Author Topic: 2008 US tornado season discussion  (Read 101190 times)

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Offline Harley Pearman

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #135 on: 31 May 2008, 01:54:00 PM »
Iowa Tornado Rated EF - 5, Storey from KWWL 7 News 28/5/2008

To those chasing the storms, it has been great reading of the experiences. Excellent storeys.

I found a local newspaper article from KWWL 7 News - Iowa City and Cedar Falls labelled:-

Tornado labelled EF-5 as death toll rises

The Parkersburg Tornado has been rated EF-5 based on damage assessment and the most powerful tornado this season. It is to date, the only tornado to be labelled EF-5 for this season. Sections of the storey from article below.

"The National Weather Service has rated a deadly tornado that levelled half a town in north east Iowa an EF5. That makes it the states strongest tornado for 32 years.

The twister tore through Parkersburg and nearby towns on Sunday killing 7 people and destroying neighbourhoods with winds up to 205 miles per hour. The tornado was the strongest in the United States since May 4th 2007 when an EF5 twister flattened Greensburg, Kansas killing 11 people. Iowa's last EF5 tornado was in June 1976 in the central town of Jordan. No one was killed.

President Bush declared Butler County a national disaster area making federal money and resources available to help with the clean up. Mid American Energy says it expects to get power back on in Parkersburg by Wednesday and gas back up by Friday. 160 National Guard troops are in the Parkersburg area to help with clean up and security."

The storey concludes by listing those deceased but I will not state this paragraph on this thread.

Also a related storey to this from KWWL 7 News is one in which possessions and photographs and personal belongings to those impacted being found up to 90 miles away.

Another - Raw Video near Fairbank and Tornado update.

The storeys of this major tornado can be accessed via the KWWL 7 News website or type this station into Google.

Today 29/5/2008 - Kearney Sees Tornado Damage

A few of us at work was tracking the thunderstorm from 8.20 am using the National Weather Service network and it was certainly closing in on Kearney - Nebraska. We identified that the storm could produce a tornado and decided to follow it for a while.

The article produced afterwards from KETV Newswatch 7 on KETV.com outlines.

"Buffalo County's manager reports a tornado swept through Kearney Thursday evening causing extensive damage to trees and homes. A power line forced the closure of I 80 between Aurora and York just before 8 pm. Photos from newswatch 7 storm chasers show roofs removed from buildings and cars stacked on top of one another. The large canopy roof of a gas station was ripped of its supports and tossed into a parking lot".

"The storm front has downed several NPPD transmission sub transmission and distribution lines in the Kearney area and left 12,000 customers without power in the community".

Further, the twister destroyed the Buffalo County Fairgrounds and damaged the campus housing at the University of Nebraska around 5.30 pm. The twister ripped 40 rail cars of the tracks in Kearney.

The tornado tracked south west to the north east across the city.

This one appears to have been the most significant tornado of several across Nebraska for 29/5/2008. The short article that I refer to was prepared just 32 minutes after the tornado swept through the city.

This is also mentioned in CSV reports 2220, 2225, 2235 2236 in the SPC Storm Reports for the day.

And around 8.30 AM (Australian time) besides this storm in the Kearney area, there were three other storms across Nebraska that were severe warned and Tornado Watch Box 384 and 386 were also in effect at the time across the region. Watch Box 386 had a "Public Severe Weather Outlook" warning and there was a forecast of severe thunderstorms including the development of a few strong tornadoes over parts of the Central Plains including Western Iowa, eastern half of Nebraska and far South east Dakota.

Further details on this major tornado can be found at KETV.com

Harley Pearman

Offline Jimmy Deguara

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #136 on: 31 May 2008, 02:22:01 PM »
Hi all,

If you take a look closely at this footage, you will realise why the storm in Iowa that devastated Parkersburg was so violent! Incredible large supercell!

"youtube.com/watch?v=5mp8MxAwawI"  copy and paste into a browser window

This footage shows the complete devastation - you could hear the leaking gas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLx7Xe6_cxo&feature=related

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
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Offline David C

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #137 on: 01 June 2008, 10:46:54 AM »
Damn, the hook wrapped around very quickly in the first video - monster storm. At what stage was this video shot -- any idea?  The tornado seemed very large so perhaps an occlusion was imminent with that wet RFD. From the survey I saw a few days back the tornado damage was EF2 when it maxed out, while earlier on, when 1/2-mile wide or less, it was at maximum intensity EF4 EF5.

btw, the account containing the first video has disabled video embedding so you need to paste the link in manually and you will see it.
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Offline Macca

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #138 on: 01 June 2008, 11:27:38 AM »
Hi all,

Just a quick one with pics from Day 2 of tornadofest 2008:

http://macca.bsch.au.com/gallery2/v/USA2008/230508/

We saw 6 or 7 tornadoes this day - none quite as picturesque as the day before but nice nonetheless (haha - yep - i'm a picky bastard...I'd be happy with just one of these back here in Australia!).

