Major lightning storm and Tornadoes in NewYork state on this date in 1998

1998 - During the afternoon of May 31, 1998, lines of severe thunderstorms formed and moved rapidly east across New York and Western New England. Several of these storms became tornadic over Saratoga, Albany, Rensselaer, and Washington counties in New York and Bennington county Vermont. Straight-line wind damage occurred across a wide area. Cloud to ground lightning rates over the region reached 15,000 strokes per hour, rates not observed before over this region. These storms resulted 68 injuries but no fatalities, tens of millions of dollars in damage to homes and businesses, and extensive forest damage.

Weather History for this date.( may 30th)

1879 - Kansas and western Missouri raked by tornadoes. 18 people were killed by a twister at Delphos. Thirty people were killed at Irving by two tornadoes within a few minutes time, which virtually wiped the town off of the map. Reports indicated that the second tornado was two miles wide.
1889 - Great Potomac Flood starts after nearly three inches of rain fall.
1948 - The town of Vanport OR was destroyed when a temporary dike along the Columbia River gave way. Most of the 19,000 residents escaped with just the clothes n their backs.
1948 - Severe hailstorm at Denver. It took twenty railroad cars to replace all the broken glass.
1968 - Severe flooding in New Jersey. 7 people dies in the flooding between the 28th and 30th. Damage totaled $133 million.
1983 - Flooding and mudslides in Nevada caused by melting snow runoff from the Rockies.
1985 - Oklahoma City hits 104 degrees, earliest that they have seen 100 degrees, and setting record high for the date.
1987 - 18 cities across the eastern U.S. recorded record highs on this date, including 97 at Washington and Baltimore and 98 at Newark.
1988 - McDonald Pass MT was buried under 8 inches of snow. Roads were closed in Yellowstone National Park.
1988 - Baseball size hail in Baily and Lamb counties in West Texas.
1989 - Powerful F4 tornado hit New Providence IA, injuring 3 people and causing a million dollars damage.
1990 - Baseball-size hail fell near Marshall.
1998 - The town of Spencer SD was virtually wiped off the map by a half-mile wide F4 tornado that struck on a Saturday night. 92 percent of the homes in the town of 300 were destroyed. 6 people died and 150 were injured. 5 other tornadoes occurred that night in the vicinity of Spencer. It was the first F4 tornado in South Dakota since June 7 1993. No one had died in a tornado in South Dakota since July 14 1970!

The drought is over

It’s not like you needed a meteorologist nor the government to tell you, but the drought is now officially over for practically all of the Southeastern United States. Even in Florida, the drought is mainly gone due to heavy rains last week.

Clear night hazy crecent moon.

Well it is a very plesant nigh in Madison

Picture Perfect

You could not ask for a more perfect weekend. This will be the first weekend with no chance of rain in nearly 2 months. (even though it may not have rained every weekend there was still a chance)

SPC issues day 1 Outlook

DAY 1 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0733 AM CDT THU MAY 28 2009

VALID 281300Z - 291200Z

...THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING FOR
KY/TN SWD ACROSS NW GA AND AL...

...THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING FOR SW
TX...

...SYNOPSIS...
AMPLIFICATION OF THE LARGE SCALE FLOW REGIME IS UNDERWAY ACROSS THE
CONUS WITH RISING MID LEVEL HEIGHTS OVER THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST AND
A NRN STREAM TROUGH DIGGING SEWD FROM THE CANADIAN PRAIRIES TO THE
UPPER MS VALLEY. A SEPARATE MID LEVEL TROUGH OVER THE MS
VALLEY...WITH EMBEDDED VORTICITY CENTERS OVER WI AND MO...WILL
PROGRESS EWD TODAY ACROSS THE OH/TN VALLEYS TO THE APPALACHIANS BY
THE END OF THE PERIOD. AN ASSOCIATED WEAK SURFACE CYCLONE IN LOWER
MI WILL DEVELOP NEWD INTO SWRN QUEBEC AS THE NRN STREAM TROUGH AND
MS VALLEY WAVE BEGIN TO PHASE LATE IN THE PERIOD...WHILE A TRAILING
COLD FRONT MOVES EWD INTO OH/KY/TN/AL BY THIS EVENING. THIS FRONT
WILL PROVIDE A PRIMARY FOCUS FOR STRONG/SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT TODAY INTO EARLY TONIGHT...AND OTHER WIDELY SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR IN THE WARM SECTOR FROM THE CENTRAL
APPALACHIANS SWD TO THE SE ATLANTIC WHERE MOIST AND MODERATELY
UNSTABLE PROFILES WILL PREVAIL.

