TornadoVideos.net - Extreme Storm Chasers Reporting on Weather Events

Major snow/ice storm in the Northeast!

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:30:00 GMT

A major ice storm is underway across much of the Northeast U.S. just inland from the Atlantic, with very heavy snow falling across the higher elevations of the interior (Upstate NY, VT, NH, and northern ME). As seen below, winter storm warnings and ice storm warnings are in effect for these areas, where over an inch of ice, several inches of sleet, or up to a foot of snow will fall depending on the temperature profile of the lower atmosphere. Behind this system, lake enhancement and orographic lift will contribute to more heavy snows downwind of the Great Lakes and across the aforementioned higher elevations.

Here is the regional radar loop for the Northeast, showing the estimated precipitation types as of late Wednesday morning. What is not shown here in the pink area is the myriad of winter precipitation types there (sleet, freezing rain, snow, and a mix of all three). Depending on the type and duration of mixed precipitation, road conditions and damage can vary SUBSTANTIALLY. For example, in Norman, OK a few years ago, a major freezing rain storm was anticipated with widespread downed trees, impassable roads, and power outages. In the end, the cold air in the lower atmosphere was deeper and stronger than forecast by the models, and we ended up with about 5 inches of sleet. One thing about sleet is that it seems to increase the traction on the roads compared to snow! so the road conditions were totally fine even though OU classes were canceled for two days in advance of the storm. Then, last year, we had 2+ inches of ice and Norman became a war zone (picture shown below from our neighborhood), which shows the impact differences associated with a very minor change in the temperature profile of the lower atmosphere. If anyone captures any good pictures of this winter storm event please email them to reed@tornadovideos.net!

Here are pictures from the ice storm in Norman last December...Hopefully this doesn't happen in the Northeast today! We were without power for 2 weeks...and our house is not a place you want to be trapped without power!

Tornadoes possible in Alabama this evening

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:55:00 GMT

A tornado watch has been issued for this evening across Central Alabama, southwestward to extreme southeastern Mississippi until 7:00 pm CST, east of a cold front advancing across the Central Gulf Coast region at this time. The environment east of this front is characterized by insane low-level wind shear (values of 250+ m2/s2 -- see below in the left panel), and very marginal instability (CAPE values under 750 J/kg across the entire warm sector -- see right). While this environment is rather favorable for tornadoes, another factor that has been limiting tornado reports this afternoon is the orientation of the storm motion nearly parallel to the frontal boundary, which results in cell mergers and linear convective structures. Still though, any isolated cells this evening will have the potential of producing a tornado if they can remain surface based.

The tornado watch issued by the SPC last hour is shown below, with the composite reflectivity superimposed. To the northeast of the warm sector, winter storm warnings are in place across much of the Northeast U.S. for heavy snow and ice. If any residents in these areas capture any good photos of the extreme winter weather, please email them to reed@tornadovideos.net for posting on the blog! All photos will be appropriately credited of course!

Chris pushing his team to the edge in a DEADLY ice jam!

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:37:00 GMT

Check out these pictures of major flooding on the Grand River in Ada, MI from snow-melt and ice jams. Most of the flooding occurred as temperatures skyrocketed to near 60F last week after 50+ inches of snow in the month of December! You can see the horizontal planes of ice about 3 inches above the water level shown here, which indicates the crest of the flood. The Grand River is about 300 yards away in the direction of this photo...Last night there were deer and other animals wandering aimlessly in our neighborhood after being displaced by the flood waters. Check out Chris taking his team to the limit to document this deadly flood. After snapping these pictures, I thought I was going to have to pull him to safety. MASS CHAOS!

Chris in a state of panic, sliding into the freezing flood water!

Unparalleled balance saves his life...

Severe weather likely today along Central Gulf Coast!

