Weather gone wild

More unfortunate news from Haiti this morning, their strongest aftershock yet, struck at 6:03AM, with a 6.1 magnitude, just 35 miles from Port-au-Prince, not far from the original major earthquake 8 days ago. I haven't heard reports about how the already dangerous state of Port-au-Prince's structures were impacted or if any rescue workers were impacted, which is my first thought, but it is clear that they continue to need all of our prayers.

Back here, we have a relentless weather pattern, which is inundating much of the country with one type of weather or another. A series of low pressure systems is parading its way across the country moving in off the Pacific. Strong low pressure systems are dumping record rainfall on California, causing incredibly dangerous landslides and threats of more, as more rain moves in. As if that's not bad enough, southern California actually reported 3 tornadoes, including one in Los Angeles. Apparently, the turmoil in the water (20' waves) caused some water spouts which moved inland.

GOLETA SANTA BARBARA COUNTY CA
RADIO STATION KCOY IN SANTA BARBARA REPORTED A SHERIFFS DEPUTY SPOTTED A POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR THE OCEAN MEADOW GOLF COURSE NEAR ISLE VISTA AROUND 1030 AM...ROOF DAMAGE (LOX)

HUNTINGTON BEACH ORANGE COUNTY, CA
TORNADO SPOTTED ON PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY JUST SOUTH OF ANDERSON STREET. THE FUNNEL CROSSED THE HIGHWAY AND HEADED NE. A BLACK LIMO WAS LIFTED UP AND AN SUV WAS FLIPPED (SGX)

HUNTINGTON BEACH ORANGE COUNTY CA
PROBABLE (Interesting wording) TORNADO IN HUNTINGTON BEACH. BOATS UPLIFTED AND DAMAGED IN THE HB HARBOR. DAMAGE TO BUILDING IN AREAS. CAR FLIPPED 16400 PCH. (SGX)

Neither San Diego, not Los Angeles's Weather Service Office reference the tornado at this time.

Local Storm Reports
Los Angeles
San Diego
Unfortunately, that same system is now causing treacherous blizzard conditions in the mid-west, with ice storms and just a huge mess. For us, down in the south, this all spells out severe weather potential.

For today, much of the central Gulf states are under a slight risk for severe weather with a mentionable tornadic threat. The area of risk stops short of my area with a new threat bumping into tomorrow's forecast.




Anyone within the green outlined area, should be mindful of rapidly changing conditions. The second graphic depicts the probabilities for tornadoes.

I am keeping a closer watch on tomorrow. Before you ask, NO! I WILL NOT BE CHASING! It's payroll day for me, so I will be stuck at my desk, missing out on all the fun, but the wording has me intrigued.You see, though it looks like instability will be lacking, south Georgia and north Florida look like the ripest areas for action. As in, if anything is going to happen, it is most likely to occur in my neck of the woods. I'll break down the discussion.

...SERN AL...SRN GA AND NRN FL...

AN MCS (mesoscale convective system-large rotating storm system) SHOULD BE IN PROGRESS OVER THE SERN STATES EARLY THURSDAY WITHIN ZONE OF ISENTROPIC LIFT (warm air overriding cold air. Lift is a key element of thunderstorms.) WIDESPREAD CLOUDS AND PRECIPITATION SHOULD LIMIT MLCAPE (low instability- due to limited heating potential, cloud cover) TO WELL BELOW 1000 J/KG EAST OF ONGOING STORMS...BUT PARTIAL CLEARING WILL BE POSSIBLE FARTHER DOWNSTREAM ACROSS FL AND SRN GA (we might HERE have just enough break in the clouds to allow for the heating to destabilize things, instability is another key element for thunderstorms). STORMS DEVELOPING NEAR THE SRN END OF THIS MCS WILL EXPERIENCE AN INFLUX OF RICHER LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE (the third and final ingredient of thunderstorms.) AND THEREFORE SHOULD HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF BECOMING ROOTED NEAR THE SURFACE. STRONG VERTICAL SHEAR (a fourth ingredient making conditions ripe for tornadoes) ACCOMPANYING THE SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL CONTRIBUTE TO A THREAT OF SUPERCELLS AND BOWING STRUCTURES WITH DAMAGING WIND AND ISOLATED TORNADOES POSSIBLE AS ACTIVITY DEVELOPS EWD. HIGHER PROBABILITIES MAY BE NEEDED IN LATER OUTLOOKS IF IT BECOMES MORE APPARENT THAT THE BOUNDARY LAYER WILL UNDERGO SUFFICIENT DESTABILIZATION.

So, basically, all the ingredients for potential tornadoes in south Georgia (north Florida) are lining up for tomorrow. If we get a clearing in the sky, watch out! That's the only ingredient that is needed to trigger a significant event.

