March 9, 2016 - TEXAS, UNITED STATES - Severe storms and several EF-1 tornadoes blew through North Texas on Tuesday.According to Stephenville Fire Marshall Cody Derrick, this was the first time in more than 20 years that the town had been directly struck by tornadoes.
The National Weather Service said tornadoes hit the towns of
Stephenville and Tolar on Tuesday morning. The service also confirmed an
EF-1 hit the community of Cool on Monday evening, for a total of three
tornadoes in 24 hours.
The Tolar tornado was captured on video by Jared Morris when he was at
work on Tuesday morning. The video shows the funnel cloud, debris flying
through the air and power flashes.
About a dozen mobile homes were damaged or destroyed in Tolar and two
people suffered non-life threatening injuries. Sheriff's officials in
Hood County said winds of 60-70 MPH also hit the area.
Jack Fisk, owner of the mobile home park, survived the storm. But he was
still reeling from seeing his two neighbors, a husband and wife, who
were tossed and injured in the tornado.
"We found Glinda in the middle of it, she could still walk. Johnny was
blown out the back end of it. He was up against the yellow trailer
next-door," Fisk said.
The same storm moved through Stephenville and damaged parts of Tarleton State University and a foster home.
An apartment complex that houses many students off-campus was the
hardest hit, with the roof ripped off half of the building. Officials
said university students were on Spring Break, which likely prevented
numerous injuries.
The Fosters Home for Children had to be evacuated due to heavy damage.
More than 40 foster children have been relocated for at least two days.
None of the children were injured in the storm. - FOX 4 News.
November 27, 2015 - EARTH - Here are the latest reports of waterspouts and funnel clouds appearing across the Earth, as the magnetic field of the plant continues to weaken and the north magnetic pole accelerates toward Siberia.
Massive waterspout filmed off Saudi coast
A video went viral on Saudi social media showing the moments when a
giant water tornado hits the coast of Ras Tannoura, east Saudi.
A waterspout looks like a tornado, funnel-shaped cloud suspended beneath a low-lying cloud, dropping to a body of water.
Usually weaker than land tornados and caused by unstable weather conditions.
A waterspout was spotted off Sur coast today, a weather enthusiast said.
A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex (usually appearing as a
funnel-shaped cloud) that occurs over a body of water. They are
connected to a towering cumuliform cloud or a cumulonimbus cloud. In the
common form, it is a non-supercell tornado over water.
"A waterspout appeared in Sur sea. It's a rare phenomenon, which occurs
during cyclone season. Skies are cloudy too," Bader Ali Al Baddaei, an
administrator of www.rthmc.net, a local Web-based forum that discusses
weather in Oman, told Times of Oman.
In its latest tweet, Oman meteorology department has predicted rain in
coastal areas of Oman. On Sunday itself, meteorology department has
predicted heavy rain in northern parts of Oman from today till the end
of the week.
In the Sunday's advisory, the meteorology department added that Oman
will likely witness deep depression as moderate to heavy rain is
expected on Musandam and North Al Batinah while other governorates will
witness varied rain shower except for Dhofar and Al Wusta. - Times of Oman.
Strange 'funnel cloud' filmed in St. Mary's Bay, Canada
There are reports of a possible funnel cloud or water spout in the Harricott area of St. Mary's Bay this morning.
A local resident caught the phenomenon on video this morning.
Provincial Airlines and Aerospace meteorologist, Brian Walsh says he's not aware of any such phenomenon happening today.
He says because the pinkish object remains stationary while the clouds are moving around it, he can't say what it may be.
May 17, 2015 - FLORIDA, UNITED STATES - According to the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration),
waterspouts fall into two categories: fair weather waterspouts and
tornadic waterspouts.
Tornadic waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water, or move from land to water.
They have the same characteristics as a land tornado. They are
associated with severe thunderstorms, and are often accompanied by high
winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning.
Fair weather waterspouts usually form along the dark flat base of a line of developing cumulus clouds.
This type of waterspout is generally not associated with thunderstorms.
While tornadic waterspouts develop downward in a thunderstorm, a fair
weather waterspout develops on the surface of the water and works its
way upward.
By the time the funnel is visible, a fair weather waterspout is near maturity.
Fair weather waterspouts form in light wind conditions so they normally move very little. - Space Coast Daily.
April 25, 2015 - HAWAII - Our newsroom has been flooded with photos and video of a tornado that touched down in Kunia.
It reportedly formed at around 3 p.m., catching the attention of many in the area.
The National Weather Service confirmed a funnel cloud formed for less
than half-an-hour and touched the ground at some point, which made it a
tornado.
It was very weak. No damage has been reported so far.
Kapolei resident Rocky Lacuesta says he had just pulled into his
driveway when he saw the tornado and went running for his camera.
