So, you thought spring was here, did you? Think again. From Maine southwestwardto Illinois, the weather was pretty rotten Saturday, and it will be just asbad, if not worse Sunday. The culprits are a very slow-moving storm and a lotof chilly air draining into the storm's circulation from the north. The resultis a large area of rainy, raw conditions with temperatures more appropriate formid-April.Sunday, the steadiest rainfall will occur along and 60 or 70 miles on eitherside of a line from Bangor, Maine, to Chicago, Ill. Within this rainy corridor,temperatures will not leave the 50s. Consider that in Detroit the normal highfor May 15 is 71 degrees, but it will only get to the middle 50s thereSunday.
Looking ahead, it appears this storm is going to plague the weather across allof the Northeast and part of the Midwest for days. Saturday, the storm wascentered over southern Ohio and by Tuesday it will be no farther along thanVirginia. This spells quite a lot of rain for the region, especially where theterrain slopes upward into the Appalachians. This so-called upslope flow,increases how much the air is being lifted, therefore tends to enhancerainfall.
Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist John Kocet.