Locally, today and tomorrow we will see rain chances ranging from 30% today, and a 60% chance tomorrow. Temps will cool down into the high to mid 60s for Monday and Tuesday, with another cold front coming through on Thursday.
Some of the highlights of the many weather events from this past week are below:
Major Earthquake Hits Indonesia:
A major earthquake hit off the eastern coast of Indonesia at 2:34 P.M. EST Wednesday, and 1:34 A.M. local time on Thursday. The earthquake, a massive magnitude 7.0, struck about 195 miles from Manado, the northernmost city on Sulawesi island. The USGS said it was centered 21 miles below the ocean floor, five aftershocks of at least magnitude 5 followed. No deaths or injuries have been reported.
Full Story Here
The NWS Assists in Australia:
Earlier this week, the National Weather Service sent fire weather experts to Australia to help battle the seemingly unextinguishable fires that have become one of the worst natural disasters, if not the worst, in Australian history. The National Weather Service and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology agreed in 2006 to exchange fire weather expertise and staff during the U.S. and Australian wildfire seasons, which occur at opposite times of the year in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Brent Wachter of the Albuquerque, N.M. WFO and Daniel Borsum of the Billings, Mont., office were stationed in Australia when the latest wildfires began raging last weekend. Robert Tobin of the Spokane, Wash., office went to the Australian state of Tasmania to provide fire weather forecasting support the day after the wildfires began. Wachter has since returned to the United States.
These “incident meteorologists” undergo extensive training to support fire-fighting efforts and are able to forecast weather conditions at precise locations during extreme wildfires.
Full Story Here
Tornado Hits Edmond, Oklahoma:
During the severe weather earlier this week, there was an EF3 tornado in Edmond, Oklahoma. There were a few different reports on this tornado:
2048 3 WSW EDMOND OKLAHOMA OK 3564 9753 TORNADO LASTED APPROXIMATELY 10 MINUTES. TORNADO WAS CONFIRMED BY BROADCAST MEDIA. TORNADO APPEARED TO TRAVEL THROUGH THE NW SIDES OF EDMOND. RECEIVED DAMAGE REPORTS ON (OUN)
2053 3 WNW EDMOND OKLAHOMA OK 3566 9753 *** 1 INJ *** A TORNADO FORMED NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF 192ND AND WESTERN AVENUE AND LIFTED 5 MILES NORTH OF EDMOND ACROSS THE COUNTY LINE INTO LOGAN COUNTY. SEVERAL HO (OUN)
2105 3 WSW EDMOND OKLAHOMA OK 3564 9753 TORNADO LASTED APPROXIMATELY 10 MINUTES. TORNADO WAS CONFIRMED BY BROADCAST MEDIA. TORNADO APPEARED TO TRAVEL THROUGH THE NW SIDES OF EDMOND. RECEIVED DAMAGE REPORTS ON (OUN)
Two videos of the tornado are below:
Storm Reports for 2/10/09
Pictures of the Aftermath of the storms
There is a moderate risk of severe storms tomorrow across parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, and a slight chance of storms into the Mississippi Valley. From the Storm Prediction Center:
VALID 101200Z - 111200Z
...THERE IS A MDT RISK OF SVR TSTMS ACROSS PORTIONS OF NERN
TX...SERN OK AND SWRN AR...
...THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS FROM TX/OK EAST-NORTHEASTWARD
INTO PORTIONS OF THE LOWER/MID MS VALLEY...
ACTIVE AND WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED LATE TUESDAY
AFTERNOON AND NIGHT FROM PORTIONS OF OK/TX EWD INTO PORTIONS OF THE
LOWER/MID VS VALLEY. EVOLUTION OF CONVECTION APPEARS
COMPLICATED...AND THIS PRECLUDES A LARGER MODERATE RISK AREA.
MONITOR TUESDAY/S DAY 1 OUTLOOKS FOR UPDATES ON THIS SITUATION.
...SYNOPSIS...
LONGWAVE TROUGH WILL REMAIN SITUATED ACROSS THE WRN/CENTRAL
CONUS...AS A FAST MOVING SHORTWAVE TROUGH SHIFTS EWD FROM THE SWRN
STATES INTO THE ARKLATEX AREA BY EARLY WED MORNING. A 90-100 KT MID
LEVEL IS FORECAST TO ACCOMPANY THE UPPER SYSTEM AND MOVE INTO SWRN
TX BY LATE AFTERNOON...AND AR OVERNIGHT. WHILE NAM/GFS SHOW A
DEEPENING SURFACE LOW LOCATED NEAR THE MO/AR BY 11/12Z... NAM MOVES
THE DEVELOPING SURFACE LOW EWD ACROSS NRN OK AND THE GFS THOUGH NRN
TX TUESDAY.
TX/OK NEWD INTO THE MID MS VALLEY...
