Storm News

Today, May 15th is the official start to the Eastern Pacific hurricane season. Already a named storm has formed in the east Pacific, Aletta which is a modest storm as it only is packing winds of 40 miles per hour. However, Aletta is a sure indicator that more storms are to develop. Forecasters are currently keeping their eyes on some turbulent cloud masses in the ocean which could trigger the next named storm. Aletta is forecast to dissipate over the next couple of days so there is no imminent threat to the U.S.

The Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on June 1st. The formation of Aletta signals that activity is increasing in tropical areas around the globe. That is following a record 41 day period in at least 70 years with no tropical storm formations anywhere on earth. While the Atlantic hurricane season receives a lot of attention and press in the United States, tropical storms and even hurricanes which have formed during the Eastern Pacific hurricane season have resulted in devastating, widespread flooding and even in the loss of lives. Arizona is the state in the country that has seen the most storm activity during this season. In 1970, tropical storm Norma was responsible for flooding across central and southern Arizona which resulted in several people losing their lives.

With the onset of the Pacific hurricane season and the soon-to-be arrival of the Atlantic season, now is the time for people living in tropical storm/hurricane-prone areas to prepare themselves. If a storm is heading your way, it is important to know what you will need to have on hand if you stay to ride the storm out. You should have enough food and water on hand to last your family for three to seven days. It’s also important to store important documents in a safe place and to know your evacuation routes. Planning in advance is the key to surviving a tropical storm or hurricane.

As for the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season, fewer storms are in the forecast which is great news. The 2012 season is being predicted to have eleven tropical storms, six of which will develop into hurricanes. Two of the hurricanes are expected to sustain winds of over 110 miles per hour, so say forecasters at Weather Service International. That prediction is due to cooler water temperatures in the Atlantic in addition to the year’s weather patterns thus far.

Moms will be enjoying warm, sunny and dry Mother’s Day weekend weather in much of the US this weekend. However, those living in the Ohio Valley and south will have to endure a dark, wet weekend thanks to a line of thunderstorms which could result in a few floods.

Heavy downpours of rain are likely in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi with the heaviest rains expected to fall along the Gulf Coast. Thunderstorms which are moving across the southern portion of the United States are capable of producing penny to quarter-sized hail, gusting winds and very heavy rainfall. There is also the possibility of ground lightening. Those people living in low-lying areas or in places with poor drainage are being warned to prepare for the possibility of flooding.

Early Friday morning, five counties in southern Texas were put under flash flood advisories and warnings. Thursday night in Austin, authorities blocked off several flooded roadways and authorities conducted a few floodwater rescues as heavy, drenching rains there caused localized flooding.

There was a severe weather warning in effect for all of central Texas Thursday night as a line of thunderstorms with heavy downpours of rain moved into the area. Many area creeks and streams flooded over in the Austin area which has prompted officials there to warn motorists not to drive on flooded streets and roads. Several cars were stranded in floodwater in Austin but the drivers of those vehicles were either rescued or got to dry land on their own. Close to three thousand people in Austin lost their power Thursday night as there were many lightening strikes and downed trees and powerlines reported.

The severe weather will moving into Louisiana as well as into Mississippi and Alabama today. Those people living on the Gulf Coast are being told to be ready for the possibility of flooding as the region could get three to four inches of rain before the stormy weather passes through.

Warm, moist, unstable air that stretches from Texas up to the Midwest will set the stage for severe thunderstorms which could move through the region today and tomorrow. It’s the same cold front that resulted in thunderstorms this past weekend in the Midwest that’s sliding eastward toward the Ohio River Valley.

Just like the weekend that just passed, this weather pattern can bring with it high gusting winds, large diameter hail stones and torrential rains. The weather over a large portion of the United States has been very hot and humid recently with temperatures being more typical of mid-summer than of mid-spring. The high temps along with lots of moisture in the air have and will again, make conditions just right for potentially dangerous and destructive thunderstorms through Tuesday. The thunderstorms are expected to move slowly and will have the potential to dump a lot of rain in a very short period of time which puts many areas at risk for flooding.

The Chicago area received nearly an inch of rain in just a few short hours yesterday from the severe storms which hit there, causing airport delays at O’Hare and Midway as well as some minor flooding. There were many unhappy stranded travelers at O’Hare Sunday who were forced to stand in long lines only to be told that they’d have to find a place to stay for the night. Most of those affected opted to camp out in the terminal with hopes that they would be put on planes as quickly as possible Monday morning. The severe thunderstorms that moved over the Windy City region produced wind gusts of around 60 miles per hour which toppled trees and knocked out power to many residents.