"I ran to my wife and I said oh my God I think I just saw a tornado," he told KHON2.
"I came flying through the door and asked my wife are you seeing this," said Kapolei resident, Stephen Morrison.
WATCH: Tornado touches down in Kunia.
Like many residents in West Oahu Morrison looked out his window to see a tornado.
"It was a very distinct skinny funnel not like a big one you see on TV,
but you could obviously see that it was a perfect funnel shape from the
cloud to the ground," said Morrison.
"It's classified as a tornado because we don't have a lot of
classifications to go with," said National Weather Service
Meteorologist, Tony Reynes."It was more than a funnel cloud and
technically it was not a water spout because we didn't see the
circulation over water."
While tornadoes in Hawaii are rare they have happened in the past.
In February of 2009 there was an F-1 tornado that touched down in Kapolei reaching wind speeds up to 110 miles per hour. - KHON 2.
April 16, 2015 - UNITED STATES - Following strong storms on Wednesday, another round of threatening
weather will rumble across part of the Central states into Thursday
night.
A storm will spin over the Rockies through the end of the week. The
storm will push a wedge of dry air into a field of moisture over the
High Plains. This dry/moist contrast zone from southwestern Nebraska to
central Texas will be the firing point for the storms.
"That upper-level low with the help of the southern branch of the jet
stream will pull ample Gulf moisture and warm temperatures into the
Plains," said AccuWeather.com Storm Warning Meteorologist Billy Clark.
The storms will outnumber and outperform the storms on Wednesday that
rumbled across the region and brought small hail, downpours and even a
funnel cloud in Kansas.
An
area from western Kansas to the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas to
south-central Texas will be at the highest risk through Thursday
evening.
"Damaging winds, localized flooding, hail and even isolated tornadoes are possible," said Clark.
Travel will be risky, especially during the evening commute when these
storms could be at their highest potency. Interstate 20, I-40, and I-70
along with state and local roads in between may have delays and slow
travel.
People living in or driving through the area should be on the lookout for rapidly changing weather conditions.
High-profile vehicles will be most vulnerable to gusty winds. Blinding
downpours will also bring issues on the road for motorists as visibility
will be greatly reduced.
Occasionally, gusty winds ahead of a thunderstorm can kick up dust and
bring a period of near-zero visibility which is certainly a possibility.
Groups or individuals that have outdoor activities planned may want to
reschedule or move them to earlier in the day when the risk will be much
lower.
The severe storms are expected to remain west of the Dallas and Oklahoma City metro areas into Thursday night.
Staying alert is important during severe weather situations. Make sure
to have a weather radio handy and fresh batteries installed before the
storms strike.
The storms will weaken into Friday morning but with the storm lingering over the Rockies, another round of strong storms will ramp up Friday afternoon.
This threat will extend across south-central Nebraska, western and
central Kansas, western Oklahoma and into central, southern and coastal
Texas. The greatest risk will be across the lower Rio Grande
Valley, where damaging winds, downpours and an isolated tornado will be
possible.
Drenching storms will also bring the threat for flooding across the Gulf Coast through the end of the week.
An unusual cloud formation, known as Undulatus Asperatus, appears over the region amid downpour.
Photograph by @AGJMills
This was the scene above the Midlands today, as an unusual cloud
formation brought thunder and lightning as well as torrential downpours
to the region.
The "Undulatus Asperatus" clouds turned the sky dark during the
unseasonal June weather. There were reports of localised flooding as
heavy rain was interspersed with sunshine as the weather turned
distinctly sour.
People were still recovering from Saturday's stormy weather when more storms hit Bridgnorth today.
The National Police Air Service, based at Halfpenny Green Airport near
Bridgnorth, was set to be deployed to help to look for a missing person
in the town. But the service had to be grounded due to lightning strikes
around the airbase.
The storms also delayed the start of practice rounds for the PGA Euro Pro Tour at Astbury Hall Golf Course, near Bridgnorth.
There was also flooding in Albrighton, with one
person taking to Twitter to warn people of trouble on the roads.
David Gregory-Kumar tweeted to say: "Flash flooding around Albrighton.
Just had to drive through half a foot of water. Take care out there."
Over the weekend, about 7,000 lightning bolts were thought to have
struck the country, containing an estimated 1.75million kilowatt-hours
of energy.
The Met Office could not confirm the exact number of strikes but a
spokesman said: "We were drawing up warm, humid air from the south,
North Africa way, and at the same time we had low pressure coming in
from the Atlantic. It's the combination of those two things that
provided enough energy for the lightning strikes."
Lightning across the country hit at least three homes, including one in
South Molton, Devon, which caught fire, while 18mm of rain fell in an
hour at Santon Downham, in Suffolk.
But amid all the gloom there is also some good news - with the Met
Office saying this summer could see the hottest average temperatures
since 2006.
