoors.   As discussed in today's Salt Lake Tribune, lightning yesterday damaged an Air National Guard plane and struck a house in West Jordan.  Take a few minutes to read our post Lightning Safety and take steps to minimize your exposure to lightning.