Oh the weather outside is... huh, what weather?

OK, so while I was off shooting cool funnel remnants of water spouts gone tornado over the weekend, Meso Mike and Rick were back home in my neck of the woods capturing lightning in the thunderstorms that swept through the area. I haven't seen Rick's side (as Mike and Rick chase from opposite sides of the same storms)... but the shot Mike shared with me was pretty awesome!!! This photograph is copyrighted to MESOMIKE.COM.Great shot, Mike. I am SO JEALOUS! He hates that water droplets got on the lens but liked how they were lit up by the strike.

Onto the regularly scheduled post... the continued flooding in the upper midwest is a historic record breaking event, with several of the flood stages and records exceeded by many feet. It's an awful disaster with loss of lives and property.It really is a terrible situation up that way. The National Weather Service Office in Quad Cities IA/IL has done a great job of information share... DOT maps with closures and links to lots of current information about the flooding. I have seen some horrifying video of homes being swept away in raging flood waters... 3 story homes just carried away like a stick in a mud puddle. It's mind-boggling and heart breaking. My heart-felt prayers remain with all those impacted.

As for severe weather, the currently exist two areas with a slight risk for severe weather; however, I just recieved notice of a mesoscale discussion which mentions that an outlook upgrade will be necessary for New England, stating that hail is likely. The tornado trend chart showing tornado reports and the estimate for tornadoes this year compared with others has not been updated since June 10th. Since June 10th, there have been almost 100 more tornado reports. The estimate is that the 1616 tornado reports overstate actual tornadoes by 30%, so approximately 1,131 tornadoes have actually occurred this year, which is more than the year counts of 1,085 in 2007 and 1,106 in 2006. One thing to realize is that the annual count could come close to doubling our current total. There is a secondary tornado season in the fall, and we could easily be looking at a total of well over 2,000 actual tornadoes in 2008, when all is said and done. It truly has been an amazing year.

As an aside, I would like to extend a huge thank you to Jason Moore for Spotlighting me in his fantastic photography blog. I appreciate it. It is an honor to be a member of your blogroll. Your photography is incredible! If you haven't checked out his blog, you should. He features some terrific people out there in his spotlight. It truly is an honor.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop