Severe

  • Today is the anniversary of the tornado that hit Atlanta, Georgia, on March 14, 2008.  It made a big impression on me because it is one of the few tornadoes I have seen directly impacting my area (I don’t storm chase, I let the tornadoes come to me). My husband (also a meteorologist), son and…

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  • The tornado intercept and study program called VORTEX-SE started March 1.  This field project, Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment-Southeast, will send scientists out across the Southeast on days that are likely to have severe weather to study the development and evolution of tornadic supercell storms as systems move through the region.  The…

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  • For meteorologists and climatologists, March 1 marks the first day of spring.  Spring is the season when severe weather really ramps up in many parts of the country, although in the Southeast we can and do get severe weather any time of year.  In recognition of this, the National Weather Service has provided us with…

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  • The recent storm system that passed through the Southeast brought severe weather, including tornadoes, to parts of the region, including North Carolina.  The State Climate Office of North Carolina has published a blog post today that describes the storms that hit their state at https://climate.ncsu.edu/climateblog?id=179&h=5666e5c1, along with some tornado climatology for February. You can also find…

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  • There is a good chance of severe weather for parts of the Southeast on Tuesday and Wednesday, particularly later in the day on Tuesday.  The Day 2 convective forecast map from Monday night highlights the area that is most likely to be hit by tornadoes in southern Mississippi and Alabama, but many areas of the…

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  • Marshall Shepherd pointed out this morning that today is the anniversary of what was likely the worst tornado outbreak in Georgia history. “On February 19 1884 a violent swarm of tornadoes raced across Georgia. Cherokee and Pickens counties were hit hard. Near Waleska, 3 children were killed. in Pickens county, Cagletown and Tate were devastated. There…

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  • Tornadoes of 2015

    Here is an image from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center that shows a US map of the tornadoes that were observed across the United States in 2015.  There are also state-by-state statistics showing which states received more tornadoes than average and which received less.  Note that all of the Southeast experienced below-normal numbers of tornadoes last…

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