Damaging Derecho

Earlier this morning, while those of us in the Kansas City Metro were preparing for another 100+ degree day, many others in the upper Midwest dealt with a derecho causing all sorts of damage. For those of you who are unfamiliar with a derecho, the word derecho comes from Spanish and means "straight." In weather, a derecho describes a windstorm that is long-lived and often produces extended stretches of straight-line wind damage. Derechos are similar to gust fronts in the sense that their movement is in the direction of the thunderstorms they are associated with. Unlike a gust front, a derecho's winds are sustained and often increase in strength behind the "gust front." Derechos are a warm weather phenomenon found mostly in the summer months, however, they can occur at anytime during the year, day or night!

Here is a picture from the Storm Prediction Center showing the number of reports from this storm.

Damage reports from this storm tracked across Iowa and into Illinois. Winds were reported to be around 80mph and some places also experienced heavy rain, almost 2in in 24 hours! Damaged grain bins, significant tree damage, downed power lines, and power outages were also a result of this storm.
Damage near Cedar Rapids, IA (Photo courtesy of KCRG-TV)
  
If there is one group of people who may remember this storm, it would be the folks from WHO TV Channel 13 in Des Moines. Their radar was destroyed and parts of it (as shown below) was thrown into the yard of a nearby home.



Back to us here in the KC metro, it is just going to remain hot and humid. We are under an excessive heat warning until 7pm Tuesday. Drink plenty of water and stay in air-conditioned rooms whenever possible. If you find yourself outside, be sure take necessary precautions like wearing sunscreen and light colored clothing. If you are working outside, take frequent breaks in a shaded or air-conditioned environment.

Stay Cool!
Kristy

It's Summer! Let's talk ICE...

OK not KC ice...this is not a rehash of any KC icestorm...but instead it concerns what's happening up in far northern AK where the ice continues to melt/move away from the coastline as it usually does during this time of the year. Up in Barrow, which is in far northern AK, the temperatures are topping off near 50 or so, they're enjoying 24 hour sunshine (stays that way till 8/3) and the sea ice has finally moved away...take a look at the picture from their webcam...

There is actually a lot of science that goes into all this ice...take a look here if you're interested.

Meanwhile the heat persists in the southern Plains states...last year on this date, Amarillo started to set a 24 hour record for rainfall with close to 7.5" (they had 4.08" on the 8th). This year they've had a whooping 1.4" of precipitation for the entire year!

So you have all that heat sitting there...at some point it's hard to imagine how we can't have some significant heat here...but despite how close it will be, the worst may still be later int he month into AUG...which is typically the hottest time of the year here anyways.

Wichita has had 16 days with temperatures at or above 100 this year including 4 so far this month. So it's there and will at various times over the next 10 vaccinate north and south. Here in the KC area, our temperatures will continue to max out in the mid-upper 90s at their worst we think. We still have lots of greenery out there and the .5-2.5" of rain that we saw on WED won't hurt that cause. Depending on what happens next MON (weak front MAY try to edge into the area) and especially next WED (remnants of some sort of tropical energy move up from the SW) we may have the opportunity to add to the rain gauges...this will then have "green" repercussions on our terrain around these parts again reducing our chances of "officially"
getting towards 100 degrees @ KCI. So basically what we're going to see for the next 7 days is more or less typical KC summer weather with typical KC humidity. WED. potentially, could be a sneakier cool day depending on the timing of the clouds/rainfall. They're may be some heavy downpours IF this disturbance hits us with the right timing and taking advantage of lots of instability.

It does look like that creeping heat will again try and spread northwards towards next weekend, which is what was talked about yesterday.

That's about it for today...have a great weekend!

Joe

Some areas did better than others, but overall it was a decent rain for a good chunk of the region...as 1-2" fell north of I-70 with .33-.75" on the south side of KC...here are some rainfall totals from the metro showing the rainfall distribution...definitely the favored areas were on the northside...


Let's start out on the northside of JOCO...

