North American Weather (U.S.A & Canada)

[Lynxus]

I cannot wait for summer.

I hope we get something this year. Last year was rubbish!

There some some very string echos over in the states. Gonna be some nasty twisters

[knocker]

I realy don't understand why you hope for this.

[Bluebreezer54]

I cannot wait for summer.

I hope we get something this year. Last year was rubbish!

There some some very string echos over in the states. Gonna be some nasty twisters

Lets not forget that these storms are causing huge damage, loss of homes, and loss of lives. Its a bit crass to say ' Last year was rubbish '.

[BornFromTheVoid]

Some serious reports coming in. Henryville town mostly levelled

http://www.whas11.com/live-stream

[Roger J Smith]

Some ominous reports but no real news yet, looks like the stronger tornadic activity is shifting south to feed off higher dew points and front further north will now be a more conventional straight-line wind situation as night falls in the region.

Just don't know what to expect about casualties with this, a number of small towns have been hit rather substantially in the states of Indiana and Kentucky, one confirmed report of F4 intensity. The overall frequency and intensity was about as expected, the storm tracks were generally away from larger urban areas fortunately, but there are still threats in the south.

[lorenzo]

Justin Kenneyâ€@JustinNOAA

NOAA has issued 163 tornado warnings so far today, as of 6:00 pm.

Footage Here https://www.facebook...150614653055345

Harrowing reality here https://twitter.com/...8932481/photo/1

Jet stream profile from NOAA http://www.nnvl.noaa...2&MediaTypeID=1

Creating these cells in rapid succession.

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=u804mO1JDpw

Edited March 2, 2012 by lorenzo

[lorenzo]

Photo reel here and sadly casualty reports also coming through now.

http://www.buzzfeed....=1445911_150610

CNN Live http://edition.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream1

Edited March 3, 2012 by lorenzo

[knocker]

And yet people on here have orgasms over extreme weather. Quite beyond me.

[lorenzo]

If this was headed towards where you lived, I think the last thing on your mind would be excitement..

Edited March 3, 2012 by lorenzo

[Snowangel-MK]

A series of powerful storms and tornadoes have killed at least 27 people in the US states of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, officials say.

Local police confirmed that 13 people died as tornadoes swept across three counties in Indiana.

Twelve more died in Kentucky, with two fatalities in Ohio. Earlier, tornadoes hit Alabama, causing widespread damage.

"We are no match for Mother Nature at her worst," said Indiana Governor Mitch Daniel

http://www.bbc.co.uk...canada-17236495

Edited March 3, 2012 by MKsnowangel

[knocker]

Truly horrific but at least most of the students from the school in Henryville had been sent home for the day.

HENRYVILLE, Ind. --

Indiana authorities say at least 14 people have been killed in violent storms that spawned tornadoes across a wide swath of southern Indiana.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Rod Russell said late Friday that four people had been killed in Washington County. He didn't have details about where they were or how they died.

Earlier, authorities said four people were killed in the Chelsea area, three people died in Scott County, two people were killed in nearby Ripley County and one person had died in hard-hit Henryville.

http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/03/02/3788825/authorities-extreme-tornado-damage.html

Edited March 3, 2012 by weather ship

[Dan the Man]

A months worth of tornadoes in ONE DAY! According to The Weather Channel. Truly horrifying. This could easily outdo last seasons huge tornado outbreaks.

Went to Atlanta last April - no tornadoes, but some severe thunderstorms and high winds. Remember switching on TWC following the storms. Tornado watch in force and we still decided to go out for dinner!

Came out about 10pm and the roads were almost deserted - thinking what the hell is going on!? Constantly looking upwards to see if there was any rotation; the rain pouring down and some really strong gusts. Was pretty scary I must say, but no tornadoes where we were. Remember switching the laptop on the next day, and the storms had been all over the BBC news. Phew!

[Roger J Smith]

Awareness of severe weather saves lives. That is the only real justification for our interest in it. I would imagine that the death toll yesterday in the Ohio valley in the pre-warning era might have been 100-300. So far it seems to be less than 50. So that means 50 to 250 people are alive today because they knew a strong tornado was coming and made the right decisions as to where to go to survive it.

Just bookmark this reference for all the inevitable "why do you track severe weather?" posts in the future.

[summer blizzard]

I hate tornadoes even though i have never experienced them.

I find hurricanes really interesting because they look amazing and are immense in size and power however tornadoes are small and always destructive if they touch ground.

I shall never forget July or August 2007 outside my house in Leeds, looking up at the sky i saw what was quite a curved cloud on all edges which seemed to be slowly rotating and what looked like a few vorticies, looked a lot like a pre-tornado funnel cloud.

