Storms Break Out Along Dry Line
As expected, storms are breaking out along the dry line in the southern Plains early this afternoon.
What is a dry line? It is a demarcation (a "front," of sorts) which marks the difference between very dry air (to its west) and very moist air (to its east). This location of clashing air masses often spawns severe thunderstorms.
Can you see a dry line? Absolutely. Before the storms even form, you can look for areas in which the dew point changes quickly. For example, this surface plot from AccuWeather.com Professional shows a tight gradient (lines close together) in western Texas, with a dew point rising quickly from 14 in the northwest part of the state to 60 in Central Texas.
But we have a tool that will let you look more in-depth, overlaying the radar, satellite, and more. Let's take a look at some screen captures from AccuWeather.com RadarPlus.
The first shot shows the dew point gradient again (similar to the surface map shown above). But it also puts radar and lightning strikes on top of the image and you can see that the storms are firing along the dry line. The most severe storms are tagged to show their expected movement over the next hour.
Next, a different display of RadarPlus Local showing the radar on top of a visible satellite picture -- now you can see the clouds popping up along the entire dry line, even before they have enough rain to register on radar.
And finally, a snap from RadarPlus Regional, zooming out to show the entire dry line and storm system. Forgive me because the color gradient is backwards -- green should indicate moist and brown dry air.