Now a bit farther southwards...

As mentioned it seemed the northside did the best for the rain...got a call from Excelsior Springs with 2.25" there and Plattsburg had 1.25"...

Finally a look at the doppler estimates...notice the heavier amounts across far northern MO...doppler indications from the NWS in Topeka and Pleasant Hill both show some pockets of 2-4" totals across the NW part of MO...that will drain into the MO River Basin...

This all came about from a disturbance that moved through the plains states overnight about as expected. We had a good feeling the rain would get here, the issue was how much would fall and who would be targeted. Now the complex of storms/rain has moved away from the area, and the visible satellite picture shows a trailing MCV (mesoscale convective vortex) of sorts in SE NE as well as one in EC MO...

That rtailing MCV represents a small pocket of cooler air in the atmosphere confined to a small area...while temperatures now are int eh 75-80 range...we should go up another 5-7 degrees this afternoon. This warmth, combined with the trailing vortex may just be enough to spark some additional storm activity to the NW of here in a few more hours...on the visible loop you can clear see it rotating and even see subsidence on the N and W side with pronounced clearing going on in NE away from the MCV. The end result of this may be some scattered new t/storms that could fire up towards the NW of KC and then move towards the east. Something to watch for in the next several hours. They should quickly dissipate during the evening.

Regardless of all this, the building heat (not extreme but grinding nonetheless) is the main focus of the forecast as a prolonged period of 90-95+ with HI's 100-105+ look to take control towards the weekend and into the early part of next week. It's been crazy hot in OKC these last couple of months...MT did some research indicating that today is the18th this year @ 100+ and they've had a whooping 1.24" of rainfall since June 1st
with an average high in July so far as 103. Here are some other interesting facts concerning summers in OKC...from their NWS office.

Records date back to 1891:

• Average First 90-Degree Temperature - ~May 6. The first 90-degree temperature this year occurred on April 3 (91^o).
• Average Last 90-Degree Temperature - ~September 27^th
• Average First 100-Degree Temperature - ~July 9^th
• Average Last 100-Degree Temperature - ~August 20^th
• Earliest 90-Degree Temperature - February 1, 1911 (90°)
• Latest 90-Degree Temperature - October 26, 1891 (92°)
• Latest 100-Degree Temperature - September 30, 1977 (100°)
• Earliest 100-Degree Temperature  - April 12, 1972 (100°)
• Hottest Temperature on Record - 113° (August 11, 1936). The temperature was 112° the day before and 110° the day after.
• Warmest Low Temperature on Record - 83° (July 25, 1934, August 1, 1934, August 12 and 13, 1936)
• Hottest Temperature over the Last 10 Years - 108° (September 2 and 3, 2000)
• Average Temperature for the Hottest Climatological Summer (June thru August) - 85.9° in 1934 and 1980
• Last 100-Degree Temperature in 2010 - August 23^nd (104°)
• First 100-Degree Temperature in 2011 - June 14^th (100°)
• Warmest Temperature of 2010 - 104° (August 13 & 23, 2010)
• Warmest Temperature So Far This Year - 105° (July 6^th)

Notable 90° & 100° Streaks:

• Most Consecutive 100-Degree Days - 22 (August 4 - 26, 1936). The most recent streak was 17 consecutive days ending on September 4, 2000 (3^rd longest).
• Fewest 100-Degree Temperatures in a Calendar Year - 0 (Numerous times, most recently in 2004)
• Most 100-Degree Temperatures in a Calendar Year - 50 (1980)
• Most 100-Degree Temperatures in June - 12 (1953). June 2011 had 11 100-degree high temperatures.
• Most 100-Degree Temperatures in July - 24 (1980)
• Most 100-Degree Temperatures in August - 24 (2000)
• Most 100-Degree Temperatures in September - 7 (2000)
• Highest Total of Temperatures at least 90-Degree in a Calendar Year - 113 (1998)
• Highest Total of Temperatures at least 90-Degree in June - 30 (2011)
• Highest Total of Temperatures at least 90-Degree in July - 31 (1954, 1980, 2003, 2006)
• Highest Total of Temperatures at least 90-Degree in August - 31 (1980, 1999, 2000)
• Highest Total of Temperatures at least 90-Degree in September - 25 (1939)

Back home, let's go up too about 5000 feet and show the temperatures for the end of the weekend...notice the core of the heat...while in the southern Rockies and the SW Plains areas it does ooze our way somewhat...hence the hotter trends for us.

