News DetailPowerful wind storm pounding the Canadian Prairies!
Posted At: November 13, 2007 @ 11:59 AM
Posted By: Reed Timmer
Related Categories: General
The intense pressure gradient between a strong cyclone (~980 mb) currently over central Manitoba, and a strong anticyclone over the US Rockies (~1029 mb) has resulted in a powerful windstorm across the Canadian Prairies last night through today. Wind gusts have been reported over 100 km/hr across British Columbia, southern Alberta, and southern Saskatchewan, causing damage and widespread power outages. The RUC analysis map from late this morning shows the weather pattern responsible for this chaos!
High wind warnings have been issued by EC for southeast Alberta and most of southern Saskatchewan, with winds forecasting to decrease by evening. If anyone has any pictures or video of this incredible event, please email them to me so I can post them on the blog!
The wind storm began Sunday night over western British Columbia, with Vancouver and Vancouver Island the hardest hit areas. 200,000 people are without power at these locations, with over 400 separate power outages reported on Vancouver Island alone! BC Hydro stated it could be a few days before power is restored to these areas, which is a pretty good scenario considering the damage that has been caused. This area of BC is especially prone to intense wind storms, because the wind is funneled between the coastal mountain ranges, increasing further the already incredible wind gusts.
Calendar
Categories
Hey guy's im at school lol. Teachers in front of me. trying not to get caught.. Wind's got up to 70 km/h this morning it was fun watching debris fly around!!
temerature rose to 17c or 63f for a record high today in winnipeg this morning.
Wow, that's big. ... Perhaps this will help our storm chances for tomorrow. Had a few severe warnings nearby this morning & the thunder was close enough to scare the dog.
winds in red deer are currently gusting from the northwest at 37 km/h with higher gusts reported at 61 km/h...
Some maximum winds reported across southern Alberta during the past 24 hours include: Waterton Park Gate.....122 km/h Stavely................112 km/h Pincher Creek..........104 km/h blood tribe............98 km/h Lethbridge.............98 km/h Medicine Hat...........93 km/h Consort................91 km/h Stettler...............85 km/h Suffield...............85 km/h.
peak wind gusts so far.
Edmonton itl.............78kmh(will give a report as of 3:00pm)
Edmonton city centre...... 82kmh(lines down, trees down, power failures, debis blowing around)
Camrose...............89knh
Wetaskiwin...........92kmh(will give a report as of 5:30PM )
Millet...............90kmh Lines down, debris branches around
minor building damage, signs and billboards blown over
i remeber a windstorm when i lived in washington state- - that wnds were around i think it was 110 mph and gusting to 145 i think it was 1997 or so- didn't have electricity for 3 weeks- lost about 250 plus dollers worth of grocceries including salmon i had caught- just awefull
While it may be pointless to speculate this far out.....looks like a MAJOR severe weather event on Monday from the Caprock of Texas through Western OK and SW Kansas. The only limiting factor I can see this far out would be true moisture return. Might be something to look at.
Lanny
No its not pointless Lanny- but you are right regauriding the moisture return quality is in question- but a 55 degree dewpoint is more the sufficient this time of year
Nothing very exciting here. Blew a few leaves around.
70kmh(40MPH) max winds. Didn't even blow the pilot light out on the furnace
Only place I have heard of damage was in Edmonton.
Sound like a rotten tree blew over on a power line :)
Metric makes it sound worse haha.
85km/h = 53 mph
Thanks Lanny. I'm glad you've been posting here more regularly, cause its good to have people from "the area" (you too, Donny!). I'm going to go check out the GFS now & see what's up.
(I'm just a county south of the MO border in north-central AR, in case you happened to miss that before.)
lol heidi the gfs has been crazy- espically when i check out the gfs precip. type- last week it showed snow and ice as far south as lousiana- and then now 216 hours out- it shows freezing rain its just being crazy- and its a pleasure to know you also
Swift Current,SK
Light snow at 7C!
WNW 85 gust 104
http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/forecast/canada/summary_e.html?SK&unit=m
seems like just alot of wind for now and just counting down the days for snow and stuff like it
Hey guys makeing a new site on freewebs i hate the one I had LOL any idas on a name with 4 letters no more no less
im surprised the spc doesn't have a mesocale discussion out for the storms in northeastern miss. and northwestner alabama- i mean theres a decent storm in lamar county- heres the velcoty on it- its impressing me- surprised it hasn't been tornado warned yet
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc106/Tornadomaster22/birminghamvelocity.jpg
Lanny posted a forecast for a possible severe weather event for Monday?!!? I'm watching the weather closely that day. haha
Windstorm? That would be a big problem here too, except that it's Kansas: we're almost used to it ;)
you and me both will be watching that aj i love severe weather- hate what it does those- but first time i saw a funnel cloud was in california when i was 7- (and i turn 23 december 9th) and ever since then i loved storms- the loud thunder- the spider lightning- the dramatic pressure drop- i can on and on
Caleb, I thought your current website was awesome. If you're really set on a new one, how about MESO for the name. That's four letters, no more, no less. ;)
Anyone want to check out the GFS, here's the link for that & other models (GFS is the only long-range one on here).
http://weather.cod.edu/forecast/
Apparently my friends neighbour's had a tree knock down this morning from the wind's. When I got into my dad's car it got hit with a flying box lol. I just wish I could've seen the 100 km/h winds this afternoon!! I would be outside righgt now enjoying them!
think heidi i'll check it out a little later- im jsut stressed out right now cause of a t-storm that should be tornado warned
haha. Me too Donny, me too. Sounds like a story similar to mine, but I started younger, and in central Kansas ;) Cali. isn't often associated with severe though, but everyone gets some of it.