VisitEngland spokeswoman Angelah Sparg said: "Tourism businesses had a
slow start to the year with the floods, so they will welcome the
forecast of a good summer.
"Good weather is a great way to entice people out and about."
Unfortunately, though, thunderstorms and rain are expected to return during this week. - Shropshire Star.
Dramatic Lightning Display Over Cologne, Germany
Strange lightning video recorded over Cologne Germany on June 9 2014. Shutterstock/ Frank L Junior
This beautiful lightning display appeared today over Cologne, Germany. I don't think I've ever seen lightning behave like this.
Below Normal Temperatures Cover 90% Of The North Atlantic
I masked off all above normal temperatures in the North Atlantic as
white, and you can see that more than 90% of the region above 10N is
below normal temperature. Kevin Trenberth says that the small warm spot
near New Jersey is caused by global warming.
A funnel cloud hovered for a brief time over the Atlantic Ocean near
Atlantic Beach Wednesday afternoon. The rare weather phenomenon could be
seen for miles inland.
The funnel cloud was part of a strong storm system
that hit the First Coast just after lunch time. The funnel cloud nearly
touched down in the area between Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach. FCN
Meteorologist Mike Prangley says it was not classified as a waterspout
because it did not touch down on the ocean.
WATCH: Rare funnel cloud hovers over Florida beach.
Prangley said the First Coast could see an increase in waterspouts and
funnel clouds in the coming months due to the water temperatures rising
above 80 degrees.
There were no reports of damage due to Wednesday's funnel cloud. Many viewers sent us photos and videos of the rare event.
- First Coast News.
The Ground Surrounding Alaska's Shrinking Lakes Is Re-Freezing
New permafrost is forming around Twelvemile Lake in Alaska.Martin Briggs, US Geological Survey
But researchers pooh-pooh the evidence,
insisting that the icy ground will only last another 70 years because of
"global warming."
How did they come to that conclusion? Computer modeling, of course. It's amazing what you can make a computer do.
Some Alaskan lakes have shrunk since the 1950s, while others have expanded, says a recent article in Live Science.
"Earlier studies suggest that melting permafrost plays a role in the
shifting lake sizes," the article explains. "For example, lakes may
drain away when the shallow permafrost below them thaws, like opening
the drain in a tub .... where permafrost is thicker and melts more
slowly, lakes may grow as the melting ice adds to their extent."
In other words, it makes no difference whether those lakes expand or shrink, it's still caused by global warming.
The ground is thawing? Blame global warming. The ground is freezing? Blame global warming.
As I said, it's amazing what you can make a computer do.
Twelvemile Lake - so-named because it's 12 miles
from the town of Fort Yukon - is one of millions of lakes that dot
Alaska's permafrost landscape. (Permafrost is soil containing ice that
stays frozen for more than two years.)
"These lakes are the bellwether of climate change," says Martin Briggs,
lead study author and a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological
Survey.
Briggs is certain that the permafrost at Twelvemile Lake is new, because
he's been tracking vegetation growth near the receding lake during the
past 20 years.
As the lake receded, bands of willow shrubs grew on the newly exposed
shores, and patches of permafrost recently appeared under the shrubs.
Briggs, along with Prof. Jeffrey McKenzie from McGill's Dept. of Earth
and Planetary Science, concluded that the extra shade provided by the
new shrubs both cooled and dried the soil, enabling the ground to now
remain frozen year-round.
According to their computer simulations (there's that computer thing
again), the permafrost at Twelvemile Lake could reach a maximum of 20
feet (6 meters) in about 45 years, and then start melting again.
Oh, wait. Maybe it's simply a natural cycle
The article waits until the very end - the final two paragraphs -
before mentioning that some lakes "are shrinking simply because the
region is receiving less rainfall than 30 years ago."
According to a study led by USGS research geologist Lesleigh Anderson,
"Central Alaska regularly goes through wetter and drier periods, such as
those driven by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a climate cycle that flips sea-surface temperatures in the north Pacific every 20 to 30 years."
Hmmm. Shall we believe the computer models?
Or shall we believe the actual physical observations showing that these wet/dry fluctuations are the result of a natural cycle?
Anderson's study was published July 24, 2013, in Geophysical Research
Letters. The permafrost study was published on Feb. 14, s 2014, also in
Geophysical Research Letters.
Thanks to Jim Shepherd and Marc Morano for these links
"Permafrost around Alaskan lakes is growing," says Jim. "And yet the
warm-mongers insist that it is only temporary and in seven decades will
start to decline due to global warming. Who will be around in 70 years
to verify such biased reporting?"
Anger Rises As India Swelters Under Record Heatwave
A man protects himself from sun with a cloth as he
sits on top of a cycle rickshaw carrying laundry on a hot summer day in
the old quarters of Delhi June 11, 2014. Reuters/Adnan Abidi
Swathes of north India are sweltering under the longest heat wave on
record, triggering widespread breakdowns in the supply of electricity
and increasingly angry protests over the government's failure to provide
people with basic services.
