Severe weather, photography, science, & sports. I feast on the smorgasbord of atmospheric violence! Fiercely independent thinker. True-life Horatio Alger story.
Multiple reports of
#HungaTonga
volcanic explosion(s) being heard this morning...in Alaska.
Distance from Hunga Tonga to Anchorage is 5824 statute miles (9373 km).
From NWS Anchorage Facebook feed...
Wide view of sinkhole of unknown depth at our sunset shooting location NW of Tulia, with supercell receding into deepening twilight & Mateusz
@MateuszTaszarek
for scale.
No driving into this! Wouldn’t be prudent!
Leaving shift this morning, scientific prediction done, a sobering, brutally honest realization hits: even if outlooks, watches & warnings are great, that doesn’t stop the
#tornado
swarm & destruction. This is the rare kind of event that may take many lives. Pray I’m wrong.
🧵 No doubt the Hollister tornado was a bad mother. I’ve seen/analyzed *thousands* of tornadic 88D signatures. Its LL Vrot & screen presentation was top few %.
Like it or not (I often don’t!), it has to hit structures worthy of a damage level to get that rating. Period.
I know it’s not easy in the face of top-down betrayal. Still, aside from moral support to BMX colleagues, I wish/ask that we keep the passion for public service & weather, despite failings of bureaucracy. Taxpayers deserve that much. Excellence truly is the high road.
#NWSEO
Fulfilling a dream that began while a little kid in Dallas, looking at
#eclipse
paths in World Book Encyclopedia. I only had to live to see it, if possible.
The joy of this moment was overwhelming.
I’ll forever remember cheers near and far echoing as they rose to the sky.
1/9 Those rooting for long-track tornadoes & destruction yesterday probably were wondering what went "wrong" with the forecast. Those not as sadistic wondered what we missed w/overforecasting in a results-based sense. I have ideas from deep professional/scientific experience.
A little commentary on this remarkable video from last evening in TN.
1. Great gratitude goes to the shooter for going landscape (horizontal) instead of vertical, to maximize resolution and coverage. I hope he didn't just give its rights away. This is valuable. More...
@TomFitton
No. He should resign because of his advocacy for slaughtering babies. The first is an ugly and immoral insult to a lot of people, for sure. The second, however, is enabling infanticide on either side of birth. Big difference.
This is a nonpartisan statement.
I don't want to hear another word from anyone about how badly "you weathermen" forecast. Sports pundits and especially Presidential election pollsters now are cornering the market on thoroughly atrocious, laughably erroneous prediction.
Persistent African
#MCS
blasting westward for 1600 nautical miles yesterday into midday local time, from genesis over NErn
#Nigeria
to
#Atlantic
offshore
#SierraLeone
. Enhanced composite moisture-channel loop.
I’m not sorry warm-sector storms mostly failed & we didn’t get many tornadoes. I am sorry for this overforcast—humbled by atmosphere’s answer key, as it should be. Live, learn from it, move on, & do another, better forecast the next day & the next.
#NeverStopLearning
1/12) A thread from somebody who has forecast, chased, and formally researched tornadoes for decades. This footage from the main part of Mayfield (NE of the candle factory) is awful...
@ZubyMusic
Congratulations
@ZubyMusic
on topping a million followers. I’m intensely confident you’ll stay humble, wise and well-grounded regardless of fame or any circumstances. May God continue to guide & bless your life in many ways.
@marklutchman
My dad was rendered comatose, damn near killed and disabled off work for 9 months by an illegal alien driver. So...yes. I’d support this idea.
Pleased to announce my newest paper, which arose directly from a 2012 storm chase with
@chasetolive
, who is coauthor. It has pretty pictures!
"Right-Moving
#Supercell
#Tornadogenesis
during Interaction with a Left-Moving Supercell’s Rear-Flank Outflow"
409 pm CDT "This ain't Kansas, this ain't Oklahoma, this is Alabama. A lot of the tornadoes here are rain-wrapped..."
