Tornado kills four Boy Scouts in Iowa
Tragedy struck a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa last night, when a tornado swept through, killing four Boy Scouts and injuring at least 48 people. A tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service 12 minutes before the tornado hit the camp at 6:35 pm CDT, but it appears the campers never heard the sirens, either because the sirens were too far away from the remote camp, or because the storm caused a power outage in the nearest town of Blencoe, which silenced that town's tornado siren.
Tornadoes also hit southern Minnesota, eastern Kansas, and eastern Nebraska yesterday, and the Storm Prediction Center recorded 52 tornado reports. A tornado caused major damage in Manhattan and Kansas State University, tossing cars and destroying several businesses. A half-mile wide tornado hit the town of Chapman, destroying 60 homes and killing one person. Another person died in a mobile home in the Jackson County town of Soldier. Yesterday's deaths bring this season's tornado death toll up to 118--the most since 1998, when 130 people were killed.
Figure 1. Radar reflectivity (top) and Doppler velocity (bottom) for the June 1, 2008 tornado that hit the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in western Iowa. The tornado was embedded in a line of severe thunderstorms that swept through the state, and did not exhibit the classic hook-shaped echo one commonly sees in tornadoes. The most dangerous tornadoes commonly show a hook echo and tend to be spawned by "discrete supercells"--isolated thunderstorms that are not embedded in a solid line of thunderstorms.
Tornado activity forecast
The Storm Prediction Center is calling for a "Slight" risk of severe weather across the Midwest today, from Michigan to Oklahoma. We can expect a few more tornadoes today in the affected region, although probably not as many twisters as were reported in yesterday's outbreak. The "Slight" risk of severe weather continues Friday across the Midwest, then shifts to the East Coast by Saturday.
Tropics
An area of disturbed weather has developed in the southern Gulf of Mexico between the Florida Keys and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula this morning. The thunderstorm activity is under about 20 knots of wind shear, and is moving northward into the central Gulf of Mexico. I'm not expecting this to develop, but we should keep an eye on it. None of the computer models are forecasting development of a tropical depression in the Atlantic in the coming seven days.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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Folly Beach, Charleston County (SC).
Water spout, reported by Park/Forest srvc.
Water spout reported 1 mile east of Folly Beach County park.
it is a ULL, look at the HDW-HIGH on the sattelite
No, Its a tropical wave. The ull is just enhanceing thunderstorm activity with the wave.
Is that the same system moving through the gulf or two on that gfs.
I think it's 2 different systems.
IKE I would like that blob to go a little farther west and come to the Houston area. I would WELCOME the rain, but nothing too bad!
You've got a good chance of rain Friday from it.
Is a weather warning system not supposed to have a back-up power supply? DUUUUHHHHH ??!!!!!!!!
Showers and thunderstorms in the Gulf of Mexico is assoicated with surface speed convergence enhanced by upper divergent flow east of an upper level circulation in the W Gulf. The lastest visible imagery and surface observations showed a mid-level circulation associated with this feature moving off towards the north near 24N/85W. Conditions currently are only marginally for development but should improve as the system moves towards the north over the next 24 hrs. It will be monitored for signs of development.
Oh noooez, I admired the structure! Get the pitchforks!
No kidding, who designed that system?
Drak...rumor has it we may get wet...If you have anything to do with it.....Thanks!!!!!!!!
???
Damn, dude, you're good!
Through 3 PM...isolated showers and a few thunderstorms will continue to affect portions of southeast South Carolina. Majority of the activity is east of Interstate 95. Rainfall totals will reach up to a quarter an inch with higher totals in heavy downpours. However...most areas will remain dry.
I'm practicing for my new career in politics...how am I doing?
Press feels, for whatever reason, that you may (or may not) have had something to do with a bit of precipitational good luck that he may (or may not) experience in the near future...he was expressing his gratitude for any influence you may or may not have had in this watery good fortune...
LOL ok I got it.
Run as an Independent this year and I'll vote for you!
Have a softball game at 7pm and not enough females to play. Need a rainout instead of forefiet. (Not that it really matters, we are pretty bad - we'll lose anyway). But we have pride and would rather lose by our *uckines.
So, so sad about the Boy Scout Camp. Prayers for all involved.
GOM is looking interesting. Would definately love the rain...(Just dont wash out my 5 yr old's first dance recital Saturday!)
Will stay tuned!
LOL...there's a job I sure don't want...
*uckines
Never heard that one before...good, AND original
This flooding is a huge disaster up here, and I hope people elsewhere realize the magnitude. Tornadoes may be dramatic, but they're not the big story.
I'd post some pictures, except that my home has lost internet access, so I can't connect to my home computer from here to get them.
No, send it Florida way!
I think looking at it in motion there's a slight rotation.
"Our "hundred year flood" saw the river peak out at 28.5 feet."
That was the massive midwest flooding of 1993. Our river is projected to crest 4 1/2 feet higher than that. Right now, we're only 1 1/4 feet below that mark.
Are you getting all the relief and help required for the task at the Hospital?
I feel you Karen but the loss of life to 4 young boys out weighs any damage to property or inability to get between two towns. It's not the Tornado that's the big story, it's the fact 4 boys died because of it. The flooding is serious. I'm not trying to take away from that, we can only pray that the flooding doesn't cause any loss of life if it hasn't already.
Go away you troll.
Nice convection popping over the loop current area, possible low level rotation. Haven't looked at shear or anything else.
What do you think happens when hospitals lose power? And inability to get between towns means that people who work at the hospital can't get there. And yes, the midwest flooding has already directly taken seven lives -- not in our city, but in others. But it's the scale of the damage that's the real issue.
The patients haven't started showing up yet, but the hospital sent out an alert to try to discharge as many patients who don't need to be here as possible. I work in Psychiatry in a lab doing software development, so I'm not going to be directly dealing with the mess, but the rest of the place will.
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Well put.
makes me wonder
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