Odds also favor an increasing dry forecast for quite some time. There have been suggestions that some sort of tropical wave will move ashore in E TX early next week and take the long way around our developing ridge...through central then western TX then up towards the NE towards the region sometime on Wednesday. The models have been persistent in trying to do this for several days so the next chance of decent rainfall and a minor drop in temperatures would be towards the middle of next week with the heat returning in force towards the end of next week and into the weekend of 7/16 or so...

Finally the NWS in Phoenix has a comprehensive write-up concerning the events leading up to the tremendous haboob that occurred there on Tuesday...take a look

Joe.

Storm Chances, Heat, Humidity and a haboob...another good day to be talking about the weather on the blog...let's start with the later...we're talking haboobs...they're actually pretty common in the SW part of the country and the one that hit Phoenix, according to the long time residents there who'll see several in a year sometimes was quite the biggie. The Arizona Central newspaper, which serves the Phoenix area has some great pictures taken by them as well as their readers

An haboob occurs when thunderstorms push rain cooled air to the ground. In a sense their sort of like our microbursts, except on a much bigger scale. If you remember a couple of weeks ago @ night we had collasping thunderstorms produce high winds that created heat bursts in the region...this is somewhat similar.

The winds from the storms slammed into the desert terrain (sand) and created a massive sand storm. It was roughly 1-2 miles high and spread out for some 50 miles or so. These storms will typically occur this time of the year as the monsoon season kicks in. The moisture streams in from Mexico (perhaps aided by some moisture from what was Arlene) and with the intense heat and the terrain (flat and mountains) the air rises and creates storms. The storms sometimes come together and when they die they will gust themselves out. It's the winds that create the sandstorms and when their intense (last night 50-70 MPH) then can create larger haboobs. Why "haboobs? It's an Arabic word meaning strong wind or phenomena. Now you would think that with all this t/storm generated wind that it would rain as well...usually that's not the case as either the storms rain themselves out and/or the rain evaporates before it reaches the ground (which will tend to increase the surface winds as well). The folks from Accuweather have some neat videos concerning the events of last night...and here is another neat video...

Meanwhile back home after fading rains moved through E KS providing some much needed rainfall for them, there really were only a few sprinkles around the metro...we now wait and see what will transpire across the western plains tonight. there are disturbances caught in the flow out there that are moving towards the east. You can clearly see the different blobs of cloudcover out there...now the issue is what path will the future complexes take and will they get into SE NE before turning towards the metro...or will then get into NC KS then turn towards the SE and miss us tomorrow to the west. We're betting on something tomorrow for the 1st part of the day...

Beyond those chances for tomorrow...then we focus on our typical summer heat and humidity that will linger through the the next work week with diminished precip chances. While the forecast can't really pinpoint any other strong chances for rainfall...there may be some scattered PM chances flaring up during the TUE or WED time period next week. The heat won't be extreme, but a lingering 92-96+ regime looks to be shaping up. There may be some sort of VERY weak front the gets close to us there as well...but should have a tough time pressing through here...let alone N MO...

Lastly the NOAA folks are talking about the persistent flooding that isn't going anywhere anytime soon...

That'll do it on a busy WED PM...

Joe

Before moving into the content of the blog, let me first start by giving you a short introduction as this is the first blog I have written. I am currently a junior at Iowa State University in Ames, IA where I am studying meteorology. I was born and raised in the nearby suburb of Olathe, KS and returned home for the summer after being given the opportunity to intern here at Fox 4. I am now a couple weeks into my internship and have truly enjoyed every minute that I have been here. I am anticipating the rest of my internship here at Fox 4 to be just as rewarding as my first few weeks.  