Dozens of tornadoes have already done a lot of damage throughout the Midwest this year, making it quite clear that the tornado season is in high gear. Last year, over 1,600 tornadoes caused damage and 552 deaths in the U.S. – making it the deadliest tornado season since 1925. This year’s tornado activity started early and even those who have already been made victims of twisters are bracing themselves for more storms as the spring season develops.

The severe weather that passed through Tennessee Thursday evening resulted in damage in Franklin which is a city of 62,000 in Williamson County. The county was under a severe thunderstorm warning at the time of the damage. At around 7:00 pm, several local residents and a tornado spotter called in reports of a twister being spotted.

Several occupied vehicles were flipped over in Franklin. One woman was inside her car along with her young daughter when suddenly it was picked up and flipped over. Luckily the young child was secured in her car seat at the time. Both were transported to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Another woman motorist was in Franklin’s Jim Warren Park, waiting to pick up someone when suddenly she felt herself being flipped upside down in her small vehicle. Her car was left on it’s side with severe damage to its roof. She escaped the harrowing ordeal with only a few cuts from broken glass.

In one subdivision in Franklin a whole lot happened in just a matter of twenty to thirty seconds. Several houses there sustained damage by the suspected twister with chimneys and roofing materials being ripped off. There were six mobile homes damaged on Main street but all of them were deemed safe to be occupied. Two mobile homes elsewhere in the city sustained damage serious enough to make them uninhabitable. Representatives from the local chapter of the American Red Cross were on the scene to provide assistance to displaced residents.

A total of seven cars were damaged at Jim Warren Park including one that took a direct hit from the scoreboard that went over during the storm. The National Weather Service predicted an outbreak of severe weather for central Tennessee Thursday which included the chance of heavy rain, hail and damaging winds. The service had severe thunderstorm watches and warnings issued for parts of Tennessee. The severe weather is expected to move southward out of Tennessee overnight into Georgia and South Carolina.

Several area roads around Franklin were closed Thursday evening due to toppled trees and power lines. Emergency crews are working to determine the extent of the damage and will provide more details when a full assessment has been done.

New Yorkers living in the Big Apple are getting very accustomed to using their umbrellas and raincoats as a massive spring storm continues to dump some serious rainfall amounts. Weather experts are saying that the worst of the large storm system will arrive in the early morning hours of Monday, bringing with it winds up to 40 miles per hour and drenching rain. New York City’s flash flood plan was put into action on Thursday as work crews began prepping rainfall-catching basins.

Residents of New York are not the only Americans who will be wet and weary at the beginning of this work week. A strong spring storm is sweeping up the Northeast and bringing with it heavy wet snow and lots of rain. And if that’s not bad enough, some areas will see wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour as the powerful system moves through the region. This storm is rather atypical for April but not all that rare. Flooding is a distinct possibility in some areas but the precipitation in much of the Northeast is below normal for this time of the year.

Snowfall amounts of up to fourteen inches are forecast for the Allegheny Mountains and near Lake Erie, according to the National Weather Service. There are snow advisories in effect for these areas as well as for portions of West Virginia, western New York and northern Ohio. Pouring rains will put commuters’ nerves on end all along the eastern seaboard, dumping rain from the Washington DC area all the way up into Maine. Two for four inches of rain could fall before all is said and done which could very well cause widespread flooding in low lying areas. The bad weather also could affect air traffic at some of the country’s largest airports which will be subjected to high wind gusts on top of the heavy rain.

The beginning of April was very summer-like for many U.S. residents with some people enjoying temperatures ranging from the mid 70s to mid 80s. But now Mother Nature has decided to throw a wrench into the weather situation and remind people that it is still early spring. If this storm were to have developed in mid-January there would not be too much made of it because there would be no leaves on the trees. However, now everything in the Northeast is in full bloom. Heavy snowfall and strong winds can easily knock down branches and powerlines which could result in many people losing their power.

A crazy weekend for severe weather as reports of as many as 100 tornadoes hitting the ground, with a majority in Kansas capped a weekend of severe weather. Following a series of severe storms in the Great Plains that moved through south –central Kansas, reports of tornado damages were issued. Wichita was reported to be under a tornado emergency late Saturday as threats of home destruction were witnessed. Forecasters had predicted the outbreak of tornado and they said that there was a “high risk” of dangerous thunderstorms, which could extend into Sunday covering portions of Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa and Kansas.

A tornado arrival was reported near Medicine Lodge in Kansas. At the same time, a large tornado was reported to advance on Salina, Kansas before sundown. Wichita office of the National Weather Service, which was taking part in an experimental warning system made use of graphic terms to report and warn of potential harm to the residents. Media outlets use these warnings.

