Southcentral

Weather Underground midday recap for Tuesday, October 14, 2008.

A cold front continued to move eastward on Tuesday, swept though the Great Lakes and extended down the Ohio Valley. The system kicked up clouds with a few scattered showers over New England and the Midwest. These storms have not yet turned severe and do not have a history of turning severe.

In the Central and Southern Plains, a trough of low pressure has created a warm front over the region. This front brought overcast skies and triggered widespread showers from New Mexico to Iowa. Severe weather has not yet been reported with this system, but floods threatened many areas as over a half of an inch of rain fell within 6 hours this morning in Nickerson, Kansas.

The Southeast was dominated by high pressure on Tuesday. This allowed for onshore flow from the Atlantic Ocean, which brought abundant moisture into the region for scattered cloud development. Some areas saw light rain, but little to no significant rain accumulation was reported.

In the West, high pressure continued to build over the region. Thus, the Pacific Northwest saw mostly sunny skies with a few scattered clouds and seasonable temperatures. Meanwhile, most of California remained under a fire threat as extremely hot and dry conditions with strong surface winds persisted.

Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Tuesday have ranged from a morning low of 12 degrees at Kremmling, Colo to a midday high of 105 degrees at Big Spring, Texas.