Watching the Skies » Tornado Warning

Severe weather threat coming to an end for the DFW Metroplex

Sean Toner — Wed, 25 May 2011 03:52:35 +0000

The last round of severe weather has moved through much of the DFW Metroplex finally, with numerous tornado, wind, and hail reports from the entire region. I will provide more details as they come in.

Radar snap from 10:47 pm CDT

Round three of severe weather approaching the DFW Metroplex!

Sean Toner — Wed, 25 May 2011 02:44:37 +0000

Our next and possibly last round of severe thunderstorms is approaching the Metroplex now! These storms are linear in nature and forming directly along the dryline. The tornado risk is still moderate, so please keep a close eye to the skies!

Radar snap from 9:42pm CDT

Multiple tornado warnings persist through the DFW Metroplex

Sean Toner — Wed, 25 May 2011 02:08:22 +0000

Very strong rotation over eastern Dallas headed east into Mesquite at this time. Tornado reports from Corinth, west of Justin, & Springtown already. High wind reports and storm damage from Saginaw and Fort Worth. Large hail up to 4.25 inches in Irving already. The night isnt over people, stay tuned to your local weather service offices.

Radar snap from 9:02pm CDT

Massive tornado headed toward Piedmont, north Oklahoma City

Sean Toner — Tue, 24 May 2011 21:48:18 +0000

Below is a radar snapshot from 4:36 pm CDT, just west of Oklahoma City.

Radar snaps from 3:22pm CDT

Sean Toner — Tue, 24 May 2011 20:35:36 +0000

Storms have kicked up off the dryline in western Oklahoma and north west Texas. Storm movement is NE to ENE at 25-30 kts. Several rotating supercells have emerged over west central Oklahoma, while convection is just now beginning across north west Texas.


Radar snap from Frederick, OK radar site at 3:22pm CDT.	Radar snap from Vance AFB, OK radar site at 3:24 pm CDT.

West Dallas tornado rated eF-2, six other tornadoes around north Texas

Sean Toner — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 22:59:39 +0000

Tornado damage consistent with an eF-2 tornado was found in West Dallas during a storm survey conducted by the National Weather Service today. The tornado’s path was one half mile in length, causing significant damage to numerous structures in that area. A preliminary track map shows it crossing the Trinity River and its levees, which should debunk any myths people may of had about tornadoes and river crossings… (source: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/?n=prelimtrackmap) I have included a tornado damage summary provided by the National Weather Service below.

Six other tornadoes were documented around the area, including another which caused moderate damage in southeast Dallas county, to the city of Seagoville. Below is radar snaps of the storm as it looked while producing the tornado in West Dallas. The storm is not overly impressive, when compared to supercells during our spring time severe weather season, but still displays the traditional hook echo and velocity couplet associated with tornadic supercells.

A similar feature is observed with the northeast Ellis/southeast Dallas counties tornado. A noteworthy hook echo and velocity couplet are observed by radar.

Thankfully the next 7 days don’t appear to show any significant tornado threats. Forecast models show marginal chances of thunderstorms Friday night, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Additionally a weak front may move through the area Saturday, then lay stationary across the Metroplex Sunday into Monday. This front has the potential to kick off organized severe development along and to the south of the front, but coverage of storms may be limited. Regardless I would consider storms a possibility Saturday and Sunday. Straight line winds and hail would be possible with stronger storms over the weekend, but the tornado threat will be minimal as environmental wind shearing will be very low. Temps the next 7 days will remain above normal and with high dew points due to the obvious abundance of moisture, our heat indexes will be around 100 to 105.

It would seem summer has not quite left us yet.

Tornado damage survey report by the NWS:

…PRELIMINARY DAMAGE REPORT…

A TOTAL OF SIX TORNADOES OCCURRED ON WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH. FOUR
TORNADOES WERE RATED EF0 ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE. ONE TORNADO
WAS RATED EF1…AND ONE TORNADO WAS PRELIMINARILY RATED EF2. ONLY
TWO MINOR INJURIES HAVE BEEN REPORTED FROM ALL OF THESE STORMS.