Be safe,
~Dewdrop

Georgia Tornadoes of April 10, and April 19, 2009 and Honeymoon stage 2 full day 3...

The official report from the National Weather Service in Peachtree City has been released for the two tornadoes in Georgia that occurred Sunday night, April 19th. Click this link to see the report. Two tornadoes were confirmed during that severe weather outbreak... one in Muscogee County and one in Cherokee County. The truck in the photo above was moved 25 feet during the storm in Muscogee County.

TORNADO NO: 1 - CHEROKEE COUNTY:
*** 2 INJURIES ***
1100 PM EDT/EF1/LENGTH: 1.5 MILES/WIDTH: 0.5 MILE/MAX WINDS: 90 MPH
TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN FOUR MILES EAST OF WOODSTOCK IN FAR SOUTHEAST CHEROKEE COUNTY


TORNADO NO: 2 - MUSCOGEE COUNTY:
1135 PM EDT/EF1/LENGTH: 4 MILES/WIDTH: 250 YARDS/MAX WINDS: 105 MPH

TORNADO INITIALLY TOUCHED DOWN IN RUSSELL COUNTY ALABAMA...PHENIX CITY...NEAR A BOWLING ALLEY AND THE INTERSECTION OF DILLINGHAM AND BROAD STREETS. THE TORNADO THEN CROSSED THE CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER INTO GEORGIA AND THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

SURVEYS ARE STILL ONGOING AND THIS STATEMENT WILL BE UPDATED AS FURTHER INFORMATION IS OBTAINED. IN ADDITION...INFORMATION IS STILL BEING GATHERED ON THE MAJOR TORNADO OUTBREAK OF APRIL 10-11 AND AN UPDATED PNS ON THAT EVENT WILL BE SENT LATER THIS WEEK.

Photos are linked on the NWS for the Muscogee County tornado. The Cherokee photo site is still under construction.

Of course, I was out of pocket during the large outbreak of tornadoes in north Georgia and Alabama during a high risk, PDS (potentially dangerous situation advisory issued by the Storm Prediction Center). The report for north and central Georgia's 12 confirmed tornadoes on April 10th is here. Actual survey. Preliminary local storm reports.

Photos of the tornado damage in:
*Hancock County photos ** strongest of those... EF3 tornado had a path length of 6.25 miles, a width of one-half mile with a maximum wind speed of 160 MPH and caused 1 injury along its path**
*Chattahoochee County photos
*Chattooga County photos ** This was an EF2 tornado had a path length of 1 mile and a width of 200 yards, with maximum wind speeds of 120 MPH.**
*Pickens County photos
*Forsyth County photos
*Sumter and Crisp County photos
*Dooly County photos

Well, with all the weather talk, I didn't cover the 2nd full day on our wonderful honeymoon stage 3, which is what I was doing during the major tornado outbreak in Georgia... doesn't that figure? The second day, April 10th is the day we had planned to go to the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park... in fact, we stayed within walking distance of those places for that sake (you know, in that beautifully landscaped B & B under the landing area for the airport)... but the typically sunny San Diego weather decided to not be so sunny. A low pressure system slammed into the area carrying with it a rare thunderstorms and rain which imposed on our plans. We ended up instead, traveling up the coast to San Clemente, where we planned to have dinner with my wonderful groom's cousin and his, at the time, fiancee, but they have since been married. The journey taking the interstate (called the freeway there, which is important to note because the other roads aren't so "free". We accidentally ended up on a $5 toll road!!!) should have been about an hour, but we took the 8 hour route. lol.

I mentioned before that my favorite part was the seals that have taken over the Children's Pool, which is just south at La Jolla Beach. I could have stayed all day watching the seals in La Jolla at the Children's Pool, where the animal rights people and the people rights people can't seem to get along... Since I took so many pictures there, I figure a slide show is the best approach...

I also enjoyed watching the surfers try to catch their waves. They seemed to be in rhythm with the ocean, and they would take off running when one looked "right" and hop aboard for a ride. I can't imagine the energy that's exhausted in that sport.... really great exercise... apparently, in California... even Jesus was thought to have been a surfer.Speaking of exercise, I have to share this series, which is sort of an embarrassment, but too funny to leave out. Most times, while we are traveling, I will set up my camera on a timer to capture a shot. Well, I asked my wonderful groom to sit on the sea wall with his back to the ocean, and I was going to hop on the wall to catch a shot with him... apparently, they built the wall too high, or my timer is too fast... ... or I just need more exercise. Thankfully, my groom to be has more arm strength than me and was able to hop up in time.