People living in and around Brookville, Kansas were alerted that “major house and building damage was likely and complete destruction was possible.” Roger Vachalek, a meteorologist at the Des Moines, Iowa, National Weather Service said that residents in the area need to be prepared for threatening high winds and possible tornado coupled with hail over the night.

Already two or three tornadoes were sighted and about close to 1,600 MidAmerican Energy customers in the area of Des Moines had lost power. In other reports, at least four evident tornadoes were affirmed in the southwestern Kansas, near Dodge City as per the officials. Of these tornadoes, two were affirmed in the Rush County.

Meteorologist Mike Scott, said that “It’s been an interesting day,” further adding that severe storms touched down earlier than it had been expected. Moreover, Forecasters added that “dry line” that was colliding with moist Gulf air, was creating dangerous conditions.

In definition, a dry line is a boundary zone that separates warm, moist air right from the dry desert air. Meteorologist Scott said that “Everything west of that line is very dry and is associated with downsloping winds.” About four active tornado warnings and in addition four tornado watches were taking effect on Saturday evening in the region.

Some two of the watches are “Particularly Dangerous Situation” and these extend from Iowa and Nebraska further south into Kansas and Oklahoma. What this means is that there is a great chance of long-track damaging tornadoes expected. The threat posed by the tornado may increase as the storms head to more populated areas like Omaha, Nebraska; Des Moines, Iowa; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Wichita; and Kansas City, Missouri.

In Nebraska, on the Antelope and Boone counties, a tennis-ball-sized hail as well as winds of up to 60 miles per hour was reported and this is according to Mike Moritz of Hastings National Weather Service office. There were reports of tornado that came in from Tipton, Kansas as well as Hardy and Deshler, Nebraska though none of these tornadoes was a long-track.

In other reports, Rick Smith, a warning coordination meteorologist from the Norman, Oklahoma, National Weather Service office, said that a line of supercell thunderstorms extended Saturday afternoon covering northwestern Oklahoma to the Texas Panhandle. Smith told CNN that a tornado that had formed in Woodward, Oklahoma has witnessed a brief touchdown. Apparently no reports of injuries had been availed in Oklahoma as at mid-evening Saturday.

It is sure shaping up to be a wild weekend of weather ahead. Tornadoes are expected to move across the middle of the United States on Saturday over an area stretching from Texas up through Nebraska, according to the Storm Prediction Center. The strongest possibility of severe weather this weekend will be in central Kansas and Oklahoma although several states are in the cross-hairs of the storm.

potential for tornadoes this weekend via weather.com

Dallas was slammed by tornadoes and hail earlier this month which causes nearly 2,000 flights to be canceled at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. In early March, in the Midwest and portions of the Southeast, at least forty people lost their lives and more than $1 billion worth of damages occurred when tornadoes struck. That weather event was the first billion dollar weather-related disaster of the year in the U.S. Last year, there were fourteen weather-related disasters which topped out at over $1 billion in damages or more.

The large storm system that is moving across the country will become stronger as we head into the weekend. Heavy rains, lightening, damaging hail and strong winds will be prevalent as will the possibility of tornadoes. Forecasters are warning that some of these tornadoes could be very large and long-lasting with F2 or higher status.

The U.S. government’s official eye in the sky, The Storm Prediction Center expects the large storm system to roll across the Plains Friday evening through Sunday. This storm has already done damage to portions of Texas near Amarillo. Many roads were closed in that area due to hail stones piling up which were two feet deep. The center is also warning that this severe storm system may bring with it the heaviest rains since November as it predicts that two inches of rain or more may fall in some spots – and that’s just through mid-day on Sunday. More heavy showers and thunderstorms could occur after that as the storm slowly meanders across the nation.

The National Weather Service has issued a rare “High Risk” threat for portions of Oklahoma and Kansas Saturday. It warns that strong tornadoes could develop there. The twisters could end up being long-tracking storms which are potentially life-threatening. The service has issued a “Moderate” risk for portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, southern Nebraska, northern Missouri and southwestern Iowa.

dallas tornado footage photo from weather.com

Tornadoes descended on the Dallas area Tuesday, ripping roofs off dozens of homes, taking out a nursing home wing and tossing semi-trucks into the air like toys. Thus far, over twelve people have been reported injured as a result of the violent twisters.

Hail the size of oranges wreaked havoc on automobiles. The towns of Arlington and Lancaster were declared states of disaster following the tornado activity. There were so many cars flipped over during the storms that many streets were impassible. The shoulders of numerous highways were clogged with flatten trucks by the estimated six to twelve tornadoes that touched down in northern Texas. The National Weather Service said Tuesday that once the damage is assessed by survey teams that more precise information will be known regarding just how many tornadoes there were.

