First tornado death of 2013 ends record 219-day streak without a tornado death
A powerful tornado ripped through Adairsville, Georgia, northwest of Atlanta, at 11:19 am EST this morning, killing at least one person in a mobile home park. The tornado caused major structural damage in the downtown district, and overturned approximately 100 cars on I-75 near Exit 306 (see eyewitness video here, with swear words.) Eight injuries, some serious, are also being reported from a tornado just southeast of Calhoun, GA around 11:30am EST. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has placed most of the Southeast in their "Slight Risk" region for severe weather for Wednesday, a step down from the "Moderate Risk" potential issued on Tuesday for the Midwest. Three other tornadoes have hit Georgia today, and there were 79 reports of wind damage due to high winds as of 2 pm EST along the cold front that triggered today's severe weather, from Alabama to Pennsylvania. Tornado watches continue for a wide swath of the Southeast this afternoon, from Alabama to North Carolina.
Figure 1. Car overturned by the tornado near Adairsville, Georgia, on January 30, 2013. Image courtesy of WSB-TV on http://pic.twitter.com/2lAL0Lmc.
Figure 2. Radar reflectivity (top) and Doppler velocity (bottom) images of the tornado that hit Adairsville, Georgia at 11:19 am EST Wednesday, January 30, 2013. Adairsville is under the circle with a "+" in it.
Figure 3. A wild weather day in the Southeast: NOAA's Storm Prediction Center logged four preliminary reports of tornadoes as of 2 pm Wednesday, along with 79 reports of damaging winds.
Video 1. View of the Adairsville, Georgia tornado of January 30, 2013. Note the blue power flashes as the tornado brings down power lines.
Record string of 219 days without a tornado death ends
Today's fatality ends the longest continuous stretch without a tornado death ever recorded in the U.S.--219 days. The last time the U.S. saw a tornado death was at Venus in Highlands County, Florida, from an EF-0 tornado associated with Tropical Storm Debby on June 24, 2012. The previous record was 197 straight days without a tornado death, which ended on February 28, 1987. Part of the reason for the long stretch without a tornado death during 2012 - 2013 was the relative lack of tornadoes. According to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center (SPC), the total number of tornadoes during 2012 was just 936. This is the first time since 2002 that fewer than 1000 tornadoes have been recorded. The jet stream was positioned unusually far north in Canada during much of 2012, which brought drought to much of Tornado Alley. It's tough to get tornadoes when you're experiencing near-record drought conditions and very few thunderstorms. Saskatchewan, Canada saw as many tornadoes in July 2012 as all of the U.S., thanks to the more northward position of the jet stream.
Figure 4. June 24, 2012: A tornado spawned by Tropical Storm Debbie crosses Lake Winterset in Winter Haven, Florida. Another tornado from Debbie on this day caused the last tornado death in the U.S., at Venus in Highlands County, Florida. Image credit: wunderphotographer whgator3.
Record moisture and rains
Today's severe weather outbreak was helped by record levels of January moisture, as a flow of unusually moist air rode northwards from the Gulf of Mexico, where water temperatures were about 0.5°F above average. Meteorologists use a term called "precipitable water" to discuss how much water vapor is in the atmosphere. Precipitable water is defined as how much rain would fall on the ground if one took a vertical slice of the atmosphere above a given location and condensed all the water vapor into rain. Precipitable water levels tend to be highest in the summer, since warm air holds more waver vapor, and can exceed two inches in the Midwest U.S. In winter, though, it is rare to see precipitable water values higher than one inch. However, precipitable water was well over an inch well into Canada, and three upper air stations--Detroit, MI, Lincoln IL, and Caribou, Maine--set all-time records for January moisture, and four other stations had their 2nd highest January moisture on record. From the 00Z January 30 to 00Z January 31 upper air balloon soundings taken at the 73 radiosonde stations in the contiguous U.S., we observed these record or near-record precipitable water values for January:
Detroit, MI: New Record: 1.21" Old record: 1.20" 1/11/75
Lincoln, IL: New record: 1.46" Old Record: 1.35" 1/12/60
Caribou, Maine: New Record: 1.21" (Ties old record of 1.21" 1/14/2005)
Alpena, MI: 2nd place, 0.99". First place: 1.01", 1/5/97
Buffalo, NY: 2nd place, 1.21". First place: 1.34", 1/15/95
Wilmington, OH: 2nd place, 1.44" First place: 1.51", 1/12/2005
Gray, ME: 2nd place, 1.36" First place: 1.38" 1/20/96
Green Bay (4th), Albany, NY (4th), Sterling, VA (4th), Shreveport (6th), Little Rock (3rd), Nashville, TN (10th), Chatham, MA (10th), and Maniwawi, Quebec (4th) all had top-ten January precipitable water values. Radiosonde data goes back to 1948.
