View Full Version : Updates on the Weather
While a ferocious blizzard is moving across the country, meanwhile:
Tornado Hits Mobile, Ala.; 'Severe Damage' Confirmedhttp://www.weather.com/news/mobile-tornado-20121220
"A confirmed tornado touched down in Mobile, Ala. Thursday morning, causing damage to buildings and flipping cars.
Police say the tornado, confirmed by the National Weather Service after an initial survey of damaged areas, caused no injuries. Damage was concentrated on the west and northwest sides of the city of Mobile. Cars were flipped at a Mercedes-Benz dealership, and there were reports of "severe damage to residences and businesses" near Union and Springhill Avenues. Windows were broken out at a fast-food restaurant, and at least one gas leak was reported.,,,"
CasperParks
12-20-2012, 07:33 PM
While a ferocious blizzard is moving across the country, meanwhile:
Tornado Hits Mobile, Ala.; 'Severe Damage' Confirmedhttp://www.weather.com/news/mobile-tornado-20121220
"A confirmed tornado touched down in Mobile, Ala. Thursday morning, causing damage to buildings and flipping cars.
Police say the tornado, confirmed by the National Weather Service after an initial survey of damaged areas, caused no injuries. Damage was concentrated on the west and northwest sides of the city of Mobile. Cars were flipped at a Mercedes-Benz dealership, and there were reports of "severe damage to residences and businesses" near Union and Springhill Avenues. Windows were broken out at a fast-food restaurant, and at least one gas leak was reported.,,,"
It hit here around 12AM, came down fast and heavy. A friend called who doesn’t drive and needed a ride home from work at 3AM. I had to go out!
After dropping him off, the storm got worse.
Was difficult driving, my 95 Chevy half ton with a cap. Tires were spinning almost the entire trip home. Hills were extra nasty, truck fishtailed to the right. Thought I was going to have to back down one hill and try another route.
Early this afternoon, appears the main roads are plowed but have a heavy and deep slush. Winds are strong, but not as bad as I expected then again it is supposed to get worse this afternoon.
Not planning on driving, but cleared off the truck to avoid overnight freeze.
Deep, thick and heavy are the words of the day here!
First good snowfall, peanut butter cookies going into the oven this afternoon and hot chocolate for dipping!
Your friend was mighty lucky to have a friend like you to pick him/her up. There's nothing more dangerous than waiting for a bus somewhere in weather like this, especially at 3 in the morning!
Nothing is worse than having to drive in conditions like the one you just drove in. Glad you survived it! We're still waiting for it but in the meantime the weather here keeps getting worse and worse. No question about it, winter's going to burst into the scene here in a very abrupt way.... sometime in the next 48 hrs. I'm not looking forward to the blackouts. We always get them in these kinds of weather conditions i.e. heavy wet snow and high winds off the lake.... and then the cometh the ice.
Here's the latest update that you may find interesting.
Snowstorm leads to fatal, 25-vehicle pileup in Iowa whiteout; widespread outages in Midwest
Apocalyptic Weather Hits Across United States
Blizzards, 'thundersnow,' and supercell tornadoes abound
"The world may not end tomorrow, but in parts of the country it must seem like it.
The severe winter storm that buried the Mountain West and Northwest has begun to wreak havoc on the Midwest while huge rotating thunderstorms and tornadoes are ripping the Southeast, resulting in snared flights in the country's two biggest airports during the always-busy holiday season.
Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin are seeing blizzard conditions thanks to Winter Storm Draco, a powerful winter storm that brought 100 mph winds and up to 28 inches of snow to Washington and Oregon.
The region's first major snowstorm is forecast to be the most intense winter storm in 16 years, according to the Des Moines Register. Draco is currently dropping flurries at about 1 to 2 inches per hour, and in an apocalyptic twist, some "thundersnow" has been reported. In Des Moines, up to 13 inches have already fallen amid winds gusting to 50 mph, according to the National Weather Service."
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/12/20/apocalyptic-weather-hits-across-united-states
An estimated 50,000 people are without power in Iowa and Nebraska already, and the whiteout has closed schools throughout Draco's path. Both states have recommended no travel due to the high winds and low visibility.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Just checked for my area and we're supposed to be hit with potentially high winds tomorrow with a mix of rain and snow. They said that we will see significant impacts from snow and wind.
"Power companies reported electrical outages in Iowa, Nebraska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, with a peak of 400,000 customers without power Thursday morning. That fell fell to 133,000 by Thursday afternoon."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/20/usa-weather-storm-idUSL1E8NK4O220121220
I just heard on the news that (supposedly as they are not sure yet) right after Draco exits via the Atlantic seaboard, another monster storm will be starting up that will cover one/third of the US comprised of the eastern States. This was on NBC Nightly News.