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:31:00 GMT

Instability and deep-layer wind shear will be sufficient for severe thunderstorms today from Central/Southern Louisiana east to the Florida Panhandle. Most of the storms so far this morning have been multicellular in nature with only brief supercell structures apparent on radar, if at all. Marginal low-level wind shear, and the lack of a robust upper-storm system are likely the culprits for this disorganized storm structure, but low-end severe wind and hail are still likely with this convective complex as it drifts eastward across the Central Gulf Coast. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

GFS forecasts now available on TwisterData!

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:52:00 GMT

As of the New Year, GFS forecasts are available on TwisterData.com at 3 hour intervals for Days 1-2, 6 hour intervals for Days 3-8, and every 12 hours out to 384 hours! This is just the beginning for our model and data website, with many more forecast tools planned between now and tornado season that will make our storm chasing lives much easier! (if that's possible). Below is a link to the GFS page...please let us know any comments or suggestions!

http://twisterdata.com/index.php?prog=forecast&prog=forecast&model=GFS

Storm Chasers marathon on Discovery today!

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:23:00 GMT

The Storm Chasers marathon is underway on Discovery Channel today, for the next 12 hours or so, including the 4 episodes from the 2007 season (TVN provided footage but was not included in last season). So if you happened to miss any of the episodes from last year or this year, be sure to check them out on Discovery Channel! It looks like another winter storm system will be moving across the Central U.S. this week...I'll be adding a blog update about it tonight!

Moderate Risk for today!

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:12:00 GMT

A classic low-instability/high wind shear severe weather setup will prevail today from Northeast TX to Illinois, as a strong storm system plows across the Central U.S. The best low-level wind shear will exist across Northeast AR, the MO Bootheel, and Illinois, where SSW-ly 850 mb flow at 50-70 knots will reside. CAPE values across this area will be 500-750 J/kg at best, but CIN will be almost non-existent across most of the warm sector from Southwest IL south. The NAM forecast 850 mb flow for 00z tonight can be seen below. By this time, the convective bands will likely be closing in on the MS River, and I would not be surprised if several of the storms were tornadic supercells embedded within bands of linear convection.

The Storm Prediction Center has issued a moderate risk across the above area where low-level shear is maximized and sufficient instability is forecast this afternoon. Given the marginal instability and fairly linear storm modes expected, an outbreak of tornadoes is not likely...However, with the incredible low-level shear in place, anything can happen.

Tornado Watches are already in effect from Northeast TX to Southwest IL, with several tornado warnings in Northeast MO where mini-supercells are occasionally showing strong rotation on radar. These storms are flying in less than ideal terrain, so chasing them would be extremely difficult. I nearly pulled the trigger on this storm chase, but decided that construction of our ultimate storm chasing machine is much more important!!! Good luck to all who our chasing, and stay tuned for updates..

Tornadoes possible this evening in OK!

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:50:00 GMT

Incredible wind shear and unseasonably strong instability will characterize the warm sector environment in eastern Oklahoma this afternoon and evening, favoring the development of supercells with strong tornado potential. However, a strong capping inversion will also characterize this environment, which will likely prevent diurnal storm development unless the NAM and RUC fail to verify, and of course without a storm it's pretty hard to have a type I tornado! Most models have convective initiation holding off until after dark, but because of the very volatile environment in place, the Storm Prediction Center has placed eastern OK in a 10% hatched area for strong tornadoes..

The NAM is forecasting 2-2.25 0-1 km EHIs (Energy Helicity Index - which is a composite index for low-level wind shear and instability), which is INSANE for this time of year to say the least. If storms can develop this evening, I would not be surprised if strong tornadoes occur over night across eastern OK in this highly sheared environment. Joel will likely be chasing this event if storms can develop early enough, and I'll likely be chasing tomorrow's setup in the MS River Valley, assuming I can get my car fixed in time here in Michigan. Stay tuned for updates!!!

Merry Christmas!