And yes, the after effects of bad weather often suck.
yeah i know aj- its kinda interesting the way cali. severe weather hits- it hits after the cold front has passed-and the general rule of thumb is that you get severe weather in the west- you will likely get severe weather in the plains
Yeah, pretty much. Most of our storms come from cold fronts that come off of the Rockies, and make their way down here. They're ok as far as severe is concerned, but the ones to be aware of are the random airmasses that just happen to stop by and dump rain and hail. lol
thought you might like this radar image aj- its from cali- and bye looks on radar im pretty sure this was supercellular- it was near fresno not to long ago:
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc106/Tornadomaster22/impressivecalisupercell.jpg
SLIGHT RISK FOR TOMORROW!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day2otlk.html
That's pretty cool Donny... and yeah I bet it was supercellular, just going by the color outlined in the center part. Different colors can signify varying altitudes (obviously), so I'm fairly sure you're right.
Slight risk is enough for me! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Yaa!! I was right! I knew it would be Tuesday or Wednesday MWP would have a chance of an outbreak.
Oops, not the MWP.. lol sorry! Eastern part.
yeah i cant wait kenny- i know i'll have storm lab on (thats the radar i use) that day- lets just hope it isn't as terrifing as the may 4th tornado outbreak from greensburg
Hey hey!! How's everyone?? yeah it's a lil windy here too!! holding at 14mph and gusting to 36!! not that bad yet!!
Hey Brady. That's nothing compared to some windy days we have here. Is it supposed to get worse??
And I agree, May 4th was a scary night Donny... espcially since I was out trying my best to chase it. lol. We weren't very successful, but we tried. The pics and videos of that give me chills now.
Donny...well thanks, I generally do not post on here to much because its Reed's site and all, I usually hang out on my blog...but knowing Reed, I come by here OFTEN! lol lol
As far as moisture return, you are right....55 plus is great this time of year. If the event pans out all of us Outlaws will be chasing.
Reed, if you get time call me
Lanny
Oohh!! AJ! Can I see the pictures/video of the Greensburg event? I've barely seen any videos or pictures of it..
it scared me just seeing it on radar aj- i have never seen a supercell on storm lab as wide as it- i have never velocity images as impressive as it- as soon as a i saw tornado emergency for that storm- it braught chills cause i haven't heard the term "tornado emergency" since may 3rd of 1999 we went threw oklahoma city the day after that tornado how do i put this- completly leveled the hotel we were going to stay in- we were planning on leaving a day earlier- and if we did that- most likely i wouldnt have been here today
Here Kenny, here's a video from Michael O'Keeffe, a chaser in Kansas City my age. There's other videos listed off to the side of this one also.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3QKzPhqtHo
Lanny, thanks for the update about that! I live in SW Kansas, so I'll keep on it.
You're a lucky man Donny. That'd scare me too, if I was to stay in or near Greensburg that night. I used to live near there when I was really little, so seeing the damage was heart-breaking. And as far as radar goes, they'll be studying the velocity scans and images from that storm for quite a long time. Below is Michael O'Keeffe's website, and under chase logs, he has one for Greensburg.
www.supercellcrazy.com
heres the radar images i have from greensburg (unfortunanly it doesn't show hook echos that well but it does show good velocity :
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc106/Tornadomaster22/F-5-greensburg.jpg
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc106/Tornadomaster22/largetornado2.jpg
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc106/Tornadomaster22/tornadoemergency.jpg
Reed, unfortunately I was in class for the majority of the day so i only managed a few video clips for you. Here is an update:
Right now it is STILL 60 km minimum winds, still under wind warning, and its SNOWING right now, looks like a blizzard. The temperature dropped from 13 C to 1,feels like -7 C in the last 2 hours!!
Here's the videos...I'll get more tomorrow if it's still this bad, hopefully ones that's show just how crazy it is in the open!
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v481/num1habfan/?action=view¤t=MVI_1472.flv
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v481/num1habfan/?action=view¤t=MVI_1473.flv
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v481/num1habfan/?action=view¤t=MVI_1476.flv
Haha just as I make my post they drop the wind warning!! So that may be the only proof I get :/
It was a tiny bit windy up there apparently... lol. Were those apartments or something else SK?
Apartments...they unfortunately blocked most of the wind. It really WAS gusting to over 80, trust me...it was almost impossible to walk against it.
Wow. Even out here on the "flatter than a pancake" Kansas, that's fast. lol
Oh trust me, we are flat too. SK is nothing but ...fields ha. It don't take much to be blown around except for in the cities I guess. I should have took my camera to school and made a video while walking. Wasn't thinking I guess...