The power crisis and heat wave, which some activists say has caused
dozens of deaths, is one of the first major challenges for Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, who was elected three weeks ago partly on
promises to provide reliable electricity supplies.
In Delhi, where temperatures have hit 45 Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) for
six days straight, residents marched through the streets in protests
organised by opposition parties on Thursday. In the north of the city,
people enraged by night-long outages clashed with police and torched a
bus, media reported.
Delhi is suffering staggered cuts as power companies
ration spikes in demand as people crank up air coolers to fight the
heat. Modi has inherited the shortages from his predecessors, and power
distribution is partially the responsibility of state governments.
Residents staged sit-in protests outside electricity substations in
Uttar Pradesh late on Wednesday, days after protesters had set
substations on fire and taken power officials hostage after weeks of
daily blackouts.
"God alone can provide any relief from the prevailing power crisis,"
said A.P. Misra, director of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation. Having
drawn on all available supplies, Misra said power would only return once
rain arrived and demand fell.
The protests and collapse in the power supply underline how ill-equipped
much of India remains to sudden surges in temperature, which many worry
are happening more frequently because of changes in the climate and
rapid urbanisation.
BODIES
For L.D. Chopra, a 76-year old asthmatic in Delhi, the power cuts almost mean the difference between life and death.
Chopra was taken to hospital on May 31 after falling unconscious when a
machine he depends on for oxygen support switched off in the outages, he
told Reuters.
Like Chopra's home in the east of the city, much of Delhi has been
without power for 10 hours per day in the last week, after a jump in
demand and damage from a thunderstorm overwhelmed the grid, causing
blackouts.
Seventy-nine unidentified bodies were discovered in Delhi in the last
four days, said the Centre of Holistic Development, a group working to
end homelessness. Founder Sunil Kumar Aledia attributed the high number
of deaths to the extreme weather.
India has long-suffered deadly heatwaves. Periods of extreme
temperatures have led to thousands of deaths since the 1990s, largely in
rural areas where basic infrastructure is poor.
R.K. Jenamani, director of the meteorological office in Delhi, said his
research did not point to any long-term trend of rising temperatures.
But a combination of urbanisation, extensive use of concrete and more
cars did appear to be changing microclimates within and near cities,
exacerbating the impact of heatwaves, he said.
Temperatures were rising faster earlier in the day and staying higher for longer in congested built-up areas, he said.
The World Bank warned in a report last year that parts of India were
rapidly becoming "heat-islands", and that urban planners needed to act
to counteract the dangers.
"We are witnessing more serious and more extreme events," said Anumita
Roychowdhury at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), warning
about the impact on public health.
The heatwave has led to a jump in deadly ozone pollution in Delhi to
levels that exceed government limits, the CSE said, with levels rising
up to 315 percent in the city since June 1.
"We need to watch and assess this trend very carefully in this climate-challenged world," said Roychowdhury. - Reuters.
Almost Two Years Since The North Pole Had A Normal Summer Day
Summer temperatures at the North Pole have been persistently below
normal for almost two years. The last summer day which reached the mean
was in August, 2012. Every summer day in 2013 and 2014 has had below
normal temperatures, with this year running far below normal.
June 02, 2014 - NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - The National Weather Service says it has confirmed that it was a tornado
that destroyed a home, knocked over tractor-trailers and snapped trees
in half in rural eastern New York.
Margaret Krylowicz looks over her home that was destroyed from a
fast-moving storm that swept across Route 20 on Thursday, May 22, 2014,
in Duanesburg, N.Y. Krylowicz had left her house to run an errand when
the storm hit. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)
Meteorologists who surveyed the storm damage damage
Friday in Schenectady County say the funnel cloud appeared to have
touched ground Thursday afternoon near Duanesburg, 20 miles west of
Albany.
The twister leveled a home, damaged other buildings, knocked down power lines and trees and flipped over at least two tractor-trailers on Interstate 88. No injuries were reported.