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 21:38:00 GMT

Happy Holidays from TornadoVideos.net! For those of you that haven't seen it, or would like to see it again, here is our Happy Holidays tornado video! The music was produced by Heidi Farrar, and the video edited by none other than Chris Chittick.. We wish you all a happy New Year as well! I have a feeling 2009 will be insane for tornadoes, and hopefully they won't hit anything except our tornado probe.

Video of winter storms in Western Michigan

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 06:35:00 GMT

Here is video of the December 19 and 21, 2008 snow storms that pounded parts of western Lower Michigan with nearly 2 feet of snow. We were driving for several hours at around 10-15 mph in 3-4 inch per hour snowfall rates, some of the heaviest I've seen in my life. More to come tonight!

Blizzard conditions!!!

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:41:00 GMT

Blizzard conditions were experienced today from parts of the Central Plains east to the Great lakes, to eastern Maine, with especially heavy snowfall downwind of Lakes Michigan, Erie, and Ontario. Earlier this afternoon, TornadoVideos.net was documenting 3-4 inch per hour snowfall rates under particularly heavy lake effect bands in northwest Lower Michigan, and averaged about 15 miles per hour in the whiteout conditions. A nearly 100 car pileup occurred on I-94 in southwest Lower Michigan, injuring five people and closing the interstate for several hours. Travel has been treacherous in these areas to say the least.. The image below shows the winter storm watches, warnings, and advisories across the US:

The radar image below shows the heavy lake effect bands pounding Northwest Lower Michigan at around 3:30 pm EST earlier this afternoon, as the TornadoVideos.net team was travelling east on SR 115 in 3-4 inch per hour snowfall rates. While it may look like there was little or no precipitation at our location (white circle) at the time of the radar image, some of the heaviest snow I've ever seen was falling. This is because WSR-88D radars have a very hard time picking up lake effect snow bands further away from the radar site, because the convective clouds that produce LES typically have low cloud tops, and the radar beam was overshooting the lake effect bands at our location.

Thankfully the WSR-88D radars at Buffalo and Watertown, NY have no problem resolving the powerful single-band lake effect events that pound the snow belts downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario given WSW-ly flow. These textbook examples of single-band LES from Sunday evening can be seen in the radar images below:

Shown below are several pictures we took while streaming the Thursday night into Friday snow storm in Grand Rapids, MI last week, where nearly a foot of snow fell in a 12 hour period. Accidents were plentiful, with people trapped in ditches and deep snow all over the place. I'll be uploading video from this day, and the 3-4 inch per hour lake effect event tomorrow. The lake effect should die down tonight downwind of Lake Michigan, and tomorrow for Lakes Erie and Ontario...but more significant snow will be on the way next week! Stay tuned for updates..

Winter anyone?

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:49:00 GMT

The U.S. is under the effects of a brutal winter. Southern California and Nevada had a historic and unusual snow storm as a deep low pressure system swept through on Wednesday.

(Winter weather warnings are indicated by the blue, pink, and purple.)

Current preliminary snow fall amounts (NWS report):

LAKE LOS ANGELES (ABOUT 2500 FT).. 8 INCHES
MALIBU HILLS (JUST BELOW 2000 FT). .5 INCHES
FRAZIER PARK (5000 FT)............ 12 INCHES
PEARBLOSSOM (ABOUT 3100 FT)....... 9 INCHES
WRIGHTWOOD (ABOUT 6100 FT)........ 20 INCHES
PALMDALE (ABOUT 2200 FT)......... 6 INCHES

HISTORIC AND RECORD SNOW FOR SIN CITY...

As of 9:50pm PST, 3.6 inches of snow fell at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. This broke the record for the most snow ever in the moth of December since the start of official records in 1937. This is now the 8th greatest snowstorm ever for Las Vegas for any month.

Measurable snow has only fallen in December 3 other times in history.

The storm will continue to dump several inches of snow over the deserts and mountains of Colorado. It will then become very progressive and fly across Kansas and on to the Ohio and Great Lakes region as it dumps more snow onto the growing snow pack.

