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Science Forum Index » Geology - Meteorology Forum » March 2008 National Storm Summary
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 Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 1:48 pm |
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NATIONAL STORM SUMMARY
MARCH 200
1st-9th...Snow fell across parts of Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle on
Monday, part of a storm system that produced at least two weekend
tornadoes and hail as big as softballs. The National Weather Service
posted a snow and blowing snow advisory for parts of Oklahoma and a
winter storm warning for sections of Arkansas, where 3 to 6 inches of
snow was possible. In the Texas Panhandle, ice and snow covered local
roads in western areas of the Panhandle but no problems were reported.
Up to 4 inches of rain had fallen by midday Monday in parts of
Arkansas, the weather service said. Winds gusted as high as 61 mph in
southwest Oklahoma, according to the Oklahoma Mesonet, a network of
weather monitoring stations. A cold front triggered damaging winds in
the northeastern corner of Texas and a chance for rare snow in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area Monday. Tornado warnings were posted in Bowie
County, where strong winds downed trees and damaged property. In
Hooks, about 160 miles northeast of Dallas, there were reports of
damage but no injuries, said Police Chief Keith Schutte. On Sunday,
two tornadoes were spotted in rural areas of northwestern Oklahoma.
Television footage showed one twister passing the communities of
Carleton and Southard in northern Blaine County. No fatalities or
severe damage were reported, but downed power lines caused scattered
blackouts. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said one highway near the
Kansas state line that was closed because of fallen power lines had
been reopened early Monday. Sunday's storm system also produced wind
gusting up to 70 mph, lightning and hail as large as softballs that
caused scattered damage, said weather service meteorologist Chris Sohl
in Norman. Such a storm system "is not all that odd, but this early in
March sometimes it's a trick to get enough moisture up here for
(atmospheric) instability," Sohl said. The stormy weather formed along
a cold front stretching across the middle of the nation. Radar showed
rain falling along the front from Texas to Michigan on Monday morning
with snow in parts of Michigan and Wisconsin.
A strong winter storm brought heavy snows to portions of the Midwest
and the Great Lakes on Wednesday. Localized totals of 6 to 12 inches
occurred in a path from St. Louis, Missouri through Detroit. A swath
of heavy ice accumulations occurred across northern Ohio, far northern
Pennsylvania, and into western and southern New York State. Ice
accumulations of over a half an inch coated trees, power lines and
roadways. The warm side of the storm brought strong to severe
thunderstorms to the Mid-Atlantic with multiple reports of damaging
wind gusts. Moderate to heavy rain occurred with these storms and
across portions of eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and southeastern
New York. A wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain will impact
portions of northern New England today. Ice accumulations could reach
a quarter to a half an inch of rain in some locations. This will
produce stress to power lines and trees. The back side of this system
will feature moderate to heavy snow across northern New York. Snow
accumulations of 2 to five inches will be possible. There will be a
period of moderate to heavy rain across much of southern New England
and Downeast Maine. Rainfall totals of half an inch to 1.5 inches will
be possible. Strong, gusty winds will develop across New England, with
wind gusts of 30-40 mph expected in spots.
A strong storm system continues to wind itself up as it tracks across
the Northeast on Saturday. The system has been multi-faceted in the
effects it has unleashed over much of the eastern half of the country.
Snow has been heavy over the Ohio Valley and through the Lower Great
Lakes region, where already over a foot of snow has occurred in
portions of central Ohio and western New York. Total accumulations
could reach nearly a foot and a half through tonight. There has even
been substantial snow into the South, where up to a foot fell in parts
of western and middle Tennessee through this morning, before tapering
off. Icing has occurred from eastern Kentucky and up the Appalachians
with this system and it's going to be a concern into the evening over
the far interior sections of the Northeast. Up to three-quarters of an
inch of ice with 4 inches of sleet has occurred from this storm in
eastern Kentucky. This storm is continuing to bring heavy rain from
the Mid-Atlantic into southern New England. Rainfall over 3 inches has
fallen so far across Long Island and into coastal Connecticut, with
more rain ahead for the waterlogged region into this evening.
Thunderstorms over southeastern Virginia have been severe and have
knocked down trees during the morning hours. These storms could bring
strong winds up into the Delaware Valley and possibly central parts of
New Jersey into the evening hours. Winds have been strong over the
Southeast as the storm drives a tight gradient deep into the country.
Winds have gusted as high as 62 mph in southeastern Georgia and the
strong winds have knocked down trees and power lines down into central
Florida so far today. These winds should diminish some later in the
afternoon but with the soil weakened by recent rains, more trees and
power interruptions are expected over the Southeast.
