Extreme Weather, Climatic Events Plague Japan, U.S.

EXTREME WEATHER & CLIMATIC EVENTS
EXTREME RAIN EVENTS
HEATWAVE
MAJOR STORMS
SCENARIOS  777, 088, 067, 066, 023
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Derecho, Hail, Tornadoes and Dust Storms Hit Central US 

Extrme Rain Events triggered severe flash flooding Tuesday for a wide swath of eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa, prompting  Iowa Gov. Branstad to declare Pottawattamie County a disaster area.

Severe storms producing baseball-sized hail, up to 12 tornadoes and a dangerous derecho pounded the US Midwest on Tuesday causing damage to buildings and vehicles.

The hail caused substantial damage to 4,300 vehicles at Woodhouse Auto Family car dealership in Nebraska, said a report.

Storm Prediction Center received at least 12 reports of possible tornadoes in Nebraska, Iowa, Wyoming and Kansas by late Tuesday evening.

Japan

An unusually intense heatwave continued to grip Hokkaido and other parts of Japan since Monday, with temperatures soaring to a 90-year record.

The temperature soared to 37.8°C in the town of Otofuke at about 2 p.m. on Teusday matching Hokkaido’s highest temperature, recorded in Obihiro on July 12, 1924, said Japan Meteorological Agency.

On Wednesday, temperatures exceeded 36.8°C for the first time this year at many observation stations throughout the prefecture.

Meanwhile, a rain front approaching from the west has dumped enormous  amounts of precipitation on Kyushu, Okinawa and Amami islands in the country’s southwest, triggering numerous landslides.

US Midwest in Crosshairs of Climate Change

Make a Radical Change, OR Look For a New Place to Live [sic]

Central US and the Midwest Could Be Running Out of Luck [and northern plains, too!]

NWS Warnings and Forecast – A Snapshot taken on June 21, 2009 at 13:58 UTC

Hazardous Weather Outlook, gale and Hazardous Seas Warning currently threaten about 90 percent of the US by area. FEWW

Waves of thunderstorms caused up to 130, 000 outages. Affected areas include Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Michigan .

The storms produced torrential rain. The National Weather Service said parts of northern Illinois may have gotten up to 4 inches of rain Friday and Racine, Wis., had a 24-hour total of nearly 7 inches. —AP

High winds across central and eastern Kansas may have contributed to one fatality near McPherson, with another two people injured in Great Bend.

Storm Force Cuts Power

About 67,000 Commonwealth Edison customers remain without power early Saturday after two severe thunderstorms ripped through the Chicago area.—Chicago Sun Times.

Lightning strikes behind a windmill on a farm near Baldwin City, Kan., Monday, June 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner). Image may be subject to copyright.

Record rainfall and Flight Delays at O’Hare International Airport

Flight delays at O’Hare on Friday were 90 minutes or more. More than 100 flights were canceled. At Midway, 45-minute delays and minor cancellations were reported. O’Hare had received 3.54 inches by 1 p.m. The National Weather Service said the previous record for June 19 was 1.79 inches in 1961.—AP

Meanwhile, thunderstorms rumbled across Indiana, producing hail and 67-mph winds and tornado warnings. Tornadoes tore through Wisconsin. Storms caused some structural damage in Michigan and Ohio.

How Many Trees are There in Chicago?

The department [of Streets & Sanitation in Chicago] received reports of 350 damaged trees, 61 traffic light outages, 25 damaged light poles, and 53 city light pole wires down, as of 8 p.m. —Chicago Sun Times.

Two storms system hit the central part of the U.S., spreading  across several states, bringing heavy rains, high winds and a half dozen tornadoes.

renewing flooding concerns in already soggy areas and leaving thousands of people without power.

Was it a tornado that did all this?

In Minnesota, an apparent tornado struck the town of Austin, uprooting trees, knocking down power lines and at least one person was reported with minor injuries. The National Weather Service said the storm sent debris flying, flipped cars on their sides and sent trees through roofs.

Heavy rain brought flooding concerns to areas of central North Dakota hit by flooding earlier this spring. South Dakota saw heavy rain, strong wind and hail, with two reports of funnel clouds in Stanley County.

A separate storm system that cut a wide swath across Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri knocked out power, damaged buildings and led to flash flooding. In the small Missouri town of Norborne, about an hour’s drive northeast of Kansas City, straight-line winds from a thunderstorm reached more than 74 mph…

In southwest Kansas winds reached up to 90 mph. About 22,000 residents were without power.—AP

Run those numbers by me, AGAIN!

A total of about 30 tornadoes and 370 storms hit across the nation on Wednesday alone, leaving behind extreme destruction and devastation. A twister was said to have  caused “millions of dollars in damage” in Austin, Minnesota.

High winds in Missouri twisted power poles and toppled trees while in Colorado, hail the size of marbles rained down on rural areas.
In Pittsburgh, flash floods drowned city streets and torrential rains overwhelmed storm drains, stranding even the rescue crews.—AP

How do twister numbers compare?

• About 840 tornadoes to date this year, compared with 1,305 in 2008 (through end of June).
• April tally:  270 tornadoes compared with [the three-year average of 200.]
• May total: 228  compared 461 tornadoes the same month last year.

FEWW said earlier this year could be one of the wettest on record.

A tornado reported west of Kenosha tore up some trees as severe storms moved through and produced downpours and street flooding Friday.

The storms Friday night hit less than 24 hours after severe weather and heavy rains caused flash flooding, so the new storms produced more flood problems, especially in Kenosha, Waukesha and Walworth counties.