@Spann
's usual masterful job keeping folks alerted as back-to-back supercells (one w/TDS) go from rural TCL County to NW Jefferson.
Interesting
#SPC
watch tallies 2018:
* Lowest watch total (450) since 1984 (402)
* 2nd fewest TOR watches (136) since records begin in 1970 (fewest—129, 2016)
* Record high total watches: 1169 (1996); this decade: 898 (2011)
🧵Paid respects today.
These names matter. Their legacy matters.
No storm observer with a conscience forgets his/her first killer tornado. For me, this was that.
Unknowingly, & unable to alert anyone anyway, I watched this happen. Why? .
#sdwx
Not often seen: an *anticyclonic* tornadic signature (SE of Loveland, FDR radar is off-screen upper left), which was accompanied by a pronounced rho-hv min. Cyclonic meso organizing to its NE. Velocity loop ending 330Z.
@KatiePavlich
From the outside looking in...JB is getting smoked on this one. He picked the wrong guy to mess with. Agree or disagree with RDS' policies, which is fair...but he is whip-smart and quick-witted, and JB perhaps somewhat used to be, long ago. There's the difference.
@brianemfinger
Excellent visual example of an accessory vortex arch from around :23 to abut 1:05. Anticyclonic w.r.t. vertical axis on one end of the loop, cyclonic on the other.
This is glaring evidence of failure (or absence) of severe-weather planning by a large-event venue. Over two decades after the late Les Lemon and I brought awareness to this problem, and it still happens. No excuses. Abundant resources are available to mitigate this hazard.
Tonight was the scariest night of my life. It started pelting people with hail at Red Rocks and my sister and I luckily found shelter under a sign. I am bleeding and have huge bumps on my head from the hail. Hoping everyone made it out safely.
After a day or so of relative rest,
#Geldingadalur
#volcano
,
#Iceland
, is back in action with a vengeance. This lava expulsion at 2056 local was the first I’ve seen to overwhelm practically the entire circumference of the crater. Video courtesy RUV (Icelandic public TV) feed.
I work rotating shifts and experience full-bore “jet lag”, every 1–2 weeks, without having to travel anywhere.
Tell me again how “hard” a mere 1-hour time change, twice a year, can be?
#NotSympathetic
#StopWhining
#SuckItUp
Just because nighttime & chasers didn’t see a lot today doesn’t mean the event is over, or was a “bust.” People’s lives remain in danger from tornadoes in srn/ern OK, with the middle & upper-right couplets having TDSs.
KTLX - Super-Res Storm Relative Velocity 1 10:41 PM
#okwx
28 years ago this morning, 922-mb, category 5
#HurricaneAndrew
hit S. Dade County, FL. Here's the last radar view of the storm's intensely convective, "truck tire" eyewall, from the reflectivity-only WSR-57 on the roof of the NHC/WFO facility (then in Coral Gables), before...
@nickmartin
@MrAndyNgo
Yours is just 1 subjective opinion.
Here's another. What
@MrAndyNgo
is doing is entirely legal. Don't do the things that get mugshots, and there's nothing to worry about.
When you support the violent at the expense of the lawful, your opinion is the unethical/destructive one.
2nd time in 14 years my house has been inside a tornado but not damaged (trees busted on the property), this time thanks to being tens of yards north of the vortex centerline. Seems weird to have had this very scenario I discussed at 13Z yesterday morning play out at home. More
This arrived a couple years late, but still: honored to have served the taxpayer via God-given talents and passion for >3 decades of meteorology, from
@NOAANSSL
to
@NHC_TAFB
to SELS/
@NWSSPC
.
Not as old as this implies either, since Federal service began as an undergrad. 😉
Radar caution today! In IA/IL/MO, storms are going to move multiple miles in one full volume scan, *while* strongly tilted with height.
This will make radar interpretation very challenging even for experienced warning forecasters, much less chasers/amateurs/armchair users!
