The 2008 Memorial Day Weekend tornado outbreak will continue to hammer the U.S. today, even as residents from Iowa and Minnesota clean up from the devastating tornadoes that killed eight people Sunday afternoon. A mile-wide tornado plowed through Parkersburg, Iowa between 5pm and 6pm CDT yesterday, killing five people in that city, and two in nearby New Hartford. It was the deadliest tornado in Iowa in more than 40 years. The tornado passed just north of the airport in Waterloo, Iowa, which recorded sustained winds of 64mph, gusting to 94 mph at 5:37pm CDT. Damage appeared to be at least EF-4 in photos I saw, and possibly EF-5 (over 200 mph). In Minnesota, another powerful twister killed at least one person and injured 9 in the Minneapolis suburb of Hugo.
Figure 1. Satellite image of the supercell thunderstorms that spawned the Parkerburg, Iowa and Hugo, Minnesota tornadoes on May 25, 2008.
The slow-moving low pressure system responsible for all the mayhem began in Colorado on Thursday, when the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) recorded 48 reports of tornadoes, including the EF-3 mile-wide twister that killed one person in Windsor, Colorado. On Friday, an additional 63 tornado reports occurred, mostly in Kansas. The tornado that hit Quinter, Kansas on Friday was the eighth violent EF-4 tornado of the year. Also on Friday, two people were killed in Cairo, Kansas when a tornado smashed a car trying to flee the storm. If you want to see why one should not try to escape a tornado in a car, take a look at what the tornado did to the car. Saturday was relatively quiet, with only 13 tornado reports, but Sunday's tally of 43 brought the 4-day total from the 2008 Memorial Day weekend outbreak to a remarkable 157 tornado reports. Some of these tornado reports are undoubtedly of the same tornado, so the actual number of tornadoes for the 4-day outbreak may be less than 150. BBC has some awesome aerial footage of the weekend tornadoes.
Figure 2. Radar reflectivity image (top) of the May 25, 2008 Parkersburg, Iowa tornado. The position of Parkersburg is marked by a circle with a cross in the middle. Bottom: Doppler velocity image of the tornado, showing a small core of red and blue colors right next to each other, denoting strong winds towards and away from the radar, the classic signature of a tornado vortex.
Figure 3. Radar reflectivity image (top) of the May 25, 2008 Hugo, Minnesota tornado. The position of Hugo is marked by a circle with a cross in the middle. Bottom: Doppler velocity image of the tornado, showing a small core of red and blue colors right next to each other, denoting strong winds towards and away from the radar, the classic signature of a tornado vortex. We've also saved a 12-frame radar animation of the Hugo cell, thanks to wunderground member Todd S.
Tallying up the numbers
The death toll from Sunday pushes this year's tornado deaths to 111, the most since 1998, when 130 were recorded. Assuming that the Parkersburg, Iowa tornado was an EF-4 or EF-5, there have been nine violent EF-4 or EF-5 tornadoes this year. This is the most since 1999, when 13 such twisters were recorded. The total number of tornadoes this year is approaching 1100, and we may challenge the all time record for tornadoes in a year of 1817, set in 2004. Could this be a sign of climate change? No, I don't think so, and I'll explain why in a blog later this week.
Severe weather forecast
Severe weather will pound the U.S. again this Memorial Day, with the main action expected to stretch more than halfway across the country--from Texas to New York. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has placed much of Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Texas Panhandle under its "Moderate Risk" category for severe weather, one step below its highest level of concern, "High Risk". Yesterday was also a "Moderate Risk" day in Iowa and Minnesota. The Weather Underground Severe Weather page and Tornado page are good places to go to follow the severe weather. Also, tune in to the chase accounts and awesome storm photos from Wunderblogger Mike Theiss. After today, it appears the severe weather outbreak will finally diminish, with only a slight risk of severe weather expected Tuesday, and no severe weather expected Wednesday.
