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

[knocker]

 

The quiet 2014 severe weather season turned grimly violent over the weekend, as multiple deadly tornadoes ended our record-long start to a year without a tornado fatality. Media reports put Sunday's death toll at 18, with 16 of deaths in Arkansas, one in Iowa, and one in Oklahoma. Hardest-hit were Mayflower and Vilonia, Arkansas, located about fifteen miles north of Little Rock. A large and powerful tornado that had been on the ground nearly an hour carved through the region near sunset, killing at least ten people. Damage photos appeared to show at least EF-3 type damage, and there was a report from relayed from amateur radio to the NWS that two homes in Vilonia had been “wiped clean to the foundationâ€, which would imply higher than EF-3 damage. There has been only one known F5 tornado in Arkansas history, on April 10, 1929. Vilonia was hit just three years ago, on April 25, 2011, by an EF-2 tornado that killed four people.

 

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2671

[knocker]

Current Tornado prob. and storm potential. 1850z

 

[PolarWarsaw]

MASSIVE tornado just touched down in Tupelo 

 

 

 

 

 

Day is only just beginning too. 

 

Live stream if you want coverage - http://www.msnewsnow.com/link/693345/live-streaming-storm-coverage

[knocker]

Much of the Lower 48 is enjoying miserable weather. pic.twitter.com/oz54EJYbjB

[knocker]

Latest weather hit: Flooding in Florida Panhandle

 

National Weather Service meteorologist Phil Grigsby estimated early Wednesday that 15 to 20 inches of rain had fallen in Pensacola in the past 24 hours, with a few more expected.

 

http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/30/3417699/35-dead-after-days-of-tornadoes.html

 

latest

Edited April 30, 2014 by knocker

[knocker]

Some pretty ferocious temps in California and Texas

 

Triple Digits Expected In California And Texas In Early Spring Heat Wave

[knocker]

Extreme Flooding in Alabama and Florida; 1 EF-4 and 5 EF-3 Tornadoes Rated

 

After two wild days of tornado devastation across the U.S. on Sunday and Monday, an unexpected break occurred on Tuesday, when only nine tornadoes touched down. NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) had issued a forecast for a “Moderate Risk†of severe weather over much of Alabama and Mississippi, but none of Tuesday’s tornadoes hit those states. Instead, North Carolina saw the bulk of the activity, with eight preliminary reports of tornadoes. The welcome forecast bust was caused by a very difficult to predict scenario—a cluster of intense thunderstorms called a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) remained strong Monday night over a large portion of the Southeast coast, creating a large pool of cool, stable air. This cool air formed its own high pressure system that reduced instability and cut off the flow of moist, unstable air into the Southeast from the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday afternoon. However, the moisture that was cut off from flowing northwards instead fell to the ground over coastal Alabama and the Florida Panhandle in the form of torrential rains on Tuesday. A flash flood emergency has been declared this morning in Pensacola, Florida and Mobile, Alabama. Record daily rainfall amounts were set on Tuesday in both cities, with 11.13†and 11.24â€, respectively. Pensacola Airport recorded a remarkable 5.68 inches of rain in just one hour ending at 10 pm Tuesday night. Flood waters closed a 30-mile stretch of I-10 near the Alabama/Florida border Tuesday night, and a 5-mile stretch remained closed this morning. Numerous high-water rescues have been performed Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and one drowning has occurred, in a vehicle that tried to cross flooded Highway 29. Two deaths were also reported this morning in Athens, Georgia , where severe thunderstorm winds toppled a tree onto a car.

 

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2673

[knocker]

A very interesting read.

 

Perspective on last night's "historic rainfall event"

 

 

A historic rainfall event (see Fig. 1) developed ahead of a slow moving cold front on Tuesday evening, 29 April 2014 over portions of coastal Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle. The cold front was associated with a very powerful low pressure system in the Plains. The widespread flooding produced sinkholes (some very large and deep), cut roads in half and necessitated human water rescues (one confirmed fatality). Parts of I-10 were closed. The Fish River at Silver Hill (Baldwin County Alabama) peaked at a record high level of 23.18 feet (previous historical record was 22.78 feet on 20 July 1997).  Many folks throughout the area have compared this event to the extreme flooding impacts caused by Hurricane Danny (1997).The rainfall totals below were contributed to by two predominant rounds of storms, the first occurred Monday night (28 April) and into the early morning hours when significant flash flooding occurred over coastal Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle. Some 3-8†occurred in association with the first event ending 7 AM CDT Tue., 30 April. The second and more significant event occurred during the evening hours of 29 April over Mobile and Baldwin counties of Alabama and the western most three counties of the NW FL Panhandle.  In the latter, some 10-15†fell in a very short time period (estimated 9 hours preliminarily) and caused disastrous flooding throughout southern Baldwin County of Alabama and Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties of the western Florida Panhandle.  Figures 2-4 show how the rain fell over time. CoCORaHS gage reports are included in Tables 1-3 below.