The next system, currently over British Columbia, will slide slowly to the east, setting the scene for more major amounts of lake effect snow.

If this trend continues, then the snow pack in the northern plains will be large enough that there could be some serious low pressure systems in January and February.

MAJOR snow storm heading for Midwest!

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:16:00 GMT

A major snow storm will hammer parts of the southern Great Lakes to the Mid-Atlantic this Thursday night through the weekend, with over a foot of snow possible from the Chicago to Detroit areas by Friday evening. The previous model runs were slightly further north with the heaviest snow, but the latest NAM and GFS runs have been trending south. I'm supposed to land in Detroit noon on Friday so I'll be streaming live video to the tracker...assuming I don't get stranded. I'll rent a car and drive 10 hours tomorrow night from Memphis just so I don't have to miss this monster!

It looks like almost all the precipitation will be in the form of heavy snow from northern IL, and across southern MI and Ontario...even into northern PA. As seen below, the maximum temperature in the entire lower atmosphere is below freezing across these areas, likely because warm advection ahead of this system will not be too intense, and the cold air to the north of the system is very deep and cold. The next few model runs will be key in pinpointing the areas of heaviest snow, so stay tuned for updates!

Winter storms pounding much of the U.S.

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:22:00 GMT

A myriad of winter storms will hammer much of the U.S. this week, from the Sierra Nevadas of California to the Mid-Atlantic, behind a strong cold front that swept across the Central U.S. yesterday and today, bringing in some of the coldest temperatures of the season east of the Rocky Mountains. Blizzard warnings have been in effect for the last 24 hours or so in the Northern Plains, where insane wind gusts behind a strong cold front along with falling snow have created dangerous whiteout conditions. Lake effect snow squalls have developed overnight downwind of Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron, just a day after temperatures skyrocketed into the mid 40s as far north as Canada! A series of subtle storm systems further south will ride northeastward along the temperature gradient from Texas to the Mid-Atlantic, bringing ice and significant snows. Shown below is a watch/warning display for the U.S., with the black outlined counties having blizzard warnings in effect, and the dark blue indicating winter storm warnings.

I'm currently located in Grand Rapids, MI, and we've had lake effect snow showers here all day after the cold front passed through at around 3 am. I'd estimate visibilities have dropped below 1/2 mile in the heavier squalls, but the bands are so small and shifting that the heavy snow is short in duration. The upper support is slightly limited, and the lower part of the atmosphere is way too dry for any major lake effect, but it's nice to see snow nonetheless. Notice in the radar image below from this morning how the lake effect precip is oriented in several tiny bands. This type of LES is common downwind of Lakes Superior and Michigan, because of their orientation relative to the flow of wind. Conversely, single band lake effect with incredible snowfall rates are common downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario, where the shape of the lake helps consolidate the precipitation into one dominant band. The latter results in much heavier but more localized snowfall rates. I'll post pictures if things get more intense, and am also planning to stream live any big winter storms we get up here...so check back for updates! If anyone has pictures of any extreme winter weather, please email me at reed@tornadovideos.net and I'll post them on the blog for everyone to see..

Reed on SpotterChat.org this Sunday night!

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 07:20:00 GMT

Reed will be having a live Q&A session on SpotterChat.org this Sunday evening, December 14 at 9:00 pm Central time. We will be talking about the 2008 storm season, Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers, and plans for next year. If you're interested in participating, you can sign up for an account and download the desktop client at www.spotterchat.org.

Interesting winter weather possible next week!

Historic snow storm in the South!

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:10:00 GMT

An upper-level low pressure system has brought a very rare snow storm to the Gulf Coast, including the Houston, TX area. The heaviest snow will fall from Southeast Texas, northeast through Central Mississippi where 10 tornadoes were reported yesterday! 3-5 inches of snow will cover the damage paths of these tornadoes by tomorrow, ending by tomorrow night. Here is a regional radar loop of the Central Gulf Coast from around 06z Thursday, showing moderate to heavy snow from Houston northeastward to the TX/LA border.

