Meteorologists’ ears don’t only perk up when severe weather is happening, it begins long before that. Sure, occasionally a severe storm will pop up as if from nowhere and track across our area, but that’s a different kind of storm than what we’re talking about today.
What we’re discussing here is the type of storm system that is born in a completely different state and tracks for hundreds of miles before it comes close to us. It’s these systems that have us in “go” mode for hours and hours. This early monitoring can be particularly useful so we can get an idea of what to expect. For example, if a storm comes out of the Rocky Mountains and tracks north through Colorado or east out of Wyoming, and gets stronger as it moves along, we always note what kind of severe weather the storm has a history of.
If a storm has been known to drop large hail, produce high winds or even spawn a tornado, we look at what kind of conditions were present in these areas before the severe stuff started. If their conditions are relatively close to what we might presently have before the storm arrives, we know that the possibility of the same kind of severe weather is more likely.
So storm tracking must start long before it’s a threat to us!