After record lows in the Southeast and record highs for the Plains/Midwest last week, an upper-level low has made its way to the Desert Southwest, where it will first dump snow for portions of SE NM and W. TX late tonight.  A winter storm warning is in effect for the mentioned areas and up to 7 inches is possible!  The map shows a current view of the watches/warnings currently in effect!

Tomorrow, (Monday) will feature all kinds of weather: from tornadoes/severe weather in Texas to blizzards from the OK/TX panhandle NE NM, SE CO and SW KS!  Clicking here will show the current watch/warning maps issued by the National Weather Service, which includes blizzard warnings for the aforementioned areas!

TVN's own Dustin Feldman took these photos of the wind storm in Montrose, CA which affected much of California and adjacent states yesterday!  A weather station at Mammoth Ski Resort in the California Sierra recorded an incredible 146 mph wind gust with a temperature around 7 degrees!!!  This system created a lot of damage and left hundreds of thousands without power, mainly in California, and school was canceled in some of the affected areas.  There has been extensive damage and, according to the NWS, is one of the biggest wind storms in nearly a decade for California.  Southern California was the hardest hit, where an estimated 300,000 people were without power.

TVN's annual Black Friday sale on TornadoStore.Net will begin at midnight, this Friday, and will run for a full 24 hours!  Many items will be on sale, over 50% off!  If you haven't purchased any TVN swag, now is your chance!  We have everything for the weather enthusiast:  Clothing and Apparel, DVDs, Autographed Posters, DVDs, Prints, even air fresheners!

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at TornadoVideos.Net!  We wish everyone safe travels and hope everyone enjoys their holiday break!

A Tornado watch is in place for the deep south and there are already reports of tornadoes doing damage in Montgomery, AL and currently is heading for Harris County, GA--where this image Reed sent me of a strong couplet is on radar near the town of Opelika, AL on the GA/AL border!   Storm spotters reported that a damaging tornado JUST moved through the town and also Auburn, AL and is now headed for Hamilton, GA!  If you are in the tornado watch, please pay special attention to the weather and local media outlets, this is a dangerous situation!

The season finale of "Storm Chasers" is tonight at 10 E/P and will feature the tornado outbreak in Nebraska/Kansas on June 20th of this year.  TVN intercepted an EF-2 tornado north of the town of Ravenna, NE (above) and was their best intercept of the year!  Next Thursday, at the same time, the "Behind-The-Scenes" episode will air, giving viewers an inside look at how the show is made, be sure to watch that as well!

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This week, TVN has been in Las Vegas for the AAPEX and SEMA conferences that are currently going on.  If you have an invite, stop by either booth tomorrow where Chris and Reed will be!  Chris will be at the LINE-X booth at SEMA and Reed will be at the Bosch booth at AAPEX!  Here are some photos from the conference!

On Monday night, one of the most spectacular northern lights displays (especially for myself) happened across the US, anywhere from Wisconsin to Del Rio, Texas!  It was sparked by a CME (coronal mass ejection) that weakened earth's magnetic field and sparked a nice Aurora Borealis show across the United States.  Visually, to the naked eye (from the Kansas City suburbs), I could only see the majestic red "wave" for about 5-10 minutes, but my camera picked up the red and green glows for a good 30 minutes afterwords.  Due to no tripod, I was only able to capture them on my car roof and they didn't turn out as well as I've liked.

Instead, I'm showcasing fellow storm chaser and "king of storm photography", Mike Hollingshead's stunning capture of the event (left) near Blair, Nebraska during the peak intensity.  Mike really has a niche for storm photography and has been a huge influence on my own personal photography--he's nothing short of humble and a nice guy as well.  Be sure to check out his account of this event, which hasn't reached this far south since December of 2006!

On Tuesday, Extreme Tornado Tour's Olivier Stagier and swiss meteorologist, Dean Gill, had an exciting afternoon where they drove all morning to Northwest Italy, where a powerful system was affecting the area.  In the Cinque Terre area in Liguria, between Portofino and La Spezia and near the coastal town of Riomaggiore, they saw the formation of an intense waterspout!  This system was responsible for killer floods which destroyed homes and closed down interstates and railways.  Stay tuned for the video of this amazing video!

From record highs in the 80's, to over a foot of snow in some places, Colorado has seen its wild swing of weather already this week!  On average, Colorado only receives about 4 inches of snow in October, but some places have easily surpassed that.  The snow, wet and heavy, on the fall branches, was responsible for numerous power outages in the Denver metro area.  1-2 inches of snow is also possible tonight in the western Texas Panhandle, where a winter weather advisory is out until morning.  This area needs all of the moisture they can get due to the extreme drought conditions.

Hurricane Rita is currently at a Category 1 with winds of 85 mph sustained and is located about 120 miles south of Cozumel, Mexico and is expected to reach the eastern coast of the Yucatan Penninsula.  She should maintain hurricane strength but a gradual weakening tonight and into Friday is expected.  Stay tuned to TVN for the latest!

Today, there is a slight risk for severe weather for portions of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, and a smaller risk further north from Kansas into Nebraska.  The Storm Prediction center has low probabilities for a tornado/hail/wind for the slight risk area shown on the left.  The latest RUC analysis (17z) actually shows the greatest potential for diurnal storms into Kansas and Nebraska between 23-0z (6-7 p.m.) where forcing is stronger and the cap is weaker.  Forecasted hodographs in west-central Kansas are supportive of supercells with large hail and damaging winds being the main threats--but an isolated tornado around dusk can not be ruled out.  Further south into the panhandles, the same is also possible, but storm initiation is still in question due to weaker forcing and mid/high level clouds which could hinder instability potential. Stay tuned, as storm chasers will be providing live video streams across the area, so be sure to tune in later as things unfold!

Hurricane Jova has weakened some (currently at 100 mph max sustained winds or a Cat 2 hurricane) but is still expected to cause havoc along the pacific coast between Barra de Navidad and Puerto Vallarta late tonight.  It could dump as much as 20 inches in some spots in Mexico and could cause significant flooding from the storm surge as well.  The map, above, shows the projected path of Hurricane Jova and current warnings for it by the National Hurricane Center.

With the approach of a strong mid-level trough and strong surface heating beneath cool, mid-level temps--this will result in instability of 500-1000 j/kg for much of the highlighted area. This could be enough for the risk for large hail, strong winds and the possibility of a tornado or two.  The two areas, I believe, that have the greatest threat for tornadoes are in the southern target (towards dusk) in the Texas Panhandle into southwest Kansas and somewhere in between I-70 and I-80 in Kansas and Nebraska.

The forecasted LCL's (cloud bases) are rather high in the southern target, but a higher elevation, deeper moisture/stronger instability under a strongly-sheared environment could be enough for a tornado or two, possibly just after dark.  The more likely area for a daylight tornado, would be in the early stages of storm initiation in western South Dakota/ NW Nebraska with lower LCLs (cloud bases), but given the weak instability/moisture return and backing of the mid-level winds, strong winds and large hail seem more likely.  It's a tough forecast for those storm chasing tomorrow, but my current plan is to head west on I-80 and determine tomorrow morning a more defined target.