Topic: 2008 US tornado season discussion

[Carlos E]

I saw on the Weather Channel that it was the worst season for a long time. That footage with the cars is breathtaking as well.

[lollie3]

This has been a busy season for all Tornado chasers and storm chasers over there wish I was there to witness allthe spectacular weather
Posted on: 12 May 2008, 09:20:04 PMMacca you have some nice photos in the link you provided some very nice shots indeed

[Mike]

Brilliant reports Macca.  You've captured the feeling of being there without being there....fantastic read.  An intense time and stay safe.  Wonderful to read that you're helping out where you can, as Jimmy said, it's the most important thing to help the victims of such destructive storms.  Cudo's to you all there.

[Macca]

Hi all,

As promised, I have put up some images from our visit to Greensburg on Friday last week.  Hopefully (or not) I'll get some time later this week or into the weekend to put down on keyboard (as opposed to paper) some of my thoughts and also some of the stories we were told during our visit. 

http://macca.bsch.au.com/gallery2/v/USA2008/090508/

Warning:  Some of these images (and my captions) may not be "easy" for people to read, however, I felt it necessary to properly capture the feeling of what we saw and felt.

Macca

[David C]

Nice cell south of Wichita Falls at the moment and heading towards Graham Tx. (~7:30CDT).  Currently severe warned but watch out.

(Edit: ouch - all dead by 8:12pm).

[nzstorm]

Yes, a big Bust here yesterday.  The cap was well breached in the evening over OK south of OKC but storms failed to advance past the pulse/weak multicell stage.  I can't quite put my finger on were it all went wrong but deep level shear looked terrible and forcing along the cold front south of OKC always looked like it was struggling.  We are a bit annoyed we didn't go for the easy dryline bet and were lured to the bust by an SPC moderate risk.  All part of the severe weather experience over here.

[Mike]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=299_1210375488

Posting this video from chaser Jim Reed photographing a close, photogenic tornado. 

Now, the worrying thing is what he does once the tornado is stationary.  I do think that this is extremely irresponsible to leave his passenger in the car filming while he goes and gets his 'perfect shot'  You'll see it and you'll hear the passengers voice becoming quite unsettled at times knowing this thing is so close.  What if the tornado decided to track again? 

I'm probably being a bit harsh and he obviously got away safely...

Great footage all the same but jeepers !

[Michael Bath]

Beautiful contrast on that. It appears to be a landspout tornado with relatively light wind speeds so probably not as risky at it may first appear.

MB

[Jimmy Deguara]

Looks landspout as Michael suggested. These are the lesser intensity of the tornado families though some have known to reach F2 on the damage intensity Fujita scale. Nice to know there are no trees and some reasonable road to get to the tornado.

These type of tornadoes track along boundaries and this is likely why the tornado became stationary.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Peter J]

had problems trying to play the video. Does anyone else have a solution?

Big Pete

[Michael Bath]

Hi Pete - try the source website directly (join these two lines together to make the URL):

http://www.liveleak.com/

view?i=299_1210375488

[David C]

GFS (this version: http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis/namer/gfs/12/index_500_mu_loop.shtml, other is here
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwpara/analysis/namer/gfs/12/model_mu.shtml ) and EC (http://meteocentre.com/models/ecmwf_amer_00/cep00_9panel.gif) both in agreement now on a major trough impacting the plains ~ next week (ie ~ May 21-May25). There will be some high risk outlooks if this pans out let me tell you!


[High risk = "The HIGH risk implies that a major severe weather outbreak is expected, with great coverage of severe weather and enhanced likelihood of extreme severe (i.e., violent tornadoes or very damaging convective wind events). Within a high risk area, expect at least 20 tornadoes, with at least 2 of them rated EF3+, or an extreme derecho causing widespread wind damage, with numerous higher end wind events (80+ mph) and structural damage reports."]



 

[nzstorm]

Greetings,
Next week is certainly looking interesting.  I see though that SPC are using the term 'omega block' in their 4 to 8 day outlook this morning.  There looks to be a risk the upper trough over western USA may be prevented from progressing sufficiently eastward onto the plains.  Just a fear of mine with this forthcoming set up.

[David C]

Yes, the latest EC and GFS (operational) in particular do not want to break down the large trough over the eastern states; even the ensembles not looking so great now.

[Harley Pearman]

Number of USA Tornadoes January 1 2008 to May 18 2008

I have been looking at the Storm Prediction Centre Tornado statistics for 2008.

It is clear that the number of reported tornadoes is well above average to date being.

January

136 Preliminary, 84 Actual
   
February

232 Preliminary, 148 Actual

March

151 Preliminary (Actual not calibrated)

April

192 Preliminary (Actual not calibrated)

May

294 Preliminary (Still counting).

This totals 1005 reported tornadoes.

The count also reveals that 99 fatalities have occurred which is well above the current average of 62. The worst was May 10 in Ottawa County (Oklahoma) and Newton County (Missouri). That tornado was rated EF4 by the National Weather Service.

Majority of tornado reports seem to be in the order of EF0 and EF1 which is consistent with past trends.

Harley Pearman