THE EF2 TORNADO DAMAGE WAS LOCATED IN THE CITY OF DALLAS NEAR THE
INTERSECTION OF MOCKINGBIRD LANE AND IRVING BOULEVARD. THIS
TORNADO CAUSED MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO SEVERAL BUILDINGS AND CAUSED
MORE EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO A WAREHOUSE. AN EXTERIOR NON LOAD BEARING
WALL COLLAPSED…LEADING TO A PARTIAL COLLAPSE OF THE ROOF. THIS
DAMAGE WAS RATED EF2 ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE WITH WIND SPEEDS
OF APPROXIMATELY 115 MPH. THE LAST TIME THE CITY OF DALLAS HAD A
TORNADO RATED AT F2/EF2 OR HIGHER WAS F2 TORNADO DAMAGE ON APRIL
11 1974. THE LANCASTER TORNADO OF APRIL 25 1994 PRODUCED F4 DAMAGE
IN THE CITY OF LANCASTER BEFORE DISSIPATING WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS
OF DALLAS.

THE EF1 TORNADO DAMAGE WAS LOCATED IN THE CITY OF SEAGOVILLE JUST
EAST OF HIGHWAY 175. AT LEAST THREE APARTMENT BUILDINGS SUFFERED
SIGNIFICANT ROOF DAMAGE. WIND SPEEDS IN THIS TORNADO ARE ESTIMATED
TO BE NEAR 90 MPH.

THE REMAINING TORNADO DAMAGE WAS GIVEN A PRELIMINARY RATING OF
EF0. THESE TORNADOES OCCURRED NEAR LINDSAY IN COOKE COUNTY…NEAR
FERRIS IN ELLIS COUNTY…IN HEATH IN ROCKWALL COUNTY…AND NEAR
BLOSSOM IN LAMAR COUNTY.

THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE RATES TORNADO DAMAGE.

ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE APPROXIMATE WIND SPEED RANGE

EF0 65-85 MPH
EF1 86-110 MPH
EF2 111-135 MPH
EF3 136-165 MPH
EF4 166-200 MPH
EF5 200 MPH OR GREATER

Tropical Storm Hermine & it’s effects

Sean Toner — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:08:59 +0000

Tropical Storm Hermine, a remarkably impactful storm for the DFW Metroplex which sits 550 miles north of the storm’s initial landfall. The storm has brought severe flooding to a 300 mile stretch of central and north Texas, along the I-35 corridor. The worst flood effects are being felt in San Antonio through Austin. Flash flooding has even occurred in the Metroplex, the most notable being numerous homes and trailers flooded in the cities of Lewisville, Arlington, and Fort Worth. The heavy rains brought over 12 inches of rain near Austin as of 8am today (9/8/10) and 4 to 6 inches of rain in the Metroplex. (source: CoCoRaHS) My CoCoRaHS gauge captured 4.01 inches of rain in the 24hr period from 8am 9/7/10 to 8am 9/8/10. Another several inches have been observed since that time, with even more rain on the way. Below is radar estimated total rainfall from the FWS dopplar radar. An even more accurate and complete picture region wide view is available from the National Weather Service at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ridge2/RFC_Precip/.

As if the flooding rainfalls weren’t enough, Hermine brought the risk of tornadoes to the region with several damage reports in Dallas, Highland Park, Seagoville, Ferris and Trumbull. Tornadoes embedded within the outer rain bands of tropical systems aren’t uncommon to coastal regions in the Gulf, but it is fairly unusual to get those type of tornadic storms this far away from the Gulf. Tornadoes in this type of environment tend to develop without warning and are difficult to detect with current radar technology, but are very brief and usually weak. The Dallas Morning News reported ripped up roofs in Cockrell Hill, Oak Cliff, West Dallas, and the Love Field areas. (source: Dallas Morning News) A Tornado Warning was also issued for a storm 4 miles south of Hebron at 5:37pm. The warned area included Frisco, Plano, and The Colony. The storm showed rotation on radar, and storm spotters observed a rotating wall cloud within the storm. Thankfully no tornado damage has been reported with this storm. Its center of circulation traveled north along the Denton/Collin county line, passing over Highway 121 and Plano Parkway, then dissipating. I got the pleasure of evacuating to our work’s ‘shelter’ area which amasses to little more than an open hallway, without access to my computer with accurate radar data.