Volunteers Mikala Smith, left, and Hussan Abdulmagid remove debris from a
home that was destroyed by a storm on Friday, May 23, 2014, in
Duanesburg, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
This home in Delanson was leveled by a tornado that swept through
Montgomery and Schenectady counties on Thursday, May 22, 2014. (Cindy
Schultz / Times Union)
Heavy winds blew over two Tractor tailers on I-88 Thursday afternoon,
May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg, N.Y. (Will Seibert via Twitter)
An upended tractor trailer, tipped during a fast-moving storm, blocks
traffic on I-88 iin Schenectady County. (Cindy Schultz/Times Union)
Storm damage seen from I-88 Thursday afternoon, May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg, N.Y. (Will Seibert via Twitter)
Piles of pea-sized hail cover the ground in Bethlehem after a storm
moved over the region Thursday, May 22, 2014, on Delaware Ave. in Delmr,
N.Y. (Will Waldron / Times Union) (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Margaret Krylowicz's home that was destroyed from a fast-moving storm
that swept across Route 20 on Thursday, May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg,
N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)
Scott Gray, a neighbor of home owner Darlene Pettit, carries hay for her
horses past a tree that fell in the wake of a fast-moving storm on
Thursday, May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times
Union)
Home owner Darlene Pettit looks over a tree that fell in the wake of a
fast-moving storm on Thursday, May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg, N.Y. (Cindy
Schultz / Times Union)
A fast-moving storm blew down a wall on Thursday, May 22, 2014, at the
Duanesburg Volunteer Ambulace Corp. in Duanesburg, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz /
Times Union)
A man works to tarp a roof that was damaged in a fast-moving storm on
Thursday, May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times
Union)
Workers prepare to move a truck that was blown over from a fast-moving
storm on Interstate 88 on Thursday, May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg, N.Y.
(Cindy Schultz / Times Union)
The storm system weakened as it moved eastward across the Hudson Valley.
The weather service says the storm hit around 3:40 p.m. Thursday, around the time President Barack Obama was speaking at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, 40 miles east of Duanesburg. - MYFOXNY.
November 19, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Stunned residents across the Midwest picked through the wreckage of what used to be their homes on Monday after a fierce storm system swept across six states, spawned nearly 60 reported tornadoes and killed at least eight people. From the air, large areas of the devastated city of Washington, Ill., looked like a moonscape as the vastness of the devastation was exposed.
"It's All Gone" - U.S. Midwest Communities Weight Costs Of Deadly Tornadoes.
A garage in the Town of Hustisford, Wis., collapsed and its walls were turned
inside-out after severe weather moved through the area on Nov. 17.
Even large electrical towers made of steel lay on the ground, twisted like pretzels. The storm system tore the steeple off a church 10 minutes after Mass let out and even forced the Chicago Bears to stop their game against the Baltimore Ravens. Jeff Ekena, Principal of John L. Hensey Elementary in Washington said he hunkered down in the basement with his family when the storm came through sounding “like a freight train.” The Ekenas emerged to find “just flatness,” and then the destruction beyond, he said. "Nobody has anything left," Nancy Rampy, of Washington, Ill., told NBC Chicago. "It's all gone. It's just awful." Guida Scheer, owner of one of the destroyed homes, sifted through the rubble and pulled out a Bible. “It was my boyfriend's Bible,” she said. “It was actually his dad's and that was one of the things that he wanted to make sure that we tried to find.”
WATCH: U.S. Midwest communities weigh costs of deadly tornadoes.
“I’ve found pieces of my house 100 yards northeast of me,” Scott Gundy, another resident of Washington, where one person died, told TODAY. “I got the most important things out, which were pictures, video of my kids growing up,” he said. “To me that’s the most important thing. Everything else can be replaced.” The mayor of Washington, Gary Manier, said the devastation there was “unbelievable.” He said that 250 to 500 houses were destroyed in Washington, a city of about 15,000 people. The National Weather Service rated the tornado that ripped through the area an EF-4 — a notch down from most intense rating — with wind speeds ranging from 170 to 190 mph. Andrea Bowers said she and her husband and their 3-month-old daughter took shelter in the basement of their Washington home. The couple used their bodies to cover their baby and protect her from falling debris. "Everything just started falling in and we just kind of rode it out and just prayed," she said. Ryan Bowers said they were all unharmed , and that his wife and daughter even fell sleep during the storm.
Richard Miller of Washington, Ill., salvages items from his brothers home, after a tornado leveled a subdivision
on the North side of Washington, Ill., on Nov. 17. Intense thunderstorms and tornadoes swept across
the Midwest, causing extensive damage in several central Illinois communities while
sending people to their basements for shelter.
Pat Whitaker, 82, sits under a blanket in her nightgown outside her home waiting for
help to come in Gifford, Ill. on Nov. 17.
A neighborhood in the Devonshire subdivision of Washington, Ill., is left in ruins
after a tornado tore through the northern part of the town on Nov. 17.
Schools were closed in Washington on Monday, and churches and community groups also canceled events as the focus turned to recovery efforts and helping victims. The Red Cross opened a shelter, and mental health experts were on hand. Earlier, people who had left and were trying to come back were turned away by police because of concerns about unstable buildings, and other lurking dangers. “There's a lot of power lines down a lot of power lines that could still be alive. There's gas leaks all over the place. So it is still a very dangerous situation," Illinois State Trooper Dustin Pierce told NBC station WEEK TV. Later, many of Washington's residents, including members of the high school football team, went to the destroyed areas to pitch and help those whose homes were destroyed. “Hopefully, we can grow strong as a community together and jet get over it,” said one of the football players, Nathan Barker. The National Weather Service said there were 81 reported tornadoes from the system on Sunday. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn declared seven counties disaster areas. He said that dozens of people were hurt.