Very scary.

[glosteroldboy]

At the end of the day no one controls the weather so you're just taking an interest in something that is going to happen regardless, of course can be a bit crass to wish for extreme events but still all the wishing in the world isn't going to make something happen.

Mild here today after a cold week, 5 degrees looks like spring out but we have a bit of weather on the way tonight, nothing as scary as a tornado thankfully, 10-15cm snow before turning to prolonged freezing rain, will be some slippy roads about tomorrow morning if it goes as forecast.

Another low pressure system developing off Cape Hatteras will track northeastward across the Avalon Peninsula on Monday. Snow will spread across much of the island ahead of this system. The snow is forecast to change to an extended period of freezing rain over the Avalon Peninsula. Further west snow will persist giving accumulations between 15 and 25 centimetres across central and Northeastern Newfoundland. The snow will be accompanied by strong winds creating blowing snow and reduced visibilities.

Edited March 4, 2012 by glosteroldboy

[glosteroldboy]

Well our 10cm of snow didn't happen, followed the same pattern as the last few storms, must of only been a dusting before turning to freezing rain....lots of that about this morning.

Wonder what you think about tomorrow nights system here Roger, looks like it might be all snow here on the Avalon up to 20cm being called for, the system taking a different track you were refering to in an earlier post?. Be first time in a month if it is.

...Another storm to affect Eastern Newfoundland Tuesday night...

The low pressure system bringing a variety of wintry weather to

Newfoundland today will move out-to-sea tonight and conditions will

improve in its wake. However another low is beginning to take shape

over Virginia and will move off Cape Hatteras this afternoon.

This system will intensify as it tracks northeastward to pass

southeast of the Avalon Peninsula early Wednesday morning.

Snow associated with this system is expected to spread over Eastern

Newfoundland Tuesday evening, and will become heavy at times

overnight with strengthening northeasterly winds resulting in blowing

snow and poor visibilities. Latest indications suggest that

accumulations may exceed 15 cm by the time the snow tapers off

Wednesday morning.

Edited March 5, 2012 by glosteroldboy

[Coopsy]

It was raining yesterday and into last night with temps around 3oC but now we have our first real notable snow event of winter here today. Temps around -3oC and the forecast is for up to a foot of snow by tomorrow and its looking like we might get there.

Strong upsloping in place and relentless snows, some heavy, some lighter but persistant. Prob at 3 inches already with potentially another 12-18 hours of snow still to come.

[glosteroldboy]

It was raining yesterday and into last night with temps around 3oC but now we have our first real notable snow event of winter here today. Temps around -3oC and the forecast is for up to a foot of snow by tomorrow and its looking like we might get there.

Strong upsloping in place and relentless snows, some heavy, some lighter but persistant. Prob at 3 inches already with potentially another 12-18 hours of snow still to come.

Nice bit of snow, they've had around a foot in central/north eastern Newfoundland last 24hours, nothing to speak of here though just the freezing rain, looks like might be our turn tomorrow night just seen we've got a blizzard warning issued for 25cm snow (though given Environment Canadas track record at calling snow amounts on the Avalon this winter probably be either 5cm or 45cm lol), winter aint done yet! (though looks a bit milder towards the weekend)

3:47 PM NST Monday 05 March 2012

Blizzard warning for

St. John's and vicinity issued

Blizzard conditions over Northeastern Newfoundland will subside this evening.

Blizzard conditions will develop over Southeastern Newfoundland Tuesday night. Snowfall accumulations near 25 centimetres are expected by Wednesday morning with strong northerly winds gusting up to 100 km/h resulting in blowing snow with near-zero visibilities.

This is a warning that blizzard conditions with near-zero visibilities are expected or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.

A low pressure system currently northeast of the Avalon Peninsula will continue to move out to sea tonight. Snow and blowing snow over central and Northeastern Newfoundland will ease later this evening as winds begin to subside in the wake of the low. An additional 2 to 5 cm of snowfall can be expected bringing storm totals to the range of 20 to 30 cm from this system.

Another low pressure system currently developing just off Cape Hatteras will intensify as it tracks northeastward to pass southeast of Newfoundland early Wednesday morning. Snow associated with this low is expected to arrive along the south coast of the island Tuesday afternoon and will spread across the Avalon and east coast Tuesday evening. The snow will be heavy at times giving total accumulations near 25 cm over the Avalon and Burin peninsulas by Wednesday morning, with lesser amounts further west. In addition winds will strengthen from a northerly direction with gusts reaching up to 100 km/h overnight resulting in blowing snow and near zero visibilities.