9th-15th...Rain showers and strong thunderstorms developed across
eastern portions of the southern Plains and pushed into the middle and
lower Mississippi Valley late in the afternoon and into the overnight
hours on Thursday. Frequent lightning, gusty winds, large hail and
heavy downpours were reported with some of this activity. In fact,
golfball-size hail was reported at Mulberry, Arkansas. Rainfall
amounts of close to an inch were reported as well. Elsewhere, widely
scattered rain showers and mountain snows affected the Pacific
Northwest, northern California, portions of the Great Basin and the
northern and central Rocky Mountains. Rainfall amounts of 1 to 2
inches fell across western portions of the Pacific Northwest, with 2
to 4 inches of new snow reported at the higher elevations.
Two people in rural northwest Georgia are dead and dozens injured
after a series of severe storms moved through the state, producing the
first-ever tornado to hit downtown Atlanta on Saturday. A woman was
killed in Polk County early Saturday afternoon when a storm demolished
her home and threw her and her husband into a field, while an elderly
man in neighboring Floyd County was killed by flying debris as he sat
in his home, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Officials have
not released the victims' names. Calls to the Polk and Floyd County
sheriff's departments were not immediately returned. In Atlanta, crews
began cleaning up debris and broken glass Saturday from the tornado
that struck the city with little warning the previous night. The storm
cut a 6-mile path of destruction through the city with winds gusting
up to 130 mph, leaving homes crushed by centuries-old trees and
numerous windows shattered in high-rise office buildings and hotels.
In neighborhoods just east of downtown _ like the historic Cabbagetown
where a loft apartment building partially collapsed and homes were
destroyed _ residents ducked under tables and hid in closets as the
twister made its way through the city. Some of the cleanup in Atlanta
was delayed by a series of strong storms that moved through the state
Saturday, bringing torrential rain, high winds and quarter-sized hail.
Residents had about eight minutes of warning before the twister struck
downtown Friday night, weather officials said. The tornado, classified
as an EF2 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale, lasted about 20
minutes. Many residents were surprised by the storm, as were
basketball fans at the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament
at the Georgia Dome and the NBA matchup between the Atlanta Hawks and
Los Angeles Clippers at Philips Arena. The warning was not displayed
at either game. At least 27 people were hurt Friday night, though no
injuries were reported to be life-threatening. Atlanta Mayor Shirley
Franklin declared a state of emergency in the city Saturday. Curious
onlookers fanned out across the city taking pictures and surveying the
damage in their neighborhoods. Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire
Commissioner John Oxendine estimated damage from Friday night's storm
at $150 million to $200 million. He said at least $100 million of the
damage occurred at the Georgia World Congress Center, a state
convention facility near the CNN Center. He said the storm broke
through the roof, sucking walls, glass and furnishings out like a
vacuum. The storm smashed hundreds of skyscraper windows, blew
furniture and luggage out of hotel rooms and crumbled part of an
apartment building. Streets were littered with broken glass, downed
power lines, crumbled bricks and insulation. Billboards rested atop
parked cars. CNN said ceiling damage at its headquarters allowed water
to pour into an atrium. Windows were shattered in the CNN.com newsroom
and the company's library. A water line inside the building broke,
turning a staircase into a waterfall. Power was knocked out to about
19,000 customers, and most had it restored by Saturday night, said
Jeff Wilson, a spokesman with Georgia Power. The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Association said the last tornado to hit a major city's
downtown was on Aug. 12, 2004, in Jacksonville, FL. Downtown tornadoes
have also struck Fort Worth, Texas; Salt Lake City; Little Rock, AR;
and Nashville, TN, in the past decade. This was the first tornado on
record in downtown Atlanta, weather officials said. The last tornado
to strike inside the city was in 1975, and it hit the governor's
mansion north of downtown.
16th-22nd...Torrential rains chased hundreds of people from their
flooded homes and deluged roads in the nation's midsection Tuesday,
killing at least two people in Missouri and sweeping a teen down a
drainage pipe near Dallas. The storm system also grounded hundreds of
flights. One control tower at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
was briefly evacuated when a funnel cloud was spotted. The National
Weather Service posted flood and flash flood warnings from Texas to
Ohio, with tornado watches in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. Emergency
officials in Mesquite, Texas, searched for a 14-year-old boy
apparently swept away by flood waters as he and a friend played in a
creek. The friend was able to swim to safety and said he saw the boy
get sucked into a drainage pipe, according to a Fire Department news
release. Heavy rain began falling Monday and just kept coming.