...TN/OH VALLEY REGION THIS AFTERNOON...
SUBSTANTIAL SURFACE HEATING WILL OCCUR TODAY FROM KY/TN SWD ACROSS
MS/AL IN THE WAKE OF A LEAD SHORTWAVE TROUGH AND CLOUD BAND...AND IN
ADVANCE OF THE SURFACE COLD FRONT. BOUNDARY LAYER DEWPOINTS IN THE
UPPER 60S AND AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES IN THE 80S WILL CONTRIBUTE TO
MLCAPE VALUES NEAR 2000 J/KG. THIS MODERATE INSTABILITY...ALONG
WITH SOME MID LEVEL DRYING AND STEEP LOW-LEVEL LAPSE RATES...WILL
PROMOTE STRONG DOWNDRAFTS AND ISOLATED TO WIDELY-SCATTERED DAMAGING
DOWNBURSTS WITH MULTICELL CLUSTERS IN AN ENVIRONMENT OF MODEST DEEP
LAYER BULK SHEAR. INSTABILITY MAY ALSO BE SUFFICIENT FOR MARGINALLY
SEVERE HAIL WITH THE STRONGEST STORMS.

FARTHER NE ACROSS OH/WRN PA...MORE PERSISTENT/WIDESPREAD CLOUDS WILL
LIMIT INSTABILITY COMPARED TO AREAS FARTHER S...THOUGH
ISOLATED/MARGINALLY SEVERE HAIL AND STRONG WINDS WILL STILL BE
POSSIBLE. FARTHER E ACROSS THE APPALACHIANS AND SE ATLANTIC
COAST...ISOLATED STRONG STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE...BUT STORMS SHOULD
BE LESS ORGANIZED/PERSISTENT COMPARED TO THE SLIGHT RISK AREA WHERE
VERTICAL SHEAR WILL BE A LITTLE STRONGER.

...RIO GRANDE VALLEY AND SW TX...
A LARGE MCS IS WEAKENING AND MOVING OFF THE LOWER TX COAST THIS
MORNING...IN THE WAKE OF THE PRIOR MCS WHICH IS NOW OVER THE E/SE
GULF OF MEXICO. THE NET EFFECT OF THESE CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS HAS BEEN
TO REDUCE LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE AND MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES OVER S
TX...AND IT APPEARS THE SEVERE THREAT HAS DIMINISHED ACROSS THIS
AREA AS A RESULT. FARTHER NW...LINGERING LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE N OF
THE STALLED FRONT AND ASCENT WITH WEAK SPEED MAXIMA EJECTING NEWD
FROM NRN MEXICO WILL COMBINE WITH DAYTIME HEATING AND SUPPORT
ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT TODAY ACROSS W/SW TX. MODEST
DEEP LAYER VERTICAL SHEAR AND MLCAPE VALUES OF 1000-2000 J/KG COULD
AGAIN SUPPORT AT LEAST ISOLATED LARGE HAIL AND STRONG OUTFLOW WINDS
BEFORE CONVECTION WEAKENS BY EARLY TONIGHT.

...FL THIS AFTERNOON...
WLY FLOW REGIME ALOFT AND WEAK SWLY LOW-LEVEL FLOW WILL FAVOR THE E
COAST SEA BREEZE FOR THE STRONGEST AND MOST CONCENTRATED
THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON. THERE IS SOME UNCERTAINTY REGARDING
THE INFLUENCE OF THE REMNANT ERN GULF MCS/MCV ON SURFACE HEATING AND
STORM DISTRIBUTION ACROSS FL...BUT WILL MAINTAIN THE 5% WIND/HAIL
PROBABILITIES.