Not what one desires to see when returning home. TLX velocity loop through about 330Z. Fortunately the house wasn’t hit, but the couplet and TDS passed very close to overhead.
#okwx
2. As others correctly have noted, the heat from the explosion and fireball temporarily raised the temperature (thus lower RH) in the vortex, evaporating cloud material. The tornado (which is defined by wind, not cloud!) was still there & kept on going.
Why?
Second of two short-lived tornadoes with small supercell W Stratford 2321Z dissipated. Brief 3rd tornado just came and went as I type
@NWSAmarillo
#txwx
One of the most deeply textured and wildly illuminated “whale’s mouth” arcus undersides I’ve seen in decades of storm observing, last evening between Faith & Dupree SD.
Why outlooks matter. Casualties from severe weather can’t be prevented totally, but countless many have been, thanks to the integrated warning system, and we’ll never know about them. Makes positive examples like this all the more important.
#preparedness
#TornadoSafety
Was able to survey tornado damage today. Success story: the person that lived here said they cleared their closet 4 days ago when they saw the forecast. Got the warning and the family went into the interior room. The outside rooms of the house were all gone when it was over.
Make your scientific writing clearer!
Omit: "It is important to note that..."
Of course, or you wouldn't have noted it!
More suggestions for concise scientific writing, from a longtime editor/reviewer (thanks
@eloquentscience
for some of these!):
At this point, folks, it's less important whether the "risk" is called "Moderate" or "High". The point is this:
An outbreak of severe weather, including unusually destructive tornadoes, is possible in parts of the Southeast Wednesday. More...
Pro tips for concise weather-science writing!
INSTEAD OF:
tornado on the ground
frontal boundary
is indicative of
is suggestive of
it is apparent that
a state of entropy
upward vertical velocity
was found to be
USE:
tornado
front
indicates
suggests
apparently
entropy
ascent
was
This could happen to any of us, chasing or not. The obvious fact that he was paying attention to the road, and accordingly reacted fast enough to evade the falling side of the rig, may have saved his life. A positive example & lesson for all storm observers.
A semi ended my chase early today. I'm okay. What really matters is the devastating damage these storms have done and are continuing to do.
#newx
#wxtwitter
NWS surveyors do the best they can w/rampant poorly built or absent DIs, chronic short-staffing & limited survey time due to more wx & vacant routine shifts needing coverage.
Those who rag on WFOs posting ratings: pull-up your pants, your immaturity & ignorance are showing.
Doswell: “You’re not out there to ‘save lives’. That tired line is moronic crap.”
We all make mistakes. When you make mistakes, own it, like Eric/
@amosmagliocco
and Novy did.
#TESSA2018
Storm along OK/KS border W Manchester OK assuming supercellular cloud structures as seen from Manchester. Also flinging occasional booming anvil CGs nearby.
#okwx
#kswx
@NWSNorman
@NWSWichita
A couple phone panos of yesterday’s HP hog SE of Broken Bow, NE, that spit “post failed” from the field. This storm, had it a mind, would have been ill-intentioned, while stunning to behold.
Remember, object in panos are (much) closer than they appear!
#newx
6 pm MDT just saw at least 10 storm chase vehicles, including an unmarked group of 3 tour vans, blatantly run the northbound ad hoc red light for the one lane part of CO71 at CR 23 in Washington County S of Woodrow. Attn
@ColoradoDOT
@CSP_News
9/9 That alone likely is enough to account for reduced WS dvlpmt in subtle forcing despite historically intense CAPE+shear parameter space. Another factor: lack of insolation===>weak bndry-layer lapse rates, weaker WS lift.
Good fodder for deeper/formal research! Go for it.
Massive volcanic explosion at
#HungaTonga
late afternoon their time. I’ve never seen satellite imagery of one this huge, this fast. Measured a 225-mph umbrella-cloud expansion between 420–440Z. Pray for the people of
#Tonga
.
