It’s the season for “ring of fire” thunderstorms over the Northern Plains. Last Friday night was an explosive night across North Dakota, when severe thunderstorms rocked the northern Plains, packing large hail, damaging winds, isolated tornadoes and beast-mode storm structure as seen above.
The atmosphere was primed for severe weather, thanks to a set-up meteorologists refer to as the “ring of fire.” This occurs when the jet stream buckles far north in a ridge pattern, leaving a blistering hot and often cloudless air mass dominated by strong high pressure to the south. At the same time thunderstorms, often severe, ride along the northern edge of the heat dome, hence the name “ring of fire.”