A Tornado Watch still remains in effect for the entire DFW Metroplex, southeastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas until 1am. Another rain band is approaching from the west, with an approximate ETA of around 11pm to midnight tonight to Frisco/Plano/The Colony. Rain chances will continue Thursday, however nowhere near the levels observed the past two days. Hot and humid conditions should be expected the remainder of the week and weekend as the sun comes out and starts evaporating the abundance of water on the ground.

Lastly ill end with a quote from the local weather forecast office regarding the heavy rains the last two days…

DFW AND WACO HAVE BOTH SET CALENDAR-DAY PRECIPITATION RECORDS TODAY (SEPT 8). FOR BOTH SITES…THE 24-HR TOTALS (SEPT 7-8) WILL RANK AMONG THE TOP 10 ALL-TIME. PRECISE NUMBERS WILL BE AVAILABLE THURSDAY MORNING.

AT THE PRESENT TIME…THIS MONTH WILL RANK AS THE 4TH WETTEST SEPTEMBER ON RECORD FOR BOTH DALLAS/FORT WORTH AND WACO.

Texas Panhandle Storm Chase

Sean Toner — Tue, 25 May 2010 21:09:59 +0000

On May 25, 2010 I performed a brief storm chase in the Texas panhandle. I was able to chase two separate supercell thunderstorms before the day ended, with one possible tornado. The storms were extremely photogenic and easy to chase as the storm motion was about 20 kts ENE.

The first storm, tornado warned and intercepted west of Channing TX was very much a high precipitation supercell. This had a persistent but non rotating wall cloud for at least 15 minutes. Shortly after the storm inflow was contaminated by cold outflow of a neighboring thunderstorm and became a very high precipitation mess. The below images show a before, during, and after shot of the storm.

Taken at Latitude/Longitude:35.686146/-102.343181. 1.21 km West Channing Texas United States <a href="http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_35.686146_-102.343181.html"> (Map link)</a>25-May-2010 17:19Canon Canon PowerShot SD10, 3.5, 8.462mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 80

25-May-2010 17:37PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K10D, 5.0, 20.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100

Taken at Latitude/Longitude:35.685879/-102.361995. 2.88 km West Channing Texas United States <a href="http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_35.685879_-102.361995.html"> (Map link)</a>25-May-2010 17:47PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K10D , 4.5, 43.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400

This storm no longer looked very favorable for redevelopment, thankfully a new tornado warned storm had just popped about 85 miles south near Dimmitt, TX. The storms were still moving slow around 20 kts, so I was able to jump on US-385 and blast southward to Dimmitt just as the storm was moving in. The storm appeared to maintain its strength and rotation according to radar for the hour and 15 minutes it took to get down to Dimmitt. Once I emerged through the rain core and encountered only sporadic pea sized hail, I was greeted with this monstrosity of a wall cloud!

Taken at Latitude/Longitude:34.601792/-102.312530. 5.66 km North Dimmitt Texas United States <a href="http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_34.601792_-102.312530.html"> (Map link)</a>25-May-2010 19:24PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K10D , 4.5, 18.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100

Taken at Latitude/Longitude:34.601792/-102.312529. 5.66 km North Dimmitt Texas United States <a href="http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_34.601792_-102.312529.html"> (Map link)</a>25-May-2010 19:25PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K10D , 5.6, 55.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 200

Taken at Latitude/Longitude:34.601798/-102.312541. 5.66 km North Dimmitt Texas United States <a href="http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_34.601798_-102.312541.html"> (Map link)</a>25-May-2010 19:28PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K10D , 5.6, 55.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 160

Taken at Latitude/Longitude:34.601801/-102.312557. 5.66 km North Dimmitt Texas United States <a href="http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_34.601801_-102.312557.html"> (Map link)</a>25-May-2010 19:29PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K10D , 4.0, 18.0mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100

Now I have only had the opportunity to do a couple of storm chases with my limited time living in tornado alley and this was my first experience seeing a low precipitation (LP) supercell. This was an incredibly beautiful LP storm and a slow mover at that. The sirens were sounding in Dimmitt intermittently, but otherwise it was very quiet and the winds were moving about 15-20mph into the storm.