We had so much fun exploring the beautiful southern coast of California. This house on the hill scared me though...I bet they're a little nervous... It was so gorgeous along that strip of beach though... with sand piles, wonderful rocks carved out by the tides, creating little waterfalls as the tide changed. ... and games for my wonderful groom after he studied the water movement for a while...Then, it was time for a game of chicken... which he lost...He did a little mountain climbing, which resulted in a huge scrape on his leg... Then, we just explored the beauty that California beholds...It was a gorgeous day!!! We had a wonderful time!

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop

Tornado powerful enough to rip the bark off a tree

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! Please visit Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy, the team for SKY WATCH FRIDAY (click the word to link and participate!) Thanks to Dot and Tom, who were instrumental in the success of this blogging event. You should definitely come fly with us!

Over the past week, I have been discussing the impact of the tornadoes that hit south Georgia on February 19th. Grady and Thomas counties saw a significant amount of damage, first with the long tracked tornado (16.5 mile path) that reached EF2 strength near Thomasville. That tornado lifted, and a second more powerful EF3 tornado dropped no more than 25 miles away from my home. This picture is of the tree on Salem Road in Boston, Georgia that caused the National Weather Service to elevate the rating of this tornado to an EF3, estimating winds at 140-145 mph.

Enhanced Fujita Scale

You see, the winds in this tornado were so fast and powerful that they were able to rip the bark off of this tree. This same 300-400 yard tornado barely missed a home and caused significant damage to their out-buildings.

Link to Thomasville tornado damage report
Link to Boston tornado damage report
Link to slide show of damage
Link to Examiner articles

It was when my weather radio went off alerting me that something was coming that I checked the radar and saw the monstrous supercell tracking my way. That was when we took shelter in the "safe spot" in our hallway, sitting behind a mattress. This powerful and tornadic supercell tracked for over 4 hours from Alabama, into the Florida panhandle, and into Georgia, where it finally interacted with the moisture boundary and exploded into a powerfully destructive tornado. This was a frightening night for us, but not nearly as frightening as it was for those who actually were directly impacted by the tornado.

All that being said, the Storm Prediction Center has severe weather forecasted for the next 3 days, with Saturday being my big weather day, as well as most of Georgia. It starts in the central plains states today and works its way eastward in the coming days, placing me smack dab in the middle of an area of slight risk for severe weather on Saturday.Given the uncertainties in timing of Saturday's main event, the forecast is very powerfully worded.

MODELS ARE BEGINNING TO FAVOR POTENTIAL FOR AN OUTBREAK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...INCLUDING TORNADOES... SATURDAY INTO SATURDAY NIGHT OVER A LARGE PORTION OF THE SOUTHEAST...AND HAVE BEEFED UP (official weather terminology... lol) PROBABILITIES ACCORDINGLY.

EXPECT ONGOING STRONG/SEVERE ACTIVITY AT BEGINNING OF THE PERIOD. ACTIVITY WILL ALSO LIKELY INTENSIFY NEAR AND AHEAD OF THE FRONT INTO SRN GA/NRN FL AS BOUNDARY LAYER DESTABILIZES BY THE EARLY TO MID AFTERNOON. THREAT SHOULD MANIFEST ITSELF AS BOTH FAST MOVING BOW SEGMENTS AND ISOLATED TORNADIC SUPERCELLS.

A daytime outbreak in my neck of the woods, and I have CPR training and rain-checked Valentine's Day. Plus, my wonderful gtb severely sprained his ankle at work yesterday (I don't even want to get into our 5 hour ER visit...) How do you storm chase on crutches???!

The northern half of Georgia needs to keep an eye on Friday night, as the greatest threat there exists during the overnight hours...

GA FRI NIGHT/EARLY SAT: CYCLOGENESIS OCCURS OVER NRN LA. SUPPORT OVERNIGHT STRENGTHENING OF STORMS...AND POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT OF ONE OR TWO CONVECTIVE CLUSTERS. THESE SYSTEMS SHOULD MOVE GENERALLY E...WITH EMBEDDED STORMS POSING A THREAT FOR SVR HAIL...WIND AND ISOLD TORNADOES.

I really hate night time events. Fortunately, you have a little time to run out and get that weather radio!

