Tag Archives: tornado

Terms like “mini tornado” or “weak tornado” leave me a little baffled. I mean, that’s like saying “little great white shark” or “little stealth bomber” — using the term “little” doesn’t much change your circumstances. As a meteorologist however, I know there are indeed tornadoes of varying degree. In fact, the Enhanced Fujita Scale is used to classify tornadoes from F0 to F5. The scale represents increasing degrees of damage based on the estimation of wind speeds and post-storm surveys of damage. So yes, “weak tornado” is a valid term and one that can be defined, but that doesn’t mean you want one to visit your neighborhood.

ImpactWeather StormWatch Domestic Supervisor Mike Venske weighs in on what we can expect from Mother Nature. The primary threats this week will be centered over the Gulf Coast, Tennessee Valley and Deep South as a slow-moving area of upper-level low pressure interacts with increasing Gulf moisture producing areas of locally heavy rainfall which will likely [...]

Apart from some chilly weather in the northern regions, we’re enjoying a relatively quiet week across the U.S. weather-wise and from coast to coast just about everyone I’ve asked has said they’re enjoying a break from the extremes.  Whatever the reason – and I chalk it up to rampantly improved technology and a 24-hour news [...]

The past several months the weather has been extremely active. We’ve seen anything from a record number of tornadoes to record flooding along the Mississippi. In Texas we’ve been dealing with wildfires as a result of the on-going exceptional drought (see the image below) that is occurring across parts of Texas, New Mexico and western Louisiana. The Houston area, for example, is currently over 12.21 inches below normal in terms of rainfall.

If the title of this article didn’t quite grab your attention, then this will: “Approximately 9,000 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen on State Active Duty are supporting the simulated earthquake relief operations, including mock route clearing, search and rescue, and security operations across Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee.”

Sr. ImpactWeather Meteorologist Chris Hebert briefly addresses the setup for next week across the Southeast U.S. that’s disturbingly reminiscent of the tornado swarm of April, 1974.  Click the image to play through.  

Here we are in the middle of April and it’s snowing across parts of the Northern Plains/Upper Midwest. It’s days like this I’m glad I live in the south where temperatures this afternoon in the Houston area will reach the mid 80’s. This isn’t the case across parts of the Plains where temperatures today will [...]

One only has to look to the news over the past few weeks to see outbreaks of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes: Tornadoes in Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, and Florida to name a few. Nationwide, the United States can expect an average of more than 1,000 tornadoes annually.

Just when I think spring has arrived early this year another cold front moves through and temperatures drop behind it. This is exactly what happened this past weekend across parts of the Deep South as a low pressure system and a front moved through bringing isolated severe storms and heavy rain to parts of the [...]

Tornadoes ripped through the state of Oklahoma on Monday and so far have been responsible for killing at least five people and injuring at least 50 more. Storm survey teams have been out assessing the damage and the NWS in Norman said it will take some time to go through all the data and reports. [...]