…  heavy rains saturated the county with up to 6 inches falling in about an hour in some places.  The city of Racine had heavy rain that raised its 24-hour rainfall total to just under 7 inches. …  flooding along the Fox River had some vehicles floating in downtown Waukesha. —Channel 3000

Related Links

• FEWW FORECAST: 2009 Likely Wettest Year on Record
• What if each time a storm struck your area it turned out to be a major hurricane?
• 2009 Hurricane Season: Storms in Teacup, or Nasty Surprises?
• Drought and Deluge

US Tornado Brief

A Shrinking World Series

Updates:

• First lock on Mississippi River closes amid flood June 12, 2008

• Tornado kills four and injures up to 40 at Iowa boy scout camp June 12, 2008
• Midwest hit with floods June 11, 2008
• Midwest floods drowning crops; corn prices soar 11 Jun 2008
• Tornado kills four at Iowa boy scout camp 11 Jun 2008
• Midwest battles flood waters 11 Jun 2008
• Flooded Midwest braces for more rain 10 Jun 2008

• Video: Severe weather pounds U.S.
• Video:Holding a river at bay

What Tornado Headlines Say:

Copyright Editors or the News Agencies [Some editing by FEWW]

Deadly storms flood Midwest

At least five people were reported killed as heavy rains continued to pound the American Midwest on Sunday, flooding towns from Iowa to Michigan and threatening levees as lakes and rivers swelled.

Early Death Toll:

• Two delivery workers for The Grand Rapids Press in Michigan were killed Sunday when their car fell into a deep ravine created when a rain-swollen creek washed out a road.

• A woman died in Lansing Michigan, when a small trailer blew over on top of her.

• At least one person died as the result of rising waters, police spokesman in Columbus, Indiana said.

Meanwhile, storms in Nebraska spun out an early-morning Omaha tornado about a quarter-mile wide that moved northeast. As much as 11 inches of rain flooded central Indiana over the weekend.

Most towns south of Indianapolis and further west in Terre Haute received 6-10 inches of rainfall, said a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He said some affected areas hadn’t seen a such flooding for 100 years.

Flood waters continued to rise throughout Iowa on Sunday, with the northern part of the state receiving up to 5 inches of rain from a single afternoon storm.

Two delivery workers in Michigan were killed when their car fell into a ravine. (Photo: AP/ The Grand Rapids Press) Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Tornadoes maul homes, flip vehicles

A series of tornadoes destroyed homes, toppled power lines and flipped vehicles Saturday as a small but powerful storm system moved through the region, cutting just south of Chicago before weakening and moving over Lake Michigan.

Some of the damage in Monee. (Photo: Scott Stewart/Sun-Times) Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

“It was kind of like a train coming through the living room,” An eye witness said. “The building was shaking. There was a lot of commotion.” He said his neighborhood looked like a war zone, with siding, branches and debris strewn everywhere.

Lightning strikes pavilion as storms blow through Connecticut state park; 1 killed, 4 hurt

Lightning struck a pavilion at a Connecticut state park killing one person and injuring four others. Strong thunderstorms moved through the state Sunday leaving thousands of homes without power.

Powerful storms swamp U.S. Midwest, spawn tornadoes

Heavy rains caused flooding that forced hundreds of evacuations in Indiana, and a tornado raked Chicago’s suburbs on Saturday as violent thunderstorms pummeled the already soggy U.S. heartland, authorities said.

The U.S. Coast Guard was called out to help rescue stranded homeowners and motorists, and near-record flooding was forecast for rivers and creeks in western and central Indiana where Gov. Mitch Daniels declared an emergency in 10 more counties, added to the 41 counties declared earlier. At least one person was injured and some 29,000 households were without power.

“We’ve had some reports of houses destroyed,” said Andrew Krein of the National Weather Service.

Tornadoes also struck in Iowa and Wisconsin, capping a season that has seen a parade of storms spawning tornadoes, hail and destructive winds. According to the weather service, 112 people have died in tornadoes since the beginning of the year, the most in the United States in a decade.

Weather service warns of ‘violent’ tornadoes in Plains

Large hail, strong winds and heavy rain are reported in northwest Kansas in a powerful storm system that could produce large tornadoes in the state before nightfall.

In a strongly-worded statement Thursday, the National Weather Service warned that parts of Kansas could see hail bigger than baseballs, 80-mph-plus winds and “a few strong to violent long-lived tornadoes.”

Forecasters say severe thunderstorms will form by late afternoon in central and south-central Kansas and move toward eastern Kansas, Nebraska, northwestern Missouri and Iowa.

68 Tornadoes Have Hit Mississippi In 2008

The Storm Prediction Center – the National Weather Service office responsible for severe weather forecasts and tallies – says that 1,330 tornadoes have been reported this year. Not all of those tornadoes have been confirmed yet, but even still the numbers of confirmed tornadoes are already nearly three times that of the most active periods of previous years.

The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Jackson says 68 tornadoes have been confirmed to have touched down in Mississippi so far this year. In 2007, a total of 33 tornadoes touched down. In less than half the time the number of tornadoes has more than doubled.

Tornadoes and heavy rain struck Northern Minnesota

At least two tornadoes broke loose Friday morning in the far northeastern corner of Minnesota, where heavy overnight rains led to flash flooding throughout Cook County and the city of Grand Marais. About 5 inches of rain fell at Grand Marais.

Water coming down the hill next to Highway 61, west of Grand Marais. (Photo: Stephan Hoglund/ Star Tribune). Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Related Links:

• Deadly Storms Hit US Midsection
• Will 2008 be year of the tornadoes, too?
• 2008: Year of the Fire