Severe
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A USA Today story reported here by KARE11.com notes two recent records for lightning bolts were made by the World Meteorological Organization. In the story it states “Scientists identified all-time world records for both the longest lightning bolt — nearly 200 miles — and the world’s longest-duration lightning flash — over 7 seconds — according to a report released Thursday.…
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While the number of tornadoes and tornado days has been decreasing in the historical “Tornado Alley” in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska in recent years, in so-called “Dixie Alley” in the Southeast tornado occurrences have been increasing, according to a new study published in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. Researcher compared tornadoes in…
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Chris Robbins of iWeatherNet.com posted some interesting statistics on trends in lightning fatalities earlier this week. They show a significant decrease in lightning deaths from 1940 to the present. I think a lot of this can be attributed to the public information that has been stressed by the National Weather Service and other meteorologists. But…
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Today marks the 40th anniversary of the devastating flash flood that hit the Big Thompson canyon in Colorado, killing 144 people and causing tremendous damage to the area on that Saturday evening in 1976. The flood was not well predicted due to the high elevation, which reduced radar visibility of the storm that funneled all…
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The National Hurricane Center noted the official development of Tropical Storm Colin this afternoon at 5:30 EDT. This is the earliest ever in the season for a third named storm. Colin is forecast to continue to develop and move off to the northeast over the next few days. It is expected to land on the Florida…
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Just for fun, U. S. Tornadoes has an interesting post about the dates with the most and the fewest tornadoes in the United States. The day with the most? May 25 (today!). The date with the least: January 16. You can check out the statistics and see some maps of tornado tracks on the busiest…
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Today marks the 5 year anniversary of the incredibly deadly Joplin MO tornado. Over 150 people died in that storm alone, and in the outbreak that included it, an unprecedented 1,691 tornadoes claimed 553 lives in all. NOAA has published two documents describing the storm outbreaks. NOAA has put together a photo book of the outbreaks…