Comparison to Katrina:
There is a HIGH risk of severe weather for eastern Illinois and the bulk of Indiana today; such a late November system capable of this much damage is somewhat rare, but conditions seem to be ripe today (anticipation of severity level has been bumping upwards last few days):
AN OUTBREAK OF SEVERE STORMS NOW APPEARS UNDERWAY ACROSS PARTS OF
THE MIDDLE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY INTO PARTS OF THE UPPER GREAT LAKES
REGION. THIS WILL PROGRESS EASTWARD THROUGH MUCH OF THE REMAINDER
OF THE GREAT LAKES REGION AND OHIO VALLEY…PERHAPS PARTS OF THE
TENNESSEE AND LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEYS…INTO PARTS OF THE
NORTHEAST BY LATE TONIGHT. A FEW STRONG TORNADOES ARE
EXPECTED…MAINLY ACROSS PARTS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY INTO GREAT
LAKES THIS AFTERNOON. OTHERWISE…WIDESPREAD STRONG DAMAGING WINDS
APPEAR LIKELY WITH AN EVOLVING SQUALL LINE.
…
THE WARM SECTOR ENVIRONMENT ACROSS EASTERN MISSOURI INTO ILLINOIS
APPEARS VERY CONDUCIVE TO SEVERE STORM DEVELOPMENT…WITH CONVECTIVE
DEVELOPMENT NOW ALREADY WELL UNDERWAY. THIS IS GENERALLY ON THE
LEADING EDGE OF HIGHER MOISTURE CONTENT AIR /LOWER TO MID 60S
SURFACE DEW POINTS/ RETURNING OFF THE GULF OF MEXICO…WHERE
STEEPENING MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES ARE ENHANCING CONVECTIVE
INSTABILITY AND CAPE. A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY APPEARS TO EXIST FOR
DISCRETE SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT INTO MID TO LATE AFTERNOON ACROSS
EASTERN ILLINOIS AND INDIANA…SOUTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN/WESTERN OHIO
AND ADJACENT PORTIONS OF THE OHIO VALLEY AND GREAT LAKES
REGION…BEFORE FORCING ALONG THE EASTWARD SURGING COLD FRONT
CONTRIBUTES TO AN UPSCALE GROWING SQUALL LINE. GIVEN THE 50-60+ KT
WESTERLY DEEP LAYER MEAN FLOW…STORM MOTIONS WILL BE RAPID. LARGE
CLOCKWISE CURVED LOW-LEVEL HODOGRAPHS WILL ALSO BE CONDUCIVE TO THE
POTENTIAL FOR STRONG TORNADOES…SOME OF WHICH COULD BE RELATIVELY
LONG-LIVED/LONG TRACK.
This would include the Chicago area (already under Tornado Watch), and of course Indianapolis and Ft. Wayne. A PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) Tornado Watch has been issued for the bulk of Indiana and Lower Michigan as well, and Tornado Warnings are already going off in central Illinois.
— Alan
Edit: And now Milwaukee.
Reportedly a “large” tornado tore off the roof of WEEK-TV in Peoria.
— Alan
…and the Tornado Warnings are lining up quite nicely, from just southwest of the Chicago area all the way down to near the Arkansas-Missouri border:
— Alan
jpinard
1806
We’re getting hammered here in West Michigan. I haven 't been strong/well enough to get our deck ceiling off and I’m afraid it’s going to tear out the metal poles that secure ti to the deck.
Several tornadoes have touched down in Indiana, and we just had a report of a large tornado on the ground about 35 miles southwest of here, tracking east by northeast and looking to clip the southern edge of the county where we are. Lots of rain so far, but no high winds yet. The cats don’t like this at all!
This was what it was doing when it was in Knox county, east of Vincennes:
Via twitter.
EDIT: Looks like the tornado activity did pass south of us, and the line currently hitting us isn’t spawning funnel clouds. An amazing amount of rain, though, and winds gusting up to 80 MPH. I knew I should have cleared my gutters yesterday when I had the chance.
Wooo! Snow! Also, it’s cold.