Possible development in the Western Caribbean or Eastern Pacific late this week
For the past 3-6 days, our most reliable global computer weather forecast models have been predicting the development of a low pressure system near or over Central America by Friday of this week. Given the persistence in the models in developing this low, we need to be alert to the possibility of a tropical depression forming in either the Western Caribbean or Eastern Pacific, on either side of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It is uncertain which ocean basin such a storm might form in, and whether or not there will be a tropical wave around to help kick off development. It may be that the low pressure region will stay anchored over land south of the Yucatan Peninsula, preventing any development. This is the solution preferred by the ECMWF model in its last few runs. However, the GFS, NOGAPS, and Canadian models all predict a tropical depression might form in the Western Caribbean near Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. In contrast, the UKMET shows development in the Eastern Pacific, on the Pacific side of Central America. Climatologically, May tropical storms are much more common in the Eastern Pacific than the Western Caribbean, so we should not discount the UKMET solution, even though it is an outlier. All five models predict that the Central American low pressure area will move northward towards the Gulf of Mexico, and wind shear may fall enough to allow a tropical depression to form should the low's center emerge over water. I'll be posting daily updates on the situation this week.
Jeff Masters
A large and violent wedge tornado near Quinter, Kansas. Photo Copyright Mike Theiss
Photo of a wallcloud crossing road near lacrosse, Kansas on May 25, 2008. Photo copyight Mike Theiss
These are pictures taken of the storm that went through Forest Lake / Hugo, MN. The tornado passed 3 miles south of us, but we got a pretty vicious shot of hail for about 15 minutes straight. The pictures of bldg damage are west of the worst tornado damage, probably where the funnel cloud was just about to reach the ground.
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Drak
I think you mean counterclockwise for the low
He sometimes has memory lapses and thinks he is in the southern hemisphere..
Say what? Low=counterclockwise.
Dang, got beaten in this. Not trying to beat you up over it, Drak, nor steal your lunch.
Cheers.
Thanks for answering my question Drak..
But doesn't that only happen with stronger systems.. or can it happen with any kind of area of low pressure as long as the conditions are right?
It depends on whether or not an upper level high is already in the vicinity of the weak area of the low pressure. Generally stronger systems have the ability to create their own upper level outflow (upper level high)since their circulation has more vertical depth within the atmosphere.
Yes. Low pressure spins clockwise at the surface
Say what? Low=counterclockwise.
LOL. You know what I meant. I didn't type very consciously.
Also of note is that GFS has moved up the time frame about a day since late last week.
Dang, the details are hard to see at this size.
Central pressure = 992 mb
time = Wednesday, 04 June at 06:00 UTC. (2am EDT)
Does anyone know when we should be able to see the area of convection that will be associated with the "storm"
962 !?! Now THAT would be an exceptionally healthy early-season storm.
You can view it HERE.Its the GGEM loop from albany.
962 !?! Now THAT would be an exceptionally healthy early-season storm.
LOL. Well averaging the GFS, CMC, and NOGAPS. It would at least be a category 1 hurricane. Still way too early to tell. That area in the EPAC is looking interesting though.
Any way you slice it not gonna happen!
Link
Since its a Global model wouldn't the pressure be even lower if for some crazy reason that come true??
Yes, good point. I seriously doubt anything like that will occur though.
Wilma come out of the Central Caribbean this ones coming out of the EPAC. Way different Steering scenarios.
The Eastern Pacific Basin remains tranquil at this time. A tropical wave that was located near 95 west has dissipated overnight. Despite this, plenty of thunderstorms remain over the Eastern Pacific, from Central America to about 95 west. These thunderstorms are poorly organized and are not expected to develop into a tropical system. However, some of the computer guidance is suggesting that a tropical system could develop later this week in either the western Caribbean Sea or in the eastern Pacific.
From Accuweathers tropical weather section.
Which I do not understand and have no sympathy for. Most of our vehicles, and especially SUV's have only gotten larger in the last 10 years. Larger = more weight. Even with marginally improving engine efficiency over this time all benefits have been sucked up by the heavier vehicle.
I have a 10 year old car that still gets 34 MPG. If a very inexpensive 10 year old car can get that, why haven't we improved gas milage since? (This is a car capable of moving a family of four and accelerating to 90 on the highway on-ramp, not a sub-compact) Consumer demand. If the Ford Inexcusables did not sell due to the MPG, the automarkers would have been working a lot more on vehicle weight, engine efficiency, aerodynamic drag, etc. But no one cared, until now. Sales tends push innovation...
Link
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