...ORE/NE CA THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING...
DAYTIME HEATING AND LINGERING LOW-MID LEVEL MOISTURE AROUND THE NW
PERIPHERY OF THE GREAT BASIN MID LEVEL RIDGE WILL LIKELY SUPPORT
WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING
OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF CENTRAL/S CENTRAL ORE AND NE CA. STEEP
LAPSE RATES IN EXCESS OF 8 C/KM...SEASONALLY COOL MID LEVEL
TEMPERATURES NEAR -12 C AT 500 MB...AND MUCAPE OF 500-1500 J/KG WILL
SUPPORT A FEW SLOW-MOVING STORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING ISOLATED LARGE
HAIL AND STRONG DOWNBURST WINDS.

Mother Natures Beauty

As of 7:30 pm the severe weather stayed just south (of my home in Madison) in Morgan County. but I did see this rainbow looking towards the east.This is the first time I could see the whole rainbow, but due to my location in my subdivision I could not get a shot of the whole thing. If you look close you can see another rainbow right behind the first one.

Looking West

Here are a couple shots of the storm in Jackson County as I was headed west on Old Madison Pike.No warning was ever issued,just a heavy rain maker.

Prestine weather

Well on Memorial Day as millions of people took the time to remember our fallen heros as well as the ones protecting our country today, you could not have asked for better weather in Madison County.I finished up the Rocket City Classic ( a great bunch of guys and great baseball)but as for this squirrel he was just enjoying the days relaxing and playing. my youngest daughter loves to watch him play.

spotty storms

After dodging rain all day for the Mens League 60+ Rocket City Classic Baseball Tourney we finally got the day through. We played in a heavy drizzle for the entire first game. and had partly suuny skies for the last two. There was a severe thunderstorm to our west near Madison around 7:00pm. Here are a couple photos I took of that storm (from Butler High School)between innings of game 3. Being a umpire is great i get to meet a whole lot of interesting people. I have the championship game tomorrow at 1:30. I hope the weather cooperates as well then.

Saturday rain

Well it has been a drizzle here and a drizzle there oday in Huntsville. with the on exception for a tornado warning for Chilton County earlier it has been fairly quiet. but that could change as more showers and storms are to our south and into Georgia that could move into the valley over the next 48 hours.

Thirsty Yard

Well it has been a few days since my yard and garden got any benificial rainfall. That all changed today as I had a passing shower that fell for about 20 minutes(that will help my water bill) now if I can get that each of the next few days that would be great.

Surviving the floods

My little garden believe it or not has survived all the flooding rains that we had a couple weeks ago. The only things I lost was a couple watermelon plants. Yes it is small in size but it is going to be plenitful for my Family with Tomatoes,Cucumbers, Squash, Okra,Jalapenos, Habaneros, Watermelons, Cantelopes, and Pumpkins.I can't wait.

ABC 3340 weather blog for the weekend and possible Tropical situation

LOOKING GOOD: Yet another sunny day today for Alabama, with low humidity and temperatures below average values for mid-May in Alabama. Coldest spot I have seen this morning around our Skywatcher network is Broomtown, in Cherokee County, where the low so far is 38 degrees. Next time it will be this cool, most likely, will be late September or even early October.

TROPICAL SITUATION: Eyes remain focused on the broad low developing east of South Florida; be sure and watch the Weather Xtreme video for all of the graphics and details associated with this feature. The GFS/WRF/NAM have been trending farther south with this; the general idea is that they take this system west, toward the central Gulf of Mexico, with a gradual turn toward the north over the weekend. Major development is not likely; this will be more of a hybrid system as opposed to a true tropical cyclone. One way or another, it still has potential to produce lots of rain near the path.

Initially, the heaviest rain will be over the Florida peninsula, where places like Orlando and Daytona Beach could see over 5 inches of rain during the next 3 days.

