TornadoVideos.net

Posted At: April 18, 2008 @ 5:38 AM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

Here is the video of another crazy hail storm from 2008.  This one was with a supercell that tracked from through Mineral Well, Weatherford, and DFW, TX yesterday afternoon and evening.  We were pummeled by horizontal tennis ball size hail for several minutes, cracking our wind shield completely and putting craters in the car. 

Posted At: April 14, 2008 @ 2:04 PM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

Check out this video of a near-miss lightning strike in Norman, OK from last summer, courtesy of Curtis McDonald, Matt Chat, Daniel Betten, and Matt Van Every.  The main lightning channel and associated streamers can clearly be seen at the end of the video.  Early next week looks like the apocalypse.

Posted At: April 4, 2008 @ 10:03 PM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

Here are the highlight videos for the last three chases:  March 30 (Western OK), March 31 (Southeast OK), and April 3 (Northwest TX), 2007.  Several tornado-warned supercells are featured in these videos, along with destructive hail in each.  Very different from last year...we have not yet seen a tornado!   Next week looks huge.
 

Posted At: April 2, 2008 @ 4:08 PM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

Posted At: March 27, 2008 @ 5:40 PM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

A very strong cold front roared through central Oklahoma today, with temperatures reaching the 90F mark immediately south of the front due to compressional warming.  The temperature in Norman fell from around 90 degrees to the low 70s in about 30 minutes!  Severe thunderstorms have been developing along the cold front from central MO southwestward to eastern OK.  Given very weak low-level shear and marginal moisture, the tornado threat is almost zero in the watch area below.  Still though, isolated reports of damaging winds and large hail are definitely possible.


Shown below is the Oklahoma Mesonet map from around 5:30 CDT, showing the front surging southeast through eastern OK, with temperatures falling into the upper 40s in the northwest part of the state!  As daytime mixing has ceased, dewpoints have also been nearing the 60F mark at several stations in southeast OK, so the storms along the front will likely intensify through the evening as moisture increases.  Hopefully next week we'll have some chase opportunities!

Posted At: March 26, 2008 @ 9:05 PM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

A very interesting feature is apparent in this evening's radar loop from Key West, FL, with several curved bands of higher reflectivity values over the Gulf of Mexico to the west and south of the radar site.  They appear to be some kind of mesoscale convergence zones, but also could be a non-meteorological phenomenon like chaff plumes, which are clouds of aluminum-coated glass fibers released by the military to confuse enemy aircraft -- but usually for test purposes in the U.S. of course.  Any thoughts on what this might be??

Posted At: March 25, 2008 @ 9:47 AM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

Glancing at last night's GFS, it looks like the strong zonal flow across the northern U.S. will continue through late March, with the hint of a pattern change around the first of next month.  There will be a sheared-out shortwave that will move through the zonal flow by 72 hours, but moisture will be limited and the LLJ will be way too veered for any substantial tornado threat with this system.  By ~168-180 hours, recent GFS runs have been hinting at the development of a more substantial western U.S. trough as the zonal flow breaks down into higher amplitude Rossby Waves.  As is often the case with La Nina years, I wouldn't be surprised if we have a late start to the Great Plains severe weather season...which is better than never.

Posted At: March 22, 2008 @ 12:25 AM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

Check out this incredible video of a house floating down the flooded White River in Izard Co, AR, and slamming into a bridge!  Thanks to Heidi for providing the link. The flooding has been catastrophic in this region, especially in the states of Arkansas, Missouri, and Ohio, where over a foot of rain fell from this recent storm system.  Most of the flooding has been associate with smaller rivers from AR northeast to OH, but the major rivers such as the Mississippi and Ohio River have had only minor flooding, likely because they originate in areas that did not receive heavy rain. 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/03/21/severe.weather.ap/index.html

Meanwhile, a record-breaking snowstorm struck parts of the Northern MS River Valley through the southern Great Lakes Region today, dumping over a foot of snow in areas.  An Alberta Clipper was responsible for this snowfall, as is often the case this time of year.  Two years ago during late winter/early spring, an Alberta Clipper with a similar track, but much more compact and intense of a system, dumped 12 inches of snow in about 4 hours in Grand Rapids with thunder and lightning!  Milwaukee, WI received 14 inches of snow from this event, and Grand Rapids, MI has received ~8 inches and counting.  INCREDIBLE winter weather event!!!!

Posted At: March 20, 2008 @ 12:22 AM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

Here are pictures of the camera probe we'll be dropping in the paths of tornadoes this year.  The camera below shoots HDV quality, and is housed in a "bullet-proof" bubble, which will hopefully protext it from flying debris.  Inside the orange frame is a steel re-enforced 300 pound block of cement -- hopefully heavy enough to keep the probe from going airborne!

Posted At: March 19, 2008 @ 7:32 PM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

REMINDER!!!  Please vote for the Ellis County, OK tornado video for the 2007 Youtube Awards at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/ytawards07

The video can be found under the "Eyewitness Video" section.  Thank you!!

The voting ends tonight!

Check out these pictures of major flash flooding in the Ozark Mountains of Sharp Co, AR, courtesy of Heidi Farrar.   The  Spring and White Rivers are setting record water levels today, with the Spring river reaching 22 feet this morning, shattering the old record of 16 feet on 9-23-06.  This flooding resulted from 8 inches of rain that fall during this recent storm system.  Thanks to heidi for providing this info and pictures.