Hopefully everybody in the NE is weathering this storm well.
Might hit 70 in SF today. I was just in Palm Springs, which was gloriously warm.
— Alan
Vesper
1810
High temp of -13 here on Monday, with a wind chills down to -50. Schools are likely to be canceled, and the entire state of Minnesota has already done so. Oof.
…humbug.
Just give me cheap fuel for my massive car now, thanks.
It’s 15 F right now here but feels like -1, according to weather.com. If the damn wind would stop blowing, winter would be bearable. At least it’s just warm enough for the salt to work on the roads. Went out earlier and got some grocery shopping done, so I can hole up for a while and watch the next 2-4 inches of snow that are supposed to fall this weekend.
January 18th can’t come soon enough…vacation in the Dominican. Assuming my plane can get there, of course.
I have been watching the news each night and we’re getting reports of some pretty ‘ordinary’ type weather from the US and Canada whilst in this part of the world, cyclones and record high temperatures. So to those in the Northern climes, be careful, rug up and stay warm, to my compatriots facing extreme temps, take care, no bush fires and stay cool. Here in WA a very pleasant 30 degrees Celsius.
And this is an email doing the rounds ‘Down Under’.
As we head into the new year here in Australia with nice warm temperatures and ice cold beers, spare a thought for those less fortunate in the Northern Hemisphere as they face one of their coldest winters on record. As you may have seen on the news it’s been very cold in Alberta. So cold, in fact, that the Government of Alberta has borrowed a Norwegian Icebreaker to clear the North Saskatchewan River for freighter traffic. The Icebreaker is starting near Devon and working its way northward. Here is a picture as the hard work of ice breaking begins. Impressive!
In NH it’s -1f now but it’s supposed to go as low as - 15f. Honestly, I’ll believe it when I see it. The coldest I’ve ever seen was - 13f.
My heat is pretty much running non-stop. I don’t know how people in Canada afford it.
Hansey
1815
Not sure if this goes here, but I think it qualifies as weather related…
Last night in my hometown of North Attleboro, Mass. (I live in Seattle now), there was a four alarm fire in a vacant building downtown in the middle of the storm. At least four other towns sent additional support to fight the fire. This link goes to to a photo gallery from the local newspaper showing the fire, and its aftermath.
This link goes to a photo gallery of some amazing photos evidently taken by a professional photographer.
The building had to be demolished today because a burnt out husk of a building encased in ice was going to come down on its own pretty quickly. But the morning after photos of the building are pretty spooky. Also incredible are the photos of the fire trucks that also became encased in ice as the firefighters battled the fire.
So yeah, apparently it’s gonna get cold for many of you soon. The good news is that it’ll be short-lived event with temps returning to normal around Wednesday.
— Alan
Schools around my neck of the woods (Iowa) are all closed today - wind chills getting to 40 and even 50 below. It’s BEEN below zero for almost two weeks now, which is a little nuts for December. Not unheard of mind you, I think the last few years have spoiled me (two years ago it didn’t even snow until January and I remember that same year and maybe the year prior mowing the lawn in November, even), but not a lot of fun. I haven’t been able to enjoy a fine cigar in months, dammit!
Gendal
1818
So living in socal weather is something that happens to other people but today? Well still no weather, but my inbox is crammed full of our offices around the country closing down. What the hell is going on out there?
ElGuapo
1819
This will hopefully be my last cold winter. Nuts to this. Our heating bill last month was insane.
Yeah it’s getting a bit nuts; got down to the teens in the D/FW area overnight and I know quite a few folks got their pipes frozen (and will be coldest night tonight in, well, just three years actually). Green Bay wasn’t nearly as bad as originally projected yesterday, but I think further east it’s far, far worse. The temperature difference across the US is a huge 130 degrees, and coincidentally many spots in Alaska are much warmer than the bulk of the United States. Chicago clocked in at around -14 (not even accounting for wind chill). Some places in the midwest won’t even get above 0 degrees today. And the cold will even seep into the deep south.
But hey, it’s gonna hit 65 in SF. Sometimes, living here is actually worth it. Until the Big One comes, that is.
— Alan
