Monday was just a freaky kind of weather day in the United States. I have never seen this type of a day in January before.

The battle lines where drawn yesterday across the Great Lakes down to Oklahoma. Ahead of the storm system, very warm (un-January-like) air. Behind the system, cool wintertime air. Those elements set the stage for a wild January severe weather outbreak.

Early reports are indicating possibly up to 40 tornados touched down Monday any where from Michigan and Wisconsin, all the way down to Oklahoma. Some tornadoes rated as high as EF-3 levels with winds up to 136-165mph. And sadly, there were a few confirmed deaths in Southwest Missouri, up to eight people killed nationally.

More severe weather is possible today (Tuesday, January 08,) in areas from Southern Indiana down to the gulf coast. But I do not think they’re going to have the amount of tornadoes that they had on Monday.

But it makes you stop and think, and hope that it was a freak event, and that we’re not in for a wild spring when it’s our severe weather season in Greater Nebraska.
Other than a few chances for snow late Wednesday into Thursday and early Saturday morning, the weather will be pretty uneventful across Greater Nebraska. Temperatures cool down a touch this weekend. But as a ridge builds in the west, temperatures should start to warm nicely beginning early next week.