NOTE: For additional updates, stay tuned to our news story, my Facebook List, and my Facebook Page.
NOTE: Some of these pictures also appeared in this news story.
The tornadoes that affected the Dallas-Fort Worth area yesterday were a scary sight to watch on live television. I heard a commotion out in the Operations area here at AccuWeather HQ and glanced up at CNN. They were showing this video (it's kind of dark but at 1:03 things get crazy):
The room became quiet and our meteorologists winced while watching CNN on the wall, not knowing (at the time) that the trucks were empty. We feared we would see worse.
Clearly this was a breaking weather situation, so I took my computer out to the Operations area, where I could help the news team get the information out on Social Media. I monitored WFAA's live feed, NWS Chat, and the raw observations from DFW airport on Pro, where I expected to see a report of a funnel cloud or tornado.
They never reported one, but they did report 27 minutes of hail (up to 1.75", which ended up damaging over 100 aircraft) during a heavy thunderstorm with lightning "in all quadrants" and heavy rain. Meanwhile Henry and I were monitoring nearly a dozen supercell thunderstorms in the Dallas area, two of which had to be covered in a "double" Tornado Warning (something I had never seen before).
I posted on Facebook and Twitter (as did the news writers) as news broke. Spotters were confirming funnel clouds and tornadoes right and left, including one near Carroltown as shown above in the radar from MapSpace. The outbreak lasted for a couple hours. As far as the locations of the tornadoes, take your pick from the Local Storm Reports, or this Rotation Tracks image from the SPC (they also have stats which we wrote an article about, regarding the rarity of tornadoes in the DFW area this time of year):
Or the storm surveys, which continue to come in from the Fort Worth NWS office (the largest twister confirmed as of this writing is an EF-3):
The damage from the Moore, Okla., tornado of May 20, 2013, is incredible. These radar loops show the immensity of the tragic storm.
When I saw that Google had created a 30-year satellite time-lapse of Earth, I knew where the most impressive weather-related animations would be.
Whatever you call them -- "Ice Needling," "Ice Surges," or "Ice Shoves," or "Ice Heaves" -- a phenomenon that I first blogged about in 2009 is back -- with a vengeance!
17 years ago on this date, while I was taking my freshman exams at UNCA, a "cut-off" low was rumored to dump 57" of snow at nearby Mount Pisgah... but is that reading reliable?
Tornado reports and warnings are down for 2013 so far, and the last 12 months, but what about severe-thunderstorm-warned areas and lightning strikes?
The last two weeks have featured no less than four storm days, one with four storms, here in Central Pennsylvania and I've taken some neat pictures.
Jesse Ferrell
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