In Lancaster, TV helicopter crews filmed open houses with no roofs and many flattened buildings. Torn sheets of building material was strewn across properties and covered many roofs. There were numerous trees and fences down in Lancaster as well as many many roofs and shingles damaged on homes. Over 440 flights were canceled at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Tuesday with some incoming flights being diverted to other nearby airports. A spokesman at DFW said that over 100 airplanes were damaged by large hail.

Tornado season in the southern portion of the country runs from April through June. The tornadoes that struck the Dallas area caught most people off-guard as did the thunderstorm activity that started at around 1:30 pm. The bad weather continued for more than two hours. Local residents were told early Tuesday of the possibility of severe weather. However, the storm system spun off tornadoes with such ferocity that most people were surprised by just how quickly the weather turned violent.

The bad weather was a result of a high level band of cold air that came into contact with warm ground air that had been hanging over Texas from the Gulf of Mexico. The area of Texas which was struck by tornadoes Tuesday is in the southern portion of “Tornado Alley” and has certainly seen its share of destructive tornadoes in the past. An F5 struck Waco back in 1953, killing 114 and injuring nearly 600. That tornado holds the Texas record for the deadliest twister, according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologists are reporting that the chance of tornadoes developing in the country’s mid section and parts of the Ohio Valley will increase as the week wears on. This is due to warm moist air moving up from the Gulf of Mexico which will meet with a low pressure system that stretches through the Midwest and out to the mid-Atlantic states.

Now that spring is in full swing it is time for people in the country to be aware of the possibility of tornadoes developing. This year already has been devastating for many US residents as dozens of tornadoes have caused widespread damage and total devastation in several communities located in various states. Thus far, the states of Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan have seen the worst of the damage with estimated cleanup costs set at $1 billion.

Tornadoes are among nature’s most violent storms. A twister can appear suddenly without much warning and can be invisible until it picks up dust and debris or when a funnel cloud appears. FEMA and the National Weather Service is reminding people that they should know the terms used to identify a tornado and to be familiar with their community’s take-cover warnings.

The tornado season in the United States reaches its peak at different times in the country. In the south, tornado season typically runs from March to May. In the northern states and midwestern US, peak tornado season runs from June through July. In the Southern Plains, it lasts from May to the beginning of June. The so-called “Tornado Alley” region of the country has a high incidence of tornadoes during late spring. Tornado Alley’s core consists of the panhandle of Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, eastern South Dakota and the Colorado eastern plains.

Regardless of where you live, it is important to know that a tornado can strike at anytime and at anywhere. This is why it is important to be prepared and to keep an eye on the sky and an ear on local weather reports when the skies becoming threatening or during severe thunderstorms. This year could be another devastating year in the United States as already 55 people have lost their lives due to tornadoes. The average tornado casualty total in an entire year in the country is 60. Last year, a record 550 people died as a result of tornadoes.

This week there is a good chance that portions of the central United States will see some serious rainfall which could lead to potentially excessive flooding. In an area stretching from mid Texas into Arkansas and portions of Louisiana, Oklahoma and Missouri over three inches of total rain could fall starting today through Wednesday. Some areas of these states could see local rainfall amounts which exceed six inches or even more.

This type of heavy rain can easily lead to flash floods as well as cause streams and rivers to overflow. This is most likely to be the scenario if heavy thunderstorms remain over one area for extended periods of time. There are already flood watches in effect for several states in the central portion of the country.

The National Weather Service is predicting that many thunderstorms will hit northern Texas today and tomorrow and says that the severe weather is “very likely” to cause flash flooding. While portions of Texas are still under a drought, too much rainfall in too short of a period of time could lead to flooding. The service is also warning residents in the region that tornadoes can develop this week. It also states that flash flooding is “very possible” in western Arkansas as the slow moving storm system works its way across that state early this week. The weather service noted that eighteen people died last year because of flooding, compared to twelve who were killed by tornadoes.

The slow moving, large storm system that is currently sitting across the southwestern US will provide an ideal set up for flooding rainfalls. The storm is expected to stall over Oklahoma and dump several rounds of heavy rains. The National Weather Service office in Tulsa has a flood watch in effect for eastern and southeast Oklahoma through Wednesday morning.

Officials are urging residents of the central portion of the US to plan ahead to prevent possible property loss due to flooding and to act quickly when a flood risk exists. Flash flooding can occur with very little notice. History proves that spring storms have the potential to cause extreme flash flooding – especially in low-lying areas and along streams and rivers. With such a mild winter nearly behind us, many forecasters are predicting spring storms in much of the United States like those that occurred last year. And, many home and property owners are still dealing with 2011′s historic flooding which is why people are being reminded to be prepared.