The snow is forecast to taper to flurries across Eastern Newfoundland early Wednesday but winds will remain quite strong resulting in blowing snow and poor visibilities, especially during the first half of the day.

Edited March 5, 2012 by glosteroldboy

[Roger J Smith]

20-30 cms looks about right, the storm is on a good track but is not overly intense. Will update this forecast late tonight from newer data.

[glosteroldboy]

20-30 cms looks about right, the storm is on a good track but is not overly intense. Will update this forecast late tonight from newer data.

Thanks Roger, the latest update from Environment Canada is about the same near 30cm for Eastern Avalon, less the further west you go, the winds look a big factor with gusts up to 120kmh and sustained 40-70, be deeper drifts. Not a huge storm by NL standards though potentially the worst of the whole season so far.

Edited March 6, 2012 by glosteroldboy

[Coopsy]

Big snowfall totals around this area - Banff seems to have approx 45cm's and here in Canmore we had approx 20cm's in town and 30cm's up in the higher communities. The ski hills are reporting rediculous amounts over 60cm's - it was def a snowy 36 hours in the Bow Valley.

[Coopsy]

http://www.ec.gc.ca/...En&n=6A4A3AC5-1

Some great reading on Canada's most extreme weather and records in the 20th century

[glosteroldboy]

http://www.ec.gc.ca/...En&n=6A4A3AC5-1

Some great reading on Canada's most extreme weather and records in the 20th century

Nice link, some amazing weather there, the ice storms look bad mainly due to their disruptive nature with over head cables...surprised they don't run more underground though I suppose the cost of that far outweighs the repair bill of a rare bad ice storm?

Wonder what the list looks like beyond 1999? I was reading about White Juan that buried Nova Scotia in 2004 (not sure how much snow they seen here from it), a metre of snow from one storm in places like Halifax.

[Roger J Smith]

"White Juan" (19 Feb 2004) was a northward moving deep low (about 950 mbs) that went between Halifax and Cape Breton Island, so St John's was mostly on the mild side of the low (although it occluded so not very mild) and got only a light snowfall in the early stages. Halifax and Charlottetown PEI got between 60 and 80 cms and some stations reported 100 cms, together with winds gusting over 100 km/hr. Looking back at the St. John's daily records, it would appear that 25 Feb 2006 with 54 cms was one of the heavier snowstorms in the past decade. That one appeared to move north just to the east of the Avalon. The winters of the early 2000s decade had some massive totals around 500-600 cms per winter.

This should be a reasonably strong storm overnight, will stick to my estimate of 20-30 cms as it may not give more than a few hours of heavy snow, and by regional standards it is not very intense, dropping only into the 970s. Even so, it is dropping fast which will produce a strong gradient for a few hours.

If people have clear skies wherever they are reading this, check out the full moon approaching Mars (closest approach 8th 06z which means Wed night in western North America) and the increasingly spectacular conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the southwest after sunset. That reaches a climax on the 15th but is already quite a sight, caught a view of it here last night (we have clear skies here today as well).

Edited March 6, 2012 by Roger J Smith

[glosteroldboy]

"White Juan" (19 Feb 2004) was a northward moving deep low (about 950 mbs) that went between Halifax and Cape Breton Island, so St John's was mostly on the mild side of the low (although it occluded so not very mild) and got only a light snowfall in the early stages. Halifax and Charlottetown PEI got between 60 and 80 cms and some stations reported 100 cms, together with winds gusting over 100 km/hr. Looking back at the St. John's daily records, it would appear that 25 Feb 2006 with 54 cms was one of the heavier snowstorms in the past decade. That one appeared to move north just to the east of the Avalon. The winters of the early 2000s decade had some massive totals around 500-600 cms per winter. This should be a reasonably strong storm overnight, will stick to my estimate of 20-30 cms as it may not give more than a few hours of heavy snow, and by regional standards it is not very intense, dropping only into the 970s. Even so, it is dropping fast which will produce a strong gradient for a few hours. If people have clear skies wherever they are reading this, check out the full moon approaching Mars (closest approach 8th 06z which means Wed night in western North America) and the increasingly spectacular conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the southwest after sunset. That reaches a climax on the 15th but is already quite a sight, caught a view of it here last night (we have clear skies here today as well).

I think the St Johns 24 hour record snowfall is about 68cm April 1999, alot but thought might of been higher than that.

Interesting to see what tonight brings, I see the weather network has upgraded it to 30-40cm now though believe it when I see it, will report back in the morning.