Today is the two-year anniversary of the largest tornado ever recorded. The tornado, a multiple-vortex EF-3 (by damage, EF-5 by radar measurements) grew to an astonishing width of 2.6 miles at its widest. The storm killed eight people, including three highly experienced storm chasers caught by the tornado’s explosive growth and erratic movement of the smaller vortices within the larger circulation.
As we close in on the end of meteorological spring, here’s a look at the 737 tornado reports sent to the Storm Prediction Center between March 1 and May 29 (today). It wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, all things considered. The actual number of tornadoes is lower than 737—multiple reports exist for many tornadoes, and some damage reported as being caused by a tornado turns out to be straight-line wind damage, instead.
A line of thunderstorms rolling into the Northeast has the potential to produce wind gusts to 70 MPH and hail to the size of ping pong balls as they move through. A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect ahead of the storms, which could impact the heavily-populated I-95 corridor around rush hour.
It’s been a crazy month for severe weather on the southern Plains, with Texas and Oklahoma making a spectacular recovery from drought by drowning under more rain than they’ve seen in years. Leaving behind hundreds of victims and millions (if not billions) of dollars in damage, the rain will finally start to subside this week.
Today’s the Friday before a three-day weekend, and just about everyone is checked-out until the day after Memorial Day. Since it’s just you and me around these parts, how about we get our nerd on while nobody’s looking? By popular request, here’s an explainer on how to analyze instability a SKEW-T chart by hand.
Fresh off of Wednesday’s calamity in Oklahoma City involving supercells and tigers, the region is preparing for another two full days under the threat of a significant, multi-day tornado outbreak. Some of the tornadoes that form on Friday and Saturday could be intense and long-lived, accompanied by hail larger than baseballs and destructive wind gusts.
People will go to any length for a little bit of internet fame, like setting your crotch on fire, jumping off a building, or planking on train tracks. Thankfully, there are less painful ways to achieve notoriety: lie through your teeth! Some sorry individual froze a water balloon yesterday and tried to pass it off as hail.
There’s a moderate risk for severe weather across a tiny but heavily-populated portion of Texas this afternoon, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, and Arlington. Intense tornadoes (≥EF-2), very large hail, and destructive wind gusts are possible. Stay alert if you’re in the area today, and prepare to take quick action to ensure your safety. You can keep up with watches/forecasts over at the Storm Prediction Center, and keep track of warnings from your local NWS office.
Cities like Dallas, Fort Worth, and Shreveport are under the gun for what could be an interesting bout of severe weather this afternoon, with storms potentially producing very large hail, damaging winds, and strong tornadoes. If you live in the area, make sure you have a way to receive warnings and a plan if you need to take life-saving action.
Many millions of us will experience severe thunderstorms over the coming weeks and months. When one of these intense storms crops up, a number of you will find yourselves driving into a major hailstorm, during which you may feel the urge to park under an overpass to protect your car. Don’t.
Today will be a pretty interesting weather day across some of the most heavily-populated sections of the East Coast, as there’s a heightened risk for large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes in major cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Here’s what you need to know to stay safe.
If it's daytime in mid-April, it means that there's a risk for severe weather somewhere on the Plains. Texas will be ground zero for the storms for the next few days—today, cities like San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Amarillo could all see hail larger than golf balls, damaging winds, and possibly a tornado or two. Insert your favorite "everything's bigger in Texas" joke here.
A large tornado tore through communities southeast of Rockford, Illinois, on Thursday evening, part of a larger outbreak of severe thunderstorms gripping the eastern half of the United States. Numerous videos show the strong tornado scraping across the landscape, and several buildings in the area were heavily damaged or destroyed.
Severe thunderstorms are rapidly firing up across the Upper Midwest this afternoon, with tornado watches in effect from central Missouri through the western shores of Lake Michigan. The largest cities under the risk for tornadoes this afternoon are Chicago and Milwaukee. Some of the tornadoes could be strong in the most well-organized supercells.
Things are going to get interesting in a hurry across the central part of the country this evening as severe thunderstorms rapidly develop in the moist, unstable air pumping in from the tropics. These dangerous thunderstorms even have the potential to produce a few tornadoes, some of which could be strong and stay on the ground for a while.
Today is the final day of a week-long severe weather outbreak that's produced hundreds of reports of large hail, damaging winds, and a couple of tornadoes across the central United States. The threat for severe thunderstorms is shifting east into more heavily populated areas. A few tornadoes are possible today from western Tennessee through the Washington D.C./Baltimore metro areas.
It looks like nature is finally catching up with the calendar, as the southern and central portions of the United States are facing a risk for severe thunderstorms every day through Friday. Unfortunately for residents and vehicles alike, April promises to be more active than this underwhelming March.