Forecasters said some parts of Missouri could get 10 inches of rain or
more before the storms finally stop Wednesday. Gov. Matt Blunt
activated the Missouri National Guard as high water closed hundreds of
roads. An estimated 200 houses and businesses were flooded in
Piedmont, a town of 2,000 residents. McKenzie Creek rose well above
its banks before receding, said Eric Fuchs, Wayne County Emergency
Management director. Up to 30 homes were evacuated in Winona, and some
residents of Cape Girardeau were trapped in their homes, the State
Emergency Management Agency said. In the town of Ellington, as many as
50 homes and half the businesses were evacuated, officials said.
The body of an 81-year-old man was found in the water at Ellington,
about 120 miles southwest of St. Louis, said Missouri State Water
Patrol Lt. Nicholas Humphrey. A 21-year-old state Department of
Transportation worker was killed near Springfield when his dump truck
was hit by a tractor-trailer rig as he helped out in a flooded area,
state officials said. Firefighters and police were sent to pull
motorists out of flooded roads in and around Springfield, said Greene
County Emergency Management Director Ryan Nicholls. Hundreds of people
in Lancaster, south of Dallas, were advised to evacuate their homes as
the Ten Mile Creek rose.
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, American Airlines canceled
about 700 departures and arrivals because of wind near 70 mph and
heavy rain, and more than 100 of the carrier's flights headed to that
airport were diverted, said airline spokesman Tim Wagner. Federal
Aviation Administration officials evacuated the airport's west tower
for about 15 minutes after seeing a funnel cloud. Another was spotted
over Lake Lewisville, just north of the airport. "This is one of the
most vicious thunderstorms DFW has seen in quite some time, especially
its ongoing intensity," said airport spokesman Ken Capps. "Add in two
snow storms in the past two weeks and this has been one of the most
unusual early spring weather patterns in years." At Dallas Love Field,
some 20 Southwest flights were canceled, 20 others were diverted and
many other flights were delayed, said airline spokeswoman Ashley
Rogers.
Across the central U.S., a storm system has been dumping 5-10 inches
of snow from the eastern Dakotas into Minnesota and Wisconsin on
Friday. The maximum snow report so far has been out of Pickerel Lake,
South Dakota with 18.0 inches of fresh snow, while 9.8 inches of snow
has fallen at Chanhassen, Minnesota. Blustery winds with gusts of
20-35 mph have led to some blowing and drifting across the region.
Snow is now progressing into the Great Lakes and will bring a swath of
6-12 inches from southern Wisconsin into southern Michigan,
northeastern Indiana and northern Ohio over the next 24 hours. In the
West, a storm system pushing inland into the Pacific Northwest,
northern Great Basin and northern Rockies has been bringing some
moderate to heavy valley rain with mountain snow.
A strong storm system rolled across the nation's midsection on Monday,
dropping damaging tornadoes, flooding roads with heavy rains and
dropping snow several days into spring. Residents in northern Oklahoma
County began cleaning up from a twister that touched down before dawn
and tore a roof off a house and damaged other buildings. No injuries
were reported. National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Smith said
an investigation showed the damage was caused by a short-lived
tornado. Several roads in northwest Oklahoma County were closed by
high water. Pawhuska in far northern Oklahoma received 3.88 inches of
rain. Oklahoma Gas & Electric said that several thousand customers
lost power and that dozens of utility poles were toppled by high
wind. In southwest Missouri, strong winds collapsed a convenience
store and many buildings were damaged with roofs ripped up, windows
blown out, and trees and power lines toppled along a narrow path
through Neosho. Newton County emergency manager Gary Roark said no
injuries were reported. Emergency officials said a tornado touched
down briefly in rural Lawrence County. It damaged a large barn and
some utility poles south of Miller. The Weather Service was also
trying to determine whether a tornado had touched down in Buffalo.
Meteorologist Doug Cramer said the agency had received reports of
significant damage to several buildings there. Heavy rains moving
across Illinois delayed hundreds of flights. The Chicago Airport
System said that more than 450 flights at O'Hare International Airport
had been canceled and that delays stretched to two hours. The heavy
rains also brought flood warnings to Illinois. The Weather Service
issued a warning for the Fox River at Algonquin and said moderate
flooding occurred at the Rock River in Rockton. Snow also fell across
parts of Minnesota and Colorado. At least one person died and more
than a dozen others were injured in a snowy pileup on Interstate 70 on
Monday that involved about 40 vehicles near Vail Pass, Colorado State
Trooper Gilbert Sullivan said. At least 16 people with broken bones,
bruises and scrapes were taken to Vail Valley Medical Center, and all
were in fair condition, said hospital spokesman Don Bishop. |
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