The weather: How bad is it??

[shintao]

I thought I would start this thread to see where the rest of you are and what you all go through in these winter months to live where you do. I saw someone mentioning the power going out in rain storms, some shoveling snow, some cold, some wet snow (slush), etc.

We had B-B gun sized hail here last week, a lot of rain, and a temperature above 46 degrees. Here in central California we don't get much bad things, a little flooding if a river dike breaks, a good shaking from a quake, freeway collapse, a mud slide, or a forest fire. We usually do not freeze, or lose power, no snow cept on the highest peaks. Mostly good weather, even in the winter. Today was nice and warm and sunny. I can durn near go year round in sandals, short shirts, and short pants (cept long pants for Nov., Dec., & Jan.).

I don't understand why you people stay in those freezing temperatures and endure all that bad weather, or so it seems to me. Even Oregon is a place where it is always raining. I spent a year there & was glad to get out. Washington state always raining. Nevada is too hot & too cold, Arizona is pretty good year round. Maryland struck me as too humid in the summer. Kansas has bitter cold winters. Virgina was a little cold in the summer I was there. Alaska was just plain cold. Hawaii is warm & humid, and rains everyday for about an hour.

 

[waltky]

We had a couple of tornadoes on the other side of town yesterday morning...

More Dangerous Tornado Season Expected This Year
Mar 1, 2011 – The 2011 tornado season has started quickly, with more reports of damage from storms and twisters in the past two days than there were during all of the first two months of 2010 -- a trend likely to continue well into spring.

Severe weather season, as it's often referred to by meteorologists, typically peaks during May, when meteorological conditions that lead to the development of dangerous thunderstorms are most abundant. These conditions -- including a sharp north-south temperature gradient -- have emerged early this year and, based on the expected weather pattern, will likely intensify in the coming months.

Heavy thunderstorms Sunday and Monday affected a large region from the Plains eastward to the mid-Atlantic and the Carolinas, resulting in a fatality from a suspected tornado in Franklin County, Tenn., according to WKRN-TV. Over those two days, there were 389 preliminary damage reports (wind damage, hail and tornadoes), including 12 reports of tornadoes. The same type of event occurred just last week, when there were 32 reports of tornadoes in the Tennessee Valley and Deep South on Thursday.

Through Monday, there have been about 800 preliminary reports of damage from severe weather in 2011, more than 2.5 times greater than the number through the first two months of 2010. January and February 2010 generated 307 reports, including just one February tornado. Thunderstorms and tornadoes develop out of a strong temperature contrast from north to south across the country, along with an ample supply of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Storm systems emerging from the Rockies and heading east ignite the meteorological fuel.

This is precisely the type of weather pattern that is expected to continue at least through May, which is when tornado season typically peaks. The federal government's Climate Prediction Center forecast for March through May calls for temperatures that are likely to be warmer than average in the southern part of the country and cooler than average in the northern part of the country. Thus, the contrast will be more intense than in a typical year.

In addition, the storm track is expected to remain more active than normal because of the ongoing La Nina. This is one of the typical results of a La Nina: more storms moving out of the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies into the Plains and eventually the eastern part of the United States than during a non-La Nina year. That's been the case recently, and these storms have pulled moisture north from the Gulf of Mexico into the sharp temperature gradient, resulting in lines of dangerous thunderstorms. Last year, the tornado season started slowly, in part because it was cooler than average in the Deep South during the latter part of winter through the first part of spring.

MORE

See also:

Academy Awards Help Save Family From Tornado
Mar 1, 2011 – A cement block sits where Patrick Shipley's head usually rests on his pillow. Massive shards of roof cover the sink area of the master bathroom, where his wife usually stands to take out her contacts before bed.

Had Sunday night been any other night, the Shipleys might have been the victims of one of three tornados that touched down in the St. Louis area, including in their community, St. Albans. Thanks to the Oscars, they're safe and sound, though out one roof. Instead of turning in at their usual bedtime, the couple stayed up late watching the Academy Awards, enjoying the glitz and glamour while their three children slept. As the show ended, Shipley turned his attention to the storm outside, expecting to enjoy the soothing sounds of rain pattering on the roof.