 

Also of note, the official NWS reporting sites at Mobile Regional Airport (MOB) and Pensacola Regional Airport (PNS) received some record rainfall amounts yesterday. MOB saw 11.24" during the calendar day.  This is their 3rd greatest calendar day total on record.  Data here goes back to 1871.  PNS saw at least 11.13" which is for now recorded as their official amount.  Data were lost due to power outage between 10-11 PM CDT, so amounts would have been higher. As it stands without the extra rainfall, this is their 4th greatest calendar day total on record. PNS rainfall data goes back to 1879. Of interest in the PNS total is the 5.68" that fell in 1 hour between 02Z-03Z.  A quick peek of the NOAA HDSC Precipitation Frequency map shows this to be a 1 in 200 year to 1 in 500 year 1 hourly amount.  The 24 hour amount is about a 1 in 25 year event.  The Mobile 24 hour total is likewise about a 1 in 25 year event.Finally and although not shown, it is worth mentioning that leading into the event, rainfall totals for the past two weeks and 30 days prior to the occurrence of this event that rainfall totals were 200-600% of normal according to 30 year PRISM Data.

 

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mob/?n=flashflood_04292014

[knocker]

From @NWSMobile, Pensacola now has a new single-day rainfall record. Records begin in 1880. pic.twitter.com/O6aPZJlFPM

 

 

[knocker]

For weather freaks - yesterday NYC's 10th wettest: New York Today: Waterlogged http://nyti.ms/1nLsSJD

[Coopsy]

Still forecasting upwards of 2 feet of snow here for the next 3 days. If so I will endeavour to bore you all with lots of pics :-)

[knocker]

Some serious temps forecast for parts of the SW in the next few days.

Edited May 2, 2014 by knocker

[knocker]

4 days of weather drones:

 

AR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7s2lzDtjew â€¦

 

AL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gfTNyx8zlw â€¦

 

FL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4rshuTD2Mk â€¦

 

NJ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naUDB7eIdns â€¦

[Coopsy]

Well we managed 22cm's in the end so not bad though most of it came in the first 6-7 hours.

 

The next few days look cool with occasional snow but nothing too much then a warm up next week

[knocker]

At 208pm Wichita reached 100 degrees. Breaking the previous record of earliest 100 degree day from 9 May 2011

Edited May 4, 2014 by knocker

[knocker]

It's May. MT: 97F, humidity of 10%,30-40mph wind gusts & an ongoing drought around OKC will cause this. pic.twitter.com/mqyGAgddov

[knocker]

"active period for critical fire weather†Sun-Wed temps ~100°F in spots NV to KS http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/exper/fire_wx/ â€¦ via @NOAA pic.twitter.com/pBND51LJfV

[sundog]

Accuweathers forecast for the U.S.this summer.

 

[knocker]

 

A blistering heat wave has set in across the drought-scorched Plains, with all-time record high temperatures set in Kansas and Oklahoma during the past few days. The hot, dry weather there has sparked deadly wildfires, and it contrasts sharply with the deluge that recently struck the Gulf Coast, as well as the cooler-than-average spring in the Midwest and Northeast, where 19% of the Great Lakes are still covered in ice.

 

http://mashable.com/2014/05/05/oklahoma-kansas-burning-record-heat-wave/

[knocker]

According to the NCEP NAM it will be 106F in Oklahoma City at 1700 EDT today. A tad warm.

[knocker]

Nearly one week into May, the Great Lakes still have 16% ice cover. This is unprecedented!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/Rd1QCdXkjJ

 

BY FAR... most ice on record for Lake Superior in early May. Still 10,600 sq. mi. of ice (33%). (cc: @BuzzFeedStorm) pic.twitter.com/Njpx79zZoy

Edited May 7, 2014 by knocker

[knocker]

The GOES-14 weather satellite is in super rapid scan mode today, taking images every 1min. Watch storms bubble up: http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/140508_g14_vis_srsor_SD_NE_MN_IA_anim.gif â€¦

[knocker]

A classic, major backdoor cold front looking more likely for next Tuesday. 40s near coast, close to 90º toward NYC. pic.twitter.com/uxDGeZN5bq

[knocker]

"All residents of Iowa should be on alert." -@nwsdesmoines. "Life threatening" tornado outbreak possible on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/Spth0kq4oE

 

"Severe weather outbreak with many tornadoes" possible Sunday across the midwest. Bold language from @NWSSPC.  pic.twitter.com/2pnk9BVqwg

Edited May 11, 2014 by knocker

[Dan the Man]

I'm heading to Ohio in a couple of weeks - what's the "prospects of play" up that way, usually this time of year. Chances of seeing something severe?