What's Causing All This Severe Weather?
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The devastation across the country from severe weather seems to be endless, from Oklahoma to Ohio. And it's all caused by a subtropical jet stream.
"A line of very strong and powerful winds that generally, is hovering a couple of thousand feet above us," says KDKA meteorologist Ron Smiley. "That pumps in the moisture, it pumps in the heat -- and if you've walked outside today -- you've noticed the moisture, you've noticed the heat," adds KDKA meteorologist Ray Petelin.
Those are the ingredients, mixing into powerful winds, which creates lift.
"And the lift is what creates thunderstorms. Intense lift can intensify those thunderstorms and lead to even worse, like tornadoes," explains Petelin.
The line of the jet stream above is visible in the track of the devastation, even here in Pennsylvania.
"I believe we're up to 18 across the state so far this year. Normally our busiest time of the year is June and July and we haven't even got there -- yet we've already hit our yearly average of tornadoes, which is 16," notes Smiley.
Our meteorologists say a high-pressure system baking the south is holding all of this in place. The good news: the elements that caused all the damage in Ohio are moving this way, but, "those air masses modify a little bit as they go from west to east. So we wouldn't expect something quite like that -- something quite like that is rare here, but it has happened," says Petelin.
And the threat should subside after Thursday. That said, if a tornado warning is sounded for your area, "that means getting to the inside or the safest part of your home, getting to a low level in your house, and waiting out that storm," says Smiley.
Away from windows with as many walls between you and the storm as you can get. And as for taking pictures, this is not the flat midwest where storms can be seen for miles.
"If you can see a tornado touching the ground here, you are too darn close to it," warns Petelin.