Ok this is what I have so far
http://www.freewebs.com/mesovortex/
Ok this is what I have so far
http://www.freewebs.com/mesovortex/
well its a pleasure and privilage knowing all yall Lanny
Oh well SK, you got your "extreme wind action" video in, so it's all good ;) haha.
Pretty cool so far Caleb, nice job! Let us know when it's up and running?
I'm out guys, need some sleep! See ya!
Me and my Bike chasing partner are making the "Introduction" to the site. It's going to be a beauty! Should be done by friday. Once that's done, I'd say we can finally start putting some stuff up..If not, then looks like by december the site should be good enough for you guys to check it and see what's happening over here in Western Canada!
Crazy windstorm pounded us in Vancouver,BC. At one time the winds were gusting upto 93km/hr...that was pretty intense!
My shoe-rack outside had no shoes left...the next morning...lol! The shoes were displaced by quite a distance...!
Major major situation unfolding in the Bay of Bengal. Cyclone Sidr has exploded into a 130kts sustained monster. It's on course to strike Bangladesh which is one of the most surge prone regions of the world. A cyclone struck this region in 1991 and was responsible for 138,000 deaths!
This is serious shit!
Well we have a Slight risk today. Personally models are showing a that the cap might be a problem. Im going to call Eastern Akransas or Western Tennessee as a possible place were these storms could form today. So thats my uneducated quess.
i have to agree with you there matt-but also include southern arkasnas as well- even thought i don't like using LI's for severe storms simply becase there is no magic number to produce storms- looking at the current ruc model 6 hours from now- its shows LI's down to -6 in which is pretty impressive for this time of yeah- also 0-3 km helicity's care close to 250 from central arkanas- down to 350 in southwest arkansas- and 0-1 km helicity close to 200 in central arkansas down up to 250 in southern arkanas- as far as cin's are concerned- agreed personally i am hoping the cap with be breached
What models are you looking at concerning East Tx/w ok/sw ks early next week? I dont see any forcasted precip in any of the gfs?
Ez- the gfs model looking at the current run- it does show t-storms 174 hours out
A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR CHILE / PERU
what site do you use for the GFS?
CORS!!! I just posted this link at your page
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071114/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/chile_quake_2;_ylt=Al8LZfqd8K1gy8Zry9xticoE1vAI
should have come here first!! :-D
Ez -
http://weather.cod.edu/forecast/
Link to the warning:
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/pr/ptwc/messages/pacific/2007/pacific.2007.11.14.155542.txt
ahh ok the one i was looking at was only the 140 hr...so someone explain what a decent CAPE value is for supercells and also what an insanely good CAPE value would be...I know what the CAPE is but I am just unfamiliar with what the values signify...???
Ez- a good CAPE level or good supercells is anywhere from 500-2500 j/kg. i insanely good CAPE is like 4000-6000 j/kg. The last two f5's in the US had CAPE values around 5500 j/kg
Hey guys, wow erm thats not good news then, hope it doesn't turn out to be a tsunami.
Tks for the links guys!
ex- its takes more then just cape values for supercells- i have seen cape values as low as 1000 j/kg - as long as there is also a high shear area- i know during greensburg- cape values were insanely high- i think it was close to 5500 j/kg
Donny my first thought was Central Arkansas. But i like western Arkansas and maybe Western Tennesse but im new at this stuff so i could be wrong
sorry not Western i ment eastern Arkansas
How do I see the projected shear?
new blog guys!!!
Heidi i sent you a message on myspace, check it out when you can if you could please.
no kidding matt- i am in central arkansas- near little rock air force base- but if where going to get any type of severe t-storm/tornado threat- these clouds have to break up a little- granted it is unstable right now- but it jsut needs 1-2 good hours of surface heating
that was a good call for eastern arkansas matt- im watching storms fire up in eastern arkansas as this post is being done
Ez, on the shear, a good idea is to go to three different places on a given model and compare what you're seeing. What I usually do is check the 250 (mb) Spd, 500 Spd and 850 Spd. These are projections for wind speed & direction for varying heights in the atmosphere. For shear, you'll want to see if you're getting winds coming from *different* directions. An example of the presence of shear would be 80 kt from the south at the 250 level, 70 kt from the southwest at the 500 level and 45 kt from the northwest at the 850 level. (That's *just an example* so you can see what I mean by shear requiring different directions with height. I hope that wasn't too confusing. :)
That was only supposed to say "Heidi" up there!!!! Now I know what happens when I accidentally hit the "autoFill" button on the tool bar!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
New Blog Pos Guys and Girls
2 torms im watching in KY - max hail size on z3- is 1.5 inchs- posh on that on is 80 percent- another one- G1- max hail size is 2 inchs posh on that one is 90 percent- what do these storms have in commen? they have no warnings which i think is bullshit- pardon my my french
i spoke to soon- G1 now has a warning on it- but this storm has sas posh at between 60-80 percent for the past 40 minutes- why did they not put a wanring on it before now
Here is the video of the winds in Millet at the worst.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=qvHFOlVM64s