Macca

Offline Harley Pearman

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #139 on: 07 June 2008, 03:50:27 PM »
Kearney Tornado - Nebraska 29/5/2008

I have taken an interest in this tornado simply because I was on the National Weather Service website and watching this thunderstorm at the same time the events were unfolding in the locality.

Had a look at a local newspaper - North platte Bulletin 29/5/2008 and 30/5/2008 and it appears much of the city has come out relatively lightly. However the north east quadrant of the city has been hit hard. It is thought that 6 tornadoes (Estimate only) may have occurred.

Additionally, a Union Pacific Train was wrecked near Odessa around 5.30 pm. It had 93 carriages (All derailed). Damage in the city is concentrated around mobile home parks and apartments.

I also found a report in a local newspaper of a tornado in the Grand Island area as well.

A small town called Wellfleet in Lincoln County suffered damage from a barrage of baseball size hail as well.

Auroa and York were also affected by the thunderstorm.

Incredible - A KETV Newswatch 7 (From Omaha) news team has reported on a $13 million private company jet wrecked inside a hanger at the airport following its collapse during the tornado.

Amazingly, there were no injuries despite the severe weather event.

North Platte Bulletin (A Local Newspaper) has done a good article on this event with various video clips and photos.

Tornado Indianapolis - Indiana News 31/5/08

Amazing scenes of a night time tornado leaving 18 injured in the city of Indianapolis. A narrow tornado on the east side of the city was 50 metres wide (reported at 150 feet) leaving a path of damage 2.5 miles long (4 km). It heavily damaged apartments off 38 Street.

The tornado is rated EF2 packing winds of 125 miles (Around 203 KM / H). The touch down was around 10.30 pm at night near the intersection of 42 Street and Post Road. It travelled SE to 38 Street near Germon Church Road before lifting.

It was on the ground for 3 minutes. The storm left 65,000 customers without power.

This is another classic case where tornadoes do not discriminate between rural areas and built up areas.

At the same time, thunderstorms in the area produced straight line damaging winds of up to 80 miles (130 km / h). Two homes were hit by lightning in Waverton Way in Fisher and a third in Carmel.

Hancock, Mario, Montgomery and Tippecanoe Counties suffered from various damage from trees being blown down, powerlines damaged and some wind damage to buildings.

This article and associated news items can be found on CNN.com which has links to The Indy Channel.com and local footage.

Harley Pearman
Posted on: 01 June 2008, 07:04:59 PM
Active day in Tornado Alley 5/6/2008 / Tornado Watch Box 462

The tornado statistics for 2008 are remarkable and 5/6/2008 was another active day.

In particular - 35 tornado reports and 144 hail reports (From the Storm Prediction Centre web site).

Today I watched a strong line of thunderstorms march across the American mid west on the National Weather Service web site. I shared the weather Warning that came with it to several at work being Tornado Watch Box 462. This was the strongest tornado warning that I have seen this season to date.

Tornado Watch Box 462

The warning was issued as computer models suggested an outbreak as bad as June 8 1974 but it later turned out not to be as severe as predicted.

- Warnings were issued for Winds to 80 miles per hour (132 km/h).
- Hail to 3 inches.
- Long track tornadoes.

This was an urgent message from the National Weather Service and in force from 11.50 am to 8 pm CDT.

"This is a particularly dangerous situation".

"Destructive tornadoes, large hail to 3 inches in diameter, thunderstorm wind gusts to 80 MPH and dangerous lightning are possible in these areas".

"The tornado watch area is approximately along and 60 statute miles east and west of a line from 30 miles north of Concordia Kansas to 70 miles southwest of Enid Oklahoma. For a depiction of the watch, see the associated watch outline update (WOUS64 KWNS WOU2)".

"DISCUSSION--- Thunderstorms will rapidly develop along surface cold front / dryline over Central KS and Northwest OK during the next few hours. These storms will interact with extreme instability and very favourable low level and deep layer vertical shear profiles for supercells and tornadoes. If storms can maintain more discrete structures through the afternoon, strong and long track tornadoes will be possible. Otherwise, widespread damaging wind and large hail are expected".

"Aviation--- Tornadoes and a few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to 3 inches. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 70 knots. A few cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 500. Mean storm motion vector 24040".

