AUSTIN (KXAN) — As meteorological winter comes to a close, attention shifts to severe weather, which typically intensifies from March through early June.
In March, we often see intense clashes between colder, drier air and warm, moist air, driven by large-scale dynamic weather patterns. This can lead to the development of strong thunderstorms capable of producing damaging winds, large hail, flooding and tornadoes.
These troughs produce a surface low-pressure system along the lower right side of the trough. As it strengthens, a cold front, and often a dryline, sweeps across Texas from west to east, separating unstable, moist air from cooler, drier air.
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Ahead of the cold front, the Gulf provides a source of humid, moist air, which is carried northward by southerly winds, creating instability, or “thunderstorm fuel.”
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Well above the surface, winds blow from the southwest, while at the surface winds are southerly ahead of the cold front. This creates an atmospheric spin, which can often lead to tornadoes in supercells or along the linear structure of storms attached to the cold front.
According to 25-year monthly averages from the Storm Prediction Center, Texas produces the most tornadoes in March, with an average of 15 tornadoes each year. It’s important to have a way to receive severe weather alerts before the severe weather season begins.
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