WATCH: Cellphone video captures a twister touching down in a central Illinois neighborhood.
Further south in New Minden, Ill., the Rev. Timothy Mueller of St. John’s Lutheran Church told TODAY that a twister ripped the steeple off his church just 10 minutes after Mass. Slideshow: Deadly storms sweep the Midwest Steve Smedley / AP A storm system spun off multiple tornadoes killing several people and flattening an entire neighborhood. Launch slideshow “This has been rebuilt twice before in storms like this and, Lord willing, we’ll be able to rebuild again,” he said. In neighboring Indiana, Phyllis Rawlins of Kokomo said she was still in shock.
“The roof was completely taken out,” she said looking where her home stood. “There is nothing you can see that’s left.” She was able to save a Christmas ornament with a picture of her late husband of 42 years on it. He died last year. “I had a great loss when I lost him and now this is another loss but I will make it with God’s help.” Rawlins said. On Monday afternoon, the first victim from the storm was identified as 51-year-old Steve Neubauer, whose body was found near his home in Washington, Tazewell County Coroner Dr. James J. Baldi said in a statement. The coroner did not offer details. An autopsy was scheduled for late Monday. Also among the dead were an 80-year-old man and his 78-year-old sister in Nashville, Ill., authorities said. Two people were killed in Brookport, near the Kentucky line, where police with dogs were doing door to door and a dusk-to-dawn curfew was in place. One person was killed in Unionville, Ill., authorities said. Two men died in Michigan. A 21-year-old was found dead in his vehicle, the car's roof caved in, in Jackson County. A 59-year-old was found entangled in high-voltage power lines near his home in Perry, Mich. The unusually large and fast-moving system forced the Chicago Bears to halt their game against the Baltimore Ravens and NFL fans at Soldier Field to run for shelter as menacing clouds rolled in.
A tornado 2 miles west of Flatville, Ill., moves northeast at 12:51pm on Nov. 17. The tornado damaged
many farm buildings and homes on its way to Gifford, Ill., where scores of houses were devastated.
People walk down a street where homes once stood in Washington, Ill., on Nov. 18. The National
Weather Service says the tornado that hit Washington had a preliminary rating of EF-4, meaning
wind speeds of 170 mph to 190 mph.
Flattened homes and debris clearly show the path of a Nov. 17 tornado that hit Washington, Ill., on Nov. 18.
According to reports, the tornado that ripped across Washington, Ill.,
has been preliminary classified as an EF-4.
Chicago’s two major airports briefly stopped traffic while the metropolitan area was under a tornado watch. The preliminary tornado count from the storm system stood at 59 – 25 confirmed and 34 unconfirmed – on Monday night, said Dr. Greg Forbes, severe weather expert at The Weather Channel. Illinois and Indiana had the most reported tornadoes, with eight confirmed and 10 unconfirmed in Illinois and six confirmed and 15 unconfirmed in Indiana, Forbes said. Besides the reported tornadoes, there were 358 reports of damaging wind and 40 reports of large hail, said Rich Thompson, a lead forecaster with the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. The storm weakened as it headed toward the Northeast, said Kevin Noth, lead meteorologist at The Weather Channel. Despite the devastation left behind, as communities sought to recover from the deadly storm, many remained optimistic. "We'll get through this because we all stand together," Washington's Rampy said. “It’s sad,” said the school principal Ekena. “We’ll rebuild. But we got the biggest things, which was my family … we’ll take care of the rest.” - NBC News.
How Rare Was The November Midwest Tornado Outbreak?
In the wake of the deadly Midwest tornado outbreak on Sunday, many people are wondering how rare tornadoes are during November. The short answer is that tornadoes can occur in the Midwest during any month of the year. However, the number of tornadoes diminishes substantially during the cold-weather months. There is a secondary severe weather season that occurs during October and November, which favors the Deep South. While rare, tornadoes reaching as far north as the Midwest and mid-Atlantic are not unheard of during November. Occasionally, a small number of the tornadoes can be rather strong.
According to Harold Brooks, senior research scientist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla., "The peak of the secondary season for the United States as a whole is rather diffuse, but is centered over the middle of November." The uptick in severe thunderstorms during October and November can be simply explained by the routine strengthening of storm systems during the autumn that are able to pull lingering warm and humid air northward from the Gulf of Mexico.