@splillo
Wrong. Full stop.
Do you grasp why we do detailed hand analyses of the atmosphere? It is for *understanding*.
Here is some training that I recommend you take so you can learn the value of understanding to atmospheric situational awareness:
Wild times in the Badlands
@BadlandsNPS
at 138Z. Evacuated that bluff with calm haste, very soon thereafter. Vehicle shaking hard while pointed into the wind, once the meat of the downburst hit a few minutes later.
#sdwx
@NWSRapidCity
Unique, spectacular and valuable footage from the New Orleans
#tornado
tonight. Hope it wasn’t just given away.
Brought to mind the deadly Pomona Lake/Whippoorwill disaster in ’78. This could have been much worse if it had hit that cruise ship.
🌪️ WOW. Incredible view of the tornado near New Orleans earlier as seen from the Mississippi River while a cruise ship passed by.
Video from a
@WGNOtv
viewer via
@PeytonLocicero
.
With another destructive & deadly multi-tornado event (that was well-forecast and well-warned, and did *not* "hit without warning"), I focus this thread on tornado-report counts for media's sake. We often get these calls: "How many tornadoes were there last night?"
We all should be thankful that did not occur in densely populated areas, where it probably would have hit enough to earn an EF3–EF5 rating, based on published research by colleagues on similar-strength signatures.
How strong was it? We’ll never know. Accept that.
He’s probably not on Twitter, but I want to give Andy from Swisher electric coop a huge public thank you for pulling me out of a nasty muddy V ditch W of Tulia. God bless that gentleman. Texans helping Texans, even if I’m living in OK now. ;-). Headed home.
@RandPaul
Self-defense is acceptable. Makes me wish I was in the victim’s place so I could lay the attacker out cold with one blow. Some lessons just need to be learned the hard way.
Scanning the twits tonight, I see no shortage of "expert" model regurgitation from unknowns in basements all across America. Guess that's the norm before any severe-storm event anymore.
Wonder the results if we quizzed them all on parameterization & microphyics schemes used?
Icelandic
#volcano
putting on a stunning show of high (sometimes >50-m) fountaining tonight in the Icelandic public-TV RUV live streams. We’re watching on the big screen. The couple who watches eruptions together stays together.
#Geldingadalir
Periodic tornado-reporting PSA, to be repeated 'til it's no longer needed.
1. Tornadoes don't "touch down". Their air is *rising* at genesis.
2. "Tornado on the ground" is redundant, by definition.
Be concise. Just say 1) "start" or "begin", & 2) "tornado". Shorter! Win/win.
Looky here,
#meteorology
instructors, an absolutely classic example to use, of why choice of lifted parcel matters: last night's 0Z RAOB from
@NWSTampaBay
. Thanks to super-shallow "skin" layer of moist air under well-mixed layer, MUCAPE=SBCAPE=2300 J/kg, MLCAPE = 0. Zero.
Well, that was a ton of fun S of Kinsley KS. Crappy phone photo of DSLR screen, but you get the idea. Many more similar to this shot too. I love the
#GreatPlains
.
Periodic public-service announcement:
"Tornado on the ground" is redundant.
Just say "tornado". It's shorter and easier anyway! Win-win!
A tornado MUST be on the ground, or it is not a tornado, by definition.
@sarahsalviander
As a fellow Christian and scientist, I assure you that your faith and life story, difficult and pain-filled as it is, also is an inspiration. Please know this, and let the Holy Spirit keep empowering and strengthening you in the face of all the assumptions, mockery and insults.
In 2019, with modern storm-prediction capabilities across public and private sectors combined, this should not be happening at large-venue events. No excuses accepted.
Was someone playing fake expert with a little weather app instead of hiring real human meteorologists?
1/4: Author of this accurate mesoscale discussion from before EF4 AL tornado event, and others later, based it on peer-reviewed published
#science
w/radar rotation & environment. Great example
#R2O
for enhanced insight into near-term tornado potential.