What's up with the weather in the Northeast?

Question

Okay...so it seems like ALL summer long, there's been thunderstorms at least twice a week on Long Island and some of Northeast...Does anyone know why? Also for anyone knowing the storm going on, on Long Island and Queens, do you think there's a possibility of a tornado happening? :-/ It sounds like it could happen.

Answer 1

cant help you i live in england

Answer 2

i live on long island and all i can say is it is scary!!!  the clouds i have been seeing are crazy! i just saw on the news a pic of a possible tornado i think by glen cove   i have been saying we are gonna get a tornado this summer everyone was thinking i was crazy but now not soo much!! i am so paranoid about it i am addicted  to the weather channel! stay safe

Answer 3

A low pressure area, has stalled in the Great Lakes area, stretching all the way up into Maine, and Canada. The air way up, above this area is cold, and will stay there until the jet stream moves it. Unfortunately, that will be about 10 days from now. Unless a warm air mass moves in from the South, a Tornado is unlikely, but could happen. Just thunderstorms, and heavy rain. We are in the same mess, here in the mid west.

Answer 4

A longwave trough has been set up over the NE US for some time now, with the polar jet stream pushing further south than we usually see in the summer. With this, there a closed low at 500mb (at around 18,000 ft)  over eastern Canada. Because of this, there is cold air aloft (which results in some instability up there).

Because it is summer, we get a lot of warm sunshine during the day heating the surface. Coupled with a shortwave trough (which is a minor disturbance in the upper levels), which move through fairly frequently, you have the necessary ingredients for thunderstorm activity. The daytime heating is why the majority of the storms occur in the afternoon.

Today it appears you have the remnants of an old cold frontal boundary, draped across the area and creating some extra lift. Any little extra disturbance is all it takes to get storms right now.