May and June are the peak of the severe weather season, and it looks like Mother Nature is getting a head start with higher severe thunderstorm chances in the last days of April.
The year began with an overactive start and above average tornado numbers in January, February and March.
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Those severe storms abruptly slowed way down in April when they usually begin to see an upward tick. Instead, they leveled off to near average numbers.
The trend appears to be heading upwards in the final days of April.
The Storm Prediction Center has issued at least a slightly higher than average chance for widespread severe thunderstorms in some part of the country through Sunday.
That will take us into May and June when roughly half of all tornadoes for the year occur.
This change is happening at roughly the same time the jet stream is beginning to buckle and twist, providing more instability for more thunderstorms to become severe.
As with any weather pattern, we'll see if this one sticks around through the height of severe weather season or if it returns to a calmer weather. As of now, long-term forecast models have the jet stream remaining unsettled through at least the first week of May.
