The wild weather year of 2010 is closing out in dramatic fashion in the U.S., where a powerful storm system moving through the center of the country has spawned a tornado that killed three people in Northwest Arkansas early this morning. According to media reports, the tornado swept through Washington County in Northwest Arkansas between 6am - 6:10am CST this morning, killing three, injuring many more, and causing significant damage throughout the western portion of the county. Emergency responders are having difficulty reaching the damaged areas due to downed power lines, and power is out over most of the county. The supercell thunderstorm responsible for the tornado has maintained its identify for more than four hours along a path more than 200 miles long this morning, a unusually long time for a thunderstorm to maintain its identity. As of 11am EST, the tornado warnings for the thunderstorm has been issued for eastern Missouri, and the storm is headed towards St. Louis. Visit our interactive tornado page and severe weather page to monitor this ongoing severe weather situation. Today's three tornado deaths brought this year's tornado death toll to 39. This is higher than last year's record-low total of 21 tornado deaths, but much lower the 3-year average of 76 tornado deaths per year.
Figure 1. Radar reflectivity (top) and Doppler velocity image (bottom) of the supercell thunderstorm that hit northwestern Arkansas this moring, killing three people in the town of Cincinnati.
Meanwhile, the storm responsible for the deadly tornado is also bringing a dangerous winter storm to the West and Midwest. Blizzard warnings are in effect for southeastern Wyoming, western Nebraska, the Dakotas, and western Minnesota. According to the latest NOAA Storm Summary, the storm has dumped over 30 inches of snow in Colorado at Coal Bank Pass and Skyway, and at Sage Creek Basin in Wyoming. Some other selected snowfall amounts as of 10am EST:
Idaho City, ID: 36.0"
Soda Springs, CA: 36.0"
Deer Valley Daly West, UT: 33.0"
Williams, AZ: 29.5"
Sheep Canyon, WA: 29.0"
Missoula, MT: 24.0"
Flagstaff, AZ: 22.0"
Boise, ID: 20.0"
Green Mountain, NV: 20.0"
Durango, CO: 20.1"
Jackson, WY: 17.3"
Los Alamos, NM: 17.0"
Creighton, SD: 12.0"
Fergus Fall, MN: 11.0"
Williston, ND: 7.1"
The storm also brought very heavy rains in excess of two inches to portions of Arizona, Missouri, and Arkansas, with amounts in excess of four inches reported in California and Oregon. The storm will intensify and move northeastwards into Canada north of Minnesota tonight, bringing an additional 6 - 12 inches of snow to the warned areas.
Have a Happy New Year's everyone, and I'm hoping 2011 brings us a little less in the way of wild weather!
Jeff Masters
The owner of this car stands on the trunk of the 100 year old California Oak tree to take pictures of his damaged vehicle. The tree and others came down early this morning as fierce winds up to 75 MPH tore through the SoCal area, This pic was taken in the San Fernando Valley. The trees were no match for the heavy rains of last week the these winds.
So nice to see some sunshine.
Taken on a FSR off the Mountain Loop Highway, Granite Falls, WA
Tornado (Preliminary est. F3) damage, Sunset Hills Missouri.
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 — Blog Index
EXTENDED FORECAST...
THE UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL STRENGTHEN AS IT MOVES SOUTHEAST INTO THE
MID ATLANTIC STATES ALLOWING FOR A TROUGH TO SET UP OVER THE
EASTERN UNITED STATES THIS WEEKEND. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR HIGH
PRESSURE TO SHIFT FROM THE CENTRAL CANADA INTO THE SOUTHEAST
UNITED STATES. HOWEVER...THE COLD AIR ASSOCIATED WITH THE HIGH
WILL BE MOVING MORE THROUGH THE TENNESSEE VALLEY INSTEAD OF
FLORIDA AT THIS TIME. BUT THE LATEST LONG RANGE MODELS ARE SHOWING
A LITTLE BIT COOLER TEMPERATURES COMPARE TO EARLIER RUNS. WILL
CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE TRENDS IN THE LONG RANGE MODELS AND IF THE
TREND CONTINUES THEN WILL MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THE WEEKEND TEMPS IN
LATER PACKAGES.
You're welcome:)
When this pool of cold Arctic air and the Caribbean-GOM heat influx typical for La Nina seasons collide over the Great Lakes or the Northeast, the heavy temp gradiant is going to fuel any storm or blizzard that comes by.
2009, an El Nino Modoki:
2008, a La Nina:
Clearly, the warmer area west of Greenland is present compared to both years, and the Arctic dipole cannot be explained by any natural ENSO-dependant oscillations. Although the global temperatures fit between those of 2009 and 2008, the main Gulf Stream is weaker, and a warm anomaly streches from West Africa to Trinidad which is even apparent compared to last winter, when it was surprisingly warm south of the Canary Current and in the MDR, while the West Greenland warmth can be explained in part by storms drifting off North America, which bring warm air east of Newfoundland along their entire path, and by the earlier Greenland Blocking High.
Thanks. Interesting links
Viewing: 1051 - 1061
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 — Blog Index