Winter storm warnings are in effect for central Mississippi, where the heaviest snow will fall, with winter weather advisories to the west. This same upper-level low will develop into a strong Nor'Easter as it encounters the intense temperature gradient on the western edge of the Gulf Stream. There could be over a foot in New England starting in the next few days!

Here are pictures of several inches of snow in Baytown, TX Brittany Hoover during heavy snow Wednesday evening:

Happy Holidays from TVN!

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:33:00 GMT

Happy Holidays! Editing by Chris Chittick, music produced by Heidi Farrar!

8 Tornado Reports and Counting

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:13:00 GMT

This has been a very dangerous evening over parts of central and southern Mississippi, with at least 8 tornado reports as of 11:00 pm CST as well as damage. Homes were destroyed near the town of Coxburg, MS at around 00z, and in Montgomery, Franklin, and and Rankin Counties to the northwest. Thankfully, no fatalities or injuries have been reported with these tornadoes as of 11:15 pm CST, but actually another tornado has been added to the list before I finished this post! This goes to show you what intense low-level shear can pull off even with modest instability. I have a feeling we may be seeing more of these Gulf Coast-type tornado events this winter.

Tornado Warning insanity in Louisiana!

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:38:00 GMT

Several tornado warnings are currently in effect in central Louisiana as a convective complex with embedded tornadic supercells is plowing across the jungles of this region. Two tornadoes have already been reported near the city of Alexandria around 17z in Rapides Parish, including a report of two tornadoes on the ground at the same time from the Red Cross. The tornado threat should extend into central and southern Mississippi as the afternoon progresses, in addition to a continued threat in central and southern LA.

The 20z RUC analysis show very favorable conditions for tornadoes across all of central and southern Louisiana along and ahead of this convective mass, with 0-1 km EHIs approaching 10 across southern sections of this region! For those that don't know, the energy helicity index is a composite measure of instability and wind shear, and the 0-1 km values represent these conditions in the lower layer of the atmosphere, which has been shown as very important for tornado production. These favorable values should advect northeastward toward central Mississippi toward late afternoon. If I was trying to graduate and working on our own tornado vehicle I'd be down there!!!!!! Even if it would be nearly impossible to see anything with the trees. Stay tuned for updates as this severe weather event unfolds!

Tornado warnings in Northeast Texas

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 05:34:00 GMT

A discrete storm intensified rapidly over the last few hours just to the north of Dallas, and developed a particularly strong mesocyclone in Collin County shortly after 11 pm. This storm has classic supercellular characteristics, and is moving slightly right of the surrounding storms, especially over the last 30 minutes or so. The radar image at the time of the strongest tornado vortex signature (TVS) is shown below, with reflectivity at left (showing rain and hail) and velocity at right right. For those that don't know, the green color shows wind blowing toward the radar, and red shows winds blowing away. When bright green is located directly next to bright red over a distance of 10s of miles, this likely signifies a rotating updraft or mesocyclone, which typically must be present for a tornado to form. This storm will track rapidly across northeast Colin into northwest Hunt Co, and will have the chance to produce brief tornadoes.

The 5z RUC analysis maps for CAPE and 0-1 helicity show a narrow axis of uncapped instability extending from northern Texas into extreme south-central Oklahoma, with 0-1 km helicity values of 500+ over the instability axis! While CAPE values are marginal, these extreme shear values will result in rotating storms and a continued threat for tornadoes overnight into Southeast OK, Northeast TX, and eventually into western AR.

Here is the severe thunderstorm watch issued by the Storm Prediction Center for Northeast TX...but I would not be surprised if the watches were extended northeastward. We've had lightning hear in Norman, OK which is the most exciting thing I've seen for awhile! Meanwhile, heavy snows and ice are falling in the Great Lakes Region. Out of control.