Also, as it is now, there have been more than a few tornado's in the south or, rather, they are forming as I speak. The biggest so far was in Alabama.
enigphilo
12-21-2012, 03:11 AM
Draco? DRACO? Draconian? Certainly, at the least, someone is f'ing with us people that take the story past the initial meaning. Who names these? Who exerts this sense of humor or lack there of
"Draco" also has an alien reptilian ring to it too. The people at The Weather Station apparently have been asking their Twitter members to give them names for new storms, hurricanes, etc. My guess is that's how they came up with "Draco" for this one but I don't know that for sure. The word "Dragon" also comes to mind too. This is the first time I've ever noticed that large Blizzards/Snowstorms had names too; like hurricane's and tornado's do, for example. It could be that they've always given them names but have never
passed that informaton on to the media or the public. I would think that they do have some kind of labeling system for big snowstorms too rather than just giving each one that comes up a number as names are easier to remember.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released new information yesterday that, in the US, 2012 will probably surpass 2011 as the second costliest year on record wrt
to damage done by climatic catastrophic weather events.
2005, is the first which includes Hurricane Katrina and four other hurricanes that hit the US that
year.
Not including Draco, the tally for this year will go beyond the 2011 year tally which was 60 billion.
Also, not including those fatalities so far lost in Draco, 472 lives have been lost in 2012 as a result of catastrophic climate and weather conditions and events.
--------------------------------------
The 3 Min. News http://www.theoutpostforum.com/tof/showthread.php?854-3-Min-News&p=17025&viewfull=1#post17025
mentioned that another storm front is entering into the Pacific N.W. again. Should that one be as big and forceful as what turned into Draco it will be interesting to see if that one too will then travel across the country on a path of destruction.
Also, the State of MD might be due for a new Draco-like storm front that could develop as a result of all the of tornado activity in the south and Draco in the north. This may be why they are saying that the eastern side of our country is going to be hit with yet a another big storm that I mentioned in post #6 here.
Update: Yesterday my area, which is right near the lake, was hit on and off throughout a good part of day with a snow blizzard where, at times, there were whiteouts with very little visibility. The winds off the lake were, at times, very LOUD and very strong, where, it seemed to cause my building to shake a bit... or so it seemed. Walking out there against the wind and the snow to get to my car turned out to be quite an ordeal. Also, the power here at my apt. complex flickered a few times on and off but fortunately, that's all that happened.
The traffic here was down to a minimal due to hazardous driving conditions but the stores nearby stayed open though, at least the ones that I went to, the drug store and the grocery store, a number of regular employee's went home early or didn't show up at all. By the lake, anytime a storm hits, it's always much worse than it is further inland. The wind off the lake continues to be in 'high mode' with huge big waves lashing against the cliffs along the shoreline.
Apparently things slowed down enough where this morning it's lot quieter out there now but according to the forecast, winds are supposed to pick up again sometime later today. At least that's what they say but, to me, it looks like the worse is over. Will just have to wait and see though.
As for the snow, we got about 5 to 6 inches here but there are some tall snow piles out there too due to where the wind was blowing the snow. There are also patches with no snow at all, once again, due to how and where the wind was blowing.
Anyway, winter is here now whereas before it was almost balmy out there, now the temps have dropped to the low thirties and lower here by the lake due to the wind chill factor. The Lake Effect went into full throttle here but am thankful that, so far, there have been no outages in my immediate area... but in other area's along the lake, there have been some blackouts where people are still waiting for their electricity to get turned back on again.
As I mentioned before, meteorologists were tentatively saying a few days ago that, following Draco after it exits off the eastern shoreline, a new monster snowstorm was going to hit the eastern side of the country. Well that turned out to be true and in addition to this, The Weather Station said that there will be a record breaking number of tornado's in the southern states that are in the process of forming now. (update: a large tornado has already touched down in Alabama again)
Anyway, what's coming up for my area now is going to be a lot bigger than when Draco came to town a few days ago. Starting tomorrow morning, we are expecting high winds near the lake and between 10 to 14 inches of snow in the regional area and more of it near the lake which is where I'm located. The storm will continue into Thurs. All I can say is the good thing I stocked up on food and candles. The snow's going to be heavy and wet and that translates to downed powerlines and outages. Here are the headlines for my area now. I can't even remember when Hopkins had to cancel many flights due to a winter storm or any storm for that matter except for maybe a few hours a couple of times in the past but never like this:
United Canceling many flights out of Hopkins Wednesday as Cleveland braces for major storm
In Cleveland, Ohio, "there has been a
white Christmas just once* in the last seven years."
http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2012/12/cleveland_has_had_a_white_chri.html (http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2012/12/cleveland_has_had_a_white_chri.html)
*on that Christmas we had snow flurries
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.