The line of thunderstorms did move across the region through Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. There were 35 tornado reports. The ones I noted were:-

Report 2040 Voda in Trego County - Two tornadoes reported by 1 spotter.
Report 0053 Corning in Holt County Missouri - A large tornado was observed crossing the Missouri River near the county line of Holt and Atchison.

Most tornadoes were in the EF0 to EF1 range with a few stronger ones but mostly in rural areas. Damage seems to be relatively light compared to what was expected. There are a few exceptions to this.

Hail - Two hail reports stand out.

Report 1302 - 2 miles south of Wallace in Lincoln County (SW of North Platte) Nebraska, baseball size hail observed.

Report 2039 (I find this one hard to fathom) - Golf ball size hail and winds blowing at 100 miles per hour (162 km / h) same time 6 miles south of Cunningham in Kingman County, Kansas (ESE of Pratt). This occurred in a rural area.

While another storm did produce golf ball size hail (Based on reports and observations that I found), the majority of the 144 hail reports was for smaller hail.

The discrete storms eventually merged to form a narrow squall line that produced allot of damaging winds throughout with wind gusts between 60 and 80 miles per hour. There is much wind damage throughout the region with trees blow down, damaged electricity networks and some damage to buildings.

A look at the radar network at 9 pm (Eastern Australian time) showed that the storm front had weakened somewhat.

I have also looked at the 2008 tornado statistics to early June. There are now 1,330 reports and 350 now confirmed and the reporting is well above average for 2008.


Harley Pearman

Offline Jimmy Deguara

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #140 on: 10 June 2008, 03:07:15 AM »
Harley,

It seems even from the warning there was uncertainty based on the cap as well as the extreme instability that the storms could develop into a squall line or discrete cells. What happened is the former. Strong squall lines can and do produce tornadoes.

Regards,

June 7 2008 US Time - Chicago tornadoes
Jimmy Deguara
Posted on: 06 June 2008, 10:34:49 PM
Chicago's turn to cop tornadoes - apparently a few violent tornadoes - a couple on the ground simultaneously during the hand-off stage - major damage and destroyed homes have been reported. Someone may wish to post some more information and permanent video links when they come to hand.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
Posted on: 08 June 2008, 11:12:45 AM
Hi guys,

Nice structure on the tornadoes across northeastern Illinois (Chicago).

http://davidmayhewphotography.com/galleries/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=23892


Don't get dead-sick with this following video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZWRuwFSnXJ8

Great footage of the Chicago wedge tornado! Definitely a violent tornado!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=j2mRjGQZW3I

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
Posted on: 08 June 2008, 01:50:49 PM
Hi guys,

This is the footage of Daniel Shaw's encounter with Cloud Nine's tornado tours:

http://www.livenews.com.au/articles/2008/05/25/TERRIFYING_FOOTAGE_Aussie_storm_chasers_become_chased

Very large tornado and then truck gets overturned.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
Posted on: 09 June 2008, 09:00:55 AM
Here is a break down of his activities whilst over in the United States Tornado Alley

http://www.scenicphotography.com.au/severestorms/
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Offline Michael Bath

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #141 on: 10 June 2008, 03:57:36 AM »
Really enjoyed your US galleries Daniel - the comments and people shots certainly add a lot of enjoyment to the photos.

Michael
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Offline Jimmy Deguara

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #142 on: 10 June 2008, 05:59:34 AM »
Hi guys,

Now this is an interesting feature to see from behind a supercell - a split occuring:





Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
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Offline Harley Pearman

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #143 on: 10 June 2008, 11:38:13 AM »
Midwestern storms bring flooding and tornadoes 9/6/2008

Further to the posts on the tornadoes hitting Chicago suburbs and surrounds CNN has been covering the storey and related storeys in significant detail - CNN.com/US

A summary of the article shows:-

Severe storms and flooding affects central Indiana with as much as 10 inches (250 mm of rain) that spawned tornadoes that ripped up roofs and even flipped semi trailers in suburban Chicago.

Tornadoes touched down in north west Chicago.

An emergency is declared in 10 counties as the Coast Guard is called in from the Great Lakes to help with flooding.

Up to 90% of the town of Paragon SW of Indianapolis was underwater.

A dam near Gold Point was close to collapse

Interstate 70 is closed in Clay County in NW Indiana as well as Interstate 65. US 31 is closed near Franklin.

Up to 30,000 customers are without power.

Near Chicago in Will County located south west of the city, a tornado from the same storm system damaged several homes in the Wilmington area that toppled trees and powerlines. Trucks were overturned on Interstate 57 in the city's southern suburbs.

