As we all know, when fronts (changes in airmass temperatures) move through the Midwest they often times kick up showers and storms. In trying to determine the length of the thunder threat we look at the jet stream. This fast moving stream of air high up in the atmosphere often is the "road" that the storms follow and acts as a steering mechanism.
The orientation of the front often dictates how long the disturbance will stick around. The graphic to the left has a cold front that is perpendicular to the jet stream. Think of this front like a sailboat. When the sail catches the wind it will move rather fast. This setup typically only gives us a one day rain chance since the storm system is trucking right along. The graphic to the right has a frontal boundary that is parallel to the jet stream. With this orientation the front (or sail) cannot catch any of the wind and it typically won't move too much at all.
This is the setup that we are facing Saturday through Tuesday. This boundary looks to sag across the region and give us several rounds of showers and storms. I don't expect any one of these days to be a complete washout as the wet weather appears to be more of the hit and miss variety. -ADAM
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