CURRENTLY PREFER GFS SURFACE LOW SOLUTION AS THE MAIN UPPER FORCING
SPREADS FROM SWRN TX TOWARD THE ARKLATEX DURING THE
AFTERNOON/EVENING HOURS. HOWEVER...SURFACE LOW LIKELY WILL NOT
DEVELOP UNTIL LATE UNTIL MAIN UPPER SYSTEM SHIFTS EWD INTO FAR WRN
TX. SINCE THE COLD FRONT CURRENTLY MOVING THROUGH SRN TX IS EXPECTED
TO STALL LATER TODAY...THIS SHOULD ALLOWING CURRENT LOWER/MID 60S TO
RETURN NWWD INTO SJT/ABI/SPS AREAS OF WRN TX AND NWD INTO
OK...MAINLY ALONG AND S OF I-44...TUESDAY. THESE DEWPOINTS COMBINED
WITH DIURNAL HEATING AND STRONG COOLING ALOFT...500 MB TEMPERATURES
FROM -18C TO -20C...SHOULD YIELD MLCAPES FROM 1000-1500 J/KG BY LATE
TUESDAY.
STRONG 850 MB FRONTOGENESIS AND INCREASING FORCING IS SUGGESTIVE OF
THE INITIAL CONVECTION DEVELOPING AS A SQUALL IN THE SPS/ABI/SJT
AREA...IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE DEVELOPING SURFACE LOW/TRAILING
FRONT. VERY STRONG ENVIRONMENTAL WINDS AND THE EXPECTED FAST
TRANSLATIONAL MOTION OF THE LINE SHOULD FAVOR WIND DAMAGE.
HOWEVER...FURTHER EAST ACROSS NRN TEXAS...SRN/ERN OK AND WRN
ARKANSAS...DISCRETE STORMS ARE ALSO LIKELY TO DEVELOP
BY LATE AFTERNOON IN STRENGTHENING DIFFLUENCE ALOFT AND CONSEQUENT
LOW-LEVEL CONVERGENCE/WARM ADVECTION WITHIN INTENSIFYING /50-70 KT/
850 JET CORE. EFFECTIVE SHEAR AT 40-60 KT AND STRONG FORCING WILL BE
SUPPORTIVE OF SUPERCELLS. THERMODYNAMIC PROFILES AND ROTATING STORMS
INDICATE THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE LARGE HAIL. HOWEVER...20-30 KT LOW
LEVEL SHEAR AND LARGE CLOCKWISE CURVED LOW LEVEL HODOGRAPHS WILL
FAVOR TORNADOES...SOME STRONG. HOWEVER...WARM ADVECTION DURING THE
DAY MAY RESULT IN WEAKER CONVECTION THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND
COMPLICATE THE LOCATION AND EVOLUTION OF STRONG CONVECTION LATER IN
THE DAY.
STORMS AND SQUALL WILL SPREAD ENEWD INTO AR/LA/SRN MO OVERNIGHT
...AND POSSIBLY AS FAR EAST AS WRN TN/NWRN MS BY DAYBREAK WED.
DESPITE SOME WEAK NOCTURNAL COOLING VERY STRONG KINEMATICS AND UPPER
SYSTEM FAVOR A HIGH POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER... INCLUDING
TORNADOES...TUESDAY NIGHT.
Residents of the affected areas should monitor their local media, NOAA Weather Radio, and the National Weather Service for updates.
Parts of Central Alaska are currently in the middle of severe winter weather. Anchorage averages a low of minus ten degrees in January, but on Wednesday morning residents woke up to a low of minus 19. But when you compare -19 in Anchorage to the -60 in Stevens Village, Alaska, it feels like beach weather.
Here is a link to pictures
Meanwhile, Washington State has been dealing with major floods from a combination of heavy rain and melting snow. At Marblemount, nearly 7 inches of rain fell in one 24-hour period, in a ten-hour period, twelve inches of snow melted at Snoqualmie Pass, the Snoqualmie River at Carnation, in the rural Snoqualmie Valley, was measured at 61.3 feet Wednesday night, 7.3 feet above flood stage and a record for measurements kept since 1932, NWS meteorologist Jay Albrecht said, and a record 4.28 fell in Olympia.
Spokane had a record amount of snow, 61.5 inches in December as well.
Pictures
Temps in Idaho, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana are going to be mostly below freezing because of a cold front, which will give the nation it's first major snowstorm.
Elsewhere, in Enterprise, Alabama, a tornado struck and there was signifigant damage to the Civic Center, windows were blown out of a few buildings and there was also some roof damage, no injuries were reported.It was rated an EF1, unlike the monster EF4 tornado that hit Enterprise last year on March 1st, which did even more damage, destroyed the high school, and killed eight students taking refuge in interior hallways.
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