Brooks stated that this particular event had very strong winds aloft, which not only greatly increased the forward speed of the severe weather, but also added fuel to the individual storms. According to Greg Carbin, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center, "Winds aloft over the region strengthened rapidly from 70 mph to 140 mph on Sunday." A chain of events happened at just the right time over a concentrated area. Winds near the surface rapidly brought in moisture. During the midday Sunday, the sun came out and warmed the air near the ground as the strong winds aloft brought in dry, cooler air. The result was an extremely unstable atmosphere and a significant number of strong tornadoes.
Every decade as far back as the 1980s has brought multiple tornado outbreaks during November with a number of fatalities. "During November there is a tornado outbreak about once every seven to eight years," Carbin stated. "The most comparable event is probably Nov. 22, 1992, which had a large number of tornadoes in Indiana and Kentucky," Brooks said. According to the Indianapolis National Weather Service office, the 1992 outbreak produced the largest number of November tornadoes [15] on a single day in Indiana on record.
Other significant November outbreaks have occurred during the last 12 years. The last decade brought eight tornado outbreaks. The most significant of these for the Midwest occurred in 2001 and 2002. During the Veterans Day Outbreak of Nov. 9 to 11, 2002, there were close to 80 tornadoes that took the lives of 36 people and injured more than 300 others. In 2001, spanning Nov. 23 to 24, there were approximately five dozen tornadoes that killed 13 people and injured more than 200 others. November tornadoes were very rare during the 1960s and 1970s. The preliminary count of tornadoes through Nov. 17, 2013 is 886, which is well below the most recent eight-year annual average of 1,424 through mid-November.
As bad as the event was on Sunday, it could have been worse. "If the storm system would have tracked over the lower Mississippi Valley, closer to the source of warm and humid air, instead of the Great Lakes, we would have likely had an even greater number of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes," Carbin said. Moving forward through the end of the month, there will likely be a few more potent storm systems developing. However, the chance that all of the necessary ingredients will come together to produce a tornado outbreak for each and every system is quite low. For people in the Midwest, the secondary tornado season is winding down through the latter half of November. Odds are against a similar setup as far north as the last over the Midwest. However, as climatology suggests, the chances are higher for severe thunderstorms over the South. - AccuWeather.
November 18, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Dozens of tornadoes and intense thunderstorms swept across the Midwest
on Sunday, unleashing powerful winds that flattened entire
neighborhoods, flipping over cars, uprooting trees and leaving at least
six people dead.
Add captionA nasty field of debris in Washington after Sunday's tornado. Twitter Photo: @MattDayhoff
Unbelievable damage on Mackenzie Street in Washington. Twitter Photo: @ZackStieber
Josh Ramsey recovers items from a family friend's home. Twitter Photo: @ZackStieber
Ray Baughman embraces family after his home was destroyed by tornado in Pekin. Twitter Photo: @ZackStieber
Illinois took the brunt of the fury as the string of unusually powerful late-season tornadoes tore across the state, injuring dozens and even prompting officials at Chicago's Soldier Field to evacuate the stands and delay the Bears game.
"The whole neighborhood's gone. The wall of my fireplace is all that is left of my house," said Michael Perdun, speaking by cellphone from the hard-hit town of Washington, where he said his neighborhood was wiped out in a matter of seconds.
WATCH: Tornadoes leave nothing but grief across Midwest.
"I stepped outside and I heard it coming. My daughter was already in the basement, so I ran downstairs and grabbed her, crouched in the laundry room and all of a sudden I could see daylight up the stairway and my house was gone."
An elderly man and his sister were killed when a tornado hit their
home around noon in the rural community of New Minden, said coroner Mark
Styninger. The National Weather Service in St. Louis determined that
the New Minden tornado rated an EF-4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale,
meaning it had winds of at least 166 mph.
An aerial photo of the destruction in Washington Twitter Photo: @4cast4you
Twitter Photo: @smcley18
Twitter Photo: @Mojo_Bojo
Coal City tornado formation. Twitter Photo: @jbrncich
A third person died in Washington, while three others perished in Massac County in the far southern part of the state, said Patti Thompson of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. She did not provide details..
"This is likely to be an EF-3 or higher tornado (in Washington, Ill.)," said Dr. Greg Forbes, severe weather expert at The Weather Channel.
Southwest of Chicago, the town of Coal City was hit by a confirmed EF-2 tornado, determined after an initial NWS survey of the area.
With communications difficult and many roads impassable, it remained unclear how many people were killed or hurt. The Illinois National Guard said it had dispatched 10 firefighters and three vehicles to Washington to assist with immediate search and recovery operations.
In Washington, a rural community of 16,000, whole blocks of houses were erased from the landscape, and Illinois State Police Trooper Dustin Pierce said the tornado cut a path from one end of town to the other, knocking down power lines, rupturing gas lines and ripping off roofs.
An auto parts store with several people inside was reduced to a pile of bricks, metal and rebar; a battered car, its windshield impaled by a piece of lumber, was flung alongside it. Despite the devastation, all the employees managed to crawl out of the rubble unhurt, Pierce said.
