Severe weather nation

[phantom power]

An explosion of strong-to-severe thunderstorms spawned several tornadoes that tore through eastern Iowa last night.

Severe thunderstorms erupted on Thursday evening over parts of Iowa and are continuing to move south and east through the lower Ohio River Valley and towards the central Appalachians. Embedded in the large complex of storms were thunderstorms that spawned several destructive tornadoes. One tornado touched down over Iowa City and reports are now stating that there is widespread damage to the downtown area. At the time of the event (around 7:45 CDT) there were also reports of destroyed or collapsed buildings and possible injuries due to entrapment. Damage was also reported at the University of Iowa where Friday classes were cancelled. The hail associated with these storms in eastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, and northern Illinois have been tremendous in size...generally golfball to softball-size hail. This large thunderstorm complex is now heading through Indiana and Ohio with a next stop in Kentucky and West Virginia and there are still strong-to-severe thunderstorms embedded inside. This complex may try and make its way into Virginia and North Carolina before it finally begins to peter out this afternoon.

Meanwhile, aside from the current unfolding event, a boundary that will be draped across the Ohio Valley by this afternoon will trigger yet another round of thunderstorms. Strong-to-severe storms will ignite during the afternoon daytime heating hours across the states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. Damaging winds, frequent lightning, large hail, and unfortunately tornadoes will once again be the main threats from these storms. By Saturday, we will look to the Missouri River Valley where a new threat of severe storms will exist including the potential for several tornadoes.

Along the West Coast, more unsettled weather is in store for the region. Low pressure over the eastern Pacific will produce more rain over the southern half of California by early Friday. Due to the higly dynamic nature of the upper-level system, the rain may be accompanied with even a few thunderstorms for cities such as Los Angeles and San Diego. This storm system will also be the culprit for kicking up the winds thoughout the Desert Southwest. Red flag warnings and wind advisories are in place for southeastern California and Arizona. Another potent system, sweeping down from the Gulf of Alaska, will result in rain and higher elevation snow from Washington to Northern California on Friday and Friday night, lasting into the weekend.

http://www.weather.com/newscenter/stormwatch/

[Imagine My Surprise]

1. Louisville has had a number of major storms lately...

doesn't seem normal. Or is it just me?

[phantom power]

2. I'm not sure what the story is regarding severe t-storms...

I recently read that the last three years had below normal tornado activity, so this year is certainly looking especially bad by comparison. However, it's also true that this season has been well above historic averages.

I'm learing that tornados are normal in places I didn't suspect, like southern california. And I had always associated tornados with summer, but the peak tornado months are April and May.

[hatrack]

14. Read "Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles & The Imagination Of Disaster"

It's by Mike Davis, and it has a fascinating chapter entitled "Our Secret Kansas". It's all about the tornadic history of LA.

[DLnyc]

7. Maybe this software can help answer your question

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/software/svrplot2/

(via National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Storm Prediction page: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/)

I don't have Windows, so I can't download it.

An increase in violent storms worldwide would be a logical consequence of increased global atmospheric and oceanic temperatures. Of course, a given location may experience fewer or more storms, but overall I would expect more storms and more violent storms. Don't know to what degree a US government agency under the watchful eyes of our current 'say nothing-do nothing' administration is able to report these things accurately, but it might be worthwhile to look at this data.

Good luck to anyone with the knowhow and patience to try to feret out the truth.

[phantom power]

10. I am firmly in the "global warming -> worse storms" camp.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. But in Boston, Massachusetts, merely light precipitation

(You've got to remember Laugh-In for that to be funny.)

--p!
Of the fabulously famed and feared Farkle family.

[phantom power]

4. Before my time. Their last season ended when I was 4.

[Dogmudgeon]

5. I think they're on DVD now

At least I hope so.

The show has stood up well. I saw some old clips a few years ago -- one was a clip from "Laugh-In's News of Tomorrow Today" from 1969, and it was about President Reagan overseeing the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Yep. Stack o' Bibles and everything.

--p!

[phantom power]

6. Damn, that's a little creepy.

[NNadir]

8. Tornado frequency, by month 1950-2005.

It may be an artifact of observation technique, but it would seem that the tornado problem is getting worse.

http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/nebraska/tornado-totals-monthly-US.html

[phantom power]

9. It would be interesting to know when doppler radar became widespread

[DLnyc]

11. Rapidly accelerating, I would say.

The numbers are quite dramatic.

[phantom power]

12. Doppler radar became wide-spread starting in the 90s...

There does appear to be a jump in the totals beginning around 1990. But that clearly doesn't explain all the increases between 1950 and the present day.

[NNadir]

13. It is possible that the only means of detecting tornados in 1950 was

visually.

It is certainly possible that improved observations account for a decent fraction of the jump.

It is equally possible that the increase is real. The weather is increasingly unstable in all sorts of areas. It would not be wholly unexpected that we could be seeing this expressed as more tornados.

[phantom power]

16. I'm personally convinced it's real. But I can see how hard it is...

to draw an air-tight conclusion, based on the available data. We just have so little, and tools like satellite and radar are so recent.

Oh well. If it's half as bad as I think, it will all be quite obvious from here on out.

[NNadir]

18. I'm pretty sure it's real too, n/t.

[bloom]

15. That's an interesting chart.

Good Friday - even though the day bounces around - seems to be known for being a tornado/storm day.

There is a tornado watch here now.

And the sirens went off last night around 4 am as well. We're getting it twice today.



I think it's been a weird year for storms. A few days ago we had 3 hailstorms in one day. I don't remember anything like that here (Indiana).

I noticed on the weather channel the other day how there were record highs expected all over the place. June temps mixed with Spring storms. Seems like it's bound to be bad.

[DLnyc]

17. Yeah, I would say Good Friday was a little rough, especially in Indiana:

ttp://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/today.html

sounds pretty scary down there!