What is an ‘Omega Block’ and Why is it Dumping Rain on Colorado?
The Colorado weather seems to be stuck in a bad 'loop:' Rain, storms, rain, storms. Things are going to get "worse" before they get better. Though having to know your Latin isn't important, it does come into play regarding Colorado's current pattern.
We have all had enough of the rain and the storms Colorado has been seeing. What seems like daily, there are warnings for flooding in the Cameron Peak burn scar area. Three weather systems are pushing up against one another, and we are stuck.
The Latin word for "weather" is "tempestas," and the tempestas has been especially "unfavorable" for quite a while now. Some would say, "too long," with the daily forecast remaining fairly the same for weeks now. It's because of an "Omega Block."
CowboyStateDaily recently had an article about Wyoming's own "soggy' and cool weather pattern, and I reached out to Denver 7 Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson to see if he agreed that what's affecting Wyoming is affecting Colorado, too. He said that yes, indeed, it is.
WHAT IS AN 'OMEGA BLOCK?'
It's called that, because it looks similar to the Latin symbol for Omega.
What's going on is that there a low pressure system hanging out to the south and west of Colorado (in California,) a high pressure system is above us toward the Canadian border, and then another low pressure system is to the east. That kind of setup, which happens a lot, just gets stuck for a while.
I asked Mike Nelson to elaborate in his view what's currently going on:
...this blocking pattern is related to the extreme heatwave and the wildfires they have had in Canada. The big bubble of warm air to our north has helped to create the pattern of the jet stream – giving us very light winds aloft here and directing all of that awful smoke into the Great Lakes and the Northeastern U.S.
..The pattern will be shifting over the weekend [June 10-11] and the upper level winds will begin to blow stronger from the west to east next week. Of course, that will mean more wind shear aloft over the central Rockies and that will increase the chance for severe thunderstorms here in Colorado next week [June 12-16.]
So, we just have to wait it out; sunny afternoons will return.