The Armor of God

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

~Ephesians 6:10-18

Have a lovely day!
~Dewdrop

The damage from the Boston, Georgia tornado at about 1:00AM on February 19, 2009

You know... I have seen on television, the devastation of an EF5 tornado such as when 95% of Greensburg, KS was destroyed in May 2007 by a 1 1/2 mile wide EF5 wedge tornado, which stole 11 lives, and the near total destruction seen in Parkersburg, IA, where the 1/2 mile wide EF5 wedge tornado stole the lives of 7 people. I have seen the utter catastrophic devastation left by Hurricanes Andrew, Katrina and Ike... on video, in pictures, but nothing can fully prepare you for seeing it first-hand. Nothing can truly prepare you for that human element that you experience when you look around at the faces of the family, whose home has been destroyed, and they have no idea what to do. Their expressions summarize a feeling of utter confusion and helplessness. The overwhelming appearance of the scene is staggering. Nothing can prepare you for a 300-400 400-500 yard wide swath of destruction just mere feet from a lonely house on a hill, demonstrating God's merciful grace, as His hand clearly worked as a shield protecting the lives of those in Thomas county on this fateful February 19, 2009. As I mentioned in the previous post, Rick, Meso Mike and I went into Thomas county Saturday afternoon to survey the damage in both Boston, GA (yes, there is a Boston, GA) and Thomasville, GA. The report from the National Weather Service in Tallahassee had mentioned that they had upgraded the tornado that dropped in Boston to an EF3 after surveying the damage on Salem Road, where bark was literally ripped off the trees in the path of this monstrous beast. Our first stop worked to somewhat prepare me for everything. Nothing I hadn't seen before, trees down, a mess in the yard, root systems of large pine tree lifted up into the air, ripped from the ground. Trees were twisted and snapped, and homes were just barely missed with blue tarps revealing some roof damage. It was when we traveled over to Salem Road in Boston that we saw the true power of an EF3 tornado. Fortunately, it was not a heavily populated area, and as I mentioned, God's hand worked as a shield to protect the Lowe family's home, which they were hiding in the tub of... I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. and Mrs. Lowe, and he was kind enough to share his story with me. He said that they were up watching channel 6 because it looked like the weather could get bad. Finally, channel 6 announced that the last cell had gone, and the threat was past (Mr. Lowe is very upset--understatement--with Channel 6 for announcing such ridiculousness. How did channel 6 not see that once the low incredibly moisture-fed boundary off the Gulf interacted with the cold frontal boundary approaching from the south that there would be a potential explosion of forcing, which would potentially generate a strong tornado?! I couldn't have been the only weather geek who saw that!!!). He went on to bed, but hadn't fallen asleep when the weather got really horrible outside, and his wife expressed some grave concern. The way things were looking, they decided to take cover in the tub of the interior bathroom, and held on for dear life as an EF3 tornado roared around their house, tearing a swath of debris about 300 450 yards wide just to their north. The barn erected in the 1950's, with some recent steel framing add-ons, was left a pile of rubble (which the Lowe family and many of their friends) had mostly cleared into piles by the time we arrived, but here is where it had stood when they went to sleep on Wednesday... ... and here are the piles of rubble. A silo, that had been on the southwestern side of their property was torn to shreds, leaving sheets of metal wrapped around trees to their north. Some of the barn was found dangling in a pine tree on a branch 100-200 feet in the air. A pick-up truck had its tailgate twisted on it's hinges and left just dangling there. Their pool house had the back-side blown out of it. The fence once surrounding their pool and yard, now part of the wood pile mixed up with the barn debris. Insulation littering a peripheral tree like fallen snow.This scene alone was staggering... the realization that they were spared by a hair... I could if only it to death, but the bottom line is they were spared. Thanks to God. What a horrific night that was for the Lowe family. Walking north into the area where the 300-400 400-500 yard wide wedge EF3 tornado actually touched the ground... it was mind-blowing. I will just share pics.3 football fields! One lonely house, under siege by a vicious beast of destruction the size of 3 football fields!!! Holy guacamole! So, you walk east, clearly seeing where the tornado cut its path along a strip of trees, missing a house down the way, but flipping their rv over, stripping what remained of trees of their bark, leaving them barren and obstacles for the pine trees that had become flying debris... wow. Wow.That was Boston. I am going to take a break. I will cover the Thomasville tornado in a separate post. This one is a little picture heavy, and during the Thomasville photography, I was more impacted by the human impact. I was strongly moved.

Remember, this is the same tornadic supercell that was on course for me. A tornado was reported just south of me, but I was not able to find sufficient damage to justify such a report. I spoke with the emergency manager in my county who confirmed that a spotter reported it, but he was not able to find anything either. As tree filled as my road is, and with the relative velocity looking the way it did, I wouldn't doubt that it was a funnel that dropped, but as tree filled as the road is, it would have left a mark. Regardless, we were in our "safe spot" because of what I was seeing on radar and the tornado warning... thanks, guys (Tally and Brigade), better safe than sorry!

Here is a link to the local storm reports from the tornado event.

Respectfully,
~Dewdrop