"We heard the rain, and we kinda like the thunderstorms here in Missouri. We just moved here about a year ago, so we thought, 'Well let's listen to the rain a couple minutes.' And it sounded different," Shipley told KSDK. "And the hail hit, and then I just shined my flashlight out back and I couldn't see anything and it had a haunting kind of a sound to it, like a vortex. Like a train." Like a tornado.

Shipley's wife grabbed the kids, Shipley grabbed a flashlight, and the family huddled together safe in the basement until the tornado passed. "We held them there until it got quiet," Shipley told KSDK. "And then by the time we walked out, the first responders, everybody was here. They came amazingly fast. Hats off to them." To read more about the Shipleys' experience, visit KSDK. To read more about the storms, visit KTVI.

Source

 

[shintao]

We had a couple of tornadoes on the other side of town yesterday morning...

More Dangerous Tornado Season Expected This Year
Mar 1, 2011 – The 2011 tornado season has started quickly, with more reports of damage from storms and twisters in the past two days than there were during all of the first two months of 2010 -- a trend likely to continue well into spring.

Severe weather season, as it's often referred to by meteorologists, typically peaks during May, when meteorological conditions that lead to the development of dangerous thunderstorms are most abundant. These conditions -- including a sharp north-south temperature gradient -- have emerged early this year and, based on the expected weather pattern, will likely intensify in the coming months.

Heavy thunderstorms Sunday and Monday affected a large region from the Plains eastward to the mid-Atlantic and the Carolinas, resulting in a fatality from a suspected tornado in Franklin County, Tenn., according to WKRN-TV. Over those two days, there were 389 preliminary damage reports (wind damage, hail and tornadoes), including 12 reports of tornadoes. The same type of event occurred just last week, when there were 32 reports of tornadoes in the Tennessee Valley and Deep South on Thursday.

Through Monday, there have been about 800 preliminary reports of damage from severe weather in 2011, more than 2.5 times greater than the number through the first two months of 2010. January and February 2010 generated 307 reports, including just one February tornado. Thunderstorms and tornadoes develop out of a strong temperature contrast from north to south across the country, along with an ample supply of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Storm systems emerging from the Rockies and heading east ignite the meteorological fuel.

This is precisely the type of weather pattern that is expected to continue at least through May, which is when tornado season typically peaks. The federal government's Climate Prediction Center forecast for March through May calls for temperatures that are likely to be warmer than average in the southern part of the country and cooler than average in the northern part of the country. Thus, the contrast will be more intense than in a typical year.

In addition, the storm track is expected to remain more active than normal because of the ongoing La Nina. This is one of the typical results of a La Nina: more storms moving out of the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies into the Plains and eventually the eastern part of the United States than during a non-La Nina year. That's been the case recently, and these storms have pulled moisture north from the Gulf of Mexico into the sharp temperature gradient, resulting in lines of dangerous thunderstorms. Last year, the tornado season started slowly, in part because it was cooler than average in the Deep South during the latter part of winter through the first part of spring.

MORE

See also:

Academy Awards Help Save Family From Tornado
Mar 1, 2011 – A cement block sits where Patrick Shipley's head usually rests on his pillow. Massive shards of roof cover the sink area of the master bathroom, where his wife usually stands to take out her contacts before bed.

Had Sunday night been any other night, the Shipleys might have been the victims of one of three tornados that touched down in the St. Louis area, including in their community, St. Albans. Thanks to the Oscars, they're safe and sound, though out one roof. Instead of turning in at their usual bedtime, the couple stayed up late watching the Academy Awards, enjoying the glitz and glamour while their three children slept. As the show ended, Shipley turned his attention to the storm outside, expecting to enjoy the soothing sounds of rain pattering on the roof.

"We heard the rain, and we kinda like the thunderstorms here in Missouri. We just moved here about a year ago, so we thought, 'Well let's listen to the rain a couple minutes.' And it sounded different," Shipley told KSDK. "And the hail hit, and then I just shined my flashlight out back and I couldn't see anything and it had a haunting kind of a sound to it, like a vortex. Like a train." Like a tornado.

Shipley's wife grabbed the kids, Shipley grabbed a flashlight, and the family huddled together safe in the basement until the tornado passed. "We held them there until it got quiet," Shipley told KSDK. "And then by the time we walked out, the first responders, everybody was here. They came amazingly fast. Hats off to them." To read more about the Shipleys' experience, visit KSDK. To read more about the storms, visit KTVI.

Source

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