OUR WEEKEND: For now, we will still bring in a chance of showers on Friday, and maintain a chance of showers and possible thunderstorms on Saturday and Sunday with afternoon highs near or just about 80 degrees. But, if the trend toward a more southward track continues on the 12Z model runs, we will begin to be more optimistic in the forecast here, with the best chance of the more widespread rain staying down south.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND ON THE GULF COAST: No doubt the weather looks wet at times along the coast from Panama City west to Gulf Shores due to the low in the Gulf… but perhaps not a total wash-out. Gusty winds are possible, along with rough surf and rip tides. Once again, the amount of rain will all depend on the track of our Gulf storm system; watch the forecast as the week rolls along for possible adjustments.

NEXT WEEK: A deep pool of moisture moves up into the Deep South early next week, and it looks like we will have a risk of showers and storms each day, at least through the first half of the week.

Cool Photos

Well since the weather is quiet around here these days I thought I would show you a few pretty cool photos from some of the severe weather from the past couple months.The first is from Atlanta on April 23rd,the second is another view of the deadly Kirksville Missouri Tornado,the third is from Johnson City Tennessee on Friday May 8th,number 4 is from Puerto Rico(notice the water spout in back ground) on April 14th, andthe last is from Cedar hill Texas on April 29th.

Sunday 5-17-09

What a difference a day makes. After a muggy and stormy Saturday the front moved thru and now it is only 59 degrees at 12:21pm. and the chance of rain is gone (except for a passing shower today)until late in the week when highs get back into the 80's again. If you venture out tonight be sure to bundle up because the low tonight is between 40 and 45 degrees (tonight and Monday night).Enjoy the comfortable temps the next couple days for they willnot last long.After all this is typical Alabama weather.

More photos of Limestone County Storm.

I knew that there was no threat of tornadoes today so I loaded up my laptop and was chasing some good photo shots.

Limestone County Storm at 3:30pm on 5-16-09

I am sitting at Endeavor Elementary School in Limestone county and captured theses photos as the storm rolled in.Rain is very heavy and had a wind gust of 26mph.

NWS issues special weather statement

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
232 PM CDT SAT MAY 16 2009

ALZ005-162015-
LIMESTONE-
232 PM CDT SAT MAY 16 2009

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ALERT FOR LIMESTONE COUNTY UNTIL 315 PM CDT...

AT 232 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR ATHENS...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

DIME SIZE HAIL...WINDS UP TO 50 MPH...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND
LIGHTNING...AND HEAVY DOWNPOURS ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.

PEOPLE IN CENTRAL LIMESTONE COUNTY...INCLUDING THE CITIES OF
ATHENS...TANNER...FRENCH MILL AND CAPSHAW...SHOULD MONITOR THE
WEATHER SITUATION CLOSELY. LISTEN FOR POSSIBLE WARNINGS AND BE
PREPARED TO TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION SHOULD SEVERE WEATHER THREATEN.

SEEK SHELTER AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...COMMERCIAL RADIO...OR YOUR LOCAL
TELEVISION STATIONS FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS
CONCERNING THIS WEATHER SITUATION.

SPC issues Mesoscale Discussion for parts of north Alabama

Hurricane Season

With Hurricane season just a couple weeks away I thought I would let everyone Know the names for this seasons storms.
The GFS is up to its usual May mischief of predicting some tropical or subtropical storm activity in the Gulf of Mexico over the next couple of weeks. Here are the 2009 Atlantic names…just in case…

Ana
Bill
Claudette
Danny
Erika
Fred
Grace
Henri
Ida
Joaquin
Kate
Larry
Mindy
Nicholas
Odette
Peter
Rose
Sam
Teresa
Victor
Wanda

In case you didn’t know…this is the 1979 list…the first one that featured male names in the Atlantic. A few names have been retired from that list, including Bob, David, Elena, Frederic, Gloria and Isabel.

This photo was of Hurricane Katrinas outer edge.

Pictures from NSSL Vortex 2 chase on Friday

Pictures of Red Stone Arsenal storm from west Madison

I took these pictures (as my NOAA weather radio sounded for a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Madison County) from my home in West Madison.