Tornado Safety and Preparedness

Many tornadoes have struck the US this Spring and some of those tornadoes have been very powerful. Just one month ago, a tornado outbreak hit the US and is classified to be the worst since the Super Outbreak in 1974. Recently an EF-5 struck Joplin, MO, resulting in over 150 deaths and is classified as the eighth deadliest tornado in US history. Currently there is threat for tornadoes in the Mississippi and lower Ohio valley, a threat which is shifting east. With this recent severe weather and tornadic activity, it is good to be prepared for such an occurrence like that of a tornado. Even though tornadoes may not be common in your area, tornadoes can occur in any state.

Tornado Terminology

Tornado Watch: Tornadoes are possible in your area. Remain alert for approaching storms.
Tornado Warning: A tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar. If a tornado warning is issued for your area and the sky becomes threatening, move to your pre-designated place of safety.
Severe Thunderstorm Watch: Severe thunderstorms are possible in your area.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning: Severe thunderstorms are occurring.

KLTV 7 in Texas has a good list of tips of what you can do during a tornado:

In or near buildings:
• Seek shelter in an interior room on the lowest floor of a home, office or other building. Shelter in a windowless area: a stairwell, bathroom, hallway or storage closet.
• Avoid any area with a wide, unsupported roof such as an auditorium, gymnasium, cafeteria or theater. Avoid areas with windows or large amounts of glass.
• At school, follow the drill and go to a designated shelter area, usually interior hallways on the lowest floor.
• At the shopping center, go to the interior rooms and halls on the lowest floor. Do not leave the shopping center to get in your vehicle.
• If you are in a mobile home, get out immediately and take shelter in a nearby sturdy building.
• If you are in open country, take cover on low ground, preferably lying flat in a ditch or ravine.
In your vehicle:
• If the tornado appears to stay in the same place, but is growing larger, it is headed toward you. Take shelter AWAY from the vehicle. Take shelter inside a nearby sturdy building or lie flat in a ditch or ravine.
• Avoid highway overpasses. Parking or taking shelter under a bridge or overpass is extremely dangerous due to flying debris and the possibility the structure may collapse.
• Parking beneath an overpass on traffic lanes creates a deadly hazard for others, who may plow into your vehicle at full highway speeds in poor visibility. This can trap people in the storm's path or block emergency transport.
• If you are trapped in your vehicle, keep your seat belt on and lean down as low as possible, away from windshield and windows.
From the Redcross, what you can do after the tornado:

Continue listening to local news or a NOAA Weather Radio for updated information and instructions.

If you are away from home, return only when authorities say it is safe to do so.

Wear long pants, a long­sleeved shirt and sturdy shoes when examining your walls, doors, staircases and windows for damage

Watch out for fallen power lines or broken gas lines and report them to the utility company immediately.

Stay out of damaged buildings.

Use battery­powered flashlights when examining buildings—do NOT use candles.

If you smell gas or hear a blowing or hissing noise, open a window and get everyone out of the building quickly and call the gas company or fire department.

Take pictures of damage, both of the building and its contents, for insurance claims.

Use the telephone only for emergency calls.

Keep all of your animals under your direct control.

Clean up spilled medications, bleaches, gasoline or other flammable liquids that could become a fire hazard.

Check for injuries. If you are trained, provide first aid to persons in need until emergency responders arrive.

Ready.gov provides great information on preparing for a tornado and for more information on tornadoes check out this link.
Stay safe!

Grímsvötn Volcanic Eruption in Iceland

Iceland's Grímsvötn Volcano erupted May 21, 2011, and the ash has currently delayed almost a thousand flights and could cancel more than 500. This is the strongest eruption in 100 years and the ash cloud is 10 times larger than the previous eruption of this volcano, in 2004.

According to Wikipedia, "On 23 May, the eruption was releasing about 2000 tons of ash per second, totaling 120 million tons in the first 48 hours. The 2011 eruption of Grímsvötn thus qualified as 4 (VEI4) on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI), releasing more ash in the first 48 hours than Eyjafjallajökull released during its entire 2010 eruption."

The Eyjafjallajökull Volcanic Eruption occurred in 2010 with a series of eruptions starting from March 20, 2010 to May 23, 2010. Activity was monitored after May 23 and the volcano was considered to be dormant after activity stopped for three months. Air travel was significantly affected by the eruption, which was of much greater magnitude than the most recent eruption.

A spectacular video of the Grímsvötn eruption can be found here. In the video you can see the electrical storms that are sometimes produced by the eruptions. Below is a satellite image of the eruption. You can see the ash column in the center and the ash more to the south. The image is from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite.

source

For more information about Grímsvötn and Eyjafjallajökull, as well as other volcano around the world, check out this link.

Sundog!

I was in at the Mall in DC this past weekend, and saw a sundog! I was watching the sky (like all meteorologists right? LOL) and spotted the beautiful ice rainbow.

Sundogs are also known as parhelion or parhelia (plural) in scientific terms. They are very common and are formed by the refraction of sunlight by hexagonal ice crystals and form part of a halo, around the sun. This is what a full sundog looks like:

Notice the location of the sun. Sundogs appear when the sun is low and near the horizon. The sunlight which passes through the ice crystals, is bent at a 22 degree angle before our eyes see it. The result is of this bending of light is a sundog. The orientation of the ice crystal results in the formation of a sundog as well and they can be observed when the flat faces of the ice crystal are horizontal. This orientation is what sets a sundog apart from a halo. In the occurrence of a halo, the orientation of the ice crystals is random.

Here is a picture of the sundog I saw:

Pretty isn't it?

For more information on sundogs, visit here. They show a good representation of the 22 degree at which the light is bent.


