Highest Temperature on Record for Oklahoma In Jeopardy for Wednesday?

The Sooner State continues to bake in the heat this afternoon. As you can see on the image above, all but one station on the Oklahoma Mesonet (a network of 120 weather observing stations across the state) has reached at least 100 degrees this afternoon, and it is currently registering 99, with the century mark likely to be reached before the afternoon is over.Computer forecast models suggest that the intense heat will peak across the state tomorrow....

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Tropical Atlantic Showing Some Signs of Life...

After a long period of quiet weather to start the hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin, there are currently two active tropical waves across the region this morning.The first, circled in purple on the above satellite image, will produce widespread heavy rain across Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and other adjacent portions of the Caribbean for the next 24-48 hours.  Flash flooding and mudslides are possible, along with gusty winds.  This...

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Unusually Large Hail Fell on Parts of Italy Yesterday...

The above hailstones may not look all that impressive to an observer from the Plains of the United States, but for northern Italy, that's not too shabby!A fairly extensive hailstorm struck the Refrontolio and Farria di Soligo regions of northeast Italy yesterday afternoon.  Most of the hailstones were quarter to golfball size, and some were dense enough to strip leaves off of some of the trees (as you can see if you look closely in the following...

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Tornado Near Mt. Evans, CO on 7/28/12 a New Record High Elevation?

A tornado touched down close to Lincoln Lake near Mt. Evans, CO on Saturday afternoon, July 28, 2012. Mt. Evans is located in the Arapaho National Forest and is about halfway between Breckenridge and Denver.  The elevation at the summit is 12,500 feet above sea level.The following photo was posted on twitter by John Hallan, but it does not say who shot the photo.  The tornado was quite picturesque, and looks somewhat like a waterspout in...

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The Tornado Chronicles: Elmira, NY Tornado of 7-26-12

A tornado and damaging straight line and/or downburst winds struck Elmira, NY during the late afternoon hours of Thursday, July 26, 2012.According to the preliminary results of the National Weather Service (NWS) survey, the tornado first touched down at around 4pm EDT near Miracle Lane off of Route 352, just West of Elmira.  The tornado then tracked in a general Easterly direction on the North side of the Chemung River for approximately 9.7 miles....

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"Tornado Drought" Continues Despite Yesterday's Activity...

There were two tornado reports yesterday in the Elmira, NY area. This brings the total (preliminary) number of tornadoes for July, 2012 to 15, which keeps us in record territory for an inactive July.I suspect that once the storm survey is complete in Elmira it will be determined that this was really two reports of one in the same tornado (if that is in fact what it was and not just wind damage), which would bring the July total down to 14.  I'll...

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Severe Weather Update - OH Valley / Northeast

The latest radar mosaic image above shows several lines of strong to severe thunderstorms across the Ohio Valley and Northeast. The most severe activity at this time extends along the two main lines, dissecting Pennsylvania from Northeast to Southwest, and across central and southern Ohio.  Damaging straight line wind gusts are the primary threat in this region along and ahead of these storms, although some brief tornado spin-ups are possible...

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Widespread Severe Weather Likely From OH Valley Into the Northeast Today...

As we've been talking about for the last day or so, a widespread severe weather event continues to appear likely for much of the Ohio Valley, Northeast and southern New England today and early tonight. Above is the latest severe weather outlook from the SPC in Norman, OK. Severe storms are possible anywhere within the yellow shaded area, with the highest risk within the red shaded area on the image.Thunderstorms continue from overnight activity across...

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Update on Severe Weather Threat for Thursday...

As mentioned in a post this morning, there is a threat of widespread and/or significant severe weather tomorrow across a large portion of the Ohio Valley into New England, including several heavily populated areas.The afternoon update of the Storm Prediction Center's (SPC) outlook for tomorrow has upgraded part of the region to a "Moderate" risk of severe weather, which signifies a threat for widespread, potentially damaging storms.The updated outlook...

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Tornado "Drought" Continues Across U.S. - Going Crazy in Canada

I was rather amused by a tweet that I saw yesterday from a person that I follow here in the U.S.: "Dear Canada, can we please have our tornadoes back?"I guess they're a little bored with July's pronounced lack of tornadoes and severe weather here in the states.  In fact, we're currently on pace to record the lowest number of tornadoes in the month of July since records have been kept in 1950.  So far this month, we've only had 12 tornadoes...

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Widespread Severe Weather Likely Tomorrow Ohio Valley into Northeast...

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms is likely tomorrow afternoon and evening across a large part of the Ohio Valley and the Northeast, including major population centers such as New York City and Philadelphia, among others.Severe storms are forecast within the yellow shaded area, from southern Missouri into New England, with the highest risk of the most widespread severe weather expected within the red shaded area from Ohio into much of Pennsylvania,...

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Book Review: "Joplin: The Miracle of the Human Spirit"

I was recently given a complementary copy of the book "Joplin: The Miracle of the Human Spirit" and asked to review it. It was my pleasure to read it, and I highly recommend the book to anyone with a specific interest in the Joplin tornado disaster, as well as weather related disasters (and managing and/or responding to them) in general.The book was written by Mark Rohr, the City Manager of Joplin, and provides his own personal and professional...

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