Late-season Thunderstorms

Apparently, we have some rigorous updrafts out there. We've had some lightning and thunder outside our windows here in Grand Forks, and we even had a 0.75 inch report of hail down in Stutsman County (near Ypsilanti) earlier this afternoon. With freezing heights fairly low that doesn't surprise me.

The abundance of lightning is, however; especially this far north. In my forecast last night, I had thunderstorms as a pType in my grids along the frontal boundary, but scaled things back fairly quickly as the afternoon/evening progressed and the boundary lifted northward. So, that part of the forecast busted!

First Thunder!

No, it certainly wasn't this morning (when, we're reporting snow, temperatures at 28, and wind chills at 13!), we did officially report our first thunderstorm of the season on Monday, April 21:

 Site      Time      Tmp Dpt %RH W/H Wdr Wsp Wgs Vis  Wx
--------------------------------------------------------
 KGFK Apr 21 1532UTC  37  34  89  28 WNW  16     7.00 TSRA  
 KGFK Apr 21 1547UTC  37  34  89  28   W  14     2.00 TSRA BR 
 KGFK Apr 21 1553UTC  37  34  89  27 WNW  17     3.00 TSRA BR 
 KGFK Apr 21 1612UTC  37  34  89  29   W  13     6.00 -TSRA BR

A radar grab from around 10:20am showed the line of storms pushing up from the southwest. Also note those temperatures at GFK (Grand Forks International) and at RDR (the Grand Forks Air Force Base). Probably, a contributer to why we saw pea-sized hail from these things here in the city. Freezing levels were obviously very low.

Not only did we see our first lightning flash, albeit only a couple CC flashes, but we heard our first rumble of thunder and observed our first hail, as well.

I wouldn't mind seeing more of that. Just as soon as we get rid of this snow, damnit! Looks like we have about an inch, maybe out there this morning. It's hard to tell with the wind blowing it around.

Time for me to get home... More later!

Early-Season Oubreak

As you can see, yesterday saw one of the largest severe weather outbreaks we have seen in some time. Over 50 reported tornadoes traversed through the Lower and Mid-Mississippi Valley yesterday and into last evening. And while this number will likely dwindle some as analysis may indicate redundant tornado tracks, I am sure it will still rank very high as one of the largest outbreaks ever for this early in the year. It, unfortunately, will rank as one of the deadliest 24-hour outbreaks this country has experienced in history. With over 50 fatalities confirmed thus far (26 alone, in Tennessee), it now exceeds the outbreak in Oklahoma of May 3rd, 1999.

The time of year and the late hour that many of these tornadoes hit are both contributing factors to the number of fatalities. But, also because these tornadoes hit largely populated areas. Tornadoes affected many large cities, including areas around Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, as well as Fairview, Arkansas. Jackson, TN also was hit particularly hard, especially around Union University on the northwest side of the city. It is amazing no lives were lost here, as there were numerous students in dormitories at the time.

For more news coverage on the outbreak and updates on the situation at Union University, follow the links below:

http://www.wmctv.com/
http://www.jacksonsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Also, Red Cross Chapters across West-Tennessee can be found here:

http://www.redcross.org/where/chapts.asp#TN

My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those that have been affected by this terrible outbreak.

First thunder!

That's right, I'm here to report the first thunder of the year. We had widespread rain and embedded thunderstorms around the area this past Saturday evening and even though it occurred late, I pulled myself out of bed and sat waiting impatiently for that perfect CG to capture on the camera. It took nearly an hour of waiting! Most of the lightning came in the IC (in-cloud) variety, however I did count a grand total of two CG bolts. Luckily, I was able to capture one of them. If you are curious, head over to my PhotoBlog to view the picture.

In other news, widespread severe weather was reported throughout the weekend over the central and southern Plains and my heart, especially, goes out to those folks in Greensburg, Kansas. The small town was nearly wiped off the map from a massive tornado Friday evening, killing 10 people. Officials have estimated that 95% of the town was destroyed with the other 5% still suffering from moderate to severe damage. Please keep your thoughts and prayers with those people affected with this latest round of severe weather and tornadoes.