Firefighters in Washington, Ill survey damage after tornado leveled over 50 homes. Twitter Photo: @ZackStieber
Damage in Brookport, Illinois near Paducah. Twitter Photo: @JeremyHL
Twitter Photo: @craigrwall
Crome rack in Coal City Twitter Photo: @schervenyxo
"I went over there immediately after the tornado, walking through the neighborhoods, and I couldn't even tell what street I was on," Washington Alderman Tyler Gee told WLS-TV.
"Just completely flattened - some of the neighborhoods here in town, hundreds of homes."
Among those who lost his home was Curt Zehr, who said he was amazed
at the speed with which the tornado turned his farmhouse outside
Washington into a mass of rubble scattered over hundreds of yards. His
truck was sent flying and landed on a tree that had toppled over.
"They heard the siren... and saw (the tornado) right there and got into the basement," he said of his wife and adult son who were home at the time. Then, seconds later, when they looked out from their hiding place the house was gone and "the sun was out and right on top of them."
At OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, spokeswoman Amy Paul said 37 patients had been treated, eight with injuries ranging from broken bones to head injuries that were serious enough to be admitted. Another hospital, Methodist Medical Center in Peoria, treated more than a dozen, but officials there said none of them were seriously injured.
Twitter Photo: @tayluvsRainbow
Twitter Photo: @ShannaJudiann
Twitter Photo: @puckchk
Twitter Photo: @DanDarling2
Steve Brewer, Methodist Medical Center's chief operating officer, said that doctors and other medical professionals were setting up a temporary emergency care center to treat the injured before transporting them to hospitals, while others were dispatched to search through the rubble for survivors.
By nightfall, Trooper Pierce said there were reports of looting in Washington.
About 90 minutes after the tornado destroyed homes in Washington, the storm darkened downtown Chicago. As the rain and high winds slammed into the area, officials at Soldier Field evacuated the stands and ordered the Bears and Baltimore Ravens off the field. Fans were allowed back to their seats shortly after 2 p.m., and the game resumed after about a two-hour delay.
Kentucky
Tornadoes were spotted in at least eight Kentucky counties.
A
home in Rochester in Butler County had its roof blown off and there
were reports of damages to homes and other structures in the various
counties, but no reports of injuries.
Illinois
At
least 50 homes were destroyed by a possible tornado in Brookport,
according to reports. Search and rescue operations occurred in that town
on Sunday afternoon and evening. WPSD reported that there was “massive
devastation” in Brookport, with gas leaks and downed power lines. Mayor
Dave Mingus tells NBC News that approximately 100 houses are damaged and
that 25 to 50 of those are uninhabitable.
More than 80,000 customers were without power on Sunday, most of them in Peoria.
Severe damage was reported in Pontiac and northeast of Champagne.
At
least one tornado hit portions of Washington and another touched down
in Pekin, authorities confirmed. The Peoria Journal Start reported that
Georgetown Commons apartment complex in Washington was severely damaged
and other areas were hit hard. Authorities were doing a house-to-house
search.
Indiana
Kokomo police asked residents
to stay home and off the streets after city officials declared a state
of emergency in the wake of severe storms.
The town of Kokomo has declared a state of emergency through Monday morning. Schools will not be open on Monday.
Gov.
Mike Pence says the cities of Washington in southwestern Indiana and
Lebanon in central Indiana have sustained significant damage and that 12
counties either reported tornado touchdowns or storm damage.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Kim Riley says a teacher has been injured after the storm heavily damaged a school south of Lafayette.
The
NWS says a trained spotter reported a tornado along Interstate 74 near
State Route 63 in northern Vermillion County on Sunday afternoon. It
also reported power lines down in adjacent Fountain County.
Vermillion
County Sheriff's Department Director of Communication Derrek Williams
reported widespread damage in the northern part of the county, about 60
miles northwest of Indianapolis.
Michigan
253,000 Without Power in Michigan
High winds and rain slammed into the western part of the state.
Consumers Energy reported thousands of power outages, especially east of U.S. 131 between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.
No immediate reports of injuries.
Churches in western Michigan canceled evening worship services.
Missouri
Ameren Missouri reported more than 37,000 outages Sunday afternoon, mostly in the St. Louis area.
The
National Weather Service reported roof and shingle damage across parts
of St. Louis and St. Louis County, as well as damaged and uprooted
trees.
In St. Charles County, roof damage was reported at a Wentzville school
Ohio
More than 38,000 customers are without power across northwest Ohio due to the storm.
Wisconsin
Strong winds damaged some buildings and downed numerous trees in Dodge County. There were no reports of injuries.
In
the town of Hustisford, cattle sheds, garages and storage sheds were
damaged, said Dodge County Emergency Management Director Joseph Meagher
said.