Tornadoes occurred in Lake County north of the city (well within the city limits) and in Livingstone County to the south west.

Baseball size hail occurred in central and south east Wisconsin.

A police car was spun around in a tornado near the village of Randolph.

Flooding occurred around Milwaukee. Two vacant buildings partially collapsed due to heavy rains.

There are videos and photos at iReport.com through CNN covering this weather event.

I note from the National Weather Service site that 7/6/08 was a busy day with 58 tornado reports, some significant, 102 hail reports including two reports for hail the size of baseballs and 112 wind reports.

Further 8/6/2008, there were 10 further tornado reports, 107 hail reports (3 for hail up to golf ball size) and 276 wind reports. It appears that wind damage was more common.

Much of these have occurred in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.

As I write this post, I have noted "Severe Thunderstorm Warning 495" across NE Texas and Western Oklahoma in which storms are warned for hail to 2.5 inches and damaging winds to 70 miles (116 km / h). This is interesting because a line of storms stretch all the way across Oklahoma and NE into the affected regions of Illinois and Iowa. They seem to have a train echo effect where storm after storm pass across the same region over an extended period of time.

I read another report suggesting that another 75 mm may occur in the affected regions as well causing further flooding. There are also flood alerts in effect for large areas of the state of Indiana and surrounds as well.

Harley Pearman

Offline Jimmy Deguara

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #144 on: 10 June 2008, 12:28:17 PM »
Harley,

You are correct about the train effect of the cells. Supercells and storms develop along a frontal boundary and drift through the same area for an extended period of time. This happened near Dallas I think last year in late April from memory and it caused at that time up to 270mm of rain to fall on suburbs in north western Dallas. It is so amazing to see what goes on in the US particularly given the rich Gulf moisture that can stream so deep into the continent!

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
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Offline Macca

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #145 on: 15 June 2008, 07:06:05 AM »
Hi all,

I've managed to get some more pics up from our trip to the US including the windscreen smashing hail day in Kansas and some pretty nice lightning in Oklahoma.

New pages are here...

http://macca.bsch.au.com/gallery2/v/USA2008/?g2_page=2

Macca

Offline Jimmy Deguara

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #146 on: 15 June 2008, 11:11:31 AM »
Nice one Macca! Everyone always comments on just how big I am! Just you wait...



Love the isolated base balls and the hardness they represent on your windshield:)

Haha cheers.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
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dshaw

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #147 on: 16 June 2008, 08:29:55 AM »
Hey Jimmy, Michael & All.

Just a quick update.
I've been in the US for well over 2 months now, with another 2 weeks to go.

The chasing this year has been incredible to say the least.
Thank you Jimmy for keeping everyone updated. I tend to concentrate my efforts on the website.

The Chasing is over for me this year, but I'm still doing the rounds on the East Coast..

2008 is going to go down in history as a great year for storms, as well as the unfortunate tragedies..

Looking forward to a better summer in Sydney with the storms… all motivated again to get some good Australian content now..
Except the fuel prices are a real worry.

Dan.
 http://www.dsconsultancy.com - 2008 Trip Photos
http://www.severestorms.com.au - 2008 Tornado Chase Photos.


Offline Harley Pearman

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #148 on: 16 June 2008, 11:33:23 AM »
USA Tornado numbers for 2008 - Update

This is worth a post here. The Storm Prediction Centre website has been updated and the tornado numbers for 2008 are remarkable. The numbers occurring is well above average:-

1577 tornado reports till June 10 2008.
350 confirmed till June 10 2008.

The 10 year average trend is 1,270 tornadoes.

This year there have been 118 tornado fatalities from 32 tornadoes which is almost double the 10 year average of 62 broken down as:-

1 X EF5
7 X EF4
11 X EF3
9 X EF2
4 X EF1

For a total of 32.

As I write this, there has just been another weak tornado reported in central Iowa from a thunderstorm that is warned for possible tornadoes. This occurred at 1.46 am CDT.

The year 2008 is going down as a year that is certainly breaking the averages.

Harley Pearman

Offline Shaun Galman

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Re: 2008 US tornado season discussion
« Reply #149 on: 20 June 2008, 07:00:25 AM »
Hi guys,
I have seen a shot taken in Iowa by Lori Mehmen (not a chaser but a novice photographer from what I have read) on the 10th of June. I cant believe a non chaser got so lucky with such an great capture! I only wish we could've seen the meso/wallcloud base a little better? What a monster structure!

Here's the link to the article in the New York Times: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/a-remarkable-photo-from-tornado-country/

Kindest regards,
Shauno 
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