Dangerous Tornado Season Ahead

There have already been damaging tornadoes in the Midwest and South and March has just started.  There's more on the ways:

The 2011 tornado season has started quickly, with more reports of damage from storms and twisters in the past two days than there were during all of the first two months of 2010 -- a trend likely to continue well into spring.

Severe weather season, as it's often referred to by meteorologists, typically peaks during May, when meteorological conditions that lead to the development of dangerous thunderstorms are most abundant. These conditions -- including a sharp north-south temperature gradient -- have emerged early this year and, based on the expected weather pattern, will likely intensify in the coming months. ...

The federal government's Climate Prediction Center forecast for March through May calls for temperatures that are likely to be warmer than average in the southern part of the country and cooler than average in the northern part of the country. Thus, the contrast will be more intense than in a typical year.

In addition, the storm track is expected to remain more active than normal because of the ongoing La Nina. This is one of the typical results of a La Nina: more storms moving out of the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies into the Plains and eventually the eastern part of the United States than during a non-La Nina year.

That's been the case recently, and these storms have pulled moisture north from the Gulf of Mexico into the sharp temperature gradient, resulting in lines of dangerous thunderstorms. Last year, the tornado season started slowly, in part because it was cooler than average in the Deep South during the latter part of winter through the first part of spring.

The Storm Chasers must be licking their chops over this forecast. There's going to be some great tornado footage shot this year, but hopefully it won't include devastated cities.