On Sunday, November 17th, 2013, an outbreak of deadly tornadoes occurred across the upper midwest region of the United States. 73 tornadoes were confirmed across Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio. Two of the seventy-three tornadoes were violent, of which both earned damage ratings on the Enhanced Fujita Scale of EF-4 (166-200mph winds). Both … Read more
Ten years ago today on the evening of May 4, 2007, the small town of Greensburg, Kansas, was nearly destroyed by a 1.7 mile wide EF-5 tornado, with a maximum wind speed of 205mph. Damage surveys concluded that about 95% of the city was destroyed, with EF-5 damage observed through the heart of Greensburg. The tornado tracked for … Read more
● Future Radar ● Storm Reports ● Rainfall Totals ● Live Lightning During periods of severe weather, storm chasers tend to converge on the predicted region, devise their strategy, and hit the road in pursuit of convective development unmatched in variety and intensity anywhere in the world. The United States is home to the most … Read more
From May 21st to May 26th, 2011, destructive tornadoes tore through the Great Plains, impacting thousands of people and leaving billions of dollars in damage in its wake. During this time period, there were 241 total tornadoes, including two EF-5, three EF-4, eight EF-3, thirty-one EF-2, eighty-six EF-1, and one hundred [and] ten EF-0 tornadoes. … Read more
Strong vertical wind shear is important for the development of severe convective storms including the type of thunderstorm, its orientation, and its life span. Wind shear can influence storms in several ways, including speed shear and directional shear. Speed shear is a change in the wind speed with respect to height, while directional shear is the … Read more
The day after Christmas Day in 2015, an outbreak of tornadoes across the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and northern Texas. There were a total of 12 confirmed tornadoes, including one violent tornado that was rated an EF-4 with estimated winds to 180mph that devastated the communities of Garland and Rowlett as it crossed Interstate 30. Below … Read more
The City of Rowlett, Texas, continues their efforts to raise money for those affected by the EF-4 tornado that impacted the area on December 26th, 2015. Rowlett Strong, the non-profit organization involved, has earned a Gold Participant status from the GuideStar non-profit organization. GuideStar is one of the world’s largest source of non-profit information. Rowlett … Read more
Determining the type of supercells that may occur within a given severe weather environment is important for a multitude of reasons. A supercell is a thunderstorm that rotates. There are three types of supercells: low-precipitation (LP), classic, and high-precipitation (HP). The configuration of the wind shear profiles within a severe weather environment is critical in diagnosing … Read more
On Tuesday, May 24th, 2016, an outbreak of tornadoes occurred across western Kansas. There were 13 observed total tornadoes a cyclic supercell near Dodge City, Kansas including four sets of twin tornadoes, a set of triplets, and a large multi-vortex tornado and wedge tornado. So far, the National Weather Service in Dodge City, Kansas, surveyed 9 … Read more
Saturday, May 21st, was the start of a week long period of severe weather across the Great Plains. From southern Texas to the High Plains in North Dakota, isolated tornadoes, large hail, and severe winds, were forecasted. Perusing model guidance the night before on Friday, May 20th, we had an idea of our target for Saturday: Western … Read more
Long-track supercells formed across the western Great Plains on Tuesday, May 16th, 2017. Accompanied with these supercells were multiple tornadoes, damaging winds, and giant hail upwards of 4.00″ in diameter. Widespread flash flooding also occurred across the Oklahoma Panhandle and southwestern Kansas. The morning data analysis, including the 1200z / 7:00am CDT observed weather balloon … Read more
On January 21-23rd, 2017, a rare, multifaceted severe weather outbreak occurred across the Deep South and southeastern United States. 80 tornadoes occurred over the three day span of the outbreak, of which several were strong (EF-2 to EF-3 strength), long-track tornadoes. This tornado outbreak was the second largest outbreak on record in the southeastern United States. … Read more
The year of 2016, there were a total of 1,059 tornadoes across the U.S. (with the month of May, 2016 having some of the more photogenic tornadoes). How does this compare to other years? According to the 2005-2015 tornado climatology, there was an average of 1,402 tornadoes across the nation. Tornado activity for 2016 was below the 2005-2015 average. Each … Read more
April 27th, 2016, will be the five year anniversary of the April 27th, 2011, Super Outbreak of tornadoes that occurred across Dixie Alley in the southeastern United States. Between April 26th and April 28th, 2011, there were 363 total tornadoes. On April 27th alone, there were 219 tornadoes. This outbreak surpassed the 1974 Tornado Outbreak that … Read more
For the past week, the global numerical prediction models, including the GFS and ECMWF, have hinted at the potential of a negatively tilted trough digging into the Southeast. They have consistently indicated a strong area of low pressure across the Arklatex propagating off to the northeast into Missouri and Kentucky. Ahead of the low, an … Read more