Archive for the ‘Tornadoes’ Category

Tornado Watch #1 has been issued this evening across portions of Missouri and Illinois for a strong cold front that has sparked some severe/tornado warned storms across the region this evening.  It looks like no confirmed reports of tornadoes are out at this time, but several reports of hail greater than .75” in diameter have been.  The tornado watch runs for the next several hours until 7AM central time.

On another note….a SLGT risk of severe weather was issued by the Storm Prediction Center around midnight for today across portions of Central Mississippi into Central/Northern Alabama.  The primary threats remain to be wind/hail but an isolated tornado occurrence is possible as well.  We will have to watch this potential through the afternoon and evening hours tomorrow and we may have teams in the field if conditions warrant. 

There is the potential for touring to take place as well.  Inquire about tours to brett@livestormsnow.com ASAP to make reservations! 

Tornado warnings are being required across portions of PA this afternoon due to some rotating thunderstorms across the region.  Just wanted to post this to emphasize these warnings are nothing like the situations we have dealt with or even the storms the northeast dealt with just two weeks ago.  An isolated, spin up tornado is possible though.

Here is some footage of the Marengo County storm we caught on April 15th that we have been unable to get off the HD camera until now.  The camera view is a bit shaky at times, but it gives you a much better perspective on what was going on if you choose the 1080p method of viewing with the debris flying.  Then another video of the supercells as it traveled northeast and dropped more small tornadoes and produced incredible structure.

Second video of the structure….

More videos to come of the incredible month of April and May that we had….

Insane footage taken today by a TV tower cam of the Springfield, Massachusetts tornado as it developed and raked across the river into town.  Some fatalities have been reported and major damage has also been confirmed.  Couplets like this don’t go without doing some kind of damage….

Friday, April 15, 2011 proved to be one the most intense chases we’ve ever been on, and was certainly the most intense chase we’ve had in the state of Alabama. For nine straight hours the western portion of the state was battered by supercells and tornadoes. This is a recap of that day from our perspective.

We departed our office around 8:00AM and met with our rider, Justin Chandler, for the day in Birmingham. We then traveled to Tuscaloosa and initially were going after some storms that had fired to the north of there. While we were sitting in traffic on the bypass, a supercell erupted just across the Alabama/Mississippi border in Wayne County, MS and immediately began rotating. This storm went tornado warned within the first 20 minutes of its life. We spun around and headed south down I20/59 then AL28 toward Livingston, AL. We intercepted the storm just south of Linden in Central Marengo County, AL. Timing and placement were perfect. Just as we approached an open intersection at AL69 and AL10 a massive multi-vortex tornado appeared from our right. Below is a video clip from that. We would later learn that this tornado killed a person in a mobile home just southeast of Linden. Due to our partnership with WBRC-TV FOX-6 in Birmingham, Brett was in contact with Robert (Our Producer) for the afternoon.  Here is a view LIVE of what Mickey Furgueson and the rest of the FOX-6 Storm Warn team were viewing from our vehicle during the noon newscast.

This really set the tone for the rest of the day and the outbreak.  The storms was really wrapping up as we sat at the intersection of AL-10/AL-69.  Here is our view of the radar as the cell approached and came right over our location.

This was radar imagery of the tornadic circulation as they approached us and crossed our area.  Figures 3 and 4 show the significant inbound and outbound winds showing strong rotation and the tornado as it approached and passed us.  This was our first storm intercept of the day….and there were several more.  I will be making an updated post of the next few videos that I take off when I get a chance. 

I will leave you with this radar and Water Vapor image of the entire outbreak.

Last night….a large supercell developed along the Nebraska/Iowa border and completely raked West-Central and Northern Iowa with several large tornadoes and a swath of damage.  We have some interesting radar imagery we wanted to share to show how strong this beast was along with some video and photo documentation from fellow chasers of our media group, KDR Media.

Base Reflectivity shows the well pronounced hook and inflow region gong strait into Mapleton around 710 PM Central time last evening.  This is as the tornado was getting organized on the SW side of town.

You can see the tornado coming strait through the town of Mapleton here with the 0.5 degree inbound/outbound velocities beginning to converge and max out as the tornado plows through town.  This tornado did significant damage all across this area.  This parent supercell thunderstorm apparently produced several large, destructive tornadoes over the course of a 4 hour period across Iowa.  So far, we haven’t heard of any confirmed fatalities.

The video below comes from fellow KDR Media stringers Skip Talbot and Mike Boik.

Also….some damage video from KDR Media Stringer Mike Brady.

We will continue to update this story as it unfolds.  Another high end severe weather event is expected across the northern plains and upper midwest later today.  Stay tuned…

Much of the rainfall has moved out, but the cloud cover is hanging tough.  Most of the mid level drying is back to our west and it may be hard for us to destabilize before the cold front comes through this afternoon that is already moving into portions of NW AL as shown by the isobaric trough on the surface charts trailing back through Mississippi.  Dewpoints are trying to surge once again, but I don’t believe that there will be enough time for things to get active again before the frontal passage. 

Here is a look at the Silverhill, AL tornado on radar this morning.  This storm produced tornadoes across Mobile and Baldwin counties from Tillmans Corner to the Florida state line.  NWS survey crews will be out in full force estimating the damage and strength of these tornadoes.  Luckily only minor injuries have been reported.

Tornado damage about 2 miles from some my in-laws home.  This tornado has apparently damaged a fuel station as well as the Food World and tossed many cars about.  An 18 wheeler also sustained significant damage at this location.  This was the tornadoes starting point as it raked Mobile and Baldwin Counties.

Portions of SW Alabama have been placed under a tornado watch until 3AM CST.  This watch only includes far western border counties this evening.  Thunderstorms are erupting along the front and ahead of it from the Shreveport, LA area eastward.  This is expected to continue overnight and the threat of tornadic action is expected to increase with time. 

A very heavy rain mass is moving across portions of Mississippi and Alabama this evening and will likely cause some localized flooding troubles throughout the evening.  We are watching the warm front closely to the south and will likely be chasing if things become unstable across south-central portions of our area by morning.  We will be updating throughout the night time hours as conditions warrant.  Go over your tornado plan if you are in the watch area. 

Looking at our radar here….we have highlighted a cell that has been tornado warned for the last little big that has had some rotation and potential for producing tornadoes.  funnel clouds have been reported and we have been watching this thing for a little while now.  Some tree and line damage has been reported around the Raleigh area this afternoon.  Nothing as serious as the damage and injuries from yesterdays convection in Louisiana. 

Our next potential weather maker will get going Tuesday into Wednesday around here.  Looks like another minimal risk of severe storms, but the heavy rain threat looks to be pretty significant.  We will continue to watch and post more on our chances as we approach the Wednesday time frame.