For giggles :-)

Warm And Humid With Mix Of Showers

DC Area Forecast
(May 23-29)

We'll be seeing hot and humid temperatures this week as a high pressure system remains off shore. For today we can expect mostly cloudy skies and a high near 86, with showers likely after 4 pm. For tonight we can expect chance of showers between 9 pm and midnight, with mostly skies cloudy that will gradually become partly cloudy. The low should be near 66. For Tuesday into Friday we can expect a chance of thunderstorms due to a series of upper level disturbances, moving through the region. Highs will be in the mid to upper 80s and lows will be in the mid to upper 60s, for the week. Tuesday and Wednesday look to be at a greater chance for thunderstorms. Thursday into Friday we can expect partly cloudy skies and a slight chance, as a frontal boundary near the Mason Dixon Line becomes stationary. Expect a slight chance for showers for the weekend as well, as we'll see partly sunny skies and a high near 88 for Saturday and mostly cloudy skies and a high near 82 for Sunday.

Source: NOAA

*This is the last forecast, before the new format I'll be revealing next week.*

New Changes

Hey everyone,

I'm in the process of reviewing my blog and have decided to revamp it. This in order to prove better forecasts. I realize that with posting the weekly forecast on Monday or Sunday of that week is not sufficient for the rest of the week, as the forecast may change. The new layout will be revealed sometime next week. I hope you continue to enjoy the information posted on my blog. Thanks so much for the support!

-Tasha

Showers The Majority Of The Week

DC Area Forecast
(May 16 to 22)

Congrats recent college graduates! Hope your graduation ceremonies were sunny or at least partly sunny. So what does this week ahead look for the DC area? Well you might want to bring your umbrellas this week because there is a possibility for showers and thunderstorms the majority of this week, thanks to a stationary upper level low in the Mid-Atlantic. We might see a clear from the showers Saturday into Sunday, as the low lifts from the region and high pressure moves in. For Monday through Wednesday, expect mostly cloudy skies and isolated thunderstorms in parts of the area. Thursday into Friday, expect mostly cloudy skies and showers. Saturday expect a slight chance of showers and Sunday looks to our relief from the rain, with mostly sunny skies in the forecast. Daytime temperatures for the week will be in the low to mid 70s throughout the week, with nighttime temperatures reaching into the upper 50s to low 60s.

Sunny Start To The Week Ahead

DC Area Forecast
(May 9-15)

Hey everyone! Happy Mother's Day! Hope you are enjoying this partly sunny Sunday.

The forecast looks wonderful start of the week ahead. For Monday we can expect sunny skies and a high near 75 as a high pressure system in Eastern Canada expands Southward over the Mid-Atlantic region. This will persist into the mid-week. For Monday night we can expect mostly clear skies with a low around 51 and winds from the north at 7 to 9 mph. Tuesday and Wednesday we can expect to see more of the same during the day, with sunny skies and a high in the mid 70s. For Tuesday night we can expect a low near 50 and mostly clear skies. Wednesday night looks to be in the mid 50s with mostly cloudy skies. A low pressure system will move into the region by Thursday as we can expect mostly cloudy skies and a high near 76. Thursday night there is a slight chance of thunderstorms, with mostly cloudy skies and a low near 56. That low pressure system will bring moisture to the region Friday into Sunday as we can expect a chance of showers for the weekend and highs into reaching into the mid 60s by Sunday. We'll be back into the lower 70s by the start of next the following week though.

source

April 25-28 Tornado Outbreak/La Nina link?

Just two weeks ago the United States was struck by a tornado outbreak which was named the deadliest tornado outbreak since the Super Tuesday outbreak in 2008. Now the United States has been struck by another system that is currently ongoing, and has surpassed the previous April 14 -17 tornado outbreak as the deadliest since the Super Tuesday outbreak. It is also the worst the United States has had since the Super Outbreak in 1974. Currently there have been 273 deaths from the storm and many of those deaths occurred in Alabama, where and tornado struck Tuscaloosa. Footage from witnesses have captured the intensity of storm. This amazing footage of the tornado was recorded by Christoper England of Crimson Tide Productions at the University of Alabama:



The magnitude of the storm is incredible. Many experts are calling this tornado outbreak "historic" as the average amount of tornadoes in April is 133 and this storm along produced more than 260. Some are even saying that "Tornado Alley" may have shifted south. So what could be causing these tornado outbreaks? Well many experts are looking at the current La Nina oscillation which may play a role in the weather we have been receiving. Normally during a La Nina "the jet stream tends to move north through the Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes, keeping cold air on the northern side while the southern side tends to have warm, humid air. Cold fronts that would dry out the atmosphere on the south side are blocked, which means wet storms there." source

The result can develop tornadoes. As with the current outbreak, a cold front was met with warm, moist air in the south and a strong upper level jet, and lead in the development of the tornadoes.

The 1974 outbreak occurred during a La Nina year. Another La Nina year was 1999 when the Oklahoma tornado outbreak occurred. The duration of the event was May 3-6 and 140 tornadoes were confirmed. La Nina pattern we are in is currently weakening, so does this mean the intensity and the frequency of the tornadoes will subside? Looking at a chart by NOAA, on the number of tornadoes in April from 1950 to 2010, we can see an increase in the frequency of tornadoes in the past four years. This chart also provides a big picture of the events and looking at the decadal averages we can see an increase in the number of tornadoes in the pass decade. Not every year included in the chart was a La Nina year however and though the number of tornadoes may be increasing, the effect by a La Nina pattern is not as clear.


Below is a map of the storm reports for April 27, 2011. It is has since been updated.

This is the activity chart for yesterday.


Here is the radar:

All images are from NOAA.