(no subject)

[cieldumort]

With the number of tornado reports for the period Sat afternoon through Monday morning now approaching 100, it is worth pointing out that while this is certainly one of the greatest November outbreaks on record, tornado outbreaks during Autumn are far from a rarity. In fact, a second tornado-maxima occurs during the season.

As is the case during Spring, cold and drier air from the north begins clashing again with the warmer, moist air from the Gulf. Sometimes, as was the case this past weekend, a particularly strong jet stream also enhances thunderstorm activity during various times of the year. The current El Nino is being fingered out for a possible reason why the jet stream across the country was so powerful this past week. (Recall the hurricane force winds in California Thursday & Friday).

Currently there are roughly three dozen confirmed fatalities and many people are still missing and concern is rising that at least some of them may not be found alive. To illustrate, with clarion, the impact of this past weekend's explosion of nature's fury, consider that the oft-referred to super-outbreak of May 3, 1999, claimed forty-six lives.

Comments

[necrobabe.livejournal.com]

I have to say...that Sunday was the most frustrating and frightening I have experienced so far. When NWS requested spotter activation (I was living in Lexington, KY at the time) I cringed. The visibility factor sucked already because of the buildings,trees, and hills - but this also became a night chase as well. I knew that there weren't many people out spotting so I went ahead and stayed out until well after dark. I had to stop a lot on the way back to Lexington from the Louisville area because the storms were traveling at 60mph first, and slowed down to 50mph so I kept catching up to them. Embedded supercaells are creepy....there was a lot of hail, and the rain was so heavy It was like driving through a waterfall at times. I would take a Texas tornado over a system like that any day. Fortunately, there wasn't too much damage in KY, but that was a very sad day for so many people in so many places. I only got one or two pics before the sun set, but I haven't had them developed yet.

[cieldumort.livejournal.com]

"Embedded supercaells are creepy....there was a lot of hail, and the rain was so heavy It was like driving through a waterfall at times. I would take a Texas tornado over a system like that any day."

You're sooo not kidding. Chasing these bowing lines with embedded supercells is nuts. I was there, too, and had a feeling almost as if I was a little insect scurrying along a road in the path of a sidewinder more than willing to slither and snake it's way around me and snuff me out or even devour me without notice.