Now, onto the content of this blog.  

June 21, 2011, the official first day of summer has come and gone. Now, as the days gradually decrease in length, the summer heat finally presents itself to us here in Kansas City. Forecasts for today show temperatures exceeding 97ºF. Although these forecasted temperatures would be the warmest we have seen in the metro to date, it isn’t July 1st’s 98ºF high temperature we will remember when looking back to late spring and summer of 2011. The temperature may frustrate us in the present, but will certainly not impact us like that of the Joplin tornado of May 22, 2011, or the ongoing flooding communities near the swelling Missouri river have been experiencing.

Joplin, MO after a tornado ravaged the city. Photo courtesy of Fox News.

One month after the devastating tornado tore through the streets of Joplin, MO, clean-up efforts are well under way. Support from around the country in terms of donations and volunteer physical labor has certainly been crucial in the rebuilding process to date.

The Joplin tornado has been classified as an EF5, the highest rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF Scale) rates tornadoes based on their strength and the damage they cause. In the case of an EF5 tornado, wind speeds can be expected to be greater than 200mph but damage is significant and intense. The EF Scale became operational in February of 2007 replacing the Fujita scale that was introduced by Ted Fujita in 1971. Since the scale became operational in 2007, there have only been eight tornadoes classified as such; six of these EF5 tornadoes have occurred in 2011. Yes, six out of eight. 75%. Granted, the EF Scale has only been around for four years, but six EF5 tornadoes in the same season?!  Four of these EF5 tornadoes occurred during the April 25-28, 2011 tornado outbreak in Mississippi and Alabama. The following is a picture of the radar imagery from the tornado that hit Hackleburg, Al.

Hackleburg, AL EF5 tornado radar imagery. Photo courtesy of Weather Underground.

Pictures similar to those above have been all over the news following the devastating tornadoes we have experienced this season. The next couple pictures have not seen the same media time. These are pictures of the storm before it produced the tornado that has gone down in the record books as one of the worst tornadoes in US history.

Leading edge

Wall Cloud just west of Joplin, MO

Another wall cloud beginning to form

Rain-wrapped Joplin tornado

I took these pictures while out chasing this storm. On the morning of May 22, 2011, I definitely would not have guessed that before the day was over I would bear witness to one of the worst tornados the plains have ever seen. It wasn’t until early afternoon that I really even considered let alone, actually left Olathe, KS to pursue the potential locations the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK had forecasted to see strong storms. Leaving Olathe, I was in the car with two others and a couple hours down the road later, we found ourselves northwest of Joplin. To this point, we had no idea what the storm system near us was capable of. We kept on the move fighting the hail and rain until we were just west of Joplin and at one point in time, could see twelve rotating wall clouds at the same time, definitely an eerie sense when you’re directly in the middle of them. Driving south to let the storm pass over us, we finally came back north and then turned east towards Joplin. From our angle, every time you would start to see something starting to form, it would become rain-wrapped. It wasn’t until after the tornado had moved through Joplin, Mo that we realized exactly what we were in the middle of, without actually being in the middle of it.

The formation of this storm was definitely unique. While out in the field, especially during that time we were in the middle of so many wall clouds, despite having radar, it was very difficult to predict where exactly a tornado would form.

What did come out of this storm system was devastating, you don’t need someone one else to tell you that. The pictures like first one in this blog are heartbreaking to see. As someone who loves weather and really enjoys chasing storms like this one, the tornado itself would have been just as impressive in an empty field, and a lot less people would have been hurt. I emphasize to all of those whose lives have been severely impacted by this storm.

The Joplin tornado was probably the most impressive weather event I have experienced; the memories from it will go with me as I make my way into my own weather career.

Have a Safe and Happy 4^th of July!