The exceptional moisture led to record rains in many regions of the Midwest, with numerous locations setting daily precipitation records. Two airports recorded their wettest January day on record, including Madison, WI (1.84", previous record 1.80" on January 1, 1892) and Houghton Lake, MI (1.21", old record 1.08" on in 1938.) Top-five wettest January days in recorded history were also set at Muskegon, MI (2.48"), Marquette, MI (1.21"), and South Bend, IN (1.94".) Here where I live, in Southeast Michigan, being outside yesterday was like walking through a surreal white soup. Rains like nothing I've ever seen in January fitfully poured from the sky throughout the day, ponding up on the frozen ground. Eerie white fog swirled over the sodden snow drifts as thunder rumbled overhead in temperatures 25°F above average. What planet was this? The heavy rains of 1.60" that fell in 26 hours at the nearby Flint airport made this month our wettest January in recorded history, with 3.66" of precipitation.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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It's 44 degrees here, wind chill of 40. Our high is upper fifies and I left my coat at school. Guess I'll have to go dig for another one for today.
There's biscuits and gravy, Canadian bacon, eggs and hash browns on the sideboard.
Aussie, hope it's not enough rain to raise the water in your creek. Stay safe.
It's about 60 frames, might take a while.
It was enough rain, actually caused a 3ft surge, I could hear it but the rain was that heavy I couldn't take any photo's. The rain we got from Ex-TC Oswald raised the creek level from 0ft to 6ft. Today's rain raised it from to about 4.5ft, right now it's down to about 6inches.
Where are you aislin?
... Red flag warning in effect from 10 am this morning to 7 PM EST
this evening for relative humidities below 35 percent and 20 foot
winds of 15 mph or greater...
The National Weather Service in Tampa Bay area - Ruskin FL has
issued a red flag warning... which is in effect from 10 am this
morning to 7 PM EST this evening. The Fire Weather Watch is no
longer in effect.
* Wind... northeast around 12 to 15 mph.
* Humidity... 18 to 25 percent.
* Impacts... any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly.
Outdoor burning is not recommended.
Precautionary/preparedness actions...
A red flag warning is issued when very favorable conditions for
the spread of wildfire are occurring now... or will occur within
24 hours.
Link
Will do, My Saturday is about to start in 5 minutes, woohoo!!!
Have a great Friday, As you can see, mine was pretty stormy.
Here's a photo I just took of the light snow from last night here in Mid TN. Not enough to close schools.. 15 degrees now brrrr..
Seventy-two-year-old Mary Saflin was swept away from her vehicle and drowned in the torrential waters, and 45-year-old Kimberly Griffith and her two daughters, 12 and 8, were trapped in their van and died when heavy rains caused a nine-foot wall of water to sweep down a low-lying section of road.
Attorneys Alan Perer and Paul Manion say the lawsuit is being filed against the city, its water and sewer authority, Allegheny County and its sewage authority, PennDOT, an engineering firm and even Chrysler Group LLC, which made the Griffiths' van.
Thanks for the great Link Chillin/Chuck..
That was an amazing video compilation at the bottom of the report..
As I said a few hours ago, the tornado has been given a rating of a "high-end EF3".
Strong winds your way VR46L..
A bit cloudy as well..
Modis Image..
Good Morning P'cola
Its actually quite windy but not raining at the moment .but should be nice in a couple of days:) See there is a front coming towards you but there seems to be no Precipitation with it .
Modis of Felleng..
JTWC Image..
Yeah it's our rainy time from now till June..
Then it tapers off considerably..
Then it's a wait and see game for TS and Hurricaines..
Were pretty good rain wise at this time..
Enjoy to the max Doug!!
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day..
Atlas V Launches TDRS-K
Image Credit & Copyright: Ben Cooper (Launch Photography)
Explanation: Beyond a fertile field of satellite communication antennas at Kennedy Space Center, an Atlas V rocket streaks into orbit in this long exposure photograph. In the thoughtfully composed image recorded on the evening of January 30, the antennas in the foreground bring to mind the rocket's payload, a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS; sounds like TEE-dress). This TDRS-K is the first in a next-generation series adding to the constellation of NASA's communication satellites. Operating from geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles (36,000 kilometers) above planet Earth, the network of TDRS satellites relays communications, data, and commands between spacecraft and ground stations. Formerly the TDRS network provided communications for space shuttle missions. In fact, many TDRS satellites were ferried as far as low Earth orbit on space shuttles. The TDRS network continues to support major spacecraft like the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
Northeast Eruption
A large prominence stretching hundreds of thousands of kilometers located in the northeast quadrant erupted on Thursday. A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) will most likely be flung into space. Images and movie below by SDO. More to follow.
CME UPDATE: As expected, the northeast quadrant prominence eruption on Thursday flung a Coronal Mass Ejection into space. The plasma cloud was directed to the northeast and away from Earth. This image by Lasco C3.
solarham.net
LOL! Sarcasm for breakfast :)
No worries Nea...everyone knows that global warming causes extreme cold and heat...at least they should by now, right?
Link (not peer reviewed)
Event Time
2013-02-01 05:36:40 UTC
2013-02-01 16:36:40 UTC+11:00 at epicenter
2013-01-31 23:36:40 UTC-06:00 system time
Location
11.090°S 165.538°E depth=9.3km (5.8mi)
Nearby Cities
52km (32mi) SW of Lata, Solomon Islands
522km (324mi) NNW of Luganville, Vanuatu
638km (396mi) ESE of Honiara, Solomon Islands
793km (493mi) NNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu
1103km (685mi) N of We, New Caledonia
I needed a good laugh this morning
That is hilarious !!!
There is some lightning with this system but not as much as the storm this afternoon.
You said it was hailing there so this is what I meant for you to use.....
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