The storm continued evolving but remained a LP supercell passing just a mile north of Dimmitt. For about 30 seconds, the storm appeared to kick up a lot of dust. Reviewing still images it looked like a brief microburst. However after reviewing some of the HD video I captured it may have been a very brief tornado without a condensation funnel! There was some very vigorous rotation in the cloud base for about 30 seconds just prior to the dust being pulled up into the air.

Taken at Latitude/Longitude:34.570253/-102.313780. 2.16 km North Dimmitt Texas United States <a href="http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_34.570253_-102.313780.html"> (Map link)</a>25-May-2010 19:37PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K10D , 4.0, 21.0mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 100	Taken at Latitude/Longitude:34.549768/-102.292876. 1.74 km East Dimmitt Texas United States <a href="http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_34.549768_-102.292876.html"> (Map link)</a>25-May-2010 19:54PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K10D , 4.5, 43.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 200	Taken at Latitude/Longitude:34.542673/-102.213189. 8.47 km North Roy Texas United States <a href="http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_34.542673_-102.213189.html"> (Map link)</a>25-May-2010 20:12PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K10D , 6.3, 55.0mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 100
Taken at Latitude/Longitude:34.542673/-102.213186. 8.47 km North Roy Texas United States <a href="http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_34.542673_-102.213186.html"> (Map link)</a>25-May-2010 20:12PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K10D , 5.6, 18.0mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 100

As the sun set, the storm retained it’s overall LP form but didn’t give me any confidence in it’s ability to produce a tornado despite it’s radar observed rotation. It did however give me a few more incredibly beautiful photographs.

Taken at Latitude/Longitude:34.542704/-102.213173. 8.48 km North Roy Texas United States <a href="http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_34.542704_-102.213173.html"> (Map link)</a>25-May-2010 20:24PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K10D , 4.0, 31.0mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 320

Taken at Latitude/Longitude:34.529765/-101.964616. 4.07 km West Lakeview Texas United States <a href="http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_34.529765_-101.964616.html"> (Map link)</a>25-May-2010 20:45Canon Canon PowerShot SD10, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.077 sec, ISO 200

25-May-2010 20:13PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K10D, 4.5, 18.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100

This was the end of the chase day for me as the sun set and the atmospheric instability yielded to a temperature inversion. I headed back to my hotel in Amarillo for the night, to prepare for sight seeing the next day.

View the complete photo galleries here!

NEW as of 10/22/11: View the complete video compilation of this chase below…

Multiple waterspout sightings around Tampa Bay

Sean Toner — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:44:36 +0000

Several reports of waterspouts have been submitted to the National Weather Service in Ruskin today, including one in Old Tampa Bay. The waterspout in Old Tampa Bay is the storm that prompted the tornado warning earlier, no damage has been reported at this time.

I have included some pictures of today’s waterspouts, courtesy of Bay News 9.

[nggallery id=76]

Tornado Warning for Hillsborough County

Sean Toner — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:32:21 +0000

A waterspout moving ashore from upper Tampa Bay prompted a tornado warning for west Hillsborough County. The tornado is near Courtney Campbell Causeway, Town N Country and Tampa Intl Airport.

BULLETIN – EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA – RUSKIN FL
1123 AM EDT MON JUL 27 2009

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR…
WESTERN HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY IN FLORIDA.

* UNTIL 1145 AM EDT

* AT 1121 AM EDT…A WATERSPOUT MOVING TOWARD SHORE WAS SIGHTED NEAR
TOWN ‘N’ COUNTRY…OR 8 MILES WEST OF TAMPA…MOVING EAST AT 10
MPH.

* THE WATERSPOUT WILL BE NEAR…
COURTNEY CAMPBELL CAUSEWAY.
TOWN ‘N’ COUNTRY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

REMEMBER…AS WATERSPOUTS MOVE ASHORE THEY BECOME TORNADOES AND
SHOULD BE CONSIDERED EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM IN
A STRONG AND WELL CONSTRUCTED BUILDING. CARS AND MOBILE HOMES ARE NOT
SAFE! IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE…LIE FLAT IN A DITCH OR CULVERT AND
COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASE CALL
813-645-2323.

Edit: How fitting that